.
They got on board, and I lifted up their heavy trunks and put them on
the deck. The steamer was about to put on steam again, when I called out
to them that they had forgotten to pay me. Each man took from his pocket
a silver half-dollar and threw it into the bottom of my boat. I could
scarcely believe my eyes. Gentlemen, you may think it a little thing,
and in these days it seems to me a trifle; but it was a great event in
my life. I could scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar
in less than a day,--that by honest work I had earned a dollar. The
world seemed wider and fairer to me. I was a more hopeful and confident
being from that time."

Notwithstanding the limitations of every kind which hemmed in the life
of young Lincoln, he had an instinctive feeling, born perhaps of his
eager ambition, that he should one day attain an exalted position. The
first betrayal of this premonition is thus related by Mr. Arnold:

"Lincoln attended court at Booneville, to witness a murder trial, at
which one of the Breckenridges from Kentucky made a very eloquent speech
for the defense. The boy was carried away with admiration, and was so
enthusiastic that, although a perfect stranger, he could not resist
expressing his admiration to Breckenridge. He wanted to be a lawyer. He
went home, dreamed of courts, and got up mock trials, at which he would
defend imaginary prisoners. Several of his companions at this period of
his life, as well as those who knew him after he went to Illinois,
declare that he was often heard to say, not in joke, but seriously, as
if he were deeply impressed rather than elated with the idea: 'I shall
some day be President of the United States.' It is stated by many of
Lincoln's old friends that he often said while still an obscure man,
'Some day I shall be President.' He undoubtedly had for years some
presentiment of this."

At seventeen Lincoln wrote a clear, neat, legible hand, was quick at
figures and able to solve easily any arithmetical problem not going
beyond the "Rule of Three." Mr. Arnold, noting these facts, says: "I
have in my possession a few pages from his manuscript 'Book of Examples
in Arithmetic' One of these is dated March 1, 1826, and headed
'Discount,' and then follows, in his careful handwriting: 'A definition
of Discount,' 'Rules for its computation,' 'Proofs and Various
Examples,' worked out in figures, etc.; then 'Interest on money' is
treated in the same way, all in his ow