umbus.
I recognize now more than I did then that my preparation for the
profession of the law, which demands knowledge of almost all things,
ancient, modern, scientific, literary, historical, etc., was wholly
defective. All knowledge is called into requisition by a general
and successful legal practitioner. My early deficiency in learning,
and the many interruptions in the course of about forty years, have
imposed the necessity of close and constant application. On being
admitted to the bar, I determined to visit other parts and places
before locating. I visited Toledo; it was then muddy, ragged,
unhealthful, and unpromising. Chicago was then next looked over.
It was likewise apparently without promise. The streets were almost
impassable with mire. The sidewalks were seldom continuously level
for a square. The first floors of some buildings were six to ten
feet above those of others beside them. So walking on the sidewalks
was an almost constant going up and down steps. There was then no
promise of its almost magic future. At Springfield, Illinois, I
saw and heard, in February, 1858, before the Supreme Court, an
ungainly appearing man, called _Abe_ Lincoln. He was arguing the
application of a statute of limitations to a defective tax title
to land. He talked very much in a conversational way to the judges,
and they gave attention, and in a Socratic way the discussion went
on. I did not see anything to specially attract attention to Mr.
Lincoln, save that he was awkward, ungainly in build, more than
plain in features and dress, his clothes not fitting him, his
trousers being several inches too short, exposing a long, large,
unshapely foot, roughly clad. But he was even then, by those who
knew him best, regarded as intellectually and professionally a
great man. When I next saw him (March 25, 1865, twenty days before
his martyrdom) he looked much the same, except better dressed,
though he was then President of the United States and Commander-in-
Chief of its Army and Navy. He appeared on both occasions a sad
man, thoughtful and serious. The last time I saw him he was watching
the result of an assault on the enemy's outer line of works from
Fort Fisher in front of Petersburg, the day Fort Stedman was carried
and held for a time by the Confederates.

I also visited St. Louis, and took a look at its narrow (in old
part) French streets; thence I went to Cairo, the worst, in fact
and appearance, of all. In