e figure in
Springfield. The skill, the courage, and the good-will he had shown in
his management of the bill for the removal of the capital gave him at
once, of course, special prominence. The entire "Long Nine," indeed,
were regarded by the county as its benefactors, and throughout the
summer there were barbecues and fireworks, dinners and speeches
in their honor. "The service rendered Old Sangamon by the present
delegation" was a continually recurring toast at every gathering.
At one "sumptuous dinner" the internal improvement scheme in all its
phases was toasted again and again by the banqueters, "'The Long Nine'
of Old Sangamon--well done, good and faithful servants," drew forth
long applause. Among those who offered volunteer toasts at this dinner
were "A. Lincoln, Esq.," and "S.A. Douglas, Esq."

At a dinner at Athens, given to the delegation, eight formal toasts
and twenty-five volunteers are quoted in the report of the affair in
the "Sangamo Journal." Among them were the following:

A. Lincoln. He has fulfilled the expectations of his friends
and disappointed the hopes of his enemies.

A. Lincoln. One of nature's noblemen.

By A. Lincoln. Sangamon County will ever be true to her best
interests, and never more so than in reciprocating the good
feelings of the citizens of Athens and neighborhood.

Lincoln had not been long in Springfield before he soon was able to
support himself, a result due, no doubt, very largely to his personal
qualities and to his reputation as a shrewd politician. Not that he
made money. The fee-book of Lincoln and Stuart shows that the returns
were modest enough, and that sometimes they even "traded out" their
account. Nevertheless it was a satisfaction to earn a livelihood so
soon. Of his peculiar methods as a lawyer at this date we know very
little. Most of his cases are utterly uninteresting. The very first
year he was in Springfield, however, he had one case which created
a great sensation, and which, so far as we know, has been overlooked
entirely by his biographers. It is an admirable example of the
way Lincoln could combine business and politics as well as of his
merciless persistency in pursuing a man whom he believed unjust.

It seems that among the offices to be filled at the August election of
1837 was that of probate justice of the peace. One of the candidates
was General James Adams, a man who had come on from the East in the
early twenties, and