ng near the speaker, suddenly caught his coat, which
was buttoned up close, and tore it open. A mass of ruffled shirt,
a gorgeous velvet vest, and a great gold chain from which dangled
numerous rings and seals, were uncovered to the crowd. Lincoln needed
to make no further reply that day to the charge of being a "rag
baron."

Lincoln loved fair play as he hated shams; and throughout these early
years in Springfield are examples of his boldness in insisting that
friend and enemy have the chance due them. A most dramatic case of
this kind occurred at a political meeting held one evening in the
Springfield court-room, which at that date was temporarily in a hall
under Stuart and Lincoln's law office. Directly over the platform was
a trap-door. Lincoln frequently would lie by this opening during a
meeting, listening to the speeches. One evening one of his friends,
E.D. Baker, in speaking angered the crowd, and an attempt was made
to "pull him down." Before the assailants could reach the platform,
however, a pair of long legs dangled from the trap-door, and in an
instant Lincoln dropped down beside Baker, crying out, "Hold on,
gentlemen, this is a land of free speech." His appearance was so
unexpected, and his attitude so determined, that the crowd soon was
quiet, and Baker went on with his speech.

In all the intellectual life of the town he took a place. With a few
of the leading young men he formed a young men's lyceum. One of his
speeches before this body has been preserved in full. Its subject is
"The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions."[4] The speech has
not, however, any of the peculiarly original style which usually
characterized his efforts.

He came immediately to be a favorite figure in all sorts of local
affairs. What he said and did on these occasions is still recollected
by those interested in them. "When the seat of government was removed
from Vandalia to Springfield in 1836," says the Rev. Peter Wallace
of Chicago "I obtained the contract of taking down the court-house to
make a place for the State House. Lincoln, with others, was present
to receive the job. 'Peter,' he said to me, 'if you succeed as well
in building houses as you have in tearing this one down, you will make
your mark as a builder.'" Mr. Wallace tells, too, of hearing Lincoln
say in a speech, at the funeral of one of their friends: "I read in a
book whose author never errs, 'Woe unto you when all men shall speak
well of you.' Our