d candidate
forward into a march.

At the same instant, those in league with him also put hands to the
shoulders before them, pushed, and took up the cheer, "Hurrah for
Captain Abe Lincoln!" so loudly that there seemed to be several
hundred already on their side; and so there were, for the outside
crowd was also already cheering for "Abe."

This little "ruse" of the Lincoln "boys" proved a complete success.
"Abe" had to march, whether or no, to the music of their cheers; he
was truly "in the hands of his friends" then, and couldn't get away;
and it must be said he didn't seem to feel very bad over the
situation. The storm of cheers and the sight of tall Abraham (six feet
and four inches) at the head of the marching column, before the fussy
little chap in brass buttons who was quite ready, caused a quick
stampede even among the boys who intended to vote for the little
fellow. One after another they rushed for a place in "Captain Abe's"
line as though to be first to fall in was to win a prize.

A few rods away stood that suit of captain's clothes alone, looking
smaller than ever, "the starch all taken out of 'em," their occupant
confounded, and themselves for sale. "Abe's" old "boss" said he was
"astonished," and so he had good reason to be, but everybody could see
it without his saying so. His "style" couldn't win among the true and
shrewd, though unpolished "boys" in coarse garments. They saw right
through him.

"Buttons," as he became known from that day, was the last man to fall
into "Abe's" line; he said he'd make it unanimous.

But his experience in making "Abe" Captain made himself so sick that
he wasn't "able" to move when the company left for the "front," though
he soon grew able to move out of the procession.

Thus was "Father Abraham," so young as twenty-three, chosen captain of
a militia company over him whose abused, hired-hand he had been. It is
little wonder that in '59 after three elections to the State
Legislature and one to Congress, Mr. Lincoln should write of his early
event as "a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had
since." The war was soon over with but little field work for the
volunteers; but no private was known to complain that "Abe" was not a
good captain.

III

MATURITY

LINCOLN'S MARRIAGE--A PEEP INTO LINCOLN'S SOCIAL LIFE

In 1842, in his thirty-third year, Mr. Lincoln married Miss Mary Todd,
a daughter of Hon. Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky. T