choice of the majority of the
company, they left their places, one by one, and came over to the
successful side, until Lincoln's opponent in the friendly strife was left
standing almost alone.

"I felt badly to see him cut so," says a witness of the scene.

Here was an opportunity for revenge. The humble laborer was his employer's
captain, but the opportunity was never improved. Mr. Lincoln frequently
confessed that no subsequent success of his life had given him half the
satisfaction that this election did. He had achieved public recognition;
and to one so humbly bred, the distinction was inexpressibly delightful.

A Humorous Speech--Lincoln in the Black Hawk War.

The friends of General Cass, when that gentleman was a candidate for the
Presidency, endeavored to endow him with a military reputation. Mr.
Lincoln, at that time a representative in Congress, delivered a speech
before the House, which in its allusions to Mr. Cass, was exquisitely
sarcastic and irresistibly humorous:

"By the way, Mr. Speaker," said Mr. Lincoln, "do you know I am a military
hero? Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk War, I fought, bled and came
away. Speaking of General Cass' career reminds me of my own. I was not at
Stillman's Defeat, but I was about as near it as Cass to Hull's surrender;
and like him I saw the place very soon afterward. It is quite certain I
did not break my sword, for I had none to break, but I bent my musket
pretty badly on one occasion. * * * If General Cass went in advance of me
in picking whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon the
wild onion. If he saw any live, fighting Indians, it is more than I did,
but I had a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes, and although I
never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very
hungry."

Mr. Lincoln concluded by saying that if he ever turned Democrat and should
run for the Presidency, he hoped they would not make fun of him by
attempting to make him a military hero!

Elected to the Legislature.

In 1834, Lincoln was a candidate for the legislature, and was elected by
the highest vote cast for any candidate. Major John T. Stuart, an officer
in the Black Hawk War, and whose acquaintance Lincoln made at Beardstown,
was also elected. Major Stuart had already conceived the highest opinion
of the young man, and seeing much of him during the canvass for the
election, privately advised