giving us abroad our reputation
as a community? I ask myself the question, what if all the men who
have killed their personal enemies or been killed by them in Kentucky,
and if all the men who have killed their personal friends or been
killed by them in Kentucky, had spent their love of fighting and their
love of courage upon a monument to the Pioneers--such a monument as
stands nowhere else in the world, and might fitly stand in this State
to commemorate the winning of the West? Would the world think the
better or the worse of the Kentucky ideal of bravery?

"I had not meant to talk to you so long on this subject," I added, in
apology, "but I have been thinking of these things lately since I have
been so much in town."

"I am interested," said Georgiana; "but as I agree with you we need not
both speak." But she looked pained, and I sought to give a happier
turn to the conversation.

"There is only one duel I ever heard of that gave me any pleasure, and
that one never came off. A few years ago a Kentuckian wrote a
political satire on an Irishman in Illinois--wrote it as a widow. The
Irishman wished to fight. The widow offered to marry the Irishman, if
such a sacrifice would be accepted as satisfactory damages. The
Irishman sent a challenge, and the Kentuckian chose cavalry broadswords
of the largest size. He was a giant; he had the longest arms of any
man in Illinois; he could have mowed Erin down at a stroke like a green
milkweed; he had been trained in duelling with oak-trees. You never
heard of him: his name is Abraham Lincoln."

"I have heard of him, and I have seen him--in Union County before I
came here," said Georgiana, with enthusiasm.

"He came here once to hear Mr. Clay speak," I resumed; "and I saw them
walking together one day under the trees at Ashland--the two most
remarkable-looking men that I ever beheld together or in human form."

My few acres touch the many of the great statesman. Georgiana and I
often hear of the movements of his life, as two little boats in a quiet
bay are tossed by the storms of the ocean. Any reference to him always
makes us thoughtful, and we fell silent now.

"Georgiana," I said at length, softly. "It's all in self-defence. I
believe you promised to marry me in self-defence."

"I did!" she said, promptly.

"Well, I certainly asked you in self-defence, Miss Cobb," I replied.
"And now in a few days, according to the usage of my time, I am going
to take you