MENTOR GRAHAM.

Armstrong's friends rushed to his aid, and for a moment it looked as if Lincoln would be routed by sheer force of numbers. But he held his own so bravely that the "boys," in spite of their sympathies, were filled with admiration. What bade fair to be a general fight ended in a general hand-shake, even Jack Armstrong declaring that Lincoln was the "best fellow who ever broke into the camp." From that day, at the cock-fights and

Mentor Graham was the New Salem school-master. He horse-races, which were

it was who assisted Lincoln in mastering Kirkham's Grammar, and later gave him valuable assistance when Lincoln was learning the theory of surveying. He taught in a little log school-house on a hill south of the village, just across Green's Rocky Branch. Among his pupils was Ann Rutledge, and the school was often visited by Lincoln. In 1845 Mentor Graham was defendant in a lawsuit in which Lincoln and Herndon were attorneys for the plaintiff, Nancy Green. It appears from the declaration, written by Lincoln's own hand, that on October 28, 1844, Mentor Graham gave his note to Nancy Green for one hundred dollars, with John Owen and Andrew Beerup as sureties, payable twelve

their common sports, he became the chosen umpire; and when the entertainment broke up in a row

a not uncommon occurrence

-he acted the peacemaker without suffering the

months after date. The note not being paid when due, suit peacemaker's usual fate.

was brought. That Lincoln, even as an attorney, should sue Mentor Graham may seem strange; but it is no surprise when it is explained that the plaintiff was the widow of

Such was his reputation with the "Clary's Grove

Bowling Green-the woman who, with her husband, had Boys," after three months

comforted Lincoln in an hour of grief. Justice, too, in this case was clearly on her side. The lawsuit seems never to have disturbed the friendly relations between Lincoln and Mentor Graham. The latter's admiration for the former was unbounded to the day of his death. Mentor Graham lived on his farm near the ruins of New Salem until 1860, when he removed to Petersburg. There he lived until 1885, when he removed to Greenview, Illinois. Later he went to South Dakota, where he died about 1892, at the ripe old age of ninety-odd years.

in New Salem, that when the fall muster came off he was elected captain.

Lincoln showed soon that if he was unwilling to indulge in "woolling and pulling" for amusement,

he did not object to it in a case of honor. A man came into the store one day when women were present, and used profane language. Lincoln asked him to stop; but the man persisted, swearing that nobody should prevent his saying what he wanted to. The women gone, the man began to abuse Lincoln so hotly

LINCOLN LIKED FOR HIS COURAGE AND HONESTY. 123

LINCOLN STUDIES GRAMMAR.

As soon as the store was fairly under way, Lincoln began to look about for books. Since leaving Indiana, in March, 1830, he had had, in his drifting life, little leisure or opportunity for study, though he had had a great deal for observation. Nevertheless his desire to learn had increased, and his ambition to be somebody had been encouraged. In that time he had found that he really was superior to many of those who were called the "great" men of the country. Soon after entering Macon County, in March, 1830, when he was only twenty-one years old, he had found he could make a better speech than at least one man who was before the public. A candidate had come along where John Hanks and he were at work, and, as John Hanks tells the story, the man made a speech. It was a bad one, and I said Abe could beat it. I turned down a box, and Abe made his speech. The other man was a candidate, Abe wasn't. Abe beat him to death, his subject being the navigation of the Sangamon River. The man, after Abe's speech was through, took him aside, and asked him where he had learned so much and how he could do so well. Abe replied, stating his manner and method of reading, what he had read. The man encouraged him to persevere.

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He had found that people listened to him, that they quoted his opinions, and that his friends were already saying that he was able to fill any position. Offutt even declared the country over that "Abe" knew more than any man in the United States, and that some day he would be President.

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Under this stimulus Lincoln's ambition increased. "I have talked with great men," he told his fellow-clerk and friend Greene, and I do not see how they differ from others." He made up his mind to put himself before the public, and talked of his plans to his friends. In order to keep in practice in speaking he walked seven or eight miles to debating clubs. "Practising polemics" was what he called the exercise. He seems now for the first time to have begun to study subjects. Grammar was what he chose. He sought Mentor Graham, the schoolmaster, and asked his advice. "If you are going before the public," Mr. Graham told him, "you ought to do it." But where could he get a grammar? There was but one, said Mr. Graham, in the neighborhood, and that was six miles away. Without waiting for further information, the young man rose from

LINCOLN MASTERS GRAMMAR AND ENTERS POLITICS. 125

the breakfast-table, walked immediately to the place, and borrowed this rare copy of Kirkham's Grammar. From that time on for weeks he gave his leisure to mastering its contents. Frequently he asked his friend Greene to hold the book while he recited, and when puzzled he would consult Mr. Graham.

Lincoln's eagerness to learn was such that the whole neighborhood became interested. The Greenes lent him books, the school-master kept him in mind and helped him as he could, and the village cooper let him come into his shop and keep up a fire of shavings sufficiently bright to read by at night. It was not long before the grammar was mastered. "Well," Lincoln said to his fellow-clerk Greene, "if that's what they call a science, I think I'll go at another."

Before the winter was ended he had become the most popular man in New Salem. Although he was but twenty-two years of age in February, 1832; had never been at school an entire year; had never made a speech, except in debating clubs or by the roadside; had read only the books he could pick up, and known only the men of the poor, out-of-the-way towns in which he had lived, yet, "encouraged by his great popularity among his immediate neighbors," as he says, he announced himself, in March, 1832, as a candidate for the General Assembly of the State.

CHAPTER X.

LINCOLN'S FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE VOTERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY. HIS VIEWS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SANGAMON. -THE MODESTY OF HIS CIRCULAR.

HE only preliminary expected of a candidate for the legislature of Illinois at that date was an announcement stating his "sentiments with regard to local affairs." The circular in which Lincoln complied with this custom was a document of about two thousand words, in which he plunged at once into the subject he believed most interesting to his constituents-"the public utility of internal improvements."

At that time the State of Illinois-as, indeed, the whole United States-was convinced that the future of the country

LINCOLN'S FIRST VOTE.-PHOTOGRAPHED FROM THE ORIGINAL POLL-BOOK, AND NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.