studied English grammar only "imperfectly," the sentences and ideas of this first political pronouncement arrest our attention. One is led to wonder how large a percentage of our legislators to-day would be able to write paragraphs at once as coherent and thoughtful as are contained in Lincoln's "handbill" written when he was twenty-three.

This earliest political document of Lincoln's, with its beginning of deliberate thinking and good style, suggests also a negative characteristic of the man. It contains a good-natured confession of humility springing from that sense of his lowly origin which seems to have survived throughout his life in much that he wrote and spoke. This characteristic was coupled with a certain infection of pioneerism which, while enhancing the popular love of Lincoln, left its stamp upon his humor, touched with mediocrity many of his figures of speech, and made very commonplace language suffice for much of his correspondence involving professional or political routine. Hence, a large part of his writings do not share the literary distinction of another part for the reason that Lincoln's psychology contained leanings that were as ordinary as his moments of uprush were beautiful and ideal. A touch of rusticity, contributed by his birth and environment, is to be found

in much of his written work, but it enriched his personality and deepened his sympathy and imagination. But when his mind was moved to its highest points of feeling and sincerity, his expression took on a purity, an elegance, and an insight, which gave it the qualities of literature.

If the last paragraph of the "handbill" of 1832 contains a glimpse of that negative influence which Lincoln did so much to overcome, but never wholly escaped, the platform upon which he became for the third time a candidate for the legislature, in 1836, still better illustrates the point. In the interim he had studied English grammar, had made some progress in the study of law, had read newspapers and had committed to memory certain poems which appealed to him. He had been deputy surveyor, and had already had one term's experience in the legislature. This platform was written for publication, yet has the form and language of a pioneer to pioneers. It is, however, concerned exclusively with the writer's political convictions, and contains Lincoln's only known declaration in support of woman suffrage. This declaration is not expressed in a separate paragraph or with any formality, but is abruptly tacked on to the end of a sentence.1

I Page 289, Appendix.

In

less than two weeks after the publication of this plebeian utterance, Lincoln penned a letter to one Colonel Robert Allen-who had intimated a knowledge of facts damaging to Lincoln's personal character-which leaves nothing to be desired in dignity or choice of words.1 The sentences are well constructed and the style and language are unequivocal and perspicuous.

Throughout Lincoln's works the reader traces these opposite marks of style-the homebred and the finished. The intellectual elements entering into his mind's growth during the three years he was postmaster at New Salem (1833-1836) were important. During his brief experience as storekeeper he read Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England" and followed this up with other law books borrowed from Springfield friends. He had been a diligent reader of newspapers, an opportunity favored by his incumbency as postmaster. His acquaintance during this time with the Rogers family, who had come to Illinois from Cooperstown, N. Y., in 1818, and at whose place, a few miles from New Salem, another postoffice was established, furnished Lincoln with new cultural interests. His trips to take mail from New Salem to the I Page 290, Appendix.

Rogers office gave him access not only to additional newspapers, but to the "chest of books" which the Rogers family had brought with them to Illinois.1 Newspapers remained with Lincoln an important source of intellectual stimulus. From them he obtained political information and comment, reports of lectures, poems, and foreign intelligence.

Lincoln's studious reading of newspapers and such books as came within his reach constantly enlarged as he came into wider contact with people. This wider contact was afforded by his attendance upon the legislature at Springfield, where he made industrious use of the new State library, chiefly to enhance his knowledge of the law, preparatory to his future profession. His biographers agree that Lincoln had a highly retentive memory. There is evidence to show that both upon the stump and in private conversation, he was acquiring a vocabulary of ever-increasing range and accuracy. He had become a careful and ambitious student of words, and sought rather than avoided the stimulus of a crowd in the practice of speech-making. As a young man at Gentryville, Indiana, and later at New Salem, he had the reputation of knowing more as a result

I Rankin, "Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 136-139.

of reading than anyone else in the neighborhood.1 It was during his New Salem experience that his courtship of Anne Rutledge occurred. Apparently he encouraged her own intellectual aspirations, for at this time their mutual friend, Arminda Rogers, tutored Miss Rutledge in Kirkham's grammar, Blair's rhetoric, and other elementary subjects, as a foundation for her admission to a young women's academy at Jacksonville.2 Anne Rutledge's death in 1835 destroyed their cherished hopes. Lincoln's recovery from a severe illness was followed by two years of assiduous study during the intervals between legislative and other employments concerned with his livelihood.

The year 1837, while he was still a member of the legislature, marks an eventful stage in Lincoln's career. In this year he moved to Springfield, which he had been influential in having made the capital of the State. He gained admission to the Springfield bar, and entered into partnership with John T. Stewart, a lawyer of ability and experience, whom Lincoln met in the legislature, and from whom he had borrowed books and received encouragement in the prosecution of his legal studies. It is not pos

I Browne, "Everyday Life of Abraham Lincoln," pp. 26, 27. 2 Rankin, ibid., p. 68.