ated, in cases of extreme difficulty, with remonstrance and soothing kindness, and in more than one instance he is said to have thrown himself between infuriated urchins, and restored harmony at the risk of personal injury to himself. Certain it is he ever afterwards retained this characteristic in an eminent degree. Not the least memorable instance was his long, patient, and earnest efforts for conciliation at the outbreak of the great Southern rebellion. The immortal page of history will bear witness that he went as far to preserve the peace and stay the madness of the slave propagandists as he dared to go, considering his oath to support and maintain the Constitution and to enforce the laws.

But when he had mastered the rule of three, the school days of Abraham Lincoln were over, and even ruder days of physical toil than he had as yet experienced were in store for him.

Between the time of his leaving school and the attainment of his nineteenth year, he was constantly employed in the hardy avocation of a western woodman, cutting down trees, splitting rails, and the like, and during the evenings, eagerly devoting the few hours until bedtime to such books as he could manage to pro

cure.

When he was a year older (twenty), Abraham was employed, at the rate of ten dollars per month, to go to New Orleans on a flat-boat loaded with stores, which were to be vended at the Mississippi river plantations.

In those days the vocation of flat-boating and keelboating on the great water-courses of the West and South-west furnished almost the only mode of water transportation, for the era of steam-boats had barely commenced. The boatmen who were employed in traversing those great water-routes were a fearless, hardy, athletic

class of men, exposed to many perils, and almost shelterless in all phases of clime and weather. With no bed but the deck of their boats on which to lie at night, and no covering but a blanket, they spent months and years of their existence. It was on such boats that the rich cargoes ascending the Mississippi were carried. By human labour they were propelled against the strong current nearly two thousand miles; and it was a labour that required great muscular strength and remarkable powers of endurance. The result was that a class of men were trained in this business of unusual courage, and proud only of their ability to breast storms and endure hardships. Young Lincoln was, at this time, peculiarly fitted for the hardy vocation which he agreed, for a period, to embrace. Nature had bestowed upon him a frame of much muscular power, a readiness of wit, and a shrewdness of judgment, all of which qualities could be used to advantage in the flat-boat voyage.

Accompanied by one associate (the son of his employer), young Lincoln started upon his voyage. The scenery of the banks was perpetually changing, like a vast panorama, and they frequently met and passed other crafts, with their numerous and jolly crews, and communicated with the people who would appear upon the river-banks from the neighbouring villages and plantations. On the way they were attacked by seven negroes, and their lives and property were in great danger; but owing to their good use of the muscular force they had acquired, as backwoodsmen, they succeeded in driving off the assailants, and pushing their boat out into the stream in safety. The result of the voyage was satisfactory to the owner, and Abraham Lincoln gained, in addition to his ten dollars a month, a reputation as a youth of promising business talent.

The nomadic Thomas Lincoln was again to strike his tent for a newer home; for the paradisian accounts of the prairie lands of Illinois began to spread in the more eastern States. Accordingly, he deputed Dennis Hanks, a relative of his living wife, to proceed to Illinois and report upon actual advantages offered, and the inducements held out for a change of residence. The tour of investigation was duly made, and the subsequent report of the agent fully confirmed all that had been reported by others. The change of home was decided upon at once. It was little more than two years after the flat-boat voyage, and Abraham was just arrived of age, that Thomas Lincoln, in the month of March, 1830, accompanied by his family, and the families of the two daughters and sons-in-law of his second wife, left the homestead in Indiana for the teeming prairies of Illinois. Their mode of conveyance was by ox-teams, and, this time, the transit occupied fifteen days.

Reaching the county of Macon, they halted for a period, and during this same month (March), the Lincoln family settled on the north bank of the Sangamon river, about ten miles, in a westerly direction, from Decatur. They reared a log-cabin upon their new location, into which the family removed. The next "improvement” was a rail fence sufficient to surround ten acres of ground, for which young Lincoln assisted in splitting the rails-the identical rails which afterwards became the theme of joke, song, and story. Of their history the following incident is related :

"During the sitting of the Republican State Convention at Decatur, a banner, attached to two of these rails, and bearing an appropriate inscription, was brought into the assemblage, and formally presented to

that body, amid a scene of unparalleled enthusiasm. After that, they were in demand in every State of the Union in which freed labour is honoured, where they were borne in processions of the people, and hailed by hundreds of thousands of freemen as a symbol of triumph, and as a glorious vindication of freedom and of the rights and dignity of free labour."

A hard siege of fever and ague afflicted the new settlers before the close of the first autumn. Upon this account they were greatly discouraged, and determined. to seek a more congenial location. They remained, however, through the succeeding winter, which was the season of the "deep snow" of Illinois. For three weeks, or more, the snow was three feet deep upon a level, and the weather intensely cold. There was great consequent suffering entailed upon beasts as well as men—all being totally unprepared for such extraordinary severity of climate. Our pioneers were fortunate in having a sufficient supply of corn, but they had laid up an insufficient quantity of meat, and the deep snow seriously interfered with their dependence upon their rifles. Abraham, however, was willing to brave any and every hardship to relieve their household wants. Through his untiring exertions, he managed to furnish enough game to keep the family in food, although he was not a first rate hunter, his love for books having early overcome the fondness and enthusiasm with which he had at first adopted the rifle.

"We seldom went hunting together," writes one of his early associates on this subject. "Abe was not a noted hunter, as the time spent by other boys in such amusements was improved by him in the perusal of some good book." This same winter he made a second

flat-boat trip to New Orleans. During the prosecution of this boating enterprise, Offult, his employer, conceived a liking for young Lincoln, and contracted with him to act as a clerk, in charge of a shop and mill at New Salem, Illinois. After his return from New Orleans, Lincoln, in pursuance of his new contract, remained at New Salem. This was in July, 1831. Here he soon made many acquaintances and friends, and won the respect of all with whom he had business dealings, while, socially, he was even more beloved by his acquaintances, and came to be familiarly known as "Honest Abe."

Upon the breaking out of the Black-Hawk war of 1832, he joined a volunteer company, and, to his great surprise, was elected captain. He has often said that he never had any success in life which gave him so much satisfaction. Young Lincoln's company shortly afterwards proceeded to Beardstown, whence in a few days it was summoned to the expected scene of conflict. But before the term of enlistment had expired the contest was at an end, and he returned home without having seen the enemy. He is said to have been a great favourite in the army-an efficient officer, and a brave, danger-scorning, fatigue-defying soldier.

CHAPTER II.

As a Merchant, Legislator, and Lawyer-In Congress-The Canvass of 1854-The great Senatorial Contest-Visit to Kansas and New York-Speech at Cooper Institute-Beautiful incident. AFTER his return from this campaign, he was astonished to learn that it was proposed, among his friends and