Abraham Lincoln. William Eleroy Curtis

events which drew the neighbors together by delivering political speeches, burlesquing local orators and preachers, and repeating doggerels of his own composition that referred to local affairs. His humor often exceeded his discretion, and we are told of coarse satires and rhymes which excited the amusement and admiration of a community, but did him no credit. Sometimes these ebullitions of wit involved him in trouble, particularly on two occasions when he wrote some verses about the deformed nose of his employer, of which the owner was very sensitive.

      Lincoln never attempted serious oratory until he went to New Salem, where he discovered Shakespeare and Burns, whose writings had a powerful influence upon his literary style and taste. These eminent authorities were introduced to him by a worthless loafer and fisherman named Jack Kelso, who was too lazy to work, but had a love of learning and literature and an unusually good education for his time and surroundings. Mutual tastes brought the two together, and Lincoln would sit evening after evening on the porch of Offutt's store or lie all day Sunday on the ground under the shade of a tree listening to Kelso discourse upon his favorite authors and repeat over and over the poems of Burns and fine passages from Shakespeare which he had committed to memory long before. There is no doubt that Burns, Shakespeare, and Kelso seriously interfered with the grocery business and contributed to the financial disaster which terminated Lincoln's first and only commercial enterprise. It was a long time before he obtained copies of his favorite poets, but no books were prized more highly by any man.

      Lincoln's first experience in debate was gained while he was a clerk in Offutt's store and attended the meetings of a debating club, which were held at different places in the neighborhood and sometimes so far away that he was compelled to walk seven or eight miles for the privilege. He used to call it "practising polemics." Occasionally the club met in a vacant store at New Salem, and Lincoln's first serious speech was delivered on one of those occasions.

      His first political speech was delivered at Pappsville, where a crowd had been attracted by an auction sale. He was then beginning his first campaign for the Legislature, and although his remarks are not remembered, an incident of the occasion remains one of the most precious heritages of that neighborhood. While he was speaking, one of his friends became involved in a fight on the edge of the audience, and when the orator saw that he was getting the worst of it, Lincoln suspended his remarks, jumped from the dry-goods box which served as his platform, seized the assailant of his friend by the collar and the seat of his trousers, threw him ten or twelve feet, resumed his place, and finished his argument.

      In the reminiscences of Joshua Speed, who was perhaps the most intimate friend Lincoln ever knew, is an account of a great mass-meeting at Springfield at which Lincoln made a speech that produced a lasting impression and "used up" George Forquer, a prominent lawyer and politician, so completely that he was practically driven out of the campaign. Forquer had been a Whig, but changed his politics, and was rewarded by the Democrats with an appointment as Register of the United States Land Office. He owned and occupied one of the finest houses in Springfield and attached to its chimney the only lightning-rod in that part of the State. Forquer had made a long address at the meeting and Lincoln had been assigned to the duty of answering him. Forquer alluded to this arrangement in a contemptuous manner, and spoke slightingly of Lincoln's youth and inexperience. When Lincoln came to reply he admitted his youth and inexperience, which, he added, were faults that would be corrected by time, and then said—

      "I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks and trade of the politician; but whether I live long or die young, I would rather die now than change my politics for an office worth three thousand dollars a year, and have to erect a lightning-rod over my house to protect my conscience from an offended God."

      The people of Springfield appreciated this hit so keenly and quoted it so freely that Forquer was compelled to retire from the canvass to escape ridicule.

      From this time on Lincoln was always on the stump whenever there was a political contest in Central Illinois, and was recognized as one of the ablest, as he was one of the most popular and effective, campaigners. His speeches began to show maturer intellect, a more careful study and expanding power, and his hold upon his friends and his influence in his party and with the public at large were increasing with every political campaign. As early as 1837, when he was a candidate for Speaker of the Lower House of the Legislature, he had acquired considerable reputation. In the fall of that year, with a few other young men of Springfield, he organized a lyceum for mutual improvement, and his ability was recognized when he was the first of its members to be invited to make a public address, which was carefully prepared and delivered in January, 1838. The subject was "The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions," and it created such an impression that it was published in full in the Sangamon Journal, February 3, 1838. Few men of twenty-nine years, with the advantage of a university education and a complete library for reference, could produce so profound and statesmanlike a paper, and his philosophical analysis of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and his conception of the political duty of the citizen were remarkable for their truth and force.

      Lincoln had acquired such great fame as a speaker that in 1840 he was named upon the Harrison electoral ticket, with the stipulation that he should canvass the State. He was then only thirty-one years old, but was regarded as the ablest of the Whig stumpers in Illinois. In the Clay campaign of 1844, in the Taylor campaign of 1848, and in the Scott campaign of 1852 he devoted almost his entire time to political work, for which he received no compensation. Ambitious politicians and loyal party men were expected to contribute their services free and pay their own expenses in those days, and while Lincoln's pocket suffered, his fame and popularity spread, and he had the satisfaction of knowing that in all the State no man possessed the confidence of the public so completely as he and none was listened to with more attention or greater respect. In 1856, during the Frémont campaign, he was recognized as the foremost leader on the Republican side, and had a narrow escape from being nominated for Vice-President.

      While in Congress he made three set speeches in the Hall of Representatives, all carefully prepared and written out. The first was an elaborate defence of Whig doctrines and an historical discussion of the Mexican War, the next was on the general subject of internal improvement, and the third was a humorous and satirical criticism of General Cass, the Democratic candidate for President. All of these speeches were printed in pamphlet form for home circulation and were not intended to influence the action of the House. His first participation in debate was, however, a great success. Soon after the Presidential campaign of 1848 opened, Representative Iverson, of Georgia, accused the Whigs of "having taken shelter under the military coat-tails of General Taylor," their Presidential candidate. This seemed to touch Lincoln's sense of humor, and he made a brief reply, taking "Military Coat-Tails" as his text. Ben Perley Poore, the famous newspaper correspondent, who was then in his prime, describes the scene as follows:

      "He had written the heads of what he intended to say on a few pages of foolscap paper, which he placed on a friend's desk, bordering on an alley-way, which he had obtained permission to speak from. At first he followed his notes; but, as he warmed up, he left his desk and his notes, to stride down the alley towards the Speaker's chair, holding his left hand behind him so that he could now and then shake the tails of his own rusty, black broadcloth dress-coat, while he earnestly gesticulated with his long right arm, shaking the bony index-finger at the Democrats on the other side of the chamber. Occasionally, as he would complete a sentence amid shouts of laughter, he would return up the alley to his desk, consult his notes, take a sip of water, and start off again."

       The Baltimore American called it "the crack speech of the day," and said of Lincoln: "He is a very able, acute, uncouth, honest, upright man and a tremendous wag withal. … Mr. Lincoln's manner was so good-natured, and his style so peculiar, that he kept the House in a continuous roar of merriment for the last half-hour of his speech. He would commence a point in his speech far up one of the aisles, and keep on talking, gesticulating, and walking until he would find himself, at the end of a paragraph, down in the centre of the area in front of the clerk's desk. He would then go back and take another head, and work down again. And so on, through his capital speech."