A Man 
 
 for the Ages 
 By Irving Bacheller 
 
 Author of The Light in the Gearing 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 


A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 A Story of the Builders of 
 Democracy 
 
 By 
 
 IRVING BACHELLER 
 
 Author of 
 
 tfben Holden, The Light in the Clearing 
 etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 JOHN WOLCOTT ADAMS 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
COPYRIGHT 1919 
 THE RIDGWAY COMPANY 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1919 
 IRVING BACHELLER 
 
 Printed in the United States of Americ* 
 
 PRtSS OF 
 
 BRAUNWORTH <L CO. 
 
 BOOK MANUFACTURERS 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. V. 
 
fl/1 
 
 TO 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND AND COMRADE 
 f* 
 
 ALEXANDER GROSSET 
 
 W 
 
 V^ 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK IN 
 
 TOKEN OF MY ESTEEM 
 
 r^ 
 lo 
 
 J 
 
A Letter 
 
 TO THE AGED AND HONORABLE JOSIAH TRAYLOR FROM 
 HIS GRANDSON, A SOLDIER IN FRANCE, WHEREIN 
 THE MOTIVE AND INSPIRATION OF THIS NARRATIVE 
 ARE BRIEFLY PRESENTED. 
 
 In France, September 10, 
 Dear Grandfather: 
 
 At last I have got mine. I had been scampering 
 towards the stars, like a jack-rabbit chased by barking 
 greyhounds, when a shrapnel shell caught up with me. 
 It sneezed all over my poor bus, and tlwew some junk 
 into me as if it thought me nothing better than a kind 
 of waste basket. Seems as if it had got tired of car- 
 rying its load and wanted to put it on me. It suc- 
 ceeded famously but I got home with the bus. Since 
 then they have been taking sinkers and fish hooks out 
 of me fit only for deep water. Don't worry, I'm get- 
 ting better fast. I shall play no more football and 
 you will not see me pitching curves and running bases 
 again. No, I shall sit in the grandstand myself here- 
 after and there will not be so much of me but I shall 
 have quite a shuck on my soul for all that, I've done 
 a lot of thinking since I have been lying on my back 
 with nothing else to do. When your body gets kind 
 of turned over in the ditch it's wonderful how your 
 
A LETTER 
 
 All these and many other things which you have 
 said to me, dear grandfatlier, have helped me to un- 
 derstand this great thunderous drama in which I have 
 liad a part. They liave helped me to endure its perils 
 and bitter defeats. It was you who saw clearly from 
 the first that this was the final clash between the bond 
 and the free an effort of the great house of God to 
 purge itself, and you urged me to go to Canada and 
 enlist in the struggle. For this, too, I thank you. My 
 wounds are dear to me, knowing, as you have made me 
 know, that I have come well by them fighting not in 
 the interest of Great Britain or France or Russia, but 
 in the cause of humanity. It is strange that among 
 these men who are fighting with me I have found only 
 one or two who seem to have a vision of the whole 
 truth of this business. 
 
 Now I come to the point of my letter. I have an 
 enlistment to urge upon you in the cause of humanity 
 and there are no wounds to go with it. When I come 
 home, as I shall be doing as soon as I am sufficiently 
 mended, we must go to work on the story of your life 
 so that all who wish to do so may know it as I know it. 
 Let us go to it with all the diaries that you and your 
 father kept, aided by your memory, and give to the 
 world its first full view of the heart and soul of Lin- 
 coln. I have read all the biographies and anecdotes of 
 him and yet without the story as you tell it he would 
 have been a stranger to me. After this war, if I mis- 
 
A LETTER 
 
 take not, Democracy will command the interest of all 
 men. It will be the theme of themes. You tell me 
 that we shall soon get into the struggle and turn the 
 scale. Well, if we do, we shall have to demonstrate a 
 swiftness of preparation and a power in the field which 
 will astonish the world, and when it is all over the 
 world will want to know how this potent Democracy 
 of ours came about. The one name Lincoln with 
 the background of your story, especially the back- 
 ground, for the trouble with all the biographies is a 
 lack of background will be the best answer we could 
 give I think. Of course there are other answers, but, 
 as there are few who dare to doubt, tliese days, that 
 Lincoln is the greatest democrat since Jesus Christ, 
 if we can only present your knowledge to the world 
 we should do well. Again the great, crowd, whom you 
 and I desire to enlighten if we can, do not read 
 biography or history save under the compulsion of 
 the schools, so let us try only to tell the moving story 
 as you have told it to me, with Lincoln striding across 
 the scene or taking the center of the stage just as he 
 was wont to do in your recollection of him. Sa we 
 will make them to know the giant of Democracy with- 
 out trying. 
 
 Duty calls. What is your answer? Please let me 
 know by cable. Meanwhile I shall be thinking more 
 about it. With love to all the family, from your affec- 
 tionate grandson, R. L. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 BOOK ONE 
 
 I Which Describes the Journey of Samson Henry 
 Traylor and His Wife and Their Two Children 
 and Their Dog Sambo through the Adirondack 
 Wilderness in 1831 on Their Way to the Land of 
 Plenty, and Especially Their Adventures in Bear 
 Valley and No Santa Claus Land. Furthermore, 
 It Describes the Soaping of the Brimsteads and 
 
 the Capture of the Veiled Bear 1 
 
 II Wherein Is Recorded the Vivid Impression Made 
 upon the Travelers by Their View of a Steam 
 Engine and of the Famous Erie Canal. Wherein, 
 Also, Is a Brief Account of Sundry Curious 
 Characters Met on the Road and at a Celebration 
 of the Fourth of July on the Big Waterway . 31 
 
 III Wherein the Reader Is Introduced to Offut's Store 
 
 and His Clerk Abe, and the Scholar Jack Kelso 
 and His Cabin and His Daughter Bim, and Gets 
 a First Look at Lincoln 46 
 
 IV Which Presents Other Log Cabin Folk and the 
 
 First Steps in the Making of a New Home and 
 Certain Incapacities of Abe 63 
 
CONTENTS Continued 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 V In Which the Character of Bim Kelso Flashes Out 
 in a Strange Adventure that Begins the Weaving 
 
 of a Long Thread of Romance 80 
 
 VI Which Describes the Lonely Life in a Prairie Cabin 
 and a Stirring Adventure on the Underground 
 Railroad about the Time It Began Operations . 106 
 VII In Which Mr. Eliphalet Biggs Gets Acquainted 
 
 with Bim Kelso and Her Father 122 
 
 VIII Wherein Abe Makes Sundry Wise Remarks to the 
 Boy Harry and Announces His Purpose to Be a 
 Candidate for the Legislature at Kelso's Dinner 
 
 Party 134 
 
 IX In Which Bim Kelso Makes History, While Abe 
 and Harry and Other Good Citizens of New 
 Salem Are Making an Effort to that End in the 
 
 Indian War 151 
 
 BOOK TWO 
 X In Which Abe and Samson Wrestle and Some 
 
 Raiders Come to Burn and Stay to Repent . . 168 
 XI In Which Abe, Elected to the Legislature, Gives 
 What Comfort He Can to Ann Rutledgc in the 
 Beginning of Her Sorrows. Also He Goes to 
 Springfield for New Clothes and Is Astonished by 
 
 Its Pomp and the Change in Eli 184 
 
 XII Which Continues the Romance of Abe and Ann 
 until the Former Leaves New Salem to Begin His 
 
CONTENTS Continued 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 Work in the Legislature. Also It Describes the 
 Coloneling of Peter Lukins 206 
 
 XIII Wherein the Route of the Underground Railroad 
 
 Is Surveyed and Samson and Harry Spend a 
 Night in the Home of Henry Brimstead and Hear 
 Surprising Revelations, Confidentially Disclosed, 
 and Are Charmed by the Personality of His 
 Daughter Annabel 215 
 
 XIV In Which Abe Returns from Vandalia and Is En- 
 
 gaged to Ann, and Three Interesting Slaves Ar- 
 rive at the Home of Samson Traylor, Who, with 
 Harry Needles, Has an Adventure of Much Im- 
 portance on the Underground Road .... 230 
 XV Wherein Harry and Abe Ride Up to Springdale 
 and Visit Kelso's and Learn of the Curious Lone- 
 
 someness of Eliphalet Biggs 249 
 
 XVI Wherein Young Mr. Lincoln Safely Passes Two 
 Great Danger Points and Turns into the High- 
 way of His Manhood 265 
 
 BOOK THREE 
 
 XVII Wherein Young Mr. Lincoln Betrays Ignorance of 
 Two Highly Important Subjects, in Consequence 
 of Which He Begins to Suffer Serious Embar- 
 rassment 273 
 
 XVIII In Which Mr. Lincoln, Samson and Harry Take a 
 Long Ride Together and the Latter Visit the 
 Flourishing Little City of Chicago 283 
 
CONTENTS Continued 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XIX Wherein Is One of the Many Private Panics Which 
 Followed the Bursting of the Bubble of Specula- 
 tion 315 
 
 XX Which Tells of the Settling of Abe Lincoln and the 
 Traylors in the Village of Springfield and of 
 Samson's Second Visit to Chicago 325 
 
 XXI Wherein a Remarkable School of Political Science 
 Begins Its Sessions in the Rear of Joshua Speed's 
 Store. Also at Samson's Fireside Honest Abe 
 Talks of the Authority of the Law and the Right 
 of Revolution, and Later Brings a Suit against 
 
 Lionel Davis 353 
 
 XXII Wherein Abe Lincoln Reveals His Method of Con- 
 ducting a Lawsuit in the Case of Henry Brim- 
 stead et al. vs. Lionel Davis 363 
 
 XXIII Which Presents the Pleasant Comedy of Individ- 
 
 ualism in the New Capital, and the Courtship of 
 Lincoln and Mary Todd 374 
 
 XXIV Which Describes a Pleasant Holiday and a Pretty 
 
 Stratagem 392 
 
 XXV Being a Brief Memoir by the Honorable and Ven- 
 erable Man Known in These Pages as Josiah 
 Traylor, Who Saw the Great Procession of 
 Events between Andrew Jackson and Woodrow 
 Wilson and Especially the Making and the End 
 of Lincoln 403 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
A Man for the Ages 
 
 BOOK ONE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 WHICH DESCRIBES THE JOURNEY OF SAMSON HENRY 
 TRAYLOR AND HIS WIFE AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN 
 AND THEIR DOG SAMBO THROUGH THE ADIRONDACK 
 WILDERNESS IN 183! ON THEIR WAY TO THE LAND 
 OF PLENTY, AND ESPECIALLY THEIR ADVENTURES 
 IN BEAR VALLEY AND NO SANTA CLAUS LAND. 
 FURTHERMORE, IT DESCRIBES THE SOAPING OF THE 
 BRIMSTEADS AND THE CAPTURE OF THE VEILED 
 BEAR. 
 
 IN the early summer of 1831 Samson Traylor and 
 his wife, Sarah, and two children left their old home 
 near the village of Vergennes, Vermont, and began 
 their travels toward the setting sun with four chairs, 
 a bread board and rolling-pin, a feather bed and 
 blankets, a small looking-glass, a skillet, an axe, a pack 
 basket with a pad of sole leather on the same, a water 
 pail, a box of dishes, a tub of salt pork, a rifle, a tea- 
 pot, a sack of meal, sundry small provisions and a 
 violin, in a double wagon drawn by oxen. It is a 
 pleasure to note that they had a violin and were not 
 
 i 
 
2 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 disposed to part with it. The reader must not overlook 
 its full historic significance. The stern, uncompromis- 
 ing spirit of the Puritan had left the house of the 
 Yankee before a violin could enter it. Humor and 
 the love of play had preceded and cleared a way for 
 it. Where there was a fiddle there were cheerful 
 hearts. A young black shepherd dog with tawny points 
 and the name of Sambo followed the wagon or ex- 
 plored the fields and woods it passed. 
 
 If we had been at the Congregational Church on 
 Sunday we might have heard the minister saying to 
 Samson, after the service, that it was hard to under- 
 stand why the happiest family in the parish and the 
 most beloved should be leaving its ancestral home to 
 go to a far, new country of which little was known. 
 We might also have heard Samson answer : 
 
 "It's awful easy to be happy here. We slide along 
 in the same old groove, that our fathers traveled, from 
 Vergennes to Paradise. We work and play and go 
 to meetin' and put a shin plaster in the box and grow 
 old and narrow and stingy and mean and go up to 
 glory and are turned into saints and angels. Maybe 
 that's the best thing that could happen to us, but Sarah 
 and I kind o' thought we'd try a new starting place 
 and another route to Heaven." 
 
 Then we might have seen the countenance of the 
 minister assume a grave and troubled look. "Samson, 
 you must not pull down the pillars of this temple," he 
 said. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 3 
 
 "No, it has done too much for me. I love its faults 
 even. But we have been called and must go. A great 
 empire is growing up in the West We want to see it; 
 we want to help build it." 
 
 The minister had acquired a sense of humor among 
 those Yankees. Years later in his autobiography he 
 tells how deeply the words of Samson had impressed 
 him. He had answered : 
 
 "Think of us. I don't know what we shall do with- 
 out your fun and the music of your laugh at the 
 pleasure parties. In addition to being the best wrestler 
 in the parish you are also its most able and sonorous 
 laugher." 
 
 "Yes, Sarah and I have got the laughing habit. I 
 guess we need a touch of misery to hold us down. But 
 you will have other laughers. The seed has been 
 planted here and the soil is favorable." 
 
 Samson knew many funny stories and could tell 
 them well. His heart was as merry as The Fisher's 
 Hornpipe. He used to say that he got the violin to 
 help him laugh, as he found his voice failing under the 
 strain. 
 
 Sarah and Samson had been raised on adjoining 
 farms just out of the village. He had had little school- 
 ing, but his mind was active and well inclined. Sarah 
 had prosperous relatives in Boston and had had the 
 advantage of a year's schooling in that city. She was 
 a comely girl of a taste and refinement unusual in the 
 place and time of her birth. Many well favored youths 
 
4 A : MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 had sought her hand, but, better than others, she liked 
 the big, masterful, good-natured, humorous Samson, 
 crude as he was. Naturally in her hands his timber 
 had undergone some planing and smoothing and his 
 thought had been gently led into new and pleasant 
 ways. Sarah's Uncle Rogers in Boston had kept them 
 supplied with some of the best books and magazines 
 of the time. These they had read aloud with keen 
 enjoyment. Moreover, they remembered what they 
 read and cherished and thought about it. 
 
 Let us take a look at them as they slowly leave the 
 village of their birth. The wagon is covered with tent 
 cloth drawn over hickory arches. They are sitting on 
 a seat overlooking the oxen in the wagon front. Tears 
 are streaming down the face of the woman. The man's 
 head is bent. His elbows are resting on his knees ; the 
 hickory handle of his ox whip lies across his lap, the 
 lash at his feet. He seems to be looking down at his 
 boots, into the tops of which his trousers have been 
 folded. He is a rugged, blond, bearded man with 
 kindly blue eyes and a rather prominent nose. There 
 is a striking expression of power in the head and 
 shoulders of Samson Traylor. The breadth of his 
 back, the size of his wrists and hands, the color of 
 his face betoken a man of great strength. This 
 thoughtful, sorrowful attitude is the only evidence of 
 emotion which he betrays. In a few minutes he begins 
 to whistle a lively tune. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 5 
 
 The boy Josiah familiarly called Joe sits beside 
 his mother. He is a slender, sweet-faced lad. He is 
 looking up wistfully at his mother. The little girl 
 Betsey sits between him and her father. 
 
 That evening they stopped at the house of an old 
 friend some miles up the dusty road to the north. 
 
 "Here we are goin' west," Samson shouted to the 
 man at the door-step. 
 
 He alighted and helped his family out of the wagon. 
 
 "You go right in I'll take care o' the oxen," said 
 the man. 
 
 Samson started for the house with the girl under 
 one arm and the boy under the other. A pleasant-faced 
 woman greeted them with a hearty welcome at the 
 door. 
 
 "You poor man! Come right in," she said. 
 
 "Poor ! I'm the richest man in the world," said he. 
 "Look at the gold on that girl's head curly, fine gold, 
 too the best there is. She's Betsey my little toy 
 woman half past seven years old blue eyes helps 
 her mother get tired every day. Here's my toy man 
 Josiah yes, brown hair and brown eyes like Sarah 
 heart o' gold helps his mother, too six times one 
 year old." 
 
 "What pretty faces !" said the woman as she stooped 
 and kissed them. 
 
 "Yes, ma'am. Got 'em from the fairies," Samson 
 on. "They have all kinds o' heads for little folks, 
 
6 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 an' I guess they color 'em up with the blood o' roses an' 
 the gold o' buttercups an' the blue o' violets. Here's 
 this wife o' mine. She's richer'n I am. She owns all 
 of us. We're her slaves." 
 
 "Looks as young as she did the day she was married 
 nine years ago," said the woman. 
 
 "Exactly !" Samson exclaimed. "Straight as an ar- 
 row and proud ! I don't blame her. She's got enough 
 to make her proud I say. I fall in love again every 
 time I look into her big, brown eyes." 
 
 The talk and laughter brought the dog into the 
 house. 
 
 "There's Sambo, our camp follower," said Samson. 
 "He likes us, one and all, but he often feels sorry for 
 us because we can not feel the joy that lies in buried 
 bones and the smell of a liberty pole or a gate post." 
 
 They had a joyous evening and a restful night with 
 these old friends and resumed their journey soon after 
 daylight. They ferried across the lake at Burlington 
 and fared away over the mountains and through the 
 deep forest on the Chateaugay trail. 
 
 Since the Pilgrims landed between the measureless 
 waters and the pathless wilderness they and their 
 descendants had been surrounded by the lure of mys- 
 teries. It filled the imagination of the young with 
 gleams of golden promise. The love of adventure, 
 the desire to explore the dark, infested and beautiful 
 forest, the dream of fruitful sunny lands cut with 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 7 
 
 water courses, shored with silver and strewn with gold 
 beyond it these were the only heritage of their sons 
 and daughters save the strength and courage of the 
 pioneer. How true was this dream of theirs gathering 
 detail and allurement as it passed from sire to son! 
 On distant plains to the west were lands more lovely 
 and fruitful than any of their vision ; in mountains far 
 beyond was gold enough to gild the dome of the 
 heavens, as the sun was wont to do at eventide, and 
 silver enough to put a fairly respectable moon in it. 
 Yet for generations their eyes were not to see, their 
 hands were not to touch these things. They were only 
 to push their frontier a little farther to the west and 
 hold the dream and pass it on to their children. 
 
 Those early years of the nineteenth century held the 
 first days of fulfillment Samson and Sarah Traylor 
 had the old dream in their hearts when they first turned 
 their faces to the West. For years Sarah had resisted 
 it, thinking of the hardships and perils in the way of 
 the mover. Samson, a man of twenty-nine when he 
 set out from his old home, was said to be "always 
 chasing the bird in the bush." He was never content 
 with the thing in hand. There were certain of their 
 friends who promised to come and join them when, at 
 last, they should have found the land of plenty. But 
 most of the group that bade them good-by thought it 
 a foolish enterprise and spoke lightly of Samson when 
 they were gone. America has undervalued the brave 
 
8 
 
 souls who went west in wagons, without whose sublime 
 courage and endurance the plains would still be an 
 unplowed wilderness. Often we hear them set down 
 as seedy, shiftless dreamers who could not make a 
 living at home. They were mostly the best blood of 
 the world and the noblest of God's missionaries. Who 
 does not honor them above the thrifty, comfort loving 
 men and women who preferred to stay at home, where 
 risks were few, the supply of food sure and sufficient 
 and the consolations of friendship and religion always 
 at hand. Samson and Sarah preferred to enlist and 
 take their places in the front battle line of Civilization. 
 
 They had read a little book called The Country of 
 the Sangamon. The latter was a word of the Potta- 
 watomies meaning land of plenty. It was the name of a 
 river in Illinois draining "boundless, flowery meadows 
 of unexampled beauty and fertility, belted with timber, 
 blessed with shady groves, covered with game and 
 mostly level, without a stick or a stone to vex the 
 plowman." Thither they were bound to take up a 
 section of government land. 
 
 They stopped for a visit with Elisha Howard and 
 his wife, old friends of theirs, who lived in the village 
 of Malone, which was in Franklin County, New York. 
 There they traded their oxen for a team of horses. 
 They were large gray horses named Pete and Colonel. 
 The latter was fat and good-natured. His chief in- 
 terest in life was food. Pete was always looking for 
 
food and perils. Colonel was the near horse. Now 
 and then Samson threw a sheepskin over his back and 
 put the boy on it and tramped along within arm's reach 
 of Joe's left leg. This was a great delight to the little 
 lad. 
 
 They proceeded at a better pace to the Black River 
 country, toward which, in the village of Canton, they 
 tarried again for a visit with Captain Moody and Silas 
 Wright, both of whom had taught school in the town 
 of Vergennes. 
 
 They proceeded through DeKalb, Richville and 
 Gouverneur and Antwerp and on to the Sand Plains. 
 They had gone far out of their way for a look at 
 these old friends of theirs. 
 
 Every day the children would ask many questions, 
 as they rode along, mainly about the beasts and birds 
 in the dark shadows of the forest through which they 
 passed. These were answered patiently by their father 
 and mother and every answer led to other queries. 
 
 "You're a funny pair," said their father one day. 
 "You have to turn over every word we say to see 
 what's under it. I used to be just like ye, used to go 
 out in the lot and tip over every stick and stone I could 
 lift to see the bugs and crickets run. You're always 
 hopin' to see a bear or a panther or a fairy run out 
 from under my remarks." 
 
 "Wonder why we don't see no bears?" Joe asked. 
 
 " 'Cause they always see us first or hear us comin',' ? 
 
io A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 said his father. "If you're goin' to see ol' Uncle Bear 
 ye got to pay the price of admission." 
 
 "What's that?" Joe asked. 
 
 "Got to go still and careful so you'll see him first. 
 If this old wagon didn't talk so loud and would kind 
 o' go on its tiptoes maybe we'd see him. He don't 
 like to be seen. Seems so he was kind o' shamed of 
 himself, an' I wouldn't wonder if he was. He's done 
 a lot o' things to be 'shamed of." 
 
 "What's he done?" Joe asked. 
 
 "Ketched sheep and pigs and fawns and run off with 
 'em." 
 
 "What does he do with 'em?" 
 
 "Eats 'em up. Now you quit Here's a lot o' rocks 
 and mud and I got to 'tend to business. You tackle 
 yer mother and chase her up and down the hills a while 
 and let me get my breath." 
 
 Samson's diary tells how, at the top of the long, 
 steep hills he used to cut a small tree by the roadside 
 and tie its butt to the rear axle and hang on to its 
 branches while his wife drove the team. This held 
 their load, making an effective brake. 
 
 Traveling through the forest, as they had been do- 
 ing for weeks, while the day waned, they looked for a 
 brookside on which they could pass the night with 
 water handy. Samson tethered, fed and watered their 
 horses, and while Sarah and the children built a fire 
 and made tea and biscuits, he was getting bait and 
 catching fish in the stream. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES n 
 
 "In a few minutes from the time I wet my hook a 
 mess of trout would be dressed and sizzling, with a 
 piece of salt pork, in the pan, or it was a bad day for 
 fishing," he writes. 
 
 After supper the wagon was partly unloaded, the 
 feather bed laid upon the planks under the wagon 
 roof and spread with blankets. Then Samson sang 
 songs and told stories or played upon the violin to 
 amuse the family. The violin invariably woke the 
 birds in the tree-tops, and some, probably thrushes or 
 warblers or white throated sparrows, began twittering. 
 Now and then one would express his view of the dis- 
 turbance with a little phrase of song. Often the player 
 paused'to hear these musical whispers "up in the gal- 
 lery," as he was wont to call it 
 
 Often if the others were weary and depressed he 
 would dance merrily around the fire, playing a lively 
 tune, with Sambo glad to lend a helping foot and much 
 noise to the program. If mosquitos and flies were 
 troublesome Samson built smudges, filling their camp 
 with the smoky incense of dead leaves, in which often 
 the flavor of pine and balsam was mingled. By and by 
 the violin was put away and all knelt by the fire while 
 Sarah prayed aloud for protection through the night. 
 So it will be seen that they carried with them their 
 own little theater, church and hotel. 
 
 Soon after darkness fell, Sarah and the children lay 
 down for the night, while Samson stretched out with 
 his blankets by the fire in good weather, the loaded 
 
12 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 musket and the dog Sambo lying beside him. Often 
 the howling of wolves in the distant forest kept them 
 awake, and the dog muttering and barking for hours. 
 
 Samson woke the camp at daylight and a merry song 
 Was his reveille while he led the horses to their drink. 
 
 "Have a good night ?" Sarah would ask. 
 
 "Perfect !" he was wont to answer. "But when the 
 smudges went out the mosquiters got to peckin' my 
 face." 
 
 "Mine feels like a pincushion," Sarah would often 
 answer. "Will you heat up a little water for us to 
 wash with ?" 
 
 "You better believe I will. Two more hedge hogs 
 last night, but Sambo let 'em alone." 
 
 Sambo had got his mouth sored by hedge hogs 
 some time before and had learned better than to have 
 any fuss with them. 
 
 When they set out in the morning Samson was wont 
 to say to the little lad, who generally sat beside him: 
 "Well, my boy, what's the good word this morning?" 
 Whereupon Joe would say, parrot like : 
 
 "God help us all and make His face to shine upon 
 us." 
 
 "Well said!" his father would answer, and so the 
 day's journey began. 
 
 Often, near its end, they came to some lonely farm- 
 house. Always Samson would stop and go to the door 
 to ask about the roads, followed by little Joe and 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 13 
 
 Betsey with secret hopes. One of these hopes was 
 related to cookies and maple sugar and buttered bread 
 and had been cherished since an hour of good fortune, 
 early in the trip and encouraged by sundry good- 
 hearted women along the road. Another was the hope 
 of seeing a baby mainly, it should be said, the hope 
 of Betsey. Joe's interest was merely an echo of hers. 
 He regarded babies with an open mind, as it were, for 
 the opinions of his sister still had some weight with 
 him, she being a year and a half older than he, but 
 babies invariably disappointed him, their capabilities 
 being so restricted. To be sure, they could make quite 
 a noise, and the painter was said to imitate it, 
 but since Joe had learned that they couldn't bite 
 he had begun to lose respect for them. Still, not 
 knowing what might happen, he always took a look 
 at every baby. 
 
 The children were lifted out of the wagon to stretch 
 their legs at sloughs and houses. They were sure to 
 be close behind the legs of their father when he stood 
 at a stranger's door. Then, the night being near, they 
 were always invited to put their horses in the barn and 
 tarry until next morning. This was due in part to 
 the kindly look and voice of Samson, but mostly to 
 the wistful faces of the little children a fact unsus- 
 pected by their parents. What motherly heart could 
 resist the silent appeal of children's faces or fail to 
 understand it? Those were memorable nights for 
 
14 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Sarah and Joe and Betsey. In a letter to her brother 
 the woman said : 
 
 "You don't know how good it seemed to see a 
 woman and talk to her, and we talked and talked 
 until midnight, after all the rest were asleep. She let 
 me hold the baby in my lap until it was put to bed. 
 How good it felt to have a little warm body in my 
 arms again and feel it breathing! In all my life I 
 never saw a prettier baby. It felt good to be in a real 
 house and sleep in a soft, warm bed and to eat jelly 
 and cookies and fresh meat and potatoes and bread and 
 butter. Samson played for them and kept them laugh- 
 ing with his stories until bedtime. They wouldn't take 
 a cent and gave us a dozen eggs in a basket and a 
 piece of venison when we went away. Their name is 
 Sanford and I have promised to write to them. They 
 are good Christian folks and they say that maybe they 
 will join us in the land of plenty if we find it all we 
 expect." 
 
 They had two rainy, cold days, with a northeast 
 wind blowing and deep mud in the roads. The chil- 
 dren complained of the cold. After a few miles' travel 
 they stopped at an old hunter's camp facing a great 
 mossy rock near the road. 
 
 "Guess we'll stop here for a visit," said Samson. 
 
 "Who we goin' to visit?" Joe asked. 
 
 "The trees and the fairies," said his father. "Don't 
 ye hear 'em askin' us to stop? They say the wind is 
 blowin' bad an' that we'd better stop an' make some 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 15 
 
 good weather. They offer us a house and a roof to 
 cover it and some wood to burn. I guess we'll be able 
 to make our own sunshine in a few minutes." 
 
 Samson peeled some bark and repaired the roof and, 
 with his flint and tinder and some fat pine, built a roar- 
 ing fire against the rock and soon had his family sit- 
 ting, in its warm glow, under shelter. Near by was 
 another rude framework of poles set in crotches 
 partly covered with bark which, with a little repairing, 
 made a sufficient shelter for Pete and Colonel. Down 
 by a little brook a few rods away he cut some balsams 
 and returned presently with his arms full of the frag- 
 rant boughs. These he dried in the heat of the fin 
 and spread in a thick mat on the ground under the 
 lean-to. It was now warm with heat, reflected from 
 the side of the great rock it faced. The light of the 
 leaping flames fell upon the travelers. 
 
 "Ye see ye can make yer own weather and fill it 
 with sunshine if ye only know how," said Samson, 
 as he sat down and brushed a coal out of the ashes and 
 swiftly picked it up with his fingers and put it into the 
 bowl of his clay pipe. "Mother and I read in a book 
 that the wood was full o' sunlight all stored up and 
 ready for us to use. Ye just set it afire and out comes 
 the warm sunlight for days like this. God takes pretty 
 good care of us don't He?" 
 
 The heat of other fires had eaten away a few inches 
 pf the base of the rock. Under its overhang some one 
 
16 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 had written with a black coal the words "Bear Valley 
 Camp." On this suggestion the children called for a 
 bear story, and lying back on the green mat of boughs, 
 Samson told them of the great bear of Camel's Hump 
 which his father had slain, and many other tales of the 
 wilderness. 
 
 They lived two days in this fragrant, delightful 
 shelter until the storm had passed and the last of their 
 corn meal had been fed to the horses. They were 
 never to forget the comfort and the grateful odors of 
 their camp in Bear Valley. 
 
 On a warm, bright day in the sand country after 
 the storm they came to a crude, half finished, frame 
 house at the edge of a wide clearing. The sand lay 
 in drifts on one side of the road. It had evidently 
 moved in the last wind. A sickly vegetation covered 
 the field. A ragged, barefooted man and three scrawny, 
 ill clad children stood in the dooryard. It was noon- 
 time. A mongrel dog, with a bit of the hound in him, 
 came bounding and barking toward the wagon and 
 pitched upon Sambo and quickly got the worst of it. 
 Sambo, after much experience in self-defense, had 
 learned that the best way out of such trouble was to 
 seize a leg and hang on. This he did. The mongrel 
 began to yelp. Samson lifted both dogs by the backs 
 of their necks, broke the hold of Sambo and tossed 
 aside the mongrel, who ran away whining. 
 
 "That reminds me of a bull that tackled a man over 
 in Vermont," said he. "The man had a club in his 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 17 
 
 hand. He dodged and grabbed the bull's tail and beat 
 him all over the lot. As the bull roared, the man hol- 
 lered : 'I'd like to know who began this fuss anyway.' ' 
 
 The stranger laughed. 
 
 "Is that your house?" Samson asked. 
 
 The man stepped nearer and answered in a low, con- 
 fidential tone : 
 
 "Say, mister, this is a combination poorhouse and 
 idiot asylum. I am the idiot. These are the poor." 
 
 He pointed to the children. 
 
 "You don't talk like an idiot," said Samson. 
 
 The man looked around and leaned over the wheel 
 as if about to impart a secret. 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye," he said in a low tone. "A real, 
 first-class idiot never does. You ought to see my 
 actions." 
 
 "This land is an indication that you're right," Sam- 
 son laughed. 
 
 "It proves it," the stranger whispered. 
 
 "Have you any water here?" Samson asked. 
 
 The stranger leaned nearer and said in his most con- 
 fidential tone : "Say, mister, it's about the best in the 
 United States. Right over yonder in the edge o' the 
 woods a spring cold as ice Simon-pure water. 
 'Bout the only thing this land'll raise is water." 
 
 "This land looks to me about as valuable as so much' 
 sheet lightnin' and I guess it can move just about as 
 quick," said Samson. 
 
 The stranger answered in a low tone : "Say, I'll tell 
 
i8 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ye, it's a wild cow don't stand still long 'nough 
 to give ye time to git anything out of it. I've toiled 
 and prayed, but it's hard to get much out of it." 
 
 "Praying won't do this land any good," Samson 
 answered. "What it need? is manure and plenty of it. 
 You can't raise anything here but fleas. It isn't decent 
 to expect God to help run a flea farm. He knows too 
 much for that, and if you keep it up He'll lose all 
 respect for ye. If you were to buy another farm and 
 bring it here and put it down on top o' this one, you 
 could probably make a living. I wouldn't like to live 
 where the wind could dig my potatoes." 
 
 Again the stranger leaned toward Samson and said 
 in a half-whisper: "Say, mister, I wouldn't want you 
 to mention it, but talkin' o' fleas, I'm like a dog with 
 so many of 'em that he don't have time to eat. Some- 
 body has got to soap him or he'll die. You see, I 
 traded my farm over in Vermont for five hundred 
 acres o' this sheet lightnin', unsight an' unseen. We 
 was all crazy to go West an' here we are. If it wasn't 
 for the deer an' the fish I guess we'd 'a' starved to 
 death long ago." 
 
 "Where did ye come from ?" 
 
 "Orwell, Vermont." 
 
 " What's yer name?" 
 
 "Henry Brimstead," the stranger whispered. 
 
 "Son of Elijah Brimstead?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 19 
 
 Samson took his hand and shook it warmly. "Well, 
 I declare!" he exclaimed. "Elijah Brimstead was a 
 friend o' my father." 
 
 "Who are you?" Brimstead asked. 
 
 "I'm one o' the Traylors o' Vergennes." 
 
 "My father used to buy cattle of Henry Traylor." 
 
 "Henry was my father. Haven't you let 'em know 
 about your bad luck?" 
 
 The man resumed his tone of confidence. "Say, I'll 
 tell ye," he answered. "A man that's as big a fool as 
 I am ought not to advertise it. A brain that has 
 treated its owner as shameful as mine has treated me 
 should be compelled to do its own thinkin' er die. I've 
 invented some things that may sell. I've been hopin' 
 my luck would turn." 
 
 "It'll turn when you turn it," Samson assured him. 
 
 Brimstead thoughtfully scuffed the sand with his 
 bare foot. In half a moment he stepped to the wheel 
 ind imparted this secret : "Say, mister, if you've any 
 more doubt o' my mental condition, I'm goin' to tell 
 ye that they've discovered valuable ore in my land two 
 miles back o' this road, an' I'm hopin' to make a for- 
 tune. Don't that prove my case?" 
 
 "Any man that puts his faith in the bowels of the 
 earth can have my vote," said Samson. 
 
 Brimstead leaned close to Samson's ear and said in 
 a tone scarcely audible : 
 
 "My brother Robert has his own idiot asylum. It's 
 
20 A ; MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 a real handsome one an' he has made it pay, but I 
 wouldn't swap with him." 
 
 Samson smiled, remembering that Robert had a 
 liquor store. "Look here, Henry Brimstead, we're 
 hungry," he said. "If ye furnish the water, we'll 
 skirmish around for bread and give ye as good a din- 
 ner as ye ever had in yer life." 
 
 Henry took the horses to his barn and watered and 
 fed them. Then he brought two pails of water from 
 the spring. Meanwhile Samson started a fire in a grove 
 of small poplars by the roadside and began broiling 
 venison, and Sarah got out the bread board and the 
 flour and the rolling-pin and the teapot. As she 
 waited for the water she called the three strange chil- 
 dren to her side. The oldest was a girl of ten, with 
 a face uncommonly refined and attractive. In spite 
 of her threadbare clothes, she had a neat and cleanly 
 look and gentle manners. The youngest was a boy 
 of four. They were a pathetic trio. 
 
 Joe had been telling them about Santa Claus and 
 showing them a jack-knife which had come down the 
 chimney in his pack at Christmas time and describing 
 a dress of his mother's that had gold and silver buttons 
 on it. The little six-year-old girl had asked him many 
 questions about his mother and had stood for some 
 moments looking up into Sarah's face. The girl tim- 
 idly felt the dress and hair of the woman and touched 
 her wedding ring. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 21 
 
 "Come and wash your faces and hands," Joe de- 
 manded as soon as the water came. 
 
 This they did while he poured from a dipper. 
 
 "Nice people always wash before they eat," he re- 
 minded them. 
 
 Then he showed them his bear stick, with the as- 
 surance that it had killed a hedge hog, omitting the 
 unimportant fact that his father had wielded it. The 
 ferocity of hedge hogs was a subject on which he had 
 large information. He told how one of their party 
 had come near getting his skin sewed on a barn door. 
 A hedge hog had come and asked Sambo if he would 
 have some needles. Sambo had never seen a hedge 
 hog, so he said that he guessed he would. 
 
 Then the hedge hog said : "Help yourself." 
 
 Sambo went to take some and just got his face full 
 of 'em so it looked like a head o' barley. They had 
 to be took out with a pinchers or they'd 'a' sewed his 
 skin on to a barn door. That was their game. They 
 tried to sew everybody's skin on a barn door. 
 
 Every night the hedge hog came around and said: 
 "Needles, needles, anybody want some needles." 
 
 Now Sambo always answered: "No thank you, 
 I've had enough." 
 
 "Where's your mother?" Sarah asked of the ten- 
 year-old girl. 
 
 "Dead. Died when my little brother was born." 
 
 "Who takes care of you ?" 
 
22 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "Father and God. Father says God does most 
 of it." 
 
 "Oh dear !" Sarah exclaimed, with a look of pity. 
 
 They had a good dinner of fresh biscuit and honey 
 and venison and eggs -and tea. While they were eat- 
 ing Samson told Brimstead of the land of plenty. 
 
 After dinner, while Brimstead was bringing the 
 team, one of his children, the blonde, pale, tattered 
 little girl of six, climbed into the wagon seat and sat 
 holding a small rag doll, which Sarah' had given her. 
 When they were ready to go she stubbornly refused 
 to get down. 
 
 "I'm goin' away," she said. "I'm goin' aw-a-ay off 
 to find my mother. I don't like this place. There ain't 
 no Santa Claus here. I'm goin' away." 
 
 She clung to the wagon seat and cried loudly when 
 her father took her down. 
 
 "Ain't that enough to break a man's heart ?" he said 
 with a sorrowful look. 
 
 Then Samson turned to Brimstead and asked : 
 
 "Look here, Henry Brimstead, are you a drinking 
 man ? Honor bright now." 
 
 "Never drink a thing but water and tea." 
 
 "Do you know of anybody who'll give ye anything 
 for what you own here?" 
 
 "There's a man in the next town who offered me 
 three hundred and fifty dollars for my interest." 
 
 "How far is it?" 
 
 "Three miles." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 23 
 
 "Come along with us and get the money if you 
 can. I'll help ye fit up and go where ye can earn a 
 living." 
 
 "I'd like to, but my horse is lame and I can't leave 
 the children." 
 
 "Put 'em right in this wagon and come on. If 
 there's a livery in the place, I'll send ye home." 
 
 So the children rode in the wagon and Samson and 
 Brimstead walked, while Sarah drove the team to the 
 next village. There the good woman bought new 
 clothes for the whole Brimstead family and Brimstead 
 sold his interest in the sand plains and bought a good 
 pair of horses, with harness and some cloth for a 
 wagon cover, and had fifty dollars in his pocket and a 
 new look in his face. He put his children on the backs 
 of the horses and led them to his old home, with a 
 sack of provisions on his shoulder. He was to take 
 the track of the Traylors next day and begin his jour- 
 ney to the shores of the Sangamon. 
 
 Samson had asked about him in the village and 
 learned that he was an honest man who had suffered 
 bad luck. A neighbor's wife had taken his children 
 for two years, but bad health had compelled her to 
 give them up. 
 
 "God does the most of it," Sarah quoted from the 
 young girl, as they rode on. "I guess He's saved 'em 
 from the poorhouse to-day. I hope they'll ketch up 
 with us. I'd like to look after those children a little. 
 They need a mother so." 
 
24 A 1 MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "They'll ketch up all right," said Samson. "We're 
 loaded heavier than they'll be and goin' purty slow. 
 They'll be leavin' No Santa Claus Land to-morrow 
 mornin'. Seems so God spoke to me when that girl 
 said there wa'n't no Santa Claus there." 
 
 "No Santa Claus Land is a good name for it," said 
 Sarah. 
 
 They got into a bad swale that afternoon and Sam- 
 son had to cut some corduroy to make a footing for 
 team and wagon and do much prying with the end 
 of a heavy pole under the front axle. By and by the 
 horses pulled them out 
 
 "When ol' Colonel bends his neck things have to 
 move, even if he is up to his belly in the mud," said 
 Samson. 
 
 As the day waned they came to a river in the deep 
 woods. It was an exquisite bit of forest with the bells 
 of a hermit thrush ringing in one of its towers. Their 
 call and the low song of the river were the only sounds 
 in the silence. The glow of the setting sun which 
 lighted the western windows of the forest had a color 
 like that of the music golden. Long shafts of it fell 
 through the tree columns upon the road here and 
 there. Our weary travelers stopped on the rude plank 
 bridge that crossed the river. Odors of balsam and 
 pine and tamarack came in a light, cool breeze up the 
 river valley. 
 
 "It smells like Bear Valley," said Sarah. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 25 
 
 "What was that poetry you learned for the church 
 party?" Samson asked. 
 
 "I guess the part of it you're thinking of is : 
 
 'And west winds with musky wing 
 Down the cedarn alleys fling 
 'Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.' ' 
 
 "That's it," said Samson. "I guess we'll stop at 
 this tavern till to-morrow." 
 
 Joe was asleep and they laid him on the blankets 
 until supper was ready. 
 
 Soon after supper Samson shot a deer which had 
 waded into the rapids. Fortunately, it made the op- 
 posite shore before it fell. All hands spent that eve- 
 ning dressing the deer and jerking the best of the 
 meat. This they did by cutting the meat into strips 
 about the size of a man's hand and salting and laying 
 it on a rack, some two feet above a slow fire, and cover- 
 ing it with green boughs. The heat and smoke dried 
 the meat in the course of two or three hours and gave 
 it a fine flavor. Delicious beyond any kind of meat is 
 venison treated in this manner. If kept dry, it 
 will retain its flavor and its sweetness for a month 
 or more. 
 
 Samson was busy with this process long after the 
 others had gone to bed. When it was nearly finished 
 he left the meat on the rack, the fire beneath it having 
 burned low, crossed the river to the wagon, got his 
 
26 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 blanket, reloaded his gun and lay down to sleep with 
 the dog beside him. 
 
 Some hours later he was awakened by "a kind of a 
 bull beller," as he described it. The dog ran barking 
 across the river. Samson seized the gun and followed 
 him. The first dim light of the morning showed 
 through the tree-tops. Some big animal was growling 
 and roaring and rolling over and over in a clump of 
 bushes near the meat rack. In half a moment it rolled 
 out upon the open ground near Samson. The latter 
 could now see that it was a large black bear engaged 
 in a desperate struggle with the pack basket. The 
 bear had forced his great head into the top of it and 
 its hoop had got a firm hold on his neck. He was 
 sniffing and growling and shaking his head and strik- 
 ing with both fore paws to free himself. Sambo had 
 laid hold of his stub tail and the bear was trying in 
 vain to reach him, with the dog dodging as he held on. 
 The movements of both were so lively that Samson 
 had to step like a dancer to keep clear of them. The 
 bear, in sore trouble, leaped toward him and the sway- 
 ing basket touched the side of the man. Back into 
 the bushes and out again they struggled, Sambo keep- 
 ing his hold. A more curious and ludicrous sight 
 never gladdened the eye of a hunter. Samson had 
 found it hard to get a chance to shoot at the noisy, 
 swift torrent of fur. Suddenly the bear rose on his 
 hind legs and let out an angry woof and gave the 
 basket a terrific shaking. In this brief pause a ball 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 27 
 
 from the rifle went to his heart and he fell. Samson 
 jumped forward, seized the dog's collar and pulled 
 him away while the bear struggled in his death throes. 
 Then the man started for camp, while his great laugh 
 woke distant echoes in the forest. 
 
 "Bear steak for dinner!" he shouted to Sarah and 
 the children, who stood shivering with fright on the 
 bridge. 
 
 Again his laughter filled the woods with sound. 
 
 "Gracious Peter ! What in the world was it ?" Sarah 
 asked. 
 
 "Well, ye see, ol' Uncle Bear came to steal our 
 bacon an' the bacon kind o' stole him," said Samson, 
 between peals of laughter, the infection of which went 
 to the heart and lips of every member of the family. 
 "Shoved his head into the pack basket and the pack 
 basket wouldn't let go. It said: 'This is the first 
 time I ever swallered a bear, an' if you don't mind 
 I'll stay on the outside. I kind o' like you.' But the 
 bear did mind. He didn't want to be et up by a bas- 
 ket. He'd always done the swallerin' himself an' he 
 hollered an' swore at the basket an' tried to scare it 
 off. Oh, I tell ye he was awful sassy and impudent to 
 that old thing, but it hung on and the way he flounced 
 around, with Sambo clingin' to his tail, and the bear 
 thinkin' that he was bein' swallered at both ends, was 
 awful. Come an' see him." 
 
 They went to the bear, now dead. Sambo ran ahead 
 of them and laid hold of the bear's stump of a tail 
 
28 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 and shook it savagely, as if inclined to take too much 
 credit upon himself. The hoop of the pack basket 
 had so tight a hold upon the bear's neck that it took a 
 strong pull to get it back over his head. One side of 
 the basket had been protected from the bear's claws 
 by a pad of sole leather the side which, when the 
 basket was in use, rested on the back of its carrier. 
 His claws had cut nearly through it and torn a carry- 
 ing strap into shreds. 
 
 "I guess he'd V tore off his veil if the dog had give 
 him a little more time," said Samson. "Ol' Uncle 
 Bear had trouble at both ends and didn't know which 
 way to turn." 
 
 A good-sized piece of bacon still lay in the bottom 
 of the basket 
 
 "I wouldn't wonder if that would taste pretty beary 
 now," said Samson, as he surveyed the bacon. "It's 
 been sneezed at and growled on so much. Betsey, yon 
 take that down to the shore o' the river there and wash 
 the bear out of it. I'll skin him while yer mother is 
 gettin' breakfast. There's plenty o' live coals under 
 the venison rack, I guess." 
 
 They set out rather late that morning. As usual, 
 Joe stood by the head of Colonel while the latter 
 lapped brown sugar from the timid palm of the boy. 
 Then the horse was wont to touch the face of Joe with 
 his big, hairy lips as a tribute to his generosity. 
 Colonel had seemed to acquire a singular attachment 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 29 
 
 for the boy and the dog, while Pete distrusted both 
 of them. He had never a moment's leisure, anyhow, 
 being always busy with his work or the flies. A few 
 breaks in the pack basket had been repaired with green 
 withes. It creaked with its load of jerked venison 
 when put aboard. The meat of the bear was nicely 
 wrapped in his hide and placed beside it. They sold 
 meat and hide and bounty rights in the next village 
 they reached for thirty long shillings. 
 
 "That cheers up the ol' weasel," Samson declared, 
 as they went on. 
 
 "He got a hard knock after we met the Brimsteads," 
 said Sarah. 
 
 "Yes, ma'am! and I'm not sorry either. He's got 
 to come out of his hole once in a while. I tell ye God 
 kind o' spoke to us back there in No Santa Claus Land. 
 He kind o' spoke to us." 
 
 After a little silence, Sarah said : "I guess He's apt 
 to speak in the voices of little children." 
 
 His weasel was a dried pig's bladder of unusual size 
 in which he carried his money. Samson had brought 
 with him a fairly good quantity of money for those 
 days. In a smaller bladder he carried his tobacco. 
 
 Farther on the boy got a sore throat. Sarah bound 
 a slice of pork around it and Samson built a camp by 
 the roadside, in which, after a good fire was started, 
 they gave him a hemlock sweat. This they did by 
 steeping hemlock in pails of hot water and, while the 
 
30 A ! MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 patient sat in a chair by the fireside, a blanket was 
 spread about him and pinned close to his neck. Under 
 the blanket they put the pails of steaming hemlock tea. 
 After his sweat and a day and night in bed, with a 
 warm fire burning in front of the shanty, Joe was able 
 to resume his seat in the wagon. They spoke of the 
 Brimsteads and thought it strange that they had not 
 come along. 
 
 On the twenty-ninth day after their journey began 
 they came in sight of the beautiful green valley of the 
 Mohawk. As they looked from the hills they saw the 
 roof of the forest dipping down to the river shores 
 and stretching far to the east and west and broken, 
 here and there, by small clearings. Soon they could 
 see the smoke and spires of the thriving village of 
 Utica. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 WHEREIN IS RECORDED THE VIVID IMPRESSION MADE 
 UPON THE TRAVELERS BY THEIR VIEW OF A STEAM 
 ENGINE AND OF THE FAMOUS ERIE CANAL. WHERE- 
 IN, ALSO, IS A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF SUNDRY CURIOUS 
 CHARACTERS MET ON THE ROAD AND AT A CELEBRA- 
 TION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY ON THE BIG WATER- 
 WAY. 
 
 AT Utica they bought provisions and a tin trumpet 
 for Joe, and a doll with a real porcelain face for 
 Betsey, and turned into the great main thoroughfare 
 of the north leading eastward to Boston and westward 
 to a shore of the midland seas. This road was once 
 the great trail of the Iroquois, by them called the Long 
 House, because it had reached from the Hudson to 
 Lake Erie, and in their day had been well roofed with 
 foliage. Here the travelers got their first view of a 
 steam engine. The latter stood puffing and smoking 
 near the village of Utica, to the horror and amazement 
 of the team and the great excitement of those in the 
 wagon. The boy clung to his father for fear of it. 
 
 Samson longed to get out of the wagon and take a 
 close look at the noisy monster, but his horses were 
 rearing in their haste to get away, and even a shore 
 
32 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 stop was impossible. Sambo, with his tail between his 
 legs, ran ahead, in a panic, and took refuge in some 
 bushes by the roadside. 
 
 "What was that, father?" the boy asked when the 
 horses had ceased to worry over this new peril. 
 
 "A steam engyne," he answered. "Sarah, did ye get 
 a good look at it?" 
 
 "Yes; if that don't beat all the newfangled notions 
 I ever heard of," she exclaimed. 
 
 "It's just begun doin' business," said Samson. 
 
 "What does it do?" Joe asked. 
 
 "On a railroad track it can grab hold of a house full 
 o' folks and run off with it. Goes like the wind, too." 
 
 "Does it eat 'em up?" Joe asked. 
 
 "No. It eats wood and oil and keeps yellin' for 
 more. I guess it could eat a cord o' wood and wash 
 it down with half a bucket o' castor oil in about five 
 minutes. It snatches folks away to some place and 
 drops 'em. I guess it must make their hair stand up 
 and their teeth chatter." 
 
 "Does it hurt anybody?" Joe asked hopefully. 
 
 "Well, sir, if anybody wanted to be hurt and got in 
 its way, I rather guess he'd succeed purty well. It's 
 powerful. Why, if a man was to ketch hold of the 
 tail of a locomotive, and hang on, it would jerk the 
 toe nails right off him." 
 
 Joe began to have great respect for locomotives. 
 
 Soon they came in view of the famous Erie Canal, 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 33 
 
 hard by the road. Through it the grain of the far 
 West had just begun moving eastward in a tide that 
 was flowing from April to December. Big barges, 
 drawn by mules and horses on its shore, were cutting 
 the still waters of the canal. They stopped and looked 
 at the barges and the long tow ropes and the tugging 
 animals. 
 
 "There is a real artificial river, hundreds o' miles 
 long, hand made of the best material, water tight, no 
 snags or rocks or other imperfections, durability guar- 
 anteed," said Samson. "It has made the name of 
 DeWitt Clinton known everywhere." 
 
 "I wonder what next!" Sarah exclaimed. 
 
 They met many teams and passed other movers 
 going west, and some prosperous farms on a road 
 wider and smoother than any they had traveled. They 
 camped that night, close by the river, with a Connecti- 
 cut family on its way to Ohio with a great load of 
 household furniture on one wagon and seven children 
 in another. There were merry hours for the young, 
 and pleasant visiting between the older folk that eve- 
 ning at the fireside. There was much talk among the 
 latter about the great Erie Canal. 
 
 So they fared along through Canandaigua and 
 across the Genesee to the village of Rochester and on 
 through Lewiston and up the Niagara River to the 
 Falls, and camped where they could see the great water 
 flood and hear its muffled thunder. When nearing the 
 
34 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 latter they overtook a family of poor Irish emigrants, 
 of the name of Flanagan, who shared their camp site 
 at the Falls. The Flanagans were on their way to 
 Michigan and had come from the old country three 
 years before and settled in Broome County, New 
 York. They, too, were on their way to a land of 
 better promise. Among them was a rugged, freckled, 
 red-headed lad, well along in his teens, of the name 
 of Dennis, who wore a tall beaver hat, tilted saucily 
 on one side of his head, and a ragged blue coat with 
 brass buttons, as he walked beside the oxen, whip in 
 hand, with trousers tucked in the tops of his big cow- 
 hide boots. There was also a handsome young man in 
 this party of the name of John McNeil, who wore a 
 ruffled shirt and swallow-tail coat, now much soiled 
 by the journey. He listened to Samson's account of 
 the Sangamon country and said that he thought he 
 would go there. He had traded hats on the way with 
 Dennis, who had been deeply impressed by the majes- 
 tic look of the beaver and had given a silver breast 
 pin and fifteen shillings to boot. 
 
 A jolly lad was Dennis, who danced jigs, on a flat 
 rock by the riverside, as Samson played The Irish 
 Washerman and The Fisher's Hornpipe. In the midst 
 of the fun a puff of wind snatched the tall beaver hat 
 from his head and whirled it over the side of the cliff 
 into the foliage of a clump of cedars growing out of 
 the steep cliff-side, ten feet or so below its top. Before 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 35 
 
 any one could stop him the brave Irish lad had scram- 
 bled down the steep to the cedars a place of some 
 peril, for they hung over a precipice more than a hun- 
 dred feet deep above the river. He got his treasure, 
 but Samson had to help him back with a rope. 
 
 The latter told of the veiled bear, and when the 
 story was finished he said to the Irish lad: "It will 
 not do you any harm to remember that it is easier to 
 get into trouble than to get out of it. In my opinion 
 one clean-hearted Irish boy is worth more than all the 
 beaver hats in creation." 
 
 Sarah gave the Irish family a good supply of cookies 
 and jerked venison before she bade them good-by. 
 
 When our travelers left, next morning, they stopped 
 for a last look at the great Falls. 
 
 "Children," said Samson, "I want you to take a 
 good look at that. It's the most wonderful thing in 
 the world and maybe you'll never see it again." 
 
 "The Indians used to think that the Great Spirit was 
 in this river," said Sarah. 
 
 "Kind o' seems to me they were right," Samson re- 
 marked thoughtfully. "Kind o' seems as if the great 
 spirit of America was in that water. It moves on in 
 the w r ay it wills and nothing can stop it. Everything 
 in its current goes along with it." 
 
 "And only the strong can stand the journey," said 
 Sarah. 
 
 These words were no doubt inspired by an ache in 
 
36 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 her bones. A hard seat and the ceaseless jolting of the 
 wagon through long, hot, dusty days had wearied 
 them. Even their hearts were getting sore as they 
 thought of the endless reaches of the roads ahead. 
 Samson stuffed a sack with straw and put it under her 
 and the children on the seat. At a word of complaint 
 he was wont to say : 
 
 "I know it's awful tiresome, but we got to- have 
 patience. We're goin' to get used to it and have a 
 wonderful lot of fun. The time'll pass quick you 
 see." 
 
 Then he would sing and get them all laughing with 
 some curious bit of drollery. They spent the night of 
 July third at a tavern in Buffalo, then a busy, crude and 
 rapidly growing center for the shipping east and west. 
 Next day there was to be a great celebration of the 
 Fourth of July in Buffalo and our travelers had 
 stopped there to witness it. The bells began to ring 
 and the cannon to bomb at sunrise. It was a day of 
 great excitement for the west-bound travelers. The 
 horses trembled in their stalls. Sambo took refuge in 
 Colonel's manger and would not come out. 
 
 There were many emigrants on their way to the 
 far West in the crowd men, women and children and 
 babies in arms Irish, English, Germans and Yankees. 
 There were also well dressed, handsome young men 
 "from the colleges of New England going out to be 
 missionaries "between the desert and the sown." 
 
 Buffalo, on the edge of the midland seas, had the 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 37 
 
 flavor of the rank, new soil in it those days and 
 especially that day, when it was thronged with rough 
 coated and rougher tongued, swearing men on a holi- 
 day, stevedores and boatmen off the lakes and rivers 
 of the middle border some of whom had had their 
 training on the Ohio and Mississippi. There was 
 much drunkenness and fighting in the crowded streets. 
 Some of the carriers and handlers of American com- 
 merce vented their enthusiasm in song. 
 
 In Samson's diary was the refrain of one of these 
 old lake songs, which he had set down, as best he 
 could, after the event : 
 
 "Then here's three cheers for the skipper an' his crew, 
 Give 'er the wind an' let 'er go, for the boys'll put 
 
 'er through; 
 I thought 'twould blow the whiskers right off ' you 
 
 an' me, 
 On our passage up from Buffalo -to Milwaukee-ee." 
 
 Each of these rough men had dressed to his own 
 fancy. Many wore fine boots of calf skin with red 
 tops, drawn over their trousers, and high heels and 
 blue and red shirts and broad brimmed straw hats. A 
 long haired man, in buckskin leggings and moccasins, 
 with a knife at his belt and too much whisky beneath 
 it, amused a crowd by a loud proclamation of his own 
 reckless and redoubtable character and a louder appeal 
 for a chance to put it in action. It was a droll bit of 
 bragging and merely intended, as the chronicler in- 
 forms us, to raise a laugh. 
 
38 A 1 MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "Here I be half man an' half alligator," he shouted. 
 "Oh, I'm one o' yer tough kind, live forever an' then 
 turn into a hickory post I've just crept out o' the 
 ma'shes of ol' Kentuck. I'm only a yearlin', but cuss 
 me if I don't think I can whip anybody in this part o' 
 the country. I'm the chap that towed the Broadhorn 
 up Salt River where the snags was so thick a fish 
 couldn't swim without rubbin' his scales off. Cock a 
 doodle doo! I'm the infant that refused his milk be- 
 fore his eyes was open an' called for a bottle o' rum. 
 Talk about grinnin' the bark off a tree that ain't 
 nothin'. One look o' mine would raise a blister on a 
 bull's heel. Cock a doodle doo! (slapping his thighs). 
 Gol darn it! Ain't there some one that dast come up 
 an' collar me? It would just please my vitals if there 
 was some man here who could split me into shoe pegs. 
 I deserve it if ever a man did. I'll have to go home 
 an' have another settlement with ol' Bill Sims. He's 
 purty well gouged up, an' ain't but one ear, but he's 
 willin' to do his best. That's somethin'. It kind o' 
 stays yer appetite, an' I suppose that's all a man like 
 me can expect in this world o' sorrow." 
 
 At this point a tall, raw-boned woman in "a brindle 
 dress" (to quote the phrase of Samson), wearing a 
 large gilt pin just below her collar, with an ortho- 
 graphic design which spelled the name Minnie, ap- 
 proached the hero and boldly boxed his ears. 
 
 "Licked at last," he shouted as he picked up his hat, 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 39 
 
 dislodged by the violence he had suffered, and retired 
 from the scene with a good-natured laugh. 
 
 Sarah was a bit dismayed by the behavior of these 
 rough forerunners of civilization. 
 
 "Don't worry," said Samson, as they were driving 
 away on the Lake Road next morning. "The lake and 
 river boatmen are the roughest fellers in the West, 
 and they're not half as bad as they look an' talk. Their 
 deviltry is all on the outside. They tell me that there 
 isn't one o' those boys who wouldn't give his life to 
 help a woman, an' I guess it's so." 
 
 They had the lake view and its cool .breeze on their 
 way to Silver Creek, Dunkirk and Erie, and a rough 
 way it was in those days. 
 
 Enough has been written of this long and wearisome 
 journey, but the worst of it was ahead of them much 
 the worst of it in the swamp flats of Ohio and Indi- 
 ana. In one of the former a wagon wheel broke 
 down, and that day Sarah began to shake with ague 
 and burn with fever. Samson built a rude camp by 
 the roadside, put Sarah into bed under its cover and 
 started for the nearest village on Colonel's back. 
 
 "I shall never forget that day spent in a lonely part 
 of the woods," the good woman wrote to her brother. 
 "It endeared the children to me more than any day I 
 can remember. They brought water from the creek, 
 a great quantity of which I drank, and bathed my 
 aching head and told me stories and cheered me in 
 
40 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 every way they could. Joe had his bear stick handy 
 and his plans for bears or wolves or Indians. Samson 
 had made some nails at a smithy in Pennsylvania. Joe 
 managed to drive one of them through an end of his 
 bear stick and made, as he thought, a formidable 
 weapon. With his nail he hoped to penetrate the 
 bear's eye. He had also put some bacon in the bottom 
 of the pack basket, knowing the liking of the basket 
 for bears. My faith in God's protection was perfect 
 and in spite of my misery the children were a great 
 comfort. In the middle of the afternoon Samson re- 
 turned with a doctor and some tools and a stick of 
 seasoned timber. How good he looked when he came 
 and knelt by my bed and kissed me! This is a hard 
 journey, but a woman can bear anything with such a 
 man. The doctor gave me Sapington's fever pills and 
 sai'd I would be all right in three days, and I was. 
 
 "Late that afternoon it began to rain. Samson was 
 singing as he worked on his wheel. A traveler came 
 along on horseback and saw our plight. He was a 
 young missionary going west. Samson began to joke 
 with him. 
 
 " 'You're a happy man for one in so much trouble,' 
 said the stranger. 
 
 "Then I heard Samson say: 'Well, sir, I'm in a fix 
 where happiness is absolutely necessary. It's like 
 grease on the wagon wheels we couldn't go on with- 
 out i't. When we need anything we make it if we can. 
 My wife is sick and the wagon is broke and it's rain- 
 ing and night is near in a lonesome country, and it 
 ain't a real good time for me to be down in the mouth 
 is it now? We haven't broke any bones or had an 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 41 
 
 earthquake or been scalped by Indians, so there's some 
 room for happiness.' 
 
 " 'Look here, stranger I like you/ said the man. 
 'If there's anything I can do to help ye, I'll stop 
 a while.' ' 
 
 He spent the night with them and helped mend the 
 felly and set the tire. 
 
 The fever and ague passed from one to another 
 and all were sick before the journey ended, although 
 Samson kept the reins in hand through his misery. 
 There were many breaks to mend, but Samson's in- 
 genuity was always equal to the task. 
 
 One day, near nightfall, they were overtaken by a 
 tall, handsome Yankee lad riding a pony. His pony 
 stopped beside the wagon and looked toward the trav- 
 elers as if appealing for help. The boy was pointing 
 toward the horizon and muttering. Sarah saw at 
 once that his mind was wandering in the delirium of 
 fever. She got out of the wagon and took his hand. 
 The moment she did so he began crying like a child. 
 
 "This boy is sick," she said to Samson, who came 
 and helped him off his horse. They camped for the 
 night and put the boy to bed and gave him medicine 
 and tender care. He was too sick to travel next day. 
 The Traylors stayed with him and nursed the lad 
 until he was able to go on. He was from Niagara 
 County, New York, and his name was Harry Needles. 
 His mother had died when he was ten and his father 
 
42 A 1 MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 had married again. ' He had not been happy in his 
 home after that and his father had given him a pony 
 and a hundred dollars and sent him away to seek his 
 own fortune. Homesick and lonely and ill, and just 
 going west with a sublime faith that the West would 
 somehow provide for him, he might even have perished 
 on the way if he had not fallen in with friendly people. 
 His story had touched the heart of Sarah and Samson. 
 He was a big, green, gentle-hearted country boy who 
 had set out filled with hope and the love of adventure. 
 Sarah found pleasure in mothering the poor lad, and 
 so it happened that he became one of their little party. 
 He was helpful and good-natured and had sundry arts 
 that pleased the children. The man and the woman 
 liked the big, honest lad. 
 
 One day he said to Samson: "I hope you won't 
 mind if I go along with you, sir." 
 
 "Glad to have you with us," said Samson. "We've 
 talked it over. If you want to, you can come along 
 with us and our home shall be yours and I'll do what's 
 right by you." 
 
 They fared along through Indiana and over the 
 wide savannas of Illinois, and on the ninety-seventh 
 day of their journey they drove through rolling, grassy, 
 flowering prairies and up a long, hard hill to the small 
 log cabin settlement of New Salem, Illinois, on the 
 shore of the Sangamon. They halted about noon in 
 the middle of this little prairie village, opposite a small 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 43 
 
 clapboarded house. A sign hung over its door which 
 bore the rudely lettered words: "Rutledge's Tavern." 
 
 A long, slim, stoop-shouldered young man sat in the 
 shade of an oak tree that stood near a corner of the 
 tavern, with a number of children playing around him. 
 He had sat leaning against the tree trunk reading a 
 book. He had risen as they came near and stood 
 looking at them, with the book under his arm. Sam- 
 son says in his diary that he looked like "an untrimmed 
 yearling colt about sixteen hands high. He got up 
 slow and kept rising till his bush of black tousled hair 
 was six feet four above the ground. Then he put on 
 an old straw hat without any band on it. He reminded 
 me of Philemon Baker's fish rod, he was that narrer. 
 For humliness I'd match him against the world. His 
 hide was kind o' yaller and leathery. I could see he 
 was still in the gristle a little over twenty but his 
 face was marked up by worry and weather like a 
 man's. I never saw anybody so long between joints. 
 Don't hardly see how he could tell when his feet got 
 cold.". 
 
 He wore a hickory shirt without a collar or coat or 
 jacket. One suspender held up his coarse, linsey 
 trousers, the legs of which fitted closely and came only 
 to a blue yarn zone above his heavy cowhide shoes. 
 Samson writes that he "fetched a sneeze and wiped 
 his big nose with a red handkerchief" as he stood sur- 
 veying them in silence, while Dr. John Allen, who had 
 
44 
 
 sat on the door-step reading a paper a kindly faced 
 man of middle age with a short white beard under his 
 chin greeted them cheerfully. 
 
 The withering sunlight of a day late in August fell 
 upon the dusty street, now almost deserted. Faces at 
 the doors and windows of the little houses were look- 
 ing out at them. Two ragged boys and a ginger 
 colored dog came running toward the wagon. The 
 latter and Sambo surveyed each other with raised hair 
 and began scratching the earth, straight legged, whin- 
 ing meanwhile, and in a moment began to play to- 
 gether. A man in blue jeans who sat on the veranda 
 of a store opposite, leaning against its wall, stopped 
 whittling and shut his jack-knife. 
 
 "Where do ye hail from ?" the Doctor asked. 
 
 "Vermont," said Samson. 
 
 "All the way in that wagon?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "I guess you're made o' the right stuff," said the 
 Doctor. "Where ye bound ?" 
 
 "Don't know exactly. Going to take up a claim 
 somewhere." 
 
 "There's no better country than right here. This 
 is the Canaan of America. We need people like you. 
 Unhitch your team and have some dinner and we'll 
 talk things over after you're rested. I'm the doctor 
 here and I ride all over this part o' the country. I 
 reckon I know it pretty well." 
 
 A woman in a neat calico dress came out of the 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 45 
 
 door a strong built and rather well favored woman 
 with blonde hair and dark eyes. 
 
 "Mrs. Rutledge, these are travelers from the East," 
 said the Doctor. "Give 'em some dinner, and if they 
 can't pay for it, I can. They've come all the way from 
 Vermont." 
 
 "Good land ! Come right in an' rest yerselves. Abe, 
 you show the gentleman where to put his horses an' 
 lend him a hand." 
 
 Abe extended his long arm toward Samson and 
 said "Howdy" as they shook hands. 
 
 "When his big hand got hold of mine, I kind of felt 
 his timber," Samson writes. "I says to myself, 
 'There's a man it would be hard to tip over in a 
 rassle.' " 
 
 "What's yer name? How long ye been travelin'? 
 My conscience! Ain't ye wore out?" the hospitable 
 Mrs. Rutledge was asking as she went into the house 
 with Sarah and the children. "You go and mix up 
 with the little ones and let yer mother rest while I git 
 dinner," she said to Joe and Betsey, and added as she 
 took Sarah's shawl and bonnet: "You lop down an' 
 rest yerself while I'm flyin' around the fire." 
 
 "Come all the way from Vermont?" Abe asked as 
 he and Samson were unhitching. 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "By jing!" the slim giant exclaimed. "I reckon you 
 feel like throwin' off yer harness an' takin' a roll in 
 the grass." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 WHEREIN THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO OFFUT's 
 STORE AND HIS CLERK ABE, AND THE SCHOLAR 
 JACK KELSO AND HIS CABIN AND HIS DAUGHTER 
 BIM, AND GETS A FIRST LOOK AT LINCOLN. 
 
 THEY had a dinner of prairie chickens and roast 
 venison, flavored with wild grape jelly, and creamed 
 potatoes and cookies and doughnuts and raisin pie. 
 It was a well cooked dinner, served on white linen, 
 in a clean room, and while they were eating, the sym- 
 pathetic landlady stood by the table, eager to learn of 
 their travels and to make them feel at home. The 
 .good food and their kindly welcome and the beauty 
 of the rolling, wooded prairies softened the regret 
 which had been growing in their hearts, and which 
 only the children had dared to express. 
 
 "Perhaps we haven't made a mistake after all," 
 Sarah whispered when the dinner was over. "I like 
 these people and the prairies are beautiful." 
 
 "It is the land of plenty at last," said Samson, as 
 they came out-of-doors. "It is even better than I 
 thought." 
 
 "As Douglas Jerrold said of Australia: 'Tickle it 
 with a hoe and it laughs with a harvest,' " said Dr. 
 
 46 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 47 
 
 Allen, who still sat in the shaded dooryard, smoking 
 his pipe. "I have an extra horse and saddle. Sup- 
 pose you leave the family with Mrs. Rutledge and 
 ride around with me a little this afternoon. I can 
 show you how the land lies off to the west of us, and 
 to-morrow we'll look at the other side." 
 
 "Thank you I want to look around here a little," 
 said Samson. "What's the name of this place?" 
 
 "New Salem. We call it a village. It has a mill, a 
 carding machine, a tavern, a schoolhouse, five stores, 
 fourteen houses, two or three men of genius, and a 
 noisy dam. You will hear other damns, if you stay here 
 long enough, but they don't amount to much. It's a. 
 crude but growing place and soon it will have all the 
 embellishments of civilized life." 
 
 That evening many of the inhabitants of the little 
 village came to the tavern to see the travelers and 
 were introduced by Dr. Allen. Most of them had 
 come from Kentucky, although there were two Yankee 
 families who had moved on from Ohio. 
 
 "These are good folks," said the Doctor. "There 
 are others who are not so good. I could show you 
 some pretty rough customers at Clary's Grove, not far 
 from here. We have to take things as they are and 
 do our best to make 'em better." 
 
 "Any Indians?" Sarah asked. 
 
 "You see one now and then, but they're peaceable. 
 Most of 'em have gone with the buffalos farther 
 
48 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 west. We have make-believe Indians some reckless 
 white boys who come whooping into the village, half 
 crazy with drink, once in a while. They're not so bad 
 as they seem to be. We'll have to do a little mission- 
 ary work with them. The Indians have left their 
 imitators all over the West, but they only make a loud 
 noise. That will pass away soon. It's a noisy land. 
 Now and then a circuit rider gets here and preaches 
 to us. You'll hear the Reverend Stephen Nuckles if 
 you settle in these parts. He can holler louder than 
 any man in the state." 
 
 "You bet he can holler some when he gits fixed for 
 it," said Abe, who sat near the open door. 
 
 "He's for them that need scarin'. The man that 
 don't need that has to be his own preacher here and 
 sow and reap his own morality. He can make him- 
 self just as much of a saint as he pleases." 
 
 "If he has the raw material to work with," Abe in- 
 terposed. 
 
 "The self-made saint is the only kind I believe in," 
 said Samson. 
 
 "We haven't any Erie Canal to Heaven, with the 
 minister towin' us along," said Abe. "There's some 
 that say it's only fifteen miles to Springfield, but the 
 man that walks it knows better." 
 
 The tavern was the only house in New Salem with 
 stairs in it. Stairs so steep, as Samson writes, that 
 "they were first cousins to the ladder." There were 
 
A MAN. FOR THE AGES 49 
 
 four small rooms above them. Two of these were 
 separated by a partition of cloth hanging from the 
 rafters. In each was a bed and bedstead and smaller 
 beds on the floor. In case there were a number of 
 adult guests the bedstead was screened with sheets 
 hung upon strings. In one of these rooms the travel- 
 ers had a night of refreshing sleep. 
 
 After riding two days with the Doctor, Samson 
 bought the claim of one Isaac Gollaher to a half sec- 
 tion of land a little more than a mile from the western 
 end of the village. He chose a site for his house on 
 the edge of an open prairie. 
 
 "Now we'll go over and see Abe," said Dr. Allen, 
 after the deal was made. "He's the best man with 
 an axe and a saw in this part of the country. He 
 clerks for Mr. Offut. Abe Lincoln is one of the best 
 fellows that ever lived a rough diamond just out of 
 the great mine of the West, that only needs to be cut 
 and polished." 
 
 Denton Offut's store was a small log structure about 
 twenty by twenty which stood near the brow of the 
 hill east of Rutledge's Tavern. When they entered it 
 Abe lay at full length on the counter, his head resting 
 on a bolt of blue denim as he studied a book in his 
 hand. He wore the same shirt and one suspender and 
 linsey trousers which he had worn in the dooryard of 
 the tavern, but his feet were covered only by his blue 
 yarn socks/ 
 
"A. MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 It was a general store full of exotic flavors, chiefly 
 those of tea, coffee, whisky, tobacco, muscovado sugar 
 and molasses. There was a counter on each side. 
 Bolts of cloth, mostly calico, were piled on the far end 
 of the right counter as one entered and the near end 
 held a show case containing a display of cutlery, pewter 
 spoons, jewelry and fishing tackle. There were dou- 
 ble windows on either side of the rough board door 
 with its wooden latch. The left counter held a case 
 filled with threads, buttons, combs, colored ribbons, 
 and belts and jew's-harps. A balance stood in the mid- 
 dle of this counter. A chest of tea, a big brown jug, 
 a box of candles, a keg and a large wooden pail occu- 
 pied its farther end. The shelving on its side walls 
 was filled by straw hats, plug tobacco, bolts of cloth, 
 pills and patent medicines and paste-board boxes con- 
 taining shirts, handkerchiefs and underwear. A suit of 
 blue jeans, scythes and snaths, hoes, wooden hand 
 rakes and a brass warming-pan hung from the rafters. 
 At the rear end of the store was a large fireplace. 
 There were two chairs near the fireplace, both of which 
 were occupied by a man who sat in one while his feet 
 lay on the other. He was sleeping peacefully, his chin 
 resting on his breast. He wore a calico shirt with a 
 fanciful design of morning-glories on it printed in ap- 
 propriate colors, a collar of the same material and a 
 red necktie. 
 
 Abe laid aside his book and rose to a sitting pos- 
 ture. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 51 
 
 "Pardon me you see the firm is busy," said Abe. 
 "You know Eb Zane used to say that he was never 
 so busy in his life as when he lay on his back with a 
 broken leg. He said he had to work twenty- four hours 
 a day doin' nothin' an' could never git an hour off. 
 But a broken leg is not so bad as a lame intellect. 
 That lays you out with the fever an' ague of ignorance. 
 Jack Kelso recommended Kirkham's pills and poul- 
 tices of poetry. I'm trying both and slowly getting the 
 better of it. I've learned three conjugations, between 
 customers, this afternoon." 
 
 The man sleeping in the chair began snoring and 
 groaning. 
 
 "Don't blame Bill," Abe went on. "Any man would 
 have the nightmare in a shirt like that. He went to a 
 dance at Clary's Grove last night and they shut him 
 up in a barrel with a small dog and rolled 'em down 
 hill in it. I reckon that's how he learnt how to growl." 
 
 In the laughter that followed the sleeper awoke. 
 
 "You see there's quite an undercurrent beneath the 
 placid surface of our enterprise," Abe added. 
 
 The sleeper whose name was William Berry rose 
 and stretched himself and was introduced to the new- 
 comer. He was a short, genial man, of some thirty 
 years, with blond, curly hair and mustache. On 
 account of his shortness and high color he was often 
 referred to as the Billberry shortcake. His fat cheeks 
 had a color as definite as that of the blossoms on his 
 shirt, now rather soiled. His prominent nose shared 
 
52 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 their glow of ruddy opulence. His gray eyes wore 
 a look of apology. He walked rather stiffly as if his 
 legs were rheumatic. 
 
 "Mr. Traylor, this is Mr. William Berry," said Dr. 
 Allen. "In this beautiful shirt he resembles a bit of 
 vine-clad sculpture from an Italian garden, but is real 
 flesh and blood and a good fellow." 
 
 "I don't understand your hi'gh-toned talk," said 
 Berry. "This shirt suits me to a dot." 
 
 "It is the pride of New Salem," said the Doctor. 
 "Mr. Traylor has just acquired an interest in all our 
 institutions. He has bought the Gollaher tract and 
 is going to build a house and some fences. Abe, 
 couldn't you help get the timber out in a hurry so we 
 can have a raising within a week? You know the 
 arts of the axe better than any of us." 
 
 Abe looked at Samson. 
 
 "I reckon he and I would make a good team with the 
 axe," he said. "He looks as if he could push a house 
 down with one hand and build it up with the other. 
 You can bet I'll be glad to help in any way I can." 
 
 "We'll all turn in and help. I should think Bill 
 or Jack Kelso could look after the store for a few 
 days," said the Doctor. "I promised to take Mr. 
 Traylor over to Jack Kelso's to-night. Couldn't you 
 come along?" 
 
 "Good! We'll have a story-tellin' and get Jack to 
 unlimber his guns," said Abe. 
 
 It was a cool evening with a promise of frost in the 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 53 
 
 air. Jack Kelso's cabin, one of two which stood close 
 together at the western end of the village, was lighted 
 by the cheery blaze of dry logs in its fireplace. There 
 were guns on a rack over the fireplace under a buck's 
 head; a powder horn hanging near them on its string 
 looped over a nail. There were wolf and deer and 
 bear pelts on the floor. The skins of foxes, raccoons 
 and wildcats adorned the log walls. Jack Kelso was 
 a blond, smooth faced, good-looking, merry-hearted 
 Scot, about forty years old, of a rather slight build, 
 some five feet, eight inches tall. That is all that any 
 one knew of him save that he spent most of his time 
 hunting and fishing and seemed to have all the best 
 things, which great men had said or written, on the 
 tip of his tongue. He was neatly dressed in a blue 
 flannel coat and shirt, top boots and riding breeches. 
 
 "Welcome ! and here's the best seat at the fireside," 
 he said to Samson. 
 
 Then, as he filled his pipe, he quoted the lines from 
 Cymbeline : 
 
 " 'Think us no churls nor measure our good minds 
 'By this rude place we live in.' 
 
 "My wife and daughter are away for a visit and for 
 two days I've had the cabin to myself. Look, ye wor- 
 shipers of fire, and see how fine it is now! The 
 homely cabin is a place of beauty. Everything has 
 the color of, the rose, coming and going in the flick- 
 ering shadows. What a heaven it is when the flames 
 
54 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 are leaping! Here is Hogarth's line of beauty; noth- 
 ing perpendicular or horizontal." 
 
 He took Abe's hand and went on : "Here, ye lovers 
 of romance, is one of the story-tellers of Ispahan who 
 has in him the wisdom of the wandering tribes. He 
 can tell you a tale that will draw children from their 
 play and old men from the chimney corner. My boy, 
 take a chair next to Mr. Traylor." 
 
 He took the hand of the Doctor and added : "Here, 
 too, is a man whose wit is more famous than his pills 
 one produces the shakes and the other cures them. 
 Doctor, you and I will take the end seats." 
 
 "My pills can be relied upon but my wit is like my 
 dog, away from home most of the time," said the Doc- 
 tor. 
 
 "Gathering the bones with which you often astonish 
 us," said Kelso. "How are the lungs, Doctor?" 
 
 "They're all right. These long rides in the open are 
 making a new man of me. Another year in the city 
 would have used me up." 
 
 "Mr. Traylor, you stand up as proud and firm as a 
 big pine," Kelso remarked. "I believe you're a Yan- 
 kee." 
 
 "So do I," said Samson. "If you took all the Yan- 
 kee out o' me I'd have an empty skin." 
 
 Then Abe began to show the stranger his peculiar 
 art in these words : 
 
 "Stephen Nuckles used to say: 'God's grace em- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 55 
 
 braces the isles o' the sea an' the uttermost parts o* 
 the earth. It takes in the Esquimaux an' the Hot- 
 tentots. Some go so fur as to say that it takes in 
 the Yankees but I don't go so fur.' ' 
 
 Samson joined in the good-natured laughter that 
 followed. 
 
 "If you deal with some Yankees you take your life 
 in your hands," he said. "They can serve God or 
 Mammon and I guess they have given the Devil some 
 of his best ideas. He seems to be getting a lot of 
 Yankee notions lately." 
 
 "There was a powerful prejudice in Kentucky 
 against the Yankees," Abe went on. "Down there they 
 used to tell about a Yankee who sold his hogs and 
 was driving them to town. On the way he decided that 
 he had sold them too cheap. He left them with his 
 drover in the road and went on to town and told the 
 buyer that he would need help to bring 'em in. 
 
 " 'How's that?' the buyer asked. 
 
 " 'Why they git away an' go to runnin' through the 
 woods an' fields an' we can't keep up with 'em.' 
 
 " 'I don't think" I want 'em,' says the buyer. 'A 
 speedy hog hasn't much pork to carry. I'll give ye 
 twenty bits to let me off.' ' 
 
 "I guess that Yankee had one more hog than he'd 
 counted," said Samson. 
 
 "It reminds me of a man in Pope County who 
 raised the biggest hog in Illinois," Abe went on. "It 
 
I 
 
 56 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 was a famous animal and people from far and near 
 came to see him. One day a man came an' asked to 
 see the hog. 
 
 " 'We're chargin' two bits for the privilege now,' 
 said the owner. 
 
 "The man paid the money and got into his wagon. 
 
 " 'Don't you want to see him ?' the farmer asked. 
 
 " 'No,' said the stranger. 'I've seen the biggest 
 hog in Illinois an' I don't care to look at a smaller 
 one.' " 
 
 "Whatever prejudice you may find here will soon 
 vanish," said Kelso, turning to the newcomer. "I have 
 great respect for the sturdy sons of New England. 1 
 believe it was Theodore Parker who said that the pine 
 was the symbol of their character. He was right. 
 Its roots are deep in the soil; it towers above the 
 forest; it has the strength of tall masts and the sub- 
 stance of the builder in its body, music in its wav- 
 ing branches and turpentine in its veins. I thought 
 of this when I saw Webster and heard him speak at 
 Plymouth." 
 
 "What kind of a looking man is he?" Abe asked. 
 
 "A big erect, splendid figure of a man. He walked 
 like a ram at the head of his flock. As he began 
 speaking I thought of that flash of Homer's in the 
 Odyssey : 
 
 " 'When his great voice went forth out of his breast 
 and his words fell like the winter snows not then 
 would any mortal contend with Ulysses.' ' 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 57 
 
 Abe who since his story had sat with a sad face look- 
 ing into the fire now leaned forward, his elbows on 
 his knees, and shook his head with interest while his 
 gray eyes took on a look of animation. The diary 
 speaks often of the "veil of sadness" on his face. 
 
 "He is a very great man," Abe exclaimed. 
 
 "Have you learned that last noble flight of his in 
 the reply to Hayne as you promised ?" Kelso asked. 
 
 "I have," said Abe, "and the other day when I was 
 tramping back from Bowlin Green's I came across a 
 drove of cattle and stopped and gave it to them. They 
 all let go of the grass and stood looking. By an' by 
 the bull thought he'd stood it as long as he could an' 
 bellered back at me." 
 
 "Good ! Now stand up and let us see how you imi' 
 tate the great chief of the Whig clan," said Kelso. 
 
 The lank and awkward youth rose and began to 
 speak the lines in a high pitched voice that trembkd 
 with excitement. It lowered and steadied and rang 
 out like noble music on a well played trumpet as the 
 channel of his spirit filled with the mighty current of 
 the orator's passion. Then, indeed, the words fell 
 from his lips "like the winter snows." 
 
 "They shook our hearts as the wind shakes the 
 branches of a tree," Samson writes in his diary. "The 
 lean, bony body of the boy was transfigured and as I 
 looked at his face in the firelight I thought it was hand- 
 some. 
 
 "Not a word was spoken for a minute after he sat 
 
58 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 down. I had got my first look at Lincoln. I had seen 
 his soul. I think it was then I began to realize that 
 a man was being made among us 'more precious than 
 fine gold; even a man more precious than the golden 
 wedge of Ophir.' ' 
 
 The Doctor gazed in silence at the boy. Kelso sat 
 with both hands in his pockets and his chin upon his 
 breast looking solemnly into the fire. 
 
 "Thank you, Abe," he said in a low voice. "Some- 
 thing unusual has happened and I'm just a little scared." 
 
 "Why?" Abe asked. 
 
 "For fear somebody will spoil it with another hog 
 story. I'm a little afraid of anything I can say. I 
 would venture this, that the man Webster is a prophet. 
 In his Plymouth address he hears receding into never 
 returning distance the clank of chains and all the hor- 
 rid din of slavery. It will come true." 
 
 "Do you think so?" Abe asked. 
 
 "Surely there are so many of us who hate it. These 
 Yankees hate it and they and their children are scat- 
 tering all over the midlands. Their spirit will guide 
 the West. The love of Liberty is the salt of their blood 
 and the marrow of their bones. Liberty means free- 
 dom for all. Wait until these babies, coming out here 
 by the wagon load, have grown to manhood. Slavery 
 will have to reckon with them." 
 
 "I hate it too," said Abe. "Down the Mississippi 
 I have seen men and women sold like oxen. If I live 
 I'm going to hit that thing on the head some day." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 59 
 
 "Do you still want to be a lawyer ?" Kelso asked. 
 
 "Yes, but sometimes I think I'd make a better black- 
 smith," said Abe. 
 
 "I believe you'd do better with the hammer of ar- 
 gument" 
 
 "If I had the education likely I would. I'm trying 
 to make up my mind what's best for me." 
 
 "No, you're trying to decide what is best for your 
 friends and your country and for the reign of law and 
 justice and liberty." 
 
 "But I think every man acts from selfish motives," 
 Abe insisted. 
 
 Dr. Allen demurred as follows: 
 
 "The other night you happened to remember that 
 you had overcharged Mrs. Peters for a jug of molasses 
 and after you had closed the store you walked three 
 miles to return the money which belonged to her. 
 Why did you do it?" 
 
 "For a-selfish motive," said Abe. "I believe hon- 
 esty is the best policy." 
 
 "Then you took that long walk just to advertise 
 your honesty to induce people to call you 'Honest 
 Abe' as they have begun to do ?" 
 
 "I wouldn't want to put it that way," said Abe. 
 
 "But that's the only way out," the Doctor insisted, 
 "and we knowing ones would have to call you 'Sordid 
 Abe.' " 
 
 "There's a hidden Abe and you haven't got ac- 
 quainted with him yet," Kelso interposed. "We have 
 
60 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 all caught a glimpse of him to-night. He's the Abe 
 that loves honor and justice and humanity and their 
 great temple of freedom that is growing up here in 
 the new world. He loves them better than fame or 
 fortune or life itself. I think it must have been that 
 Abe whose voice sounded like a trumpet just now and 
 who sent you off to Mrs. Peters with the money. You 
 haven't the chance to know him that we have. Some 
 day you two will get acquainted." 
 
 "I don't know how to plead to that indictment," 
 Abe answered. "It looks so serious I shall have to take 
 counsel." 
 
 At this moment there was a loud rap on the door. 
 Mr. Kelso opened it and said : "Hello, Eli ! Come in." 
 
 A hairy faced, bow legged man, bent under a great 
 pack, partly covered with bed ticking, stood in the door- 
 way. 
 
 "Hello, Mr. Kelso," the bearded man answered. 
 "The poor vandering Jew has gome back ag'in hey? 
 I tink I haf to take de hump off my back before I 
 gits in." 
 
 Staggering beneath his load he let it down to the 
 ground. 
 
 "Bring in your Trojan horse and mind you do not 
 let out its four and twenty warriors until morning. 
 I'll have some bread and milk for you in a minute. 
 Gentlemen, this is my friend Eli a wandering pioneer 
 of trade." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 61 
 
 "I haf a vonderful line o' goods vonderful! von- 
 derful !" said the Jew, gesturing with both hands. "Silk 
 an' satin ! De flowers o' de prairie, de birds o' de air 
 could not show you colors like dem. You vill fall 
 in love. If I do not let you have dem you vill break 
 your hearts. An' I have here one instrument dot make 
 all kind o' music." 
 
 "First supper then open your Trojan horse," said 
 Kelso. 
 
 "First I must show my goods," the Jew insisted, 
 "an' I'll bet you take dem all everyt'ing vat I have 
 in dot pack an' you pay my price an' you t'ank me an' 
 say 'Eli, vat you have to drink?' ' 
 
 "I'll bet you four bits I don't," said Kelso. 
 
 "You are my frient; I vould not take your money 
 like dot so easy. No ! It vould not be right. These 
 are Scotch goods, gentlemen so rare an' beautiful - 
 not'mg like dem in de world." 
 
 He began to undo his pack while the little company 
 stood around him. 
 
 "Gentlemen, you can see but you can not buy. Only 
 my frient can have dem goods," he went on glibly as 
 he removed the cover of the pack. 
 
 Suddenly there was a lively stir in it. To the amaze- 
 ment of all a beautiful girl threw aside the ticking and 
 leaped out of the large wicker basket it had covered. 
 With a merry laugh she threw her arms around Jack 
 Kelso's neck- and kissed him. 
 
62 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 The men clapped their hands in noisy merriment. 
 "That's like Bim, isn't it?" said the Doctor. 
 
 "Exactly!" Abe exclaimed. 
 
 "I stop at David Barney's an' dere she took de goods 
 out o' my pack an' fix up dis job lot fer you," said 
 Eli with a laugh. 
 
 "A real surprise party !" the girl exclaimed. 
 
 She was a small sized girl, nearing sixteen, with red 
 cheeks and hazel eyes and blonde hair that fell in 
 curls upon her shoulders. 
 
 "Mr. Traylor, this is my daughter Bim," said Kelso. 
 "She is skilled in the art of producing astonishment." 
 
 "She must have heard of that handsome boy at the 
 tavern and got in a hurry to come home," said the 
 Doctor. 
 
 "Ann Rutledge says that he is a right purty boy," the 
 girl laughed as she brushed her curls aside. 
 
 She turned to Samson Traylor and asked wistfully, 
 "Do you suppose he would play with me?" 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 WHICH PRESENTS OTHER LOG CABIN FOLK AND THE 
 FIRST STEPS IN THE MAKING OF A NEW HOME AND 
 CERTAIN CAPACITIES AND INCAPACITIES OF ABE. 
 
 NEXT morning at daylight two parties went out in 
 the woods to cut timber for the home of the new- 
 comers. In one party were Harry Needles carrying 
 two axes and a well filled luncheon pail ; Samson with 
 a saw in his hand and the boy Joe on his back; Abe 
 with saw and axe and a small jug of root beer and a 
 book tied in a big red handkerchief and slung around 
 his neck. When they reached the woods Abe cut a 
 pole for the small boy and carried him on his shoulder 
 to the creek and said: 
 
 "Now you sit down here and keep order in this 
 little frog city. If you hear a frog say anything im- 
 proper you fetch him a whack. Don't allow any non- 
 sense. We'll make you Mayor of Frog City." 
 
 The men fell to with axes and saws while Harry 
 limbed the logs and looked after the Mayor. Their 
 huge muscles flung the sharp axes into the timber and 
 gnawed through it with the saw. Many big trees fell 
 before noon time when they stopped for luncheon. 
 While they were eating Abe said : 
 
 "I reckon we better saw out a few boards this aft- 
 ernoon. Need 'em for the doors. We'll tote a cou- 
 
 63 
 
64 r A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 pie of logs up on the side o' that knoll, put 'em on 
 skids an' whip 'em up into boards with the saw." 
 
 Samson took hold of the middle of one of the logs 
 and raised it from the ground. 
 
 "I guess we can carry 'em," he said. 
 
 "Can ye shoulder it ?" Abe asked. 
 
 "Easy," said Samson as he raised an end of the 
 log, stepped beneath it and, resting its weight on his 
 back, soon got his shoulder near its center and swung 
 it clear of the ground and walked with it to the knoll- 
 side where he let it fall with a resounding thump that 
 shook the ground. Abe stopped eating and watched 
 every move in this remarkable performance. The 
 ease with which the big Vermonter had so defied the 
 law of gravitation with that unwieldly stick amazed 
 him. 
 
 "That thing'll weigh from seven to eight hundred 
 pounds," said he. "I reckon you're the stoutest man 
 in this part o' the state an' I'm quite a man myself. 
 I've lifted a barrel o' whisky and put my mouth to 
 the bung hole. I never drink it." 
 
 "Say," he added as he sat down and began eating 
 a doughnut. "If you ever hit anybody take a sledge 
 hammer or a crowbar. It wouldn't be decent to use 
 your fist." 
 
 "Don't talk when you've got food in your mouth," 
 said Joe who seemed to have acquired a sense of re- 
 sponsibility for the manners of Abe. 
 
 "I reckon you're right," Abe laughed. "A man's 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 65 
 
 ideas ought not to be mingled with cheese and dough- 
 nuts." 
 
 "Once in a while I like to try myself in a lift," said 
 Samson. "It feels good. I don't do it to show off. 
 I know there's a good many men stouter than I be. 
 I guess you're one of 'em." 
 
 "No, I'm too stretched out my neck is too far from 
 the ground," Abe answered. "I'm like a crowbar. If 
 I can get my big toe or my fingers under anything I 
 can pry some." 
 
 After luncheon he took off his shoes and socks. 
 
 "When I'm working hard I always try to give my 
 feet a rest and my brain a little work at noon time," 
 he remarked. "My brain is so far behind the proces- 
 sion I have to keep putting the gad on it. Give me 
 twenty minutes of Kirkham and I'll be with you 
 again." 
 
 He lay down on his back under a tree with his book 
 in hand and his feet resting on the tree trunk well 
 above him. Soon he was up and at work again. 
 
 They hewed a flat surface on opposite sides of the 
 log which Samson had carried and peeled it and raised 
 its lower end on a cross timber. Then they marked 
 it with a chalk line and sliced it into inch boards with 
 a whip saw, Abe standing on top of the log and Sam- 
 son beneath it. Suddenly the saw stopped. A clear, 
 beautiful voice flung the music of Sweet Nightingale 
 into the timbered hollow. It halted the workers and 
 set the woodland ringing. The men stood silent like 
 
66 
 
 those hearing 1 a benediction. The singing ceased. Still 
 they listened for half a moment. It was as if a spirit 
 had passed and touched them. 
 
 "It's Bim the little vixen!" said Abe tenderly. 
 "She's hiding here in the woods somewheres." 
 
 Abe straightened up and peered through the bushes. 
 The singing ceased. 
 
 "I can see yer curls. Come out from behind that 
 tree you piece o' Scotch goods !" Abe shouted. 
 Only silence followed his demand. 
 "Come on," Abe persisted. "There's a good-look- 
 ing boy here and I want to introduce you." 
 
 "Ask him to see if he can find me," said the voice 
 of the girl from a distance. 
 
 Abe beckoned to Harry and pointed to the tree be- 
 hind which he had seen her hiding. Harry stealthily 
 approached it only to find that she had gone. He 
 looked about for a moment but could not see her. 
 Soon they heard a little call, suggesting elfland trum- 
 pets, in a distant part of the wood. It was repeated 
 three or four times; each time fainter and farmer. 
 They saw and heard no more of her that day. 
 
 "She's an odd child and as pretty as a spotted fawn, 
 and about as wild," said Abe. "She's a kind of a first 
 cousin to the bobolink." 
 
 When they were getting ready to go home that aft- 
 ernoon Joe got into a great hurry to see his mother. 
 It seemed to him that ages had elapsed since he had 
 seen her a conviction which led to noisy tears. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 67 
 
 Abe knelt before him and comforted the boy. Then 
 he wrapped him in his jacket and swung him in the 
 air and started for home with Joe astride his neck. 
 
 Samson says in his diary : "His tender play with the 
 little lad gave me another look at the man Lincoln." 
 
 "Some one proposed once that we should call that 
 stream the Minnehaha," said Abe as he walked along. 
 "After this Joe and I are going to call it the Minne- 
 boohoo." 
 
 The women of the little village had met at a quilt- 
 ing party at ten o'clock with Mrs. Martin Waddell. 
 There Sarah had had a seat at the frame and heard all 
 the gossip of the countryside. The nimble fingered 
 Ann Rutledge a daughter of the tavern folk had 
 sat beside her. Ann was a slender, good-looking girl 
 of seventeen with blue eyes and a rich crown of auburn 
 hair and a fair skin well browned by the sunlight. She 
 was the most dexterous needle worker in New Salem. 
 It was Mrs. Peter Lukins, a very lean, red haired 
 woman with only one eye which missed no matri- 
 monial prospect who put the ball in play so to speak. 
 
 "Ann, if Honest Abe gits you, you'll have to spend 
 the first three months makin' a pair o' breeches for him. 
 It'll be a mile o' sewin'." 
 
 "I reckon she'd have to spend the rest o' her life 
 keepin' the buttons on 'em," said Mrs. John Cameron. 
 
 "Abe doesn't want me and I don't want Abe so I 
 reckon some other girl will have to make his breeches," 
 said Ann. 
 
68 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "My lord! but he's humbly," said Mrs. Alexander 
 Ferguson. 
 
 "Han'some is that han'some does," Mrs. Martin 
 Waddell remarked. "I don't know anybody that does 
 han'somer." 
 
 "Han'some is that han'some looks I say," Mrs. Lu- 
 kins continued with a dreamy look in her eye. 
 
 "I like a man that'll bear inspection up an' a corn- 
 in' an' neat an' trim as a buck deer," Mrs. Ferguson 
 confessed. 
 
 "An' the first ye know he's up an' a goin'," said Mrs. 
 Samuel Hill. "An then all ye have to look at is a 
 family o' children an' the empty bread box." 
 
 "Wait until Abe has shed his coat an' is filled out a 
 little. He'll be a good-lookin' man an' I wouldn't wen- 
 der," Mrs. Waddell maintained. 
 
 "If Abe lives he'll be a great man, I think," said 
 Mrs. Dr. Allen. "I forgot how he looked when I 
 heard him talking the other night at the debate in the 
 schoolhouse about the flogging of sailors with the 
 cat o' nine tails. He has a wonderful gift. If I were 
 Ann I should be proud of his friendship and proud to 
 go with him to the parties." 
 
 "I am," said Ann meekly, with her eyes upon her 
 work. "I love to- hear him talk, too." 
 
 "Oh, land o' mercy! He's good company if you 
 only use your ears," Mrs. Ferguson remarked. "Mis' 
 Traylor, where did you git your man ?" 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 69 
 
 "At Vergennes. We were born in the same neigh- 
 borhood and grew up together," said Sarah. 
 
 "Now there's the kind of a man ! Stout as a buffalo 
 an' as to looks I'd call him, as ye might say, real 
 copasetic." Mrs. Lukins expressed this opinion sol- 
 emnly and with a slight cough. Its last word stood 
 for nothing more than an indefinite depth of mean- 
 ing. She added by way of drawing the curtain of 
 history: "I'll bet he didn't dilly dally long when he 
 made up his mind. I reckon he were plum owdacious." 
 
 "What a pretty pattern this is!" said Sarah with 
 a sudden shift of front. 
 
 Mrs. Lukins was not to be driven from the Elysian 
 fields so easily and forthwith she told the story of 
 her own courtship. 
 
 A bountiful dinner of stewed venison and chicken 
 pie and tea and frosted cake was served, all hands 
 turning in to help with the table and the cleaning up. 
 While they were eating Sarah told of her long jour- 
 ney and their trials with fever and ague. 
 
 "It's the worst part of going west but it really isn't 
 very dangerous," said Mrs. Dr. Allen. 
 
 "Nine scoops o' water in the holler o' the hand from 
 a good spring for three mornin's before sunrise an' 
 strong coffee with lemon juice will break the ager 
 every time," said Mrs. Lukins. "My gran' mammy 
 used to say it were better than all the doctors an' I've 
 tried it an' know what it'll do." 
 
70 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I suppose if you got ten scoops it would be no 
 good," said Sarah with a laugh in which Mrs. Allen 
 and some of the others joined. 
 
 Mrs. Lukins looked offended. "When I'm takin' 
 medicine I always foller directions," said she. 
 
 So the day passed with them and was interrupted 
 by the noisy entrance of Joe, soon after candlelight, 
 who climbed on the back of his mother's chair and 
 kissed her and in breathless eagerness began to relate 
 the history of his own day. 
 
 That ended the quilting party and Sarah and Mrs. 
 Rutledge and Ann joined Samson and Abe and Harry 
 Needles who were waiting outside and walked to the 
 tavern with them. 
 
 John McNeil, whom the Traylors had met on the 
 road near Niagara Falls and who had shared their 
 camp with them, arrived on the stage that evening. 
 He was dressed in a new butternut suit and clean linen 
 and looked very handsome. Samson writes that he 
 resembled the pictures of Robert Emmet. With fine, 
 dark eyes, a smooth skin, well moulded features and 
 black hair neatly brushed on a shapely head he was 
 not at all like the rugged Abe. In a low tone and very 
 modestly, with a slight brogue on his tongue he told 
 of his adventures on the long, shore road to Michigan. 
 Ann sat listening and looking into his face as he talked. 
 Abe came in, soon after eight o'clock, and was intro- 
 duced to the stranger. All noted the contrast between 
 the two young men as they greeted each other. Abe 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 71 
 
 sat down for a few minutes and looked sadly into the 
 fire but said nothing. He rose presently, excused him- 
 self and went away. 
 
 Soon Samson followed him. Over at Offut's store 
 he did not find Abe, but Bill Berry was drawing liquor 
 from the spigot of a barrel set on blocks in a shed con- 
 nected with the rear end of the store and serving it 
 to a number of hilarious young Irishmen. His shirt 
 was soiled. Its morning-glories had grown dim in a 
 kind of dusty twilight. The young men asked Samson 
 to join them. 
 
 "No, thank you. I never touch it," he said. 
 
 "We'll come over here an' learn ye how to enjoy 
 yerself some day," one of them said. 
 
 "I'm pretty well posted on that subject now," Sam- 
 son answered. 
 
 It is likely that they would have begun his schooling 
 at once but when they came out into the store and 
 saw the big Vermonter standing in the candlelight 
 their laughter ceased for a moment. Bill was among 
 them with a well filled bottle in his hand. 
 
 He and the others got into a wagon which had been 
 waiting at the door and drove away with a wild In- 
 dian whoop from the lips of one of the young men. 
 
 Samson sat down in the candlelight and Abe in a 
 moment arrived. 
 
 "I'm getting awful sick o' this business," said Abe. 
 
 "I kind o' guess you don't like the whisky part of 
 it," Samson remarked, as he felt a piece of cloth. 
 
72 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I hate it," Abe went on. "It don't seem respectable 
 any longer." 
 
 "Back in Vermont we don't like the whisky business." 
 
 "You're right, it breeds deviltry and disorder. In 
 my youth I was surrounded by whisky. Everybody 
 drank it. A bottle or a jug of liquor was thought to 
 be as legitimate a piece of merchandise as a pound 
 of tea or a yard of calico. That's the way I've always 
 thought of it. But lately I've begun to get the Yankee 
 notion about whisky. When it gets into bad company 
 it can raise the devil." 
 
 Soon after nine o'clock Abe drew a mattress rilled 
 with corn husks from under the counter, cleared away 
 the bolts of cloth and laid i't where they had been 
 and covered it with a blanket. 
 
 "This is my bed," said he. "I'll be up at five in the 
 morning. Then I'll be making tea here by the fire- 
 place to wash down some jerked meat and a hunk o* 
 bread. At six or a little after I'll be ready to go with 
 you again. Jack Kelso is going to look after the 
 store to-morrow." 
 
 He began to laugh. 
 
 "Ye know when I went out of the tavern that little 
 vixen stood peekin' into the window >Bim, Jack's 
 girl," said Abe. "I asked her why she didn't go in 
 and she said she was scared. 'Who you 'fraid of?' 
 I asked. 'Oh, I reckon that boy/ says she. And hon- 
 estly her hand trembled when she took hold of my arm 
 and walked to her father's house with me." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 73 
 
 Abe snickered as he spread another blanket. "What 
 a cut-up she is! Say, we'll have some fun watching 
 them two I reckon," he said. 
 
 The logs were ready two days after the cutting be- 
 gan. Martin Waddell and Samuel Hill sent teams to 
 haul them. John Cameron and Peter Lukins had 
 brought the window sash and some clapboards from 
 Beardstown in a small flat boat. Then came the day 
 of the raising a clear, warm day early in September. 
 All the men from the village and the near farms gath- 
 ered to help make a home for the newcomers. Sam- 
 son and Jack Kelso went out for a hunt after the cut- 
 ting and brought in a fat buck and many grouse for 
 the bee dinner, to which every woman of the neighbor- 
 hood made a contribution of cake or pie or cookies or 
 doughnuts. 
 
 "What will be my part?" Samson had inquired of 
 Kelso. 
 
 "Nothing but a jug of whisky and a kind word and 
 a house warming," Kelso had answered. 
 
 They notched and bored the logs and made pins 
 to bind them and cut those that were to go around 
 the fireplace and window spaces. Strong, willing and 
 well trained hands hewed and fitted the logs together. 
 Alexander Ferguson lined the fireplace with a curious 
 mortar made of clay in which he mixed grass for a 
 binder. This mortar he rolled into layers called 
 "cats," each eight inches long and three inches thick. 
 Then he laid them against the logs and held them in 
 
74 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 place with a woven network of sticks. The first fire 
 a slow one baked the clay into a rigid stone-like 
 sheath inside the logs and presently the sticks were 
 burned away. The women had cooked the meats by an 
 open fire and spread the dinner on a table of rough 
 boards resting on poles set in crotches. At noon one 
 of them sounded a conch shell. Then with shouts of 
 joy the men hurried to the fireside and for a moment 
 there was a great spluttering over the wash basins. 
 Before they ate every man except Abe and Samson 
 "took a pull at the jug long or short" to quote a 
 phrase of the time. 
 
 It was a cheerful company that sat down upon the 
 grass around the table with loaded plates. Their food 
 had its extra seasoning of merry jests and loud laugh- 
 ter. Sarah was a little shocked at the forthright direct- 
 ness of their eating, no knives or forks or napkins 
 being needed in that process. Having eaten, washed 
 and packed away their dishes the women went home 
 at two. Before they had gone Samson's ears caught 
 a thunder of horses' feet in the distance. Looking 
 in its direction he saw a cloud of dust in the road and 
 a band of horsemen riding toward them at full speed. 
 Abe came to him and said : 
 
 "I see the boys from Clary's Grove are coming. If 
 they get mean let me deal with 'em. It's my respon- 
 sibility. I wouldn't wonder if they had some of Off- 
 ut's whisky with them." 
 
 The boys arrived in a cloud of dust and a chorus 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 75 
 
 of Indian whoops and dismounted and hobbled their 
 horses. They came toward the workers, led by burly 
 Jack Armstrong, a stalwart, hard-faced blacksmith of 
 about twenty-two with broad, heavy shoulders, whose 
 name has gone into history. They had been drink- 
 ing some but no one of them was in the least degree 
 off his balance. They scuffled around the jug for a 
 moment in perfect good nature and then Abe and Mrs. 
 .Waddell provided them with the best remnants of the 
 dinner. They were rather noisy. Soon they went 
 tip on the roof to help with the rafters and the clap- 
 boarding. They worked well a few minutes and sud- 
 denly they came scrambling down for another pull 
 at the jug. They were out for a spree and Abe knew 
 it and knew further that they had reached the limit 
 of discretion. 
 
 "Boys, there are ladies here and we've got to be 
 careful," he said. "Did I ever tell you what Uncle 
 Jerry Holman said of his bull calf? He said the calf 
 was such a suckcess that he didn't leave any milk for 
 the family and that while the calf was growin' fat 
 the children was growin' poor. In my opinion you're 
 about fat enough for the present. Le's stick to the 
 job till four o'clock. Then we'll knock off for refresh- 
 ments." 
 
 The young revelers gathered in a group and began 
 to whisper together. Samson writes that it became evi- 
 dent then they were going to make trouble and says : 
 
;6 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "We had left the children at Rutledge's in the care 
 of Ann. I went to Sarah and told her she had better 
 go on and see if they were all right. 
 
 " 'Don't you get in any fight,' she said, which shows 
 that the women knew what was in the air. 
 
 "Sarah led the way and the others followed her." 
 
 Those big, brawny fellows from the grove when 
 they got merry were looking always for a chance to 
 get mad at some man and turn him into a plaything. 
 A victim had been a necessary part of their sprees. 
 Many a poor fellow had been fastened in a barrel 
 and rolled down hill or nearly drowned in a ducking 
 for their amusement. A chance had come to get mad 
 and they were going to make the most of it. They 
 began to growl with resentment. Some were wigging 
 their leader Jack Armstrong to fight Abe. One of 
 them ran to his horse and brought a bottle from his 
 saddle-bag. It began passing from mouth to mouth. 
 Jack Armstrong got the bottle before it was half 
 emptied, drained it and flung it high in the air. An- 
 other called him a hog and grappled him around the 
 waist and there was a desperate struggle which ended 
 quickly. Armstrong got a hold on the neck of his as- 
 sailant and choked him until he let go. This was not 
 enough for the sturdy bully of Clary's Grove. He 
 seized his follower and flung him so roughly on the 
 ground that the latter lay for a moment stunned. 
 Armstrong had got his blood warm and was now ready 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 77 
 
 for action. With a wild whoop he threw off his coat, 
 unbuttoned his right shirt-sleeve and rolled it to the 
 shoulder and declared in a loud voice, as he swung 
 his arm in the air, that he could "out jump, out hop, 
 out run, throw down, drag out an' lick any man in 
 New Salem." 
 
 In a letter to his father Samson writes : 
 
 "Abe was working at my elbow. I saw him drop 
 his hammer and get up and make for the ladder. I 
 knew something was going to happen and I followed 
 him. In a minute every one was off the roof and out 
 of the building. I guess they knew what was com- 
 ing. The big lad stood there swinging his arm and 
 yelling like an Injun. It was a big arm and muscled 
 and corded up some but I guess if I'd shoved the 
 calico off mine and held it up he'd a pulled down his 
 sleeve. I suppose the feller's arm had a kind of a 
 mule's kick in it, but, good gracious! If he'd a seen 
 as many arms as you an' I have that have growed 
 up on a hickory helve he'd a known that his was noth- 
 ing to brag of. I didn't know just how good a man 
 Abe was and I was kind o' scairt for a minute. I 
 never found i't so hard work to do nothin' as I did 
 then. Honest my hands kind o' ached. I wanted to 
 go an' cuff that feller's ears an' grab hold o' him an' 
 toss him over the ridge pole. Abe went right up to 
 him an' sai'd : 
 
 " 'J ac k, you ain't half so bad or half so cordy as ye 
 think ye are. You say you can throw down any man 
 here. I reckon I'll have to show ye that you're mis- 
 taken. I'll rassle with ye. We're friends an' we won't 
 
78 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 talk about lickin' each other. Le's have a friendly 
 rassle.' 
 
 "In a second the two men were locked together. 
 Armstrong had lunged at Abe with a yell. There was 
 no friendship in the way he took hold. He was going 
 to do all the damage he could in any way he could. 
 He tried to butt with his head and ram his knee into 
 Abe's stomach as soon as they came together. Half 
 drunk Jack is a man who would bite your ear off. It 
 was no rassle; it was a fight. Abe moved like light- 
 ning. He acted awful limber an' well greased. In a 
 second he had got hold of the feller's neck with his 
 big right hand and hooked his left into the cloth on 
 his hip. In that way he held him off and shook him 
 as you've seen our dog shake a woodchuck. Abe's 
 blood was hot. If the whole crowd had piled on him 
 I guess he would have come out all right, for when 
 he's roused there's something in Abe more than bones 
 and muscles. I suppose it's what I feel when he speaks 
 a piece. It's a kind of lightning. I guess it's what 
 our minister used to call the power of the spirit. Abe 
 said to me afterwards that he felt as if he was fight- 
 ing for the peace and honor of New Salem. 
 
 "A friend of the bully jumped in and tried to trip 
 Abe. Harry Needles stood beside me. Before I could 
 move he dashed forward and hit that feller in the mid- 
 dle of his forehead and knocked hi'm flat. Harry had 
 hit Bap McNoll the cock fighter. I got up next to the 
 kettle then and took the scum off it. Fetched one of 
 them devils a slap with the side of my hand that took 
 the skin off his face and rolled him over and over. 
 When I looked again Armstrong was going limp. His 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 79 
 
 mouth was open and his tongue out. With one hand 
 fastened to his right leg and the other on the nape 
 of his neck Abe lifted him at arm's length and gave 
 him a toss in the air. Armstrong fell about ten feet 
 from where Abe stood and lay there for a minute. The 
 fight was all out of him and he was kind of dazed and 
 sick. Abe stood up like a giant and his face looked 
 awful solemn. 
 
 " 'Boys, if there's any more o' you that want trou- 
 ble you can have some off the same piece,' he said. 
 
 "They hung their heads and not one of them made 
 a move or said a word. Abe went to Armstrong and 
 helped him up. 
 
 " 'Jack, I'm sorry that I had to hurt you/ he said. 
 'You get on to your horse and go home.' 
 
 " 'Abe, you're a better man than me,' said the bully, 
 as he offered his hand to Abe. Til do anything you 
 say.' " 
 
 So the Clary's Grove gang was conquered. They 
 were to make more trouble but not again were they 
 to imperil the foundations of law and order in the 
 little community of New Salem. As they were start- 
 ing away Bap McNoll turned to Harry Needles and 
 shouted: "I'll git even with you yet you slab-sided 
 son of a dog." 
 
 That is not exactly what he said but it is near 
 enough. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IN WHICH THE CHARACTER OF BIM KELSO FLASHES OUT 
 IN A STRANGE ADVENTURE THAT BEGINS THE WEAV- 
 ING OF A LONG THREAD OF ROMANCE. 
 
 THE shell of the cabin was finished that day. Its 
 puncheon floor was in place but its upper floor was to 
 be laid when the boards were ready. Its two doors 
 were yet to be made and hung, its five windows to be 
 fitted and made fast, its walls to be chinked with clay 
 mortar. Samson and Harry stayed that evening after 
 the rest were gone, smoothing the puncheon floor. 
 They made a few nails at the forge after supper and 
 went over to Abe's store about nine. Two of the 
 Clary's Grove Gang who had tarried in the village sat 
 in the gloom of its little veranda apparently asleep. 
 Dr. Allen, Jack Kelso, Alexander Ferguson and Mar- 
 tin Waddell were sitting by its fireside while Abe sat 
 on the counter with his legs hanging off. 
 
 "He's a tough oak stick of a man," Kelso was say- 
 ing. 
 
 "Here he is now," said Dr. Allen. "That lad you 
 cuffed had to stop at my office for repairs." 
 
 "I told you once to use a crowbar if you wanted to 
 hit anybody, but never to use your hands," said Abe. 
 
 80 
 
8i 
 
 "Well there wasn't any time to lose and there was 
 no crowbar handy," said Samson. 
 
 "That reminds me of a general who made the boys 
 of his regiment promise to let him do all the swearin'," 
 Abe began. "One day a sergeant got into trouble with 
 a mule team. It was raining hard and the off mule 
 balked. Wouldn't draw a pound. The sergeant got 
 wet to the skin and swore a song of fourteen verses 
 that was heard by half the, regiment. The general 
 called him up for discipline. 
 
 " 'Young man, I thought it was understood that I 
 was to do all the swearin'/ he said. 
 
 " 'So it was,' said the sergeant, 'but that swearin' 
 had to be done right away. You couldn't 'a' got there 
 in time to do it if I'd 'a' sent for ye.' ' 
 
 "I'm sorry we had to have trouble," Samson re- 
 marked, after the outburst of appreciation that fol- 
 lowed Abe's story. "It's the only spot on the day. I'll 
 never forget the kindness of the people of New Salem." 
 
 "The raising bee is a most significant thing," said 
 Kelso. "Democracy tends to universal friendship 
 each works for the crowd and the crowd for each 
 and there are no favorites. Every community is like 
 the thousand friends of Thebes. Most of its units 
 stand together for the common good for justice, law 
 and honor. The schools are spinning strands of de- 
 mocracy out of all this European wool. Railroads 
 are to pick them up and weave them into one great 
 
82 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 fabric. By and by we shall see the ten million friends 
 of America standing together as did the thousand 
 friends of Thebes." 
 
 "It's a great thought," said Abe. 
 
 "No man can estimate the size of that mighty pha- 
 lanx of friendship all trained in one school," Kelso 
 went on. "Two years ago the Encyclopedia Britannica 
 figured that the population of the United States in 
 1905 would be 168,000,000 people, and in 1966, 672,- 
 000,000. Wealth, power, science, literature, all follow 
 in the train of light and numbers. The causes which 
 moved the sceptre of civilization from the Euphrates 
 to Western Europe will carry it from the latter to 
 the New World." 
 
 "They say that electricity and the development of 
 the steam engine is going to make all men think alike," 
 said Abe. "If that's so Democracy and Liberty will 
 spread over the earth." 
 
 "The seed of Universal Brotherhood is falling far 
 and wide and you can not kill it," Kelso continued. 
 "Last year Mazzini said : 'There is only one sun in 
 heaven for the whole earth, only one law for all who 
 people it. We are here to found fraternally the unity 
 of the human race so that, sometime, it may present 
 but one fold and one Shepherd.' ' 
 
 Then Lincoln spoke again: "I reckon we are near 
 the greatest years in history. It is a privilege to be 
 
83 
 
 "And young," Dr. Allen added. 
 "Young! What a God's blessed thing is that!" said 
 Kelso and then he quoted from Coleridge : 
 
 " 'Verse, a breeze mid blossoms straying 
 Where Hope clung feeding like a bee, 
 Both were mine! Life went a maying 
 With Nature, Hope and Poesy 
 When I was young !' 
 
 "Abe, have ye learned the Cotters Saturday Night f" 
 
 "Not yet. It's a heavy hog to hold but I'll get a 
 grip on an ear and a hind leg and lift it out o' the 
 pen before long. You see." 
 
 "Don't fail to do that. It will be a help and joy 
 to ye." 
 
 "Old Kirkham is a hard master," said Abe. "I 
 hear his bell ringing every time I get a minute's leisure. 
 I'm nigh through with him. Now I want to study 
 rhetoric." 
 
 "Only schoolmasters study rhetoric," Kelso declared. 
 "A real poet or a real orator is born with all the 
 rhetoric he needs. We should get our rhetoric as we 
 get our oxygen unconsciously by reading the mas- 
 ters. Rhetoric is a steed for a light load under the 
 saddle but he's too warm blooded for the harness. He 
 was for the day of the plumed knight not for these 
 times. No man of sense would use a prancing horse 
 on a plow or a stone boat. A good plow horse is a 
 
84 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 beautiful thing. The play of his muscles, the power of 
 his stride are poetry to me but when he tries to put 
 on style he is ridiculous. That suggests what rhet- 
 oric is apt to do to the untrained intellect. If you've 
 anything to say or write head straight across the field 
 and keep your eye on the furrow. Then comes the 
 sowing and how beautiful is the sower striding across 
 the field in his suit of blue jeans, with that wonderful 
 gesture, so graceful, so imperious! Put him in a 
 beaver hat and broadcloth and polished calfskin and a 
 frilled shirt and you couldn't think of anything more 
 ridiculous !" 
 
 In the last diary of Samson Henry Traylor is this 
 entry: 
 
 "I went to Gettysburg with the President to-day and 
 sat near him when he spoke. Mr. Everett addressed 
 the crowd for an hour or so. As Kelso would say 
 'He rode the prancing steel of Rhetoric.' My old 
 friend went straight across the field and his look and 
 gestures reminded me of that picture of the sower 
 which Jack gave us one night long ago in Abe's store. 
 Through my tears I could see the bucket hanging on 
 his elbow and the good seed flying far and wide from 
 his great hand. When he finished the field, plowed 
 and harrowed and fertilized by war, had been sowed 
 for all time. The spring's work was done and well 
 done." 
 
 At a quarter of ten the Doctor rose and said : 
 
85 
 
 "We're keeping 1 Abe from his sleep and wearing the 
 night away with philosophy. I'm going home." 
 
 "I came over to see if you could find a man to help 
 me to-morrow," Samson said to Abe. "Harry is go- 
 ing over to do the chinking alone. I want a man to 
 help me on the whipsaw while I cut some boards for 
 the upper flooring." 
 
 "I'll help you myself," Abe proposed. "I reckon 
 I'll close the store to-morrow unless Jack will tend it." 
 
 "You can count on me," said Jack. "I'm short of 
 sleep anyhow and a day of rest will do me good." 
 
 Abe went with his friends to the door beyond which 
 the two boys from Clary's Grove sat as if sound 
 asleep. It is probable, however, that they had heard 
 what* Samson had said to Abe. 
 
 "Well, I didn't know these wild turkeys were roost- 
 ing here," Abe laughed. He roused them from their 
 slumbers and said: "Boys, you're trying to saw the 
 day off a little too short. It's got to run till you get to 
 Clary's Grove. Better take those horses home and 
 feed 'em." 
 
 The boys got up and yawned and stretched them- 
 selves and mounted their horses which had been tied 
 to a bar and rode away in the darkness. 
 
 Next morning Abe and Samson set out for the 
 woods soon after daylight. 
 
 "I like that boy Harry," said Abe. "I reckon he's 
 got good stuff in him. The way he landed on Bap 
 
86 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 McNoll was a caution. I like to see a feller come right 
 up to the scratch, without an invitation just in the nick 
 o' time, as he did." 
 
 "Did you see him jump in?" Samson asked. 
 
 "I saw everything some way. I saw you when ye 
 loosened the ear o' John Callyhan. That tickled me. 
 But the way I felt yesterday honest, it seemed as if 
 I could handle 'em all. That boy Harry is a likely 
 young colt strong and limber and well put together 
 and broad between the eyes." 
 
 "An' gentle as a kitten," Samson added. "There 
 never was a better face on a boy or a better heart be- 
 hind it We like him." 
 
 "Yes, sir. He's a well topped young tree straight 
 and sound and good timber. Looks as if that little 
 girl o' Jack's was terribly took up with him. I don't 
 wonder. There are not many boys like Harry around 
 here." 
 
 "What kind of a girl is she?" Samson asked. 
 
 "Awful shy since the arrow hit her. She don't 
 know what it means yet. She'll get used to that I 
 reckon. She's a good girl and smart as a steel trap. 
 'Her father takes her out on the plains with him shoot- 
 ing. She can handle a gun as well as anybody and 
 ride a horse as if she had growed to his back. Every 
 body likes Bim but she has her own way of behaving 
 and sometimes it's awful new-fashioned." 
 
 Harry Needles went whistling up the road toward 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 87 
 
 the new house with sickle, hoe and trowel. As he 
 passed the Kelso cabin he whistled the tune of Sweet 
 Nightingale. It had haunted his mind since he had 
 heard it in the woods. He whistled as loudly as ever 
 he could and looked at the windows. Before he had 
 passed Bim's face looked out at him with a smile and 
 her hand flickered back of the panes and he waved 
 his to her. His heart beat fast as he hurried along. 
 
 "I'm not so very young," he said to himself. "I 
 wish I hadn't put on these old clothes. Mrs. Traylor 
 is an awful nice woman but she's determined to make 
 me look like a plow horse. I don't see why she couldn't 
 let me wear decent clothes." 
 
 Sarah had enjoyed mothering the boy. His health 
 had returned. His cheeks were ruddy, his dark eyes 
 clear and bright, his tall form erect and sturdy. More- 
 over the affectionate care his new friends had given 
 him and his interest in the girl filled his heart with 
 the happiness which is the rain of youth and without 
 which it becomes an arid desert. 
 
 He had helped Alexander Ferguson with the mak- 
 ing of the fireplace and knew how to mix the mortar. 
 He worked with a will for his heart was in the new 
 home. It was a fine September morning. The warm 
 sunlight had set the meadow cocks a crowing. The 
 far reaches of the great, grassy plain were dimmed 
 with haze. It was a vast, flowery wilderness, waving 
 and murmuring in the breeze like an ocean. How long 
 
88 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 those acres, sown by .the winds of heaven, had waited 
 for the plowman now arrived! 
 
 Harry felt the beauty of the scene but saw and en- 
 joyed more the face of Bim Kelso as he worked and 
 planned his own house no cabin but a mansion like 
 that of Judge Harper in the village near his old home. 
 He had filled every crevice in the rear wall and was 
 working on the front when he heard the thunder of 
 running horses and saw those figures, dim in a cloud 
 of dust, flying up the road again. He thought of the 
 threat of Bap McNoll. It occurred to him that he 
 would be in a bad way alone with those ruffians if 
 they were coming for revenge. He stepped into the 
 door of the house and stood a moment debating what 
 he would best do. He thought of running toward the 
 grove, which was a few rods from the rear door of the 
 house, and hiding there. He couldn't bear to run. 
 Bim and all the rest of them would hear of it. So 
 with the sickle in his right hand he stood v/aiting in- 
 side the house and hoping they wouldn't stop. They 
 rode up to the door and dismounted quietly and hob- 
 bled their horses. There were five of them who crowd- 
 ed into the cabin with McNoll in the lead. 
 
 "Now, you young rooster, you're goin' to git what's 
 comin' to you," he growled. 
 
 The boy faced them bravely and warned them away 
 with his sickle. They were prepared for such emer- 
 gencies. One of them drew a bag of bird shot from 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 89 
 
 his pocket and hurled it at Harry's head. It hit him 
 full in the face and he staggered against the wall 
 stunned by the blow. They rushed upon the boy and 
 disarmed and bore him to the floor. For a little time 
 he knew not what was passing. When he came to, 
 his hands and feet were tied and the men stood near, 
 cursing and laughing, while their leader, McNoll, was 
 draining a bottle. Suddenly he heard a voice trembling 
 with excitement and wet with tears saying : 
 
 "You go 'way from here or I'll kill you dead. So 
 help me God I'll kill you. If one o' you touches him 
 he's goin' to die." 
 
 He saw Bim Kelso at the window with her gun 
 leveled at the head of McNoll. Her face was red with 
 anger. Her eyes glowed. As he looked a tear welled 
 from one of them and trailed down the scarlet surface 
 of her cheek. McNoll turned without a word and 
 walked sulkily out of the back door. The others 
 crowded after him. They ran as soon as they had got 
 out of the door. She left the window. In a moment 
 the young men were galloping away. 
 
 Bim came into the house sobbing with emotion but 
 with her head erect. She stood her gun in a corner 
 and knelt by the helpless boy. He was crying also. 
 Her hair fell upon his face as she looked at the spot of 
 deep scarlet color made by the shot bag. She kissed 
 it and held her cheek against his and whispered : "Don't 
 cry. It's all over now. I'm going to cut these ropes." 
 
90 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 It was as if she had known and loved him always. 
 She was like a young mother with her first child. Ten- 
 derly she wiped his tears away with her blond, silken 
 hair. She cut his bonds and he rose and stood before 
 her. Her face changed like magic. 
 
 "Oh what a fool I've been!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Why so?" he asked. 
 
 "I cried and I kissed you and we never have been 
 introduced to each other." 
 
 She covered her eyes with her hair and with bent 
 head went out of the door. 
 
 "I'll never forget that kiss as long as I live," said 
 the boy as he followed her. "I'll never forget your 
 help or your crying either." 
 
 "How I must have looked!" she went on, walking 
 toward her pony that was hitched to a near tree. 
 
 "You were beautiful !" he exclaimed. 
 
 "Go away from me I won't speak to you," she 
 said. "Go back to your work. I'll stay here and keep 
 watch." 
 
 The boy returned to his task pointing up the in- 
 side walls but his mind and heart were out in the 
 sunlight talking with Bim. Once he looked out of the 
 door and saw her leaning against the neck of the pony, 
 her face hidden in his mane. When the sun was low 
 she came to the door and said: 
 
 "You had better stop now and go home." 
 
 She looked down at the ground and added : 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 91 
 
 "Please, please, don't tell on me." 
 
 "Of course not," he answered. "But I hope you 
 won't be afraid of me any more." 
 
 She looked up at him with a little smile. "Do you 
 think I'm afraid of you?" she asked as if it were too 
 absurd to be thought of. She unhitched and mount- 
 ed her pony but did not go. 
 
 "I do wish you could raise a mustache," she said,, 
 looking wistfully into his face. 
 
 Involuntarily his hand went to his lip. 
 
 "I could try," he said. 
 
 "I can't bear to see you look so terribly young; you 
 get worse and worse every time I see you," she scold- 
 ed plaintively. "I want you to be a regular man right 
 quick." 
 
 He wondered what he ought to say and presently 
 stammered: "I I intend to. I guess I'm more of 
 a man than anybody would think to look at me." 
 
 "You're too young to ever fall in love I reckon." 
 
 "No I'm not," he answered with decision. 
 
 "Have you got a razor ?" she asked. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "I reckon it would be a powerful help. You put 
 soap on your lip and mow it off with a razor. My 
 father says it makes the grass grow." 
 
 There was a moment of silence during which she 
 brushed the mane of her pony. Then she asked tim- 
 idly: "Do you play on the flute?" 
 
92 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "No, why?" 
 
 "I think it would break my heart. My Uncle Henry 
 plays all day and it makes him look crazy. Do you 
 like yellow hair?" 
 
 "Yes, if it looks like yours." 
 
 "If you don't mind I'll put a mustache on you just 
 just to look at every time I think of you." 
 
 "When I think of you I put violets in your hair," 
 he said. 
 
 He took a step toward her as he spoke and as he 
 did so she started her pony. A little way off she 
 checked him and said : 
 
 "I'm sorry. There are no violets now." 
 
 She rode away slowly waving her hand and singing 
 with the joy of a bird in the springtime : 
 
 "My sweetheart, come along 
 Don't you hear the glad song 
 As the notes of the nightingale flow? 
 Don't you hear the fond tale 
 Of the sweet nightingale 
 As she sings in the valleys below 
 As she sings in the valleys below?" 
 
 He stood looking and listening. The song came to 
 him as clear and sweet as the notes of a vesper bell 
 wandering in miles of silence. 
 
 When it had ceased he felt his lip and said ; "How 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 93 
 
 slow the time passes ! I'm going to get some shaving 
 soap and a razor." 
 
 That evening when Harry was helping Samson 
 with the horses he said : 
 
 "I'm going to tell you a secret. I wish you wouldn't 
 say anything about it." 
 
 Samson stood pulling the hair out of his card and 
 looking very stern as he listened while Harry told 
 of the assault upon him and how Bim had arrived and 
 driven the rowdies away with her gun but he said not 
 a word of her demonstration of tender sympathy. To 
 him that had clothed the whole adventure with a kind 
 of sanctity so that he could not bear to have it talked 
 about. 
 
 Samson's eyes glowed with anger. They searched 
 the face of the boy. His voice was deep and solemn 
 when he said : 
 
 "This is a serious matter. Why do you wish to 
 keep it a secret ?" 
 
 The boy blushed. For a moment he knew not what 
 to say. Then he spoke: "It ain't me so much it's 
 her," he managed to say. "She wouldn't want it to be 
 talked about and I don't either." 
 
 Samson began to understand. "She's quite a girl 
 I guess," he said thoughtfully. "She must have the 
 nerve of a man I declare she must." 
 
 "Yes-sir-ee ! They'd 'a' got hurt if they hadn't gone 
 away, 'that's sure," said Harry. 
 
94 r A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "We'll look out for them after this," Samson re- 
 joined. "The first time I meet that man McNoll he'll 
 have to settle with me and he'll pay cash on the 
 nail." 
 
 Bim having heard of Harry's part in Abe's fight 
 and of the fact that he was to be working alone all 
 day at the new house had ridden out through the 
 woods to the open prairie and hunted in sight of the 
 new cabin that afternoon. Unwilling to confess her 
 extreme interest in the boy she had said not a word 
 of her brave act. It was not shame; it was partly a 
 kind of rebellion against the tyranny of youthful ar- 
 dor; it was partly the fear of ridicule. 
 
 So it happened that the adventure of Harry Needles 
 made scarcely a ripple on the sensitive surface of the 
 village life. It will be seen, however, that i't had 
 started strong undercurrents likely, in time, to make 
 themselves felt. 
 
 The house and barn were finished whereupon Sam- 
 son and Harry drove to Springfield a muddy, crude 
 and growing village with thick woods on its north side 
 and bought furniture. Their wagon was loaded and 
 they were ready to start for home. They were walking 
 on the main street when Harry touched Samson's arm 
 and whispered: 
 
 "There's McNoll and Callyhan." 
 
 The pair were walking a few steps ahead of Sam- 
 son and Harry. In a second Samson's big hand was 
 on McNoll's shoulder. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 95 
 
 "This is Mr. McNoll, I believe," said Samson. 
 
 The other turned with a scared look. 
 
 "What do ye want o' me ?" he demanded. 
 
 Samson threw him to the ground with a jerk so 
 strong and violent that it rent the sleeve from his 
 shoulder. McNeil's companion who had felt the 
 weight of Samson's hand and had had enough of it 
 turned and ran. 
 
 "What do ye want o' me?" McNoll asked again as 
 he struggled to free himself. 
 
 "What do I want o' you you puny little coward," 
 said Samson, as he lifted the bully to his feet and gave 
 him a toss and swung him in the air and continued to 
 address him. "I'm just goin' to muss you up proper. 
 If you don't say you're sorry and mean it I'll put a tow 
 string on your neck and give you to some one that 
 wants a dog." 
 
 "I'm sorry," said McNoll. "Honest I am! I was 
 drunk when I done it." 
 
 Samson released his prisoner. A number in the 
 crowd which had gathered around them clapped their 
 hands and shouted, "Hurrah for the stranger !" 
 
 A constable took Samson's hand and said: "You 
 deserve a vote of thanks. That man and his friends 
 have made me more trouble than all the rest of the 
 drinking men put together." 
 
 "And I am making trouble for myself," said Sam- 
 son. "I have made myself ashamed. I am no fighting 
 man, I was never in such a muss on a public street 
 
96 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 before and with God's help it will never happen 
 again." 
 
 "Where do you live?" the officer asked. 
 
 "In New Salem." 
 
 "I wish it was here. We need men like you. What 
 part of the East do you hail from?" 
 
 "Vermont," Samson answered. "I've just bought 
 land and built a cabin a little west of the village. Came 
 here for a load of furniture." 
 
 "I'm a Maine man and a Whig and opposed to slav- 
 ery and my name is Erastus Wright," said the con- 
 stable. 
 
 "I am a Whig and against slavery," Samson vol- 
 unteered. 
 
 "I could tell that by the look of you," said the con- 
 stable. "Some day we must sit down together and 
 talk things over." 
 
 Samson wrote in his diary: 
 
 "On the way home my heart was sore. I prayed 
 in silence that God would forgive me for my bad ex- 
 ample to the boy. I promised that I would not again 
 misuse the strength He has given me. In my old 
 home I would have been disgraced by it. The min- 
 ister would have preached of the destruction that fol- 
 lows the violent man to put him down; the people 
 would have looked askance at me. Deacon Somers 
 would have called me aside to look into my soul, and 
 Judge Grandy and his wife would not have invited 
 me to their parties. Here it's different. A chap who 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 97 
 
 can take the law in his hands and bring the evil man 
 to his senses, even if he has to hit him over the head, 
 is looked up to. That day a number of men and boys 
 increased my shame by following us to the wagon and 
 wanting to shake hands and feel of my muscles and 
 paining my soul with praise. It's a reckless country. 
 You feel it as soon as you get here. In time, I fear, 
 I shall be as headlong as the rest of them. Some way 
 the news of my act has got here from Springfield. 
 Sarah was kind of cut up. Jack Kelso has nicknamed 
 me 'The man with the iron arms,' and Abe, who is a 
 better man every way, laughs at my embarrassment 
 and says I ought to feel honored. For one thing Jack 
 Armstrong has become a good citizen. His wife has 
 foxed a pair of breeches for Abe. They say McNoll 
 has left the country. There has been no deviltry here 
 since that day. I guess the gang is broken up too 
 much iron in its way." 
 
 Sarah enjoyed fixing up the cabin. Jack Kelso had 
 given her some deer and buffalo skins to lay on the 
 floors. The upper room, reached by a stick ladder, 
 had its two beds, one of which Harry occupied. The 
 children slept below in a trundle bed that was pushed 
 under the larger one when it was made up in the 
 morning. 
 
 "Some time I'm going to put in a windletrap and 
 get rid o' that stick ladder," Samson had said. 
 
 Sarah had all the arts of the New England home 
 maker. Under her hand the cabin, in color, atmos- 
 phere and general neatness, would have delighted a 
 
98 M MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 higher taste than was to be found on the prairies, save 
 in the brain of Kelso who really had some acquaintance 
 with beauty. To be sure the bed was in one corner, 
 spread with its upper cover knit of gray yarn harmon- 
 izing in color with the bark of the log walls. A hand- 
 some dark brown buffalo robe lay beside it. The rifle 
 and powder horn were hung above the mantel. The 
 fireplace had its crane of wrought iron. 
 
 Every one in the little village came to the house 
 warming. 
 
 "There is nothing in America so beautiful as 'this 
 here kind o' thing' when the firelight shines upon it," 
 said Kelso who often indulged in the vernacular of 
 the real ladder climbers. 
 
 "Well, of course, it isn't like Boston or New York," 
 Sarah answered. 
 
 "Thank God !" Kelso exclaimed. "New York hurts 
 my feelings, so many of its buildings are of grand de- 
 sign and small proportions. Mrs. Traylor, you are 
 lucky to have this beautiful island in an ocean of 
 music. There is music in the look and sound of these 
 meadows bird music, wind music, the level music 
 of Felician David's Desert. Perhaps you don't know 
 about that and really it doesn't matter. Traylor, tune 
 up your fiddle." 
 
 Samson began to play, stopping often to give the 
 hand of welcome to a guest. The people of New 
 Salem, were in their best clothes. The women wore 
 
dresses of new calico save Mrs. Dr. Allen, who wore 
 a black silk dress which had come with her from her 
 late home in Lexington. Bim Kelso came in a dress 
 of red muslin trimmed with white lace. Ann Rutledge 
 also wore a red dress and came with Abe. The latter 
 was rather grotesque in his new linsey trousers, of a 
 better length than the former pair, but still too short. 
 
 "It isn't fair to blame the trousers or the tailor," he 
 had said when he had tried them on. "My legs are 
 so long that the imagination of the tailor is sure to 
 fall short if the cloth don't. Next time I'll have 'em 
 made to measure with a ten- foot pole instead of a 
 yardstick. If they're too long I can roll 'em up and 
 let out a link or two when they shrink. Ever since I 
 was a boy I have been troubled with shrinking pants." 
 
 Abe wore a blue swallow-tail coat with brass but- 
 tons, the tails of which were so short as to be well 
 above the danger of pressure when he sat down. His 
 cowhide shoes had been well blackened ; the blue yarn 
 of his socks showed above them. "These darned socks 
 of mine are rather proud and conceited," he used to 
 'say. "They like to show off." 
 
 He wore a shirt of white, unbleached cotton, a 
 starched collar and black tie. 
 
 In speaking of his collar to Samson, he said that 
 he felt like a wild horse in a box stall. 
 
 Menton Graham, the schoolmaster, was there a 
 smooth-faced man with a large head, sandy hair and 
 
ioo A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 a small mustache, who spoke by note, as it were. 
 Kelso called him the great articulator and said that 
 he walked in the valley of the shadow of Lindley Mur- 
 ray. He seemed to keep a watchful eye on his words, 
 as if they were a lot of schoolboys not to be trusted. 
 They came out with a kind of self-conscious rectitude. 
 The children's games had begun and the little house 
 rang with their songs and laughter, while their elders 
 sat by the fire and along the walls talking. Ann Rut- 
 ledge and Bim Kelso and Harry Needles and John 
 McNeil played with them. In one of the dances all 
 joined in singing the verses : 
 
 I won't have none o' yer weavily wheat, 
 I won't have none o' yer barley; 
 
 I won't have none o' yer weavily wheat, 
 To make a cake for Charley. 
 
 Charley is a fine young man, 
 
 Charley is a dandy, 
 Charley likes to kiss the girls, 
 
 Whenever it comes handy. 
 
 When a victim was caught in the flying scrimmage 
 at the end of a passage in the game of Prisoners, he 
 or she was brought before a blindfolded judge : 
 
 "Heavy, heavy hangs over your head," said the Con- 
 stable. 
 
 "Fine or superfine?" the judge inquired. 
 
 "Fine," said the Constable, which meant that the 
 victim was a boy. Then the sentence was pronounced 
 and generally it was this : 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 101 
 
 "Go bow to the wittiest, kneel to the prettiest and 
 kiss the one that you love best." 
 
 Harry was the first prisoner. He went straight to 
 Bim Kelso and bowed and knelt, and when he had 
 risen she turned and ran like a scared deer around the 
 chairs and the crowd of onlookers, some assisting and 
 some checking her flight, before the nimble youth. 
 Hard pressed, she ran out of the open door, with a 
 merry laugh, and just beyond the steps Harry caught 
 and kissed her, and her cheeks had the color of roses 
 when he led her back. 
 
 John McNeil kissed Ann Rutledge that evening and 
 was most attentive to her, and the women were say- 
 ing that the two had fallen in love with each other. 
 "See how she looks at him," one of them whispered. 
 "Well, it's just the way he looks at her," the other 
 answered. 
 
 At the first pause in the merriment Kelso stood 
 on a chair, and then silence fell upon the little com- 
 pany. 
 
 "My good neighbors," he began, "we are here to 
 rejoice that new friends have come to us and that a 
 new home is born in our midst. We bid them welcome. 
 They are big boned, big hearted folks. No man has 
 grown large who has not at one time or another had 
 his feet in the soil and felt its magic power going up 
 into his blood and bone and sinew. Here is a won- 
 derful soil and the inspiration of wide horizons; here 
 are broad and fertile fields. Where the corn grows 
 
102 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 high you can grow statesmen. It may be that out of 
 one of these little cabins a man will come to carry 
 the torch of Liberty and Justice so high that its light 
 will shine into every dark place. So let no one despise 
 the cabin humble as it is. Samson and Sarah Tray- 
 lor, I welcome and congratulate you. Whatever may 
 come, you can find no better friends than these, and 
 of this you may be sure, no child of the prairies will 
 ever go about with a hand organ and a monkey. Our 
 friend, Honest Abe, is one of the few rich men in this 
 neighborhood. Among his assets are Kirkham's 
 Grammar, The Pilgrim's Progress, the Lives of Wash- 
 ington and Henry Clay, Hamlet's Soliloquy, Othello's 
 Speech to the Senate, Marc Antony's address and a 
 part of Webster's reply to Hayne. A man came along 
 the other day and sold him a barrel of rubbish for 
 two bits. In it he found a volume of Blackstone's 
 Commentaries. Old Blackstone challenged him to a 
 wrestle and Abe has grappled with him. I reckon 
 he'll take his measure as easily as he took Jack Arm- 
 strong's. Lately he has got possession of a noble 
 asset. It is the Cotter's Saturday Night, by Robert 
 Burns. I propose to ask him to let us share his en- 
 joyment of this treasure." 
 
 Abe, who had been sitting with his legs doubled 
 beneath him on a buffalo skin, between Joe and Betsey 
 Traylor, rose and said : 
 
 "Mr. Kelso's remarks, especially the part which ap- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 103 
 
 plied to me, remind me of the story of the prosperous 
 grocer of Joliet One Saturday night he and his boys 
 were busy selling sausage. Suddenly in came a man 
 with whom he had quarreled and laid two dead cats 
 on the counter. 
 
 " There,' said he, 'this makes seven to-day. I'll call 
 Monday and get my money.' 
 
 "We were doing a good business here making fun. 
 It seems a pity to ruin it and throw suspicion on the 
 quality of the goods by throwing a cat on the counter. 
 I'll only throw one cat. It is entitled : 
 
 MY SISTER SUE 
 
 "Say, boys, I guess 'at none o' you 
 Has ever seen my sister Sue, 
 She kin rassle an' turn han'springs kerflop, 
 But Jiminy Crimps ! ye should see her hop ! 
 Yes, sir! 
 
 "She kin h'ist one foot an' go like Ned! 
 An' hop on top o' my mother's bed, 
 An' back an' round the house she'll go, 
 'Ith her ol' knee as limber as a hickory bow, 
 Yes, sir! 
 
 "She kin sing a hull song 'ithout ketchin' her breath, 
 An' make up a face 'at 'ud scare ye to death ! 
 She kin wiggle her ears an' cross her eyes 
 An' stick out her tongue till yer hair 'ud rise. 
 Yes, sir! 
 
104 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "An' play wildcat on her han's an' knees, 
 Honest! 'T would give ye the gibberees! 
 An' she sneaks along an' jumps at you 
 An' gives sech a yell! ray sister Sue! 
 Yes, sir! 
 
 "She ki'n shoot off a gun an' set a trap, 
 An' if you don't behave she kin 'give you a slap! 
 She kin holler and scream like a flock o' geese 
 An* stan' on her head an' speak a piece. 
 Yes, sir! 
 
 "She kin run cross legged an' ride a cow, 
 An' jump from the beam to the big hay mow. 
 I reckon yer hair 'ud stan' up to see 'er 
 A breakin' a colt er throwin' a steer, 
 Yes, sir! 
 
 "My sister Susan has got a beau. 
 When he comes she sets an' acts jes' so, 
 An' talks so proper it's zac'ly jes 
 Like the flummididles on her dress, 
 Yes, sir! 
 
 "When she stan's in that darn ol' Sunday gown 
 Ye'd think a grasshopper could knock 'er down. 
 An' she laughs kind o' sick like a kitten's mew * 
 Ye wouldn't think 'twas my sister Sue, 
 No, sir! 
 
 "An' she says: 'Oh, dear! those horrid boys! 
 They act so rough an' make sech a noise!' 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 105 
 
 Good gracious ! ye wouldn't think 'at she 
 Could talk as loud as a bumble bee - 
 No, sir! 
 
 "Honest ! Er lift a chip o' wood, 
 
 She acts so puny an' nice an' good ! 
 'Boys are awful!' she says, 'till they're grown, 
 
 Er nelse they got to be yer own!' 
 Oh, gosh!" 
 
 This raised a storm of merriment, after which he 
 recited the poem of Burns, with keen appreciation of 
 its quality. Samson repeatedly writes of his gift for 
 interpretation, especially of the comic, and now and 
 then lays particular stress on his power of mimicry. 
 
 John Cameron sang The Sword of Bunker Hill 
 and Forty Years Ago, Tom. Samson played while 
 the older people danced until midnight. Then, after 
 noisy farewells, men, women and children started in 
 the moonlit road toward the village. Ann Rutledge 
 had Abe on one arm and John McNeil on the other. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 WHICH DESCRIBES THE LONELY LIFE IN A PRAIRIE 
 CABIN AND A STIRRING ADVENTURE ON THE UNDER- 
 GROUND RAILROAD ABOUT THE TIME IT BEGAN 
 OPERATIONS. 
 
 WHEN Samson paid Mr. Gollaher, a "detector" came 
 with the latter to look at the money before it was 
 accepted. There were many counterfeits and bills 
 good only at a certain discount of face value, going 
 about those days and the detector was in great request. 
 Directly after moving in, Samson dug a well and lined 
 it with a hollow log. He bought tools and another 
 team and then he and Harry began their fall plowing. 
 Day after day for weeks they paced with their turn- 
 ing furrows until a hundred acres, stretching half a 
 mile to the west and well to the north of the house, 
 were black with them. Fever and ague descended 
 upon the little home in the early winter. 
 
 In a letter to her brother, dated January 4th, 1832, 
 Sarah writes : 
 
 "We have been longing for news from home, but 
 not a word has come from you. It don't seem as if 
 we could stand it unless we hear from you or some 
 of the folks once in a while. We are not dead just 
 because we are a thousand miles away. We want to 
 
 106 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 107 
 
 hear from you. Please write and let us know how 
 father and mother are and all the news. Is Elizabeth 
 Ranney married yet, and how does the minister get 
 along with his new wife? We have all been sick with 
 the fever and ague. It is a beautiful country and the 
 soil very rich, but there is some sickness. Samson and 
 I were both sick at the same time. I never knew 
 Samson to give up before. He couldn't go on, his 
 head ached so. Little Joe helped me get the fire 
 started and brought some water and waited on us. 
 Then the little man put on his coat and mittens and 
 trudged away to the village with Betsey after the doc- 
 tor. Harry Needles had gone away to Springfield for 
 Mr. Offut with a drove of hogs. Two other boys are 
 with him. He is going to buy a new suit. He is a 
 very proud boy. Joe and Betsey got back with the 
 doctor at nine. That night Abe Lincoln came and sat 
 up with us and gave us our medicine and kept the 
 fire going. It was comical to see him lying beside 
 Joe in his trundle bed, with his long legs sticking over 
 the end of it and his feet standing on the floor about 
 a yard from the bed. He was spread all over the 
 place. He talked about religion, and his views would 
 shock most of our friends in the East. He doesn't 
 believe in the kind of Heaven that the ministers talk 
 about or any eternal hell. He says that nobody knows 
 anything about the hereafter, except that God is a 
 kind and forgiving father and that all men are His 
 children. He says that we can only serve God by 
 serving each other. He seems to think that every 
 man, good or bad, black or white, rich or poor, is his 
 brother. He thinks that Henry Clay, next to Daniel 
 Webster, is the greatest man in the country. He is 
 
io8 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 studying hard. Expects to go out and make speeches 
 for Clay next summer. He is quite severe in his talk 
 against General Jackson. He and Samson agree in 
 politics and religion. They are a good deal alike. He 
 is very fond of Samson and Harry calls them his 
 partners. He said to Samson the other evening. 
 
 " 'I want you for a friend always. If you can stand 
 it, I would like my story to be a part of yours. If 
 you say so, we'll stick to the same boat and pole her 
 over the shoals and carry her across the bends and see 
 if we can get to good going in deep water. When the 
 channel will permit, we can put in a steam engine.' 
 
 "We love this big awkward giant. His feet are set 
 in the straight way and we think that he is going to 
 make his mark in the world. 
 
 "When I went to sleep he lay in the trundle bed, 
 with two candles burning on the stand beside him, 
 reading that big green book of mine entitled The 
 Works of William Shakespeare. He had brought a 
 law book with him, but he got interested in William 
 Shakespeare and couldn't let it alone. He said that 
 he was like a mired horse whenever he began to read 
 a play of the immortal bard, and that he had to take 
 his time in getting out. When he went away next 
 morning he borrowed Samson's pack basket. I felt 
 bad because we couldn't go and make any arrange- 
 ments with Santa Claus for the children. Joe was 
 dreadfully worried, for Betsey had told him that Santa 
 Claus never came to children whose father and mother 
 were sick. Christmas Eve Abe came with the pack 
 basket chock-full of good things after the children 
 were asleep. He took out a turkey and knit caps and 
 mittens and packages of candy and raisins for the chil- 
 dren and some cloth for a new dress for me. Mrs. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 109 
 
 Kelso had come to spend the ni'ght with us, although 
 Samson and I were so much better it really wasn't 
 necessary. I made her go up the ladder to bed before 
 midnight. That evening a short, fat Santa Claus 
 came in with a loaded pack. He had a long, brown 
 beard and a red nose and carried a new clay pipe in 
 his mouth and was very much bundled up. 
 
 "We called the children. They stood looking at 
 Santa Claus, and Santa Claus stood looking at them. 
 He gave them mufflers and some candy hearts and tried 
 to pick them up. They ran away and he chased them 
 under our bed and got hold of Joe's foot and tried to 
 pull him out, and Joe hollered like a painter, and Santa 
 Claus dropped his pipe and sat down on the floor and 
 began laughing. I saw it was Bim Kelso. Abe left 
 with her, and I suppose they went back to the village 
 and around in a regular Santa Claus spree. 
 
 "Mrs. Kelso said that she had been making a beard 
 of pieces of buffalo skin and fitting up an old suit of 
 her father's clothes that afternoon. I wonder what 
 she'll do next. It's terrible to be so much in love and 
 not quite seventeen. Harry is as bad as she is. I 
 wish they had been a little older before they met. 
 
 "Joe said yesterday that he was going back to Ver- 
 gennes. 
 
 " 'How are you going to get there ?' I asked. 
 
 " 'Abe's going to make me a pair o' wings, and I'm 
 going to smash right up through the sky and go 
 awa-a-y oft" to Vergennes and play with Ben and Lizzie 
 Tyler. Abe says there ain't no bad roads up there.' 
 
 "I asked him what I should do if he went away and 
 left me like that. 
 
 " 'Oh, I'll come right back,' he said, 'and maybe 
 I'll see Heaven way up in the clouds. If I do I'll stop 
 
no A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 there in a tavern over night and buy something for 
 you.' 
 
 "In a minute a new idea came to him and he said : 
 " 'I guess Abe would make a pair of wings for you 
 if you'd ask him.' 
 
 "Often I wish for wings, and always when I think 
 of those who are dear to me and so far away. You 
 said you would come out next spring to look about. 
 Please don't disappoint us. I think it would almost 
 break my heart I am counting the days. Some time 
 ago I put down 142 straight marks on my old slate, 
 that being the number of days before May I. Every 
 night I rub off one of them and thank God that you 
 are one day nearer. Don't be afraid of fever and ague. 
 Sapington's pills cure it in three or four days. I would 
 take the steamboat at Pittsburg, the roads in Ohio and 
 Indiana are so bad. You can get a steamer up the 
 Illinois River at Alton and get off at Beardstown and 
 drive across country. If we knew when you were 
 coming Samson or Abe would meet you. Give our 
 love to all the folks and friends. 
 
 "Yours affectionately, 
 
 "Sarah and Samson." 
 
 It had been a cold winter and not easy to keep 
 comfortable in the little house. In the worst weather 
 Samson used to get up at night to keep the fire going. 
 Late in January a wind from the southeast melted the 
 snow and warmed the air of the midlands so that, for 
 a week or so, it seemed as if spring were come. One 
 night of this week Sambo awoke the family with his 
 barking. A strong wind was rushing across the plains 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES in 
 
 and roaring over the cabin and wailing in its chimney. 
 Suddenly there was a rap on its door. When Samson 
 opened it he saw in the moonlight a young' colored 
 man and woman standing near the door-step. 
 
 "Is dis Mistah Traylor?" the young man asked. 
 
 "It is," said Samson. "What can I do for you ?" 
 
 "Mas'r, de good Lord done fotched us here to ask 
 you fo' help," said the negro. "We be nigh wone out 
 with cold an' hungah, suh, 'deed we be." 
 
 Samson asked them in and put wood on the fire, 
 and Sarah got up and made some hot tea and brought 
 food from the cupboard and gave it to the strangers, 
 who sat shivering in the firelight. They were a good- 
 looking pair, the young woman being almost white. 
 They were man and wife. The latter stopped eating 
 and moaned and shook with emotion as her husband 
 told their story. Their master had died the year be- 
 fore and they had been brought to St. Louis to be 
 sold in the slave market. There they had escaped by 
 night and gone to the house of an old friend of their 
 former owner who lived north of the city on the river 
 shore. He had taken pity on them and brought them 
 across the Mississippi and started them on the north 
 road with a letter to Elijah Love joy of Alton and a 
 supply of food. Since then they had been hiding days 
 in the swamps and thickets and had traveled by 
 night. Mr. Lovejoy had sent them to Erastus Wright 
 of Springfield, and Mr. Wright had given them the 
 
T 12 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 name of Samson Traylor and the location of his cabin. 
 From there they were bound for the house of John 
 Peasley, in Hopedale, Tazewell County. 
 
 Lovejoy had asked them to keep the letter with which 
 they had begun their travels. Under its signature he 
 had written: "I know the writer and know that the 
 above was written with his own hand. His word can be 
 relied upon. To all who follow or respect the example 
 of Jesus Christ I commend this man and woman." 
 
 The letter stated that their late master had often 
 expressed his purpose of leaving them their freedom 
 when he should pass away. He had left no will and 
 since his death the two had fallen into the hands of 
 his nephew, a despotic, violent young drunkard of the 
 name of Biggs, who had ruled his servants with club 
 and bull whip and who in a temper had killed a young 
 negro a few months before. The fugitives said that 
 they would rather die than go back to him. 
 
 Samson was so moved by their story that he hitched 
 tip his horses and put some hay in the wagon box and 
 made off with the fugitives up the road to the north 
 in the night. When daylight came he covered them 
 with the hay. About eight o'clock he came to a frame 
 'house and barn, the latter being of unusual size for 
 that time and country. Above the door of the barn 
 was a board which bore the stenciled legend: "John 
 Peasley, Orwell Farm." 
 
 As Samson drew near the house he observed a man 
 working on the roof of a woodshed. Something 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 113 
 
 familiar in his look held the eye of the New Salem 
 man. In half a moment he recognized the face of 
 Henry Brimstead. It was now a cheerful face. Brim- 
 stead came down the ladder and they shook hands. 
 
 "Good land q' Goshen! How did you get here?" 
 Samson asked. Brimstead answered : 
 
 "Through the help of a feller that looks like you 
 an' the grit of a pair o' hosses. Come down this road 
 early in September on my way to the land o' plenty. 
 Found Peasley here. Couldn't help it. Saw his name 
 on the barn. Used to go to school with him in Orwell. 
 He offered to sell me some land with a house on it an' 
 trust me for his pay. I liked the looks o' the country 
 and so I didn't go no further. I was goin' to write 
 you a letter, but I hain't got around to it yet. Ain't 
 forgot what you done for us, I can tell ye that." 
 
 "Well, this looks better than the sand plains a lot 
 better and you look better than that flea farmer back 
 in York State. How are the children?" 
 
 "Fat an' happy an' well dressed. Mrs. Peasley has 
 been a mother to 'em an' her sister is goin' to be a 
 wife to me." He came close to Samson and added 
 in a confidential tone : "Say, if I was any happier I'd 
 be scairt. I'm like I was when I got over the tooth- 
 ache so scairt for fear it would come back I was 
 kind o' miserable." 
 
 Mr. Peasley came out of the door. He was a big, 
 full bearded, jovial man. 
 
 "I've got a small load o' hay for you," said Samson. 
 
ii4 A 1 MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I was expecting it, though I supposed *twould be 
 walkin' in the dark o' the night," Peasley answered. 
 "Drive in on the barn floor." 
 
 When Samson had driven into, the bars its doors 
 were closed and the negroes were called from their 
 place of hiding. Samson writes: 
 
 "I never realized what a blessing it is to be free 
 until I saw that scared man and woman crawling out 
 from under the dusty hay and shaking themselves like 
 a pair of dogs. The weather was not cold or I guess 
 they would have been frozen. They knelt together 
 on the barn floor and the woman prayed for God's pro- 
 tection through the day. I knew what slavery must 
 mean when I saw what they were suffering to get 
 away from it. When they came in the night I felt 
 the call of God to help them. Now I knew that I was 
 among the chosen to lead in a great struggle. Peasley 
 brought food for them and stowed them away on the 
 top of his hay mow with a pair of buffalo skins. I 
 suppose they got some sleep there. I went into the 
 house to breakfast and while I ate Brimstead told me 
 about his trip. His children were there. They looked 
 clean and decent. He lived in a log cabin a little 
 further up the road. Mrs. Peasley's sister waited on 
 me. She is a fat and cheerful looking lady, very light 
 complected. Her hair is red like tomato ketchup. 
 Looks to me a likely, stout armed, good hearted 
 woman who can do a lot of hard work. She can see 
 a joke and has an answer handy every time '.' 
 
 For details of the remainder of the historic visit 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 115 
 
 of Samson Tray lor to the home of John Peasley we 
 are indebted to a letter from John to his brother 
 Charles, dated February 21, 1832. In this he says: 
 
 "We had gone out to the barn and Brimstead and I 
 were helping Mr. Traylor hitch up his horses. All of 
 a sudden two men came riding up the road at a fast 
 trot and turned in and come straight toward us and 
 pulled up by the wagon. One of them was a slim, red 
 cheeked young feller about twenty-three years old. 
 He wore top boots and spurs and a broad brimmed 
 black hat and gloves and a fur waistcoat and purty 
 linen. He looked at the tires of the wagon and said : 
 'That's the one we've followed.' 
 
 " 'Which o' you is Samson Traylor?' he asked. 
 
 " 'I am,' said Traylor. 
 
 "The young feller jumped off his horse and tied him 
 to the fence. Then he went up to Traylor and said : 
 
 " 'What did you do with my niggers, you dirty 
 sucker?' 
 
 "Men from Missouri hated the Illinois folks them 
 days and called 'em Suckers. We always call a Mis- 
 souri man a name too dirty to be put in a letter. He 
 acted like one o' the Roman emperors ye read of. 
 
 " 'Hain't you a little reckless, young feller ?' Traylor 
 says, as cool as a cucumber. 
 
 "I didn't know Traylor them days. If I had, I'd 'a' 
 been prepared for what was comin'. 
 
 "Traylor stood up nigh the barn door, which Brim- 
 stead had closed after we backed the wagon out. 
 
 "The young feller stepped close to the New Salem 
 man and raised his whip for a blow. Quick as lightnin' 
 Traylor grabbed him and threw him ag'in' the barn 
 
n6 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 door, keewhack ! He hit so hard the boards bent and 
 the whole barn roared and trembled. The other feller 
 tried to get his pistol out of its holster, but Brimstead, 
 who stood beside him, grabbed it, and I got his hoss 
 by the bits and we both held on. The young feller 
 lay on the ground shakin' as if he had the ague. Ye 
 never see a man so spylt in a second. Traylor picked 
 him up. His right arm was broke and his face and 
 shoulder bruised some. Ye'd a thought a steam en- 
 gyne had blowed up while he was puttin' wood in it. 
 He was kind o' limp and the mad had leaked out o' 
 him. 
 
 " 'I reckon I better find a doctor,' he says. 
 
 " 'You get into my wagon and I'll take ye to a good 
 one,' says Traylor. 
 
 "Just then Stephen Nuckles, the circuit minister, 
 rode in with the big bloodhound that fellers him 
 around. 
 
 "The other slaver had got off his hoss in the scrim- 
 mage. Traylor started for him. The slaver began to 
 back away and suddenly broke into a run. The big 
 dog took after him with a kind of a lion roar. We all 
 began yelling at the dog. We made more noise than 
 you'd hear at the end of a hoss race. It scairt the 
 young feller. He put on more steam and went up the 
 ladder to the roof of the woodshed like a chased 
 weasel. The dog stood barkin' as if he had treed a 
 bear. Traylor grabbed the ladder and pulled it down. 
 
 " 'You stay there till I get away an' you'll be safe/ 
 said he. 
 
 "The man looked down and swore and shook his fist 
 and threatened us with the law. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 117 
 
 "Mr. Nuckles rode close to the woodshed and looked 
 up at him. 
 
 " 'My brother, I fear you be not a Christian/ he 
 said. 
 
 "He swore at the minister. That settled him. 
 
 " 'What's all this erbout?' Mr. Nuckles asked me. 
 
 " 'He and his friend are from Missouri/ I says. 
 'They're lookin' for some runaway slaves an' they 
 come here and pitched into us, and one got throwed 
 ag'in' the barn an' the other clum to the roof/ 
 
 " 'I reckon he better stay thar till he gits a little o' 
 God's grace in his soul/ says the minister. 
 
 "Then he says to the dog: Tonto, you keep 'im 
 right than' 
 
 "The dog appeared to understand what was ex- 
 pected of him. 
 
 "The minister got off his hoss and hitched him and 
 took off his coat and put it on the ground. 
 
 " 'What you goin' to do ?' I says. 
 
 " 'Me ?' says the minister. 'I be goin' to rassle with 
 Satan for the soul o' that 'ar man, an' if you keep 
 watch I reckon you'll see 'at the ground'll be scratched 
 up some 'fore I git through.' 
 
 "He loosened his collar an' knelt on hi's coat and 
 began to pray that the man's soul would see its wicked- 
 ness and repent. You could have heard him half a 
 mile away. 
 
 "Mr. Traylor drove off with the damaged slaver 
 settin' beside him and the saddle hoss hitched to the 
 rear axle. I see my chance an' before that prayer 
 ended I had got the fugitives under some hay in my 
 wagon and started off with them on my way to Liv- 
 
ii8 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ingston County. I could hear the prayin' until I got 
 over the hill into Canaan barrens. At sundown I left 
 them in good hands thirty miles up the road." 
 
 In a frontier newspaper of that time it is recorded 
 that the minister and his dog kept the slaver on the 
 roof all day, vainly trying with prayer and exhortation 
 to convert his soul. The man stopped swearing be- 
 fore dinner and on his promise not again to violate 
 the commandment a good meal was handed up to him. 
 He was liberated at sundown and spent the night with 
 Brimstead. 
 
 "Who is that big sucker who grabbed my friend?" 
 the stranger asked Brimstead. 
 
 "His name is Samson Traylor. Comes from Ver- 
 mont," was the answer. 
 
 "He's the dog-gonedest steam engyne of a man I 
 ever see, 'pon my word," said the stranger. 
 
 "An' he's about the gentlest, womern hearted critter 
 that ever drawed the breath o' life," said Brimstead. 
 
 "If he don't look out 'Liph Biggs'll kill him cer- 
 tain." 
 
 Samson spoke not more than a dozen words on his 
 way back to New Salem. Amazed and a little 
 shocked by his own conduct, he sat thinking. After 
 all he had heard and seen, the threat of the young 
 upstart had provoked him beyond his power of endur- 
 ance. Trained to the love of liberty and justice, the 
 sensitive mind of the New Englander had been hurt 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 119 
 
 by the story of the fugitives. Upon this hurt the 
 young man had poured the turpentine of haughty, im- 
 perial manners. In all the strange adventure it seemed 
 to him that he had felt the urge of God in the letter 
 of Love joy, in the prayers of the negro woman and 
 the minister, in his own wrath. The more he thought 
 of it the less inclined he was to reproach himself for 
 his violence. Slavery was a relic of ancient im- 
 perialism. It had no right in free America. There 
 could be no peace with it save for a little time. He 
 would write to his friends of what he had learned of 
 the brutalities of slavery. The Missourians would tell 
 their friends of the lawless and violent men of the 
 North, who cared not a fig for the property rights of a 
 southerner. The stories would travel like fire in dry 
 grass. 
 
 So, swiftly, the thoughts of men were being pre- 
 pared for the great battle lines of the future. Samson 
 saw the peril of it. 
 
 As they rode along young Mr. Biggs took a flask 
 half full of whisky from his pocket and offered it to 
 Samson. The latter refused this tender of courtesy 
 and the young man drank alone. He complained of 
 pain and Samson made a sling of his muffler and put 
 it over the neck and arm of the injured Biggs and 
 drove with care to avoid jolting. For the first time 
 Samson took a careful and sympathetic look at him. 
 He was a handsome youth, about six feet tall, with 
 
120 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 dark eyes and hair and a small black mustache and 
 teeth very white and even. 
 
 In New Salem Samson took him to Dr. Allen's 
 office and helped the doctor in setting the broken bone. 
 Then he went to Offut's store and found Abe reading 
 his law book and gave him an account of his adven- 
 ture. 
 
 "I'm both glad and sorry," said Abe. "I'm glad 
 that you licked the slaver and got the negroes out of 
 his reach. I reckon I'd have done the same if I could. 
 I'm sorry because it looks to me like the beginning of 
 many troubles. The whole subject of slavery is full 
 of danger. Naturally southern men will fight for their 
 property, and there is a growing number in the North 
 who will fight for their principles. If we all get to 
 fighting, I wonder what will become of the country. 
 It reminds me of the man who found a skunk in his 
 house. His boy was going after the critter with a 
 club. 
 
 " 'Look here, boy,' he said, 'when you've got a 
 skunk in the house, it's a good time to be careful. You 
 might spyle the skunk with that club, but the skunk 
 would be right certain to spyle the house. While he's 
 our guest, I reckon we'll have to be polite, whether 
 we want to or not.' ' 
 
 "Looks to me as if that skunk had come to stay 
 
 . 
 
 until he's put out," said Samson. 
 
 "That may be," Abe answered. "But I keep hopin' 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 121 
 
 that we can swap a hen for the house and get rid of 
 him. Anyhow, it's a good time to be careful." 
 
 "He may be glad to live with me, but I ain't willin' 
 to live with him," Samson rejoined. "I ain't awful 
 proud, but his station in life is a leetle too far below 
 mine. If I tried to live with him, I would get the 
 smell on my soul so that St. Peter would wonder what 
 to do with me." 
 
 Abe laughed. 
 
 "That touches the core of the trouble," said he. "In 
 the North most men have begun to think of the effect 
 of slavery on the soul; in the South a vast majority 
 are thinking of its effect on the pocket. One stands 
 for a moral and the other for a legal right." 
 
 "But one is lighter than the other," Samson in- 
 sisted. 
 
 That evening Samson set down the events of the 
 day in his book and quoted the dialogue in Offut's 
 store in which he had had a part. On the first of 
 February, 1840, he put these words under the entry : 
 
 "I wouldn't wonder if this was the first trip on the 
 Underground Railroad." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 IN WHICH MR. ELIPHALET BIGGS GETS ACQUAINTED 
 WITH BIM KELSO AND HER FATHER. 
 
 IN a musty old ledger kept by James Rutledge, the 
 owner of Rutledge' s Tavern, in the year 1832, is an 
 entry under the date of January 3ist which reads as 
 follows : 
 
 "Arrived this day Eliphalet Biggs of 26 Olive Street, 
 St. Louis, with one horse." 
 
 Young Mr. Biggs remained at Rutledge's Tavern 
 for three weeks with his arm in a sling under the eye 
 of the good doctor. The Rutledges were Kentucky 
 folk and there the young man had found a sympathetic 
 hearing and tender care. Dr. Allen had forbidden him, 
 the use of ardent spirits while the bone was knitting 
 and so these three weeks were a high point in his life 
 so to speak. 
 
 It had done him good to be hurled against a barn 
 door and to fall trembling and confused at the feet 
 of his master. He had never met his master until he 
 had reached Hopedale that morning. The event had 
 been too long delayed. Encouraged by idleness and 
 conceit and alcohol, evil passions had grown rank in 
 the soil of his spirit. Restraint had been a thing un- 
 
 122 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 123 
 
 known to him. He had ruled the little world in which 
 he had lived by a sense of divine right. He was a 
 prince of Egoland that province of America which 
 had only half yielded itself to the principles of De- 
 mocracy. 
 
 Sobriety and the barn door had been a help to his 
 soul. More of these heroic remedies might have saved 
 him. He was like one exiled, for a term, from his 
 native heath. After the ancient fashion of princes, 
 he had at first meditated the assassination of the man 
 who had blocked his way. Deprived of the heat of 
 alcohol, his purpose sickened and died. 
 
 It must be said that he served his term as a sober 
 human being quite gracefully, being a well born youth 
 of some education. A few days he spent mostly in 
 bed, while his friend, who had come on from Hope- 
 dale, took care of him. Soon he began to walk about 
 and his friend returned to St. Louis. 
 
 His fine manners and handsome form and face cap- 
 tured the little village, most of whose inhabitants had 
 come from Kentucky. They knew a gentleman when 
 they saw him. They felt a touch of awe in his pres- 
 ence. Mr. Biggs claimed to have got his hurt by a 
 fall from his horse, pride leading him to clothe the 
 facts in prevarication. If the truth had been known 
 Samson would have suffered a heavy loss of popularity 
 in New Salem. 
 
 A week after his arrival Ann Rutledge walked over 
 
124 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 to Jack Kelso's with him. Bim fled up the stick ladder 
 as soon as they entered the door. Mr. Kelso was 
 away on a fox hunt. Ann went to the ladder and 
 called : 
 
 "Bim, I saw you fly up that ladder. Come back 
 down. Here's a right nice young man come to see 
 you." 
 
 "Is he good-looking?" Bim called. 
 
 "Oh, purty as a picture, black eyes and hair and 
 teeth like pearls, and tall and straight, and he's got a 
 be-e-autiful little mustache." 
 
 "That's enough!" Bim exclaimed. "I just wish 
 there was a knot hole in this floor." 
 
 "Come on down here," Ann urged. 
 
 "I'm scared," was the answer. 
 
 "His cheeks are as red as roses and he's got a lovely 
 ring and big watch chain pure gold and yaller as a 
 dandelion. You come down here." 
 
 "Stop," Bim answered. "I'll be down as soon as I 
 can get on my best bib and tucker." 
 
 She was singing Sweet Nightingale as she began 
 "to fix up," while Ann and Mr. Biggs were talking 
 with Mrs. Kelso. 
 
 "Ann," Bim called in a moment, "had I better put 
 on my red dress or my blue?" 
 
 "Yer blue, and be quick about it." 
 
 "Don't you let him get away after all this trouble." 
 
 "I won't." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 125 
 
 In a few minutes Bim called from the top of the 
 ladder to Ann. The latter went and looked up at her. 
 Both girls burst into peals of merry laughter. Bim 
 had put on a suit of her father's old clothes and her 
 buffalo skin whiskers and was a wild sight. 
 
 "Don't you come down looking like that," said Ann. 
 "I'll go up there and 'tend to you." 
 
 Ann climbed the ladder and for a time there was 
 much laughing and chattering in the little loft. By 
 and by Ann came down. Bim hesitated, laughing, 
 above the ladder for a moment, and presently fol- 
 lowed in her best blue dress, against which the golden 
 curls of her hair fell gracefully. With red cheeks and 
 bright eyes, she was a glowing picture. Very timidly 
 she gave her hand to Mr. Biggs. 
 
 "It's just the right dress," he said. "It goes so well 
 with your hair. I'm glad to see you. I have never 
 seen a girl like you in my life." 
 
 "If I knew how, I'd look different," said Bim. "I 
 reckon I look cross. Cows have done it. Do you like 
 cows ?" 
 
 "I hate cows I've got a thousand cows and I see 
 as little of them as possible," said he. 
 
 "It is such a pleasure to hate cows !" Bim exclaimed. 
 "There's nothing I enjoy so much." 
 
 "Why?" Ann asked. 
 
 "I am not sure, but I think it is because they give 
 milk such quantities of milk ! Sometimes I lie awake 
 
126 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 at night hating cows. There are so many cows here 
 it keeps me busy." 
 
 "Bim has to milk a cow that's the reason," said 
 Ann. 
 
 "I'd like to come over and see her do it," said Mr. 
 Biggs. 
 
 "If you do I'll milk in your face honest I will," 
 said Bim. 
 
 "I wouldn't care if it rained milk. I'm going to 
 come and see you often, if your mother will let me." 
 
 A blush spread over the girl's cheeks to the pretty 
 dimple at the point of her chin. 
 
 "You'll see her scampering up the ladder like a 
 squirrel," said Mrs. Kelso. "She isn't real tame yet." 
 "Perhaps we could hide the ladder," he suggested," 
 with a smile. 
 
 "Do you play on the flute?" Bim asked. 
 "No," said Mr. Biggs. 
 
 "I was afraid," Bim exclaimed. "My Uncle Henry 
 does." She looked into Mr. Biggs' eyes. 
 "You like fun don't you?" he said. 
 "Have you got a snare drum ?" Bim queried. 
 "No. What put that into your head?" Mr. Biggs 
 asked, a litde mystified. 
 
 "I don't know. I thought I'd ask. My Uncle Henry 
 has a snare drum. That's one reason we came to 
 Illinois." 
 
 Mr. Biggs laughed. "That smile of yours is very 
 becoming," he said. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 127 
 
 "Did you ever dream of a long legged, brindle cat 
 with yellow eyes and a blue tail?" she asked, as if to 
 change the subject 
 
 "Never!" 
 
 "I wisht you had. Maybe you'd know how to scare 
 it away. It carries on so." 
 
 "I know what would fix that cat," said Mrs. Kelso. 
 "Give him the hot biscuits which you sometimes eat 
 for supper. He'll never come again." 
 
 At this point Mr. Kelso returned with his gun on 
 his shoulder and was introduced to Mr. Biggs. 
 
 "I welcome you to the hazards of my fireside," said 
 Kelso. "So you're from St. Louis and stopped for re- 
 pairs in this land of the ladder climbers. Sit down and 
 I'll put a log on the fire." 
 
 "Thank you, I must go," said Biggs. "The doctor 
 will be looking for me now." 
 
 "Can I not stay you with flagons ?" Kelso asked. 
 
 "The doctor has forbidden me all drink but milk 
 and water." 
 
 "A wise man is Dr. Allen !" Kelso exclaimed. "Cer- 
 vantes was right in saying that too much wine will 
 neither keep a secret nor fulfill a promise." 
 
 "Will you make me a promise?" Bim asked of Mr. 
 Biggs, as he was leaving the door with Ann. 
 
 "Anything you will ask," he answered. 
 
 "Please don't ever look at the new moon through a 
 knot hole," she said in a half whisper. 
 
 The young man laughed. "Why not?" 
 
128 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "If you do, you'll never get married." 
 
 "I mustn't look at the new moon through a knot 
 hole and I must beware of the flute and the snare 
 drum," said Mr. Biggs. 
 
 "Don't be alarmed by my daughter's fancies," 
 Kelso advised. "They are often rather astonishing. 
 She has a hearty prejudice against the flute. It is 
 well founded. An ill played flute is one of the worst 
 enemies of law and order. Goldsmith estranged half 
 his friends with a grim determination to play the flute. 
 It was the skeleton in his closet." 
 
 So Mr. Eliphalet Biggs met the pretty daughter of 
 Jack Kelso. On his way back to the tavern he told 
 Ann that he had fallen in love with the sweetest and 
 prettiest girl in all the world Bim Kelso. That very 
 evening Ann went over to Kelso's cabin to take the 
 news to Bim and her mother and to tell them that her 
 father reckoned he belonged to a very rich and a very 
 grand family. Naturally, they felt a sense of elation, 
 although Mrs. Kelso, being a woman of shrewdness, 
 was not carried away. Mr. Kelso had gone to Offut's 
 store and the three had the cabin to themselves. 
 
 "I think he's just a wonderful man!" Bim ex- 
 claimed. "But I'm sorry his name is so much like 
 figs and pigs. I'm plum sure I'm going to love him." 
 
 "I thought you were in love with Harry Needles," 
 Bim's mother said to her. 
 
 "I am. But he keeps me so busy. I have to dress 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 129 
 
 him up every day and put a mustache on him and 
 think up ever so many nice things for him to say, and 
 when he comes he doesn't say them. He's terribly 
 young." 
 
 "The same age as you. I think he is a splendid boy 
 so does everybody." 
 
 "I have to make all his courage for him, and then 
 he never will use it," Bim went on. "He has never 
 said whether he likes my looks or not." 
 
 "But there's time enough for that you are only a 
 child," said her mother. "You told me that he said 
 once you were beautiful." 
 
 "But he has never said it twice, and when he did 
 say it, I didn't believe my ears, he spoke so low. Acted 
 kind o' like he was scared of it. I don't want to wait 
 forever to be really and truly loved, do I ?" 
 
 Mrs. Kelso laughed. "It's funny to hear a baby 
 talking like that," she said. "We don't know this 
 young man. He's probably only fooling anyway." 
 
 Bim rose and stood very erect. 
 
 "Mother, do you think I look like a baby?" she 
 asked. "I tell you I'm every inch a woman," she added, 
 mimicking her father in the speech of Lear. 
 
 "But there are not many inches in you yet." 
 
 "How discouraging you are !" said Bim, sinking into 
 her chair with a sigh. 
 
 Bim went often to the little tavern after that. Of 
 those meetings little is known, save that, with all the 
 
130 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 pretty arts of the cavalier, unknown to Harry Needles, 
 the handsome youth flattered and delighted the girl. 
 This went on day by day for a fortnight. The eve- 
 ning before Biggs was to leave for his home, Bim went 
 over to eat supper with Ann at the tavern. 
 
 It happened that Jack Kelso had found Abe sitting 
 alone with his Blackstone in Offut's store that after- 
 noon. 
 
 "Mr. Kelso, did you ever hear what Eb Zane said 
 about the general subject of sons-in-law?" Abe asked. 
 
 "Never but I reckon it would be wise and possibly 
 apropos," said Kelso. 
 
 "He said that a son-in-law was a curious kind o' 
 property," Abe began. " 'Ye know,' says Eb, 'if ye 
 have a hoss that's tricky an' dangerous an' wuth less 
 than nothin', ye can give him away er kill him, but if 
 ye have a son-in-law that's wuthless, nobody else will 
 have him an' it's ag'in' the law to kill him. Fust ye 
 know ye've got a critter on yer hands that kicks an' 
 won't work an' has to be fed an' liquored three times 
 a day an' is wuth a million dollars less than nothin'.' ' 
 
 There was a moment of silence. 
 
 "When a man is figurin' his assets, it's better to add 
 ten dollars than to subtract a million," said Abe. 
 "That's about as simple as adding up the weight o' 
 three small hogs." 
 
 "What a well of wisdom you are, Abe !" said Kelso. 
 "Do you know anything about this young Missourian 
 who is shining up to Bim?" 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 131 
 
 "I only know that he was a drinking man up to the 
 time he landed here and that he threatened Traylor 
 with his whip and got thrown against the side of a 
 barn plenty hard. He's a kind of American king, 
 and I don't like kings. They're nice to look at, but 
 generally those that have married 'em have had one 
 h 1 of a time." 
 
 Kelso rose and went home to supper. 
 
 Soon after the supper dishes had been laid away in 
 the Kelso cabin, young Mr. Biggs rapped on its door 
 and pulled the latch-string and entered and sat down 
 with Mr. and Mrs. Kelso at the fireside. 
 
 "I have come to ask for your daughter's hand/' he 
 said, as soon as they were seated. "I know it will seem 
 sudden, but she happens to be the girl I want. I've 
 had her picture in my heart always. I love your 
 daughter. I can give her a handsome home and every- 
 thing she could desire." 
 
 Kelso answered promptly: "We are glad to wel- 
 come you here, but we can not entertain such a pro- 
 posal, flattering as it is. Our daughter is too young 
 to think of marriage. Then, sir, we know very little 
 about you, and may I be pardoned if I add that it 
 does not recommend you ?" 
 
 The young man was surprised. He had not ex- 
 pected such talk from a ladder climber. He looked at 
 Kelso, groping for an answer. Then 
 
 "Perhaps not," said he. "I have been a little wild, 
 but that is all in the past. You can learn about me 
 
1 32 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 and my family from any one in St. Louis. I am not 
 ashamed of anything I have done." 
 
 "Nevertheless, I must ask you to back away from 
 this subject. I can not even discuss it with you." 
 
 "May I not hope that you will change your mind?" 
 
 "Not at present. Let the future take care of itself." 
 
 "I generally get what I want," said the young man. 
 
 "And now and then something that you don't want," 
 said Kelso, a bit nettled by his persistence. 
 
 "You ought to think of her happiness. She is too 
 sweet and beautiful for a home like this." 
 
 There was an awkward moment of silence. The 
 young man said good night and opened the door. 
 
 "I'll go with you," said Kelso. 
 
 He went with Mr. Biggs to the tavern and got his 
 daughter and returned home with her. 
 
 Mrs. Kelso chided her husband for being hard on 
 Mr. Biggs. 
 
 "He has had his lesson, perhaps he will turn over a 
 new leaf," she said. 
 
 "I fear there isn't a new leaf in his book," said 
 Kelso. 'They're all dirty." 
 
 He told his wife what Abe had said in the store. 
 
 "The wisdom of the common folk is in that beard- 
 less young giant," he said. "It is the wisdom of many 
 generations gathered in the hard school of bitter ex- 
 perience. I wonder where it is going to lead him." 
 
 As Eliphalet Biggs was going down the south road 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 133 
 
 next morning he met Bim on her pony near the school- 
 house, returning from the field with her cow. They 
 stopped. 
 
 "I'm coming back, little girl," he said. 
 
 "What for?" she asked. 
 
 "To tell you a secret and ask you a question. No- 
 body but you has the right to say I can not. May I 
 come ?" 
 
 "I suppose you can if you want to," she answered. 
 
 "I'll come and I'll write to you and send the letters 
 to Ann." 
 
 Menton Graham, who lived in the schoolhouse, had 
 come out of its door. 
 
 "Good-by!" said young Mr. Biggs, as his heels 
 touched the flanks of his horse. Then he went flying 
 down the road. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WHEREIN ABE MAKES SUNDRY WISE REMARKS TO THE 
 BOY HARRY AND ANNOUNCES HIS PURPOSE TO BE A 
 CANDIDATE FOR THE LEGISLATURE AT KELSONS DIN- 
 NER PARTY. 
 
 HARRY NEEDLES met Bim Kelso on the road next 
 day, when he was going down to see if there was any 
 mail. She was on her pony. He was in his new suit 
 of clothes a butternut background striped into large 
 checks. 
 
 "You look like a walking checkerboard," said she, 
 stopping her pony. 
 
 "This this is my new suit," Harry answered, look- 
 ing down at it. 
 
 "It's a tiresome suit," said she impatiently. "I've 
 been playing checkers on it since I caught sight o' you, 
 and I've got a man crowned in the king row." 
 
 "I thought you'd like it," he answered, quite 
 seriously, and with a look of disappointment. "Say, 
 I've got that razor and I've shaved three times al- 
 ready." 
 
 He took the razor from his pocket and drew it from 
 its case and proudly held it up before her. 
 
 134 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 135 
 
 "Don't tell anybody," he warned her. "They'd 
 laugh at me. They wouldn't know how I feel." 
 
 "I won't say anything," she answered. "I reckon 
 I ought to tell you that I don't love you not so much 
 as I did anyway not near so much. I only love you 
 just a wee little bit now." 
 
 It is curious that she should have said just that. 
 Her former confession had only been conveyed by the 
 look in her eyes at sundry times and by unpremeditated 
 acts in the hour of his peril. 
 
 Harry's face fell. 
 
 "Do you love some other man?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes a regular man mustache, six feet tall and 
 everything. I just tell you he's purty!" 
 
 "Is it that rich feller from St. Louis?" he asked. 
 
 She nodded and then whispered: "Don't you tell." 
 
 The boy's lips trembled when he answered. "I won't 
 tell. But I don't see how you can do it" 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "He drinks and he keeps slaves and beats them with 
 a bull whip. He isn't respectable." 
 
 "That's a lie," she answered quickly. "I don't care 
 what you say." 
 
 Bim touched her pony with the whip and rode away. 
 
 Harry staggered for a moment as he went on. His 
 eyes filled with tears. It seemed to him that the world 
 had been ruined. On his way to the village he tried 
 
136 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 and convicted it of being no fit place for a boy to live 
 in. Down by the tavern he met Abe, who stopped him. 
 
 "Howdy, Harry!" said Abe. "You look kind o' 
 sick. Come into the store and sit down. I want to 
 talk to you." 
 
 Harry followed the big man into Offut's store, flat- 
 tered by his attention. There had been something 
 very grateful in the sound of Abe's voice and the feel 
 of his hand. The store was empty. 
 
 "You and I mustn't let ourselves be worried by 
 little matters," said Abe, as they sat down together 
 by the fire. "Things that seem to you to be as big as 
 a mountain now will look like a mole hill in six 
 months. You and I have got things to do, partner. 
 We mustn't let ourselves be fooled. I was once in a 
 boat with old Cap'n Chase on the Illinois River. We 
 had got into the rapids. It was a narrow channel in 
 dangerous water. They had to keep her headed just 
 so or we'd have gone on the rocks. Suddenly a boy 
 dropped his apple overboard and began to holler. He 
 wanted to have the boat stopped. For a minute that 
 boy thought his apple was the biggest thing in the 
 world. We're all a good deal like him. We keep 
 dropping our apples and calling for the boat to stop. 
 Soon we find out that there are many apples in the 
 world as good as that one. You have all come to a 
 stretch of bad water up at your house. The folks 
 have been sick. They're a little lonesome and dis- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 137 
 
 couraged. Don't you make it any harder by crying 
 over a lost apple. Ye know it's possible that the apple 
 will float along down into the still water where you 
 can pick it up by and by. The important thing is to 
 keep going ahead." 
 
 This bit of fatherly counsel was a help to the boy. 
 
 "I've got a book here that I want you to read," Abe 
 went on. "It is the Life of Henry Clay. Take it 
 home and read it carefully and then bring it back and 
 tell me what you think of it. You may be a Henry 
 Clay yourself by and by. The world has something 
 big in it for every one if he can only find it. We're 
 all searching some for gold and some for fame. I 
 pray God every day that He will help me to find my 
 work the thing I can do better than anything else 
 and when it is found help me to do it. I expect it 
 will be a hard and dangerous search and that I shall 
 make mistakes. I expect to drop some apples on my 
 way. They'll look like gold to me, but I'm not going 
 to lose sight of the main purpose." 
 
 When Harry got home he found Sarah sewing by 
 the fireside, with Joe and Betsey playing by the bed. 
 Samson had gone to the woods to split rails. 
 
 "Any mail?" Sarah asked. 
 
 "No mail," he answered. 
 
 Sarah went to the window and stood for some 
 minutes looking out at the plain. Its sere grasses, 
 protruding out of the snow, hissed and bent in the 
 
138 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 wind. In its cheerless winter colors it was a dreary 
 thing to see. 
 
 "How I long for home!" she exclaimed, as she re- 
 sumed her sewing by the fire. 
 
 Little Joe came and stood by her knee and gave her 
 his oft repeated blessing : 
 
 "God help us and make His face to shine upon us." 
 
 She kissed him and said: "Dear comforter! It 
 shines upon me every time I hear you say those 
 words." 
 
 The little lad had observed the effect of the blessing 
 on his mother in 'her moments of depression and many 
 times his parroting had been the word in season. Now 
 he returned to his play again, satisfied. 
 
 "Would you mind if I called you mother?" Harry 
 asked. 
 
 "I shall be glad to have you do it if it gives you any 
 comfort, Harry," she answered. 
 
 She observed that there were tears in his eyes. 
 
 "We are all very fond of you," she said, as she bent 
 to her task. 
 
 Then the boy told her the history of his morning 
 the talk with Bim, with the razor omitted from it; 
 how he had met Abe and all that Abe had said to him 
 as they sat together in the store. 
 
 "Well, Harry, if she's such a fool, you're lucky to 
 have found it out so soon," said Sarah. "She does 
 little but ride the pony and play around with a gun. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 139 
 
 I don't believe she ever spun a 'hank o' yarn in her life. 
 She'll get her teeth cut by and by. Abe is right. 
 We're always dropping our apples and feeling very 
 bad about it, until we find out that there are lots of 
 apples just as good. I'm that way myself. I guess 
 I've made it harder for Samson crying over lost ap- 
 ples. I'm going to try to stop It." 
 
 Then fell a moment of silence. Soon she said : 
 
 "There's a bitter wind blowing and there's no great 
 hurry about the rails, I guess. You sit here by the 
 fire and read your book this forenoon. Maybe it will 
 help you to find your work." 
 
 So it happened that the events of Harry's morning 
 found their place in the diary which Sarah and Sam- 
 son kept. Long afterward Harry added the sentences 
 about the razor. 
 
 That evening Harry read aloud from the Life of 
 Henry Clay, while Sarah and Samson sat listening by 
 the fireside. It was the first of many evenings which 
 they spent in a like fashion that winter. When the 
 book was finished they read, on Abe's recommenda- 
 tion, Weem's Life of Washington. 
 
 Every other Sunday they went down to the school- 
 house to hear John Cameron preach. He was a work- 
 ing man, noted for good common sense, who talked 
 simply and often effectively of the temptations of the 
 frontier, notably those of drinking, gaming and swear- 
 ing. One evening they went to a debate in the tavern 
 
140 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 on the issues of the day, in which Abe won the praise 
 of all for an able presentation of the claim of Internal 
 Improvements. During that evening Alexander Fer- 
 guson declared that he would not cut his hair until 
 Henry Clay became president, the news of which 
 resolution led to a like insanity in others and an age 
 of unexampled hairiness on that part of the border. 
 
 For Samson and Sarah the most notable social 
 event of the winter was a chicken dinner at which they 
 and Mr. and Mrs. James Rutledge and Ann and Abe 
 Lincoln and Dr. Allen were the guests of the Kelsos. 
 That night Harry stayed at home with the children. 
 
 Kelso was in his best mood. 
 
 "Come," he said, when dinner was ready. "Life is 
 more than friendship. It is partly meat." 
 
 "And mostly Kelso," said Dr. Allen. 
 
 "Ah, Doctor! Long life has made you as smooth 
 as an old shilling and nimbler than a sixpence," Kelso 
 declared. "And, speaking of life, Aristotle said that 
 the learned and the unlearned were as the living and 
 the dead." 
 
 "It is true," Abe interposed. "I say it, in spite of 
 the fact that it slays me." 
 
 "You? No! You are alive to your finger tips," 
 Kelso answered. 
 
 "But I have mastered only eight books," said Abe. 
 
 "And one the book of common sense, and that 
 has wised you," Kelso went on. "Since I came to 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 141 
 
 this country I have learned to beware of the one-book 
 man. There are more living men in America than in 
 any land I have seen. The man who reads one good 
 book thoughtfully is alive and often my master in 
 wit or wisdom. Reading is the gate and thought is 
 the pathway of real life." 
 
 "I think that most of the men I know have read 
 the Bible," said Abe. 
 
 "A wonderful and a saving fact ! It is a sure foun-. 
 dation to build your life upon." 
 
 Kelso paused to pour whisky from a jug at his 
 side for those who would take it. 
 
 "Let us drink to our friend Abe and his new am- 
 bition," he proposed. 
 
 "What is it?" Samson asked. 
 
 "I am going to try for a seat in the Legislature," said 
 Abe. "I reckon it's rather bold. Old Samuel Legg 
 was a good deal of a nuisance down in Hardin County. 
 He was always talking about going to Lexington, but 
 never went. 
 
 " 'You'll never get thar without startin',' said his 
 neighbor. 
 
 " 'But I'm powerful skeered fer fear I'd never git 
 back,' said Samuel. There's a big passel o' folks 
 that gits killed in the city.' 
 
 " 'You always was a selfish cuss. You ought to 
 think o' yer neighbors,' said the other man. 
 
 "So I've concluded that if I don't start I'll never get 
 
142 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 there, and if I die on the way it will be a good thing 
 for my neighbors," Abe added. 
 
 The toast was drunk, and by some in water, after 
 which Abe said : 
 
 "If you have the patience to listen to it, I'd like to 
 read my declaration to the voters of Sangamon 
 County." 
 
 Samson's diary briefly describes this appeal as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "He said that he wanted to win the confidence and 
 esteem of his fellow citizens. This he hoped to ac- 
 complish by doing something which would make him 
 worthy of it. He had been thinking of the county. A 
 railroad would do more for it than anything else, but 
 a railroad would be too costly. The improvement of 
 the Sangamon River was the next best thing. Its 
 channel could be straightened and cleared of drift- 
 wood and made navigable for small vessels under 
 thirty tons' burden. He favored a usury law and said, 
 in view of the talk he had just heard, he was going 
 to favor the improvement and building of schools, so 
 that every one could learn how to read, at least, and 
 learn for himself what is in the Bible and other great 
 books. It was a modest statement and we all liked it." 
 
 "Whatever happens to the Sangamon, one statement 
 in that platform couldn't be improved," said Kelso. 
 
 "What is that?" Abe asked. 
 
 "It's the one that says you wish to win the regard 
 of your fellows by serving them." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES . 143' 
 
 "It's a lot better than saying that he wishes to 
 serve Abe," said Dr. Allen, a remark which referred 
 to a former conversation with Abe, in which Kelso 
 had had a part. 
 
 "You can trust Abe to take the right turn at every 
 fork in the road," Kelso went on. "If you stick to 
 that, my boy, and continue to study, you'll get there 
 and away beyond any goal you may now see. A pas- 
 sion for service is more than half the battle. Since 
 the other night at the tavern I've been thinking about 
 Abe and the life we live here. I've concluded that 
 we're all very lucky, if we are a bit lonesome." 
 
 "I'd like to know about that," said Sarah. "I'm a 
 little in need of encouragement." 
 
 "Well, you may have observed that Abe has a good 
 memory," he continued. "While I try to be modest 
 about it, my own memory is a fairly faithful servant. 
 It is due to the fact that since I left the university I 
 have lived, mostly, in lonely places. It is a great thing 
 to be where the register of your mind is not over- 
 burdened by the flow of facts. Abe's candidacy is the 
 only thing that has happened here since Samson's 
 raising, except the arrival and departure of Eliphalet 
 Biggs. Our memories are not weakened by overwork. 
 They have time for big undertakings like Burns and 
 Shakespeare and Blackstone." 
 
 "I've noticed that facts get kind o' slippery when 
 they come in a bunch, as they did on our journey,'* 
 
144 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 said Samson. "Seems so they wore each other smooth 
 and got hard to hold." 
 
 "Ransom Prigg used to say it was easy enough to 
 ketch eels, but it was powerful hard to hold 'em," Abe 
 remarked. "He caught three eels in a trap one day 
 and the trap busted and let 'em loose in the boat. He 
 kept grabbin' and tusslin' around the boat till the last 
 eel got away. 'I never had such a slippery time in all 
 the days q' my life,' said Rans. 'One eel is a dinner, 
 but three eels is jest a lot o' slippin' an' disapp'int- 
 ment.' " 
 
 "That's exactly the point I make," said Kelso. "A 
 man with too many eels in the boat will have none for 
 dinner. The city man is at a great disadvantage. 
 'Events slip away from him and leave nothing. His 
 intellect gets the habit of letting go. It loses its power 
 to seize and hold. His impressions are like footprints 
 on a beach. They are washed away by the next tide." 
 
 There was much talk at the fireside after dinner, all 
 of which doubtless had an effect on the fortunes of the 
 good people who sat around it, and the historian must 
 sort the straws, and with some regret, for bigger things 
 are drawing near in the current. Samson and Sarah 
 had been telling of their adventures on the long road. 
 
 "We are all movers," said Kelso. "We can not stay 
 where we are for a single day not if we are alive. 
 Most of us never reach that eminence from which we 
 discover the littleness of ourselves and our troubles 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 145 
 
 and achievements and the immensities of power and 
 wisdom by which we are surrounded." 
 
 At least one of that company was to remember the 
 words in days of adversity and triumph. Soon after 
 that dinner the memories of the little community be- 
 gan to register an unusual procession of thrilling facts. 
 
 Early in April an Indian scare spread from the 
 capital to the remotest corners of the state. Black 
 Hawk, with many warriors, had crossed the Missis- 
 sippi and was moving toward the Rock River country. 
 Governer Reynolds called for volunteers to check the 
 invasion. 
 
 Abe, whose address to the voters had been printed 
 i'n the Sangamon Journal, joined a volunteer company 
 and soon became its captain. On the tenth of April he 
 and Harry Needles left for Richland to go into train- 
 ing. Samson was eager to go, but could not leave his 
 family. 
 
 Bim Kelso rode out into the fields where Harry was 
 at work the day before he went away. 
 
 "This is a great surprise," said Harry. "I don't 
 see you any more except at a distance." 
 
 "I don't see you either." 
 
 "I didn't think you wanted to see me." 
 
 "You're easily discouraged," she said, looking down 
 with a serious face. 
 
 "You made me feel as if I didn't want to live any 
 longer." 
 
146 M MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I reckon I'm mean. I made myself feel a million 
 times worse. It's awful to be such a human as I am. 
 Some days I'm plum scared o' myself." 
 
 "I'm going away," the boy said, in a rather mourn- 
 ful tone. 
 
 "I hate to have you go. I just love to know you're 
 here, if I don't see you. Only I wish you was older 
 and knew more." 
 
 "Maybe I know more'n you think I do," he an- 
 swered. 
 
 "But you don't know anything about my troubles," 
 said she, with a sigh. 
 
 "I don't get the chance." 
 
 There was half a moment of silence. She ended it 
 by saying : 
 
 "Ann and I are going to the spelling school to- 
 night." 
 
 "Can I go with you?" 
 
 "Could you stand it to be talked to and scolded by 
 a couple of girls till you didn't care what happened to 
 you?" 
 
 "Yes; I've got to be awful careless." 
 
 "We'll be all dressed up and ready at quarter of 
 eight. Come to the tavern. I'm going to have supper 
 with Ann. She is just terribly happy. John McNeil 
 has told her that he loves her. It's a secret. Don't 
 you tell." 
 
 "I won't. Does she love him?" 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 147 
 
 "Devotedly; but she wouldn't let him know it not 
 yet." 
 
 "No?" 
 
 "Course not. She pretends she's in love with some- 
 body else. It's the best way. I reckon he'll be plum 
 anxious before she owns up. But she truly loves him. 
 She'd die for him." 
 
 "Girls are awful curious nobody can tell what they 
 mean," said Harry. 
 
 "Sometimes they don't know what they mean them- 
 selves. Often I say something or do something and 
 wonder and wonder what it means." 
 
 She was looking off at the distant plain as she spoke. 
 
 "Sometimes I'm surprised to find out how much it 
 means," she added. "I reckon every girl is a kind of 
 a puzzle and some are very easy and some would give 
 ye the headache." 
 
 "Or the heartache." 
 
 "Did you ever ride a horse sitting backwards 
 when you're going one way and looking another and 
 you don't know what's coming?" she asked. 
 
 "What's behind you is before you and the faster 
 you go the more danger you're in ?" Harry laughed. 
 
 "Isn't that the way we have to travel in this world, 
 
 whether we're going to love or to mill?" the girl asked, 
 
 with a sigh. "We can not tell what is ahead. We see 
 
 only what is behind us. It is very sad." 
 
 Harry looked at Bim. He saw the tragic truth of 
 
148 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 the words and suddenly her face was like them. Un- 
 consciously in the midst of her playful talk this thing 
 had fallen. He did not know quite what to make of it. 
 
 "I feel sad when I think of Abe/' said Harry. "He 
 don't know what is ahead of him, I guess. I heard 
 Mrs. Traylor say that he was in love with Ann." 
 
 "I reckon he is, but he don't know how to show it. 
 You might as well ask me to play on a flute. He's 
 'never told her. He just walks beside her to a party 
 and talks about politics and poetry and tells funny 
 stories. I reckon he's mighty good, but he don't know 
 how to love a girl. Ann is afraid he'll step on her, 
 he's so tall and awkward and wanderin'. Did you 
 ever see an elephant talking with a cricket ?" 
 
 "Not as I remember," said Harry. 
 
 "I never did myself, but if I did, I'm sure they'd 
 both look very tired. It would be still harder for an 
 elephant to be engaged to a cricket. I don't reckon 
 the elephant's love would fit the cricket or that they'd 
 ever be able to agree on what they'd talk about. It's 
 some that way with Abe and Ann. She is small and 
 spry; he is slow and high. She'd need a ladder to 
 get up to his face, and I just tell you it ain't purty 
 when ye get there. She ain't got a chance to love 
 him." 
 
 "I love him," said Harry. "I think he's a wonder- 
 ful man. I'd fight for him till I died. John McNeil 
 is nothing but a grasshopper compared to him." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 149 
 
 "That's about what my father says," Bim answered. 
 "I love Abe, too, and so does Ann, but it ain't the 
 hope to die, marry in' love. It's like a man's love for 
 a man or a woman's love for a woman. John McNeil 
 is handsome he's just plum handsome, and smart, 
 too. He's bought a big farm and is going into the 
 grocery business. Mr. Rutledge says he'll be a rich 
 man." 
 
 "I wouldn't wonder. Is he going to the spelling 
 school?" 
 
 "No, he went off to Richland to-day with my father 
 to join the company. They're going to fight the 
 Injuns, too." 
 
 Harry stood smoothing the new coat of Colonel 
 with his hand, while Bim was thinking how she would 
 best express what was on her mind. She did not try 
 to say it, but there was something in the look of her 
 eyes which the boy remembered. 
 
 He was near telling her that he loved her, but he 
 looked down at his muddy boots and soiled overalls. 
 They were like dirt thrown on a flame. How could 
 one speak of a sweet and noble passion in such attire? 
 Clean clothes and white linen for that! The shell 
 sounded for dinner. Bim started for the road at a 
 gallop, waving her hand. He unhitched his team and 
 followed it slowly across the black furrows toward 
 the barn. 
 
 He did not go to the spelling school. Abe came 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 at seven and said that he and Harry would have to 
 walk to Springfield that night and get their equipment 
 and take the stage in the morning. Abe said if they 
 started right away they could get to the Globe tavern 
 by midnight. In the hurry and excitement Harry for- 
 got the spelling school. To Bim it was a tragic thing. 
 Before he went to bed that night he wrote a letter to 
 her. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 IN WHICH BIM KELSO MAKES HISTORY, WHILE ABE 
 AND HARRY AND OTHER GOOD CITIZENS OF NEW 
 SALEM ARE MAKING AN EFFORT TO THAT END IN 
 THE INDIAN WAR. 
 
 MANY things came with the full tide of the spring- 
 time innumerable flowers and voices, the flowers 
 filled with glowing color, the voices with music and 
 delight. Waves of song swept over the limitless 
 meadows. They went on and on as if they traveled 
 a shoreless sea in a steady wind. Bob-whites, meadow- 
 larks, bobolinks, song sparrows, bluebirds, competed 
 with the crowing of the meadow cocks. This joyous 
 tumult around the Traylor cabin sped the day and 
 emphasized the silence of the night. 
 
 In the midst of this springtime carnival there came 
 also cheering news from the old home in Vermont 
 a letter to Sarah from her brother, which contained 
 the welcome promise that he was coming to visit them 
 and expected to be in Beardstown about the fourth of 
 May. Samson drove across country to meet the 
 steamer. He was at the landing when The Star of the 
 North arrived. He saw every passenger that came 
 ashore, and Eliphalet Biggs, leading his big bay mare, 
 
152 r A> MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 was one of them, but the expected visitor did not ar- 
 rive. There would be no other steamer bringing pas- 
 sengers from the East for a number of days. 
 
 Samson went to a store and bought a new dress and 
 sundry bits of finery for Sarah. He returned to New 
 Salem with a heavy heart. He dreaded to meet his 
 faithful partner and bring her little but disappoint- 
 ment. The windows were lighted when he got back, 
 long after midnight. Sarah stood in the open door 
 as he drove up. 
 
 "Didn't come," he said mournfully. 
 
 Without a word, Sarah followed him to the barn, 
 with the tin lantern in her hand. He gave her a hug 
 as he got down from the wagon. He was little given 
 to like displays of emotion. 
 
 "Don't feel bad," he said. 
 
 She tried bravely to put a good face on her disap- 
 pointment, but, while he was unharnessing and leading 
 the weary horses into their stalls, it was a wet face 
 and a silent one. 
 
 "Come," he said, after he had thrown some hay 
 into the mangers. "Let's go into the house. I've got 
 something for ye." 
 
 "I've given them up I don't believe we shall ever 
 see them again," said Sarah, as they were walking to- 
 ward the door. "I think I know how the dead feel 
 who are so soon forgotten." 
 
 "Ye can't blame 'em," said Samson. "They've 
 
 
A MAN FOR JHE AGES 153 
 
 probably heard about tKe Injun scare and would ex- 
 pect to be massacreed if they came." 
 
 Indeed the scare, now abating, had spread through 
 the border settlements and kept the people awake o' 
 nights. Samson and other men, left in New Salem, 
 had met to consider plans for a stockade. 
 
 "And then there's the fever an' ague," Samson 
 added. 
 
 "Sometimes I feel sorry I told 'em about it because 
 they'll think it worse than it is. But we've got to tell 
 the truth if it kills us." 
 
 "Yes: we've got to tell the truth," Samson re- 
 joined. "There'll be a railroad coming through here 
 one of these days and then we can all get back and 
 forth easy. If it comes it's going to make us rich. 
 Abe says he expects it within three or four years." 
 
 Sarah had a hot supper ready for him. As he stood 
 warming himself by the fire she put her arms around 
 him and gave him a little hug. 
 
 "You poor tired man !" she said. "How patient and 
 how good you are !" 
 
 There was a kind of apology for this moment of 
 weakness in her look and manner. Her face seemed 
 to say : "It's silly but I can't help it." 
 
 "I've been happy all the time for I knew you was 
 waiting for me," Samson remarked. "I feel rich ev- 
 ery time I think of you and the children. Say, look 
 here." 
 
154 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 He untied the bundle and put the dress and finery in 
 her lap. 
 
 "Well, I want to know !" she exclaimed, as she held 
 it up to the candlelight. "That must have cost a pret- 
 ty penny." 
 
 "I don't care what it cost it ain't half good enough 
 not half," said Samson. 
 
 As he sat down to his supper he said : 
 
 "I saw that miserable slaver, Biggs, get off the boat 
 with his big bay mare. There was a darky following 
 him with another horse." 
 
 "Good land !" said Sarah. "I hope he isn't coming 
 here. Mrs. Onstott told me to-day that Bim Kelso has 
 been getting letters from him." 
 
 "She's such an odd little critter and she's got a 
 mind of her own anybody could see that," Samson 
 reflected. "She ought to be looked after purty care- 
 ful. Her parents are so taken up with shooting and 
 fishing and books they kind o' forget the girl. I wish 
 you'd go down there to-morrow and see what's up. 
 Jack is away you know." 
 
 "I will," said Sarah. 
 
 It was nearly two o'clock when Samson, having 
 fed and watered his horses, got into bed. Yet he was 
 up before daylight, next morning, and singing a hymn 
 of praise as he kindled the fire and filled the tea ket- 
 tle and lighted his candle lantern and went out to do 
 his chores while Sarah, partly reconciled to her new 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 155 
 
 disappointment, dressed and began the work of an- 
 other day. So they and Abe and Harry and others 
 like them, each under the urge of his own ambition, 
 spent their great strength in the building and de- 
 fense of the republic and grew prematurely old. Their 
 work began and ended in darkness and often their 
 days were doubled by the burdens of the night. So 
 in the reckoning of their time each year was more 
 than one. 
 
 Sarah went down to the village in the afternoon of 
 the next day. When Samson came in from the fields 
 to his supper she said : 
 
 "Mr. Biggs is stopping at the tavern. He brought 
 a new silk dress and some beautiful linen to Mrs. 
 Kelso. He tells her that Bim has made a new man of 
 him. Claims he has quit drinking and gone to work. 
 He looks like a lord silver spurs and velvet riding- 
 coat and ruffled shirt and silk waistcoat. A colored 
 servant rode into the village with him on a beautiful 
 brown horse, carrying big saddle-bags. Bim and her 
 mother are terribly excited. He wants them to move 
 to St. Louis and live on his big plantation in a house 
 next to his rent free." 
 
 Samson knew that Biggs was the type of man who 
 weds Virtue for her dowry. 
 
 "A man's judgment is needed there," said he. "It's 
 a pity Jack is gone. Biggs will take that girl away 
 with him sure as shooting if we don't look out." 
 
156 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "Oh, I don't believe he'd do that," said Sarah. "I 
 hope he has turned over a new leaf and become a gen- 
 tleman." 
 
 "We'll see," said Samson. 
 
 They saw and without much delay the background 
 of his pretensions, for one day within the week he and 
 Bim, the latter mounted on the beautiful brown horse, 
 rode away and did not return. Soon a letter came 
 from Bim to her mother, mailed at Beardstown. It 
 told of their marriage in that place and said that they 
 would be starting for St. Louis in a few hours on The 
 Star of the North. She begged the forgiveness of 
 her parents and declared that she was very happy. 
 
 "Too bad! Isn't it?" said Sarah when Mrs. Waddell, 
 who had come out with her husband one evening to 
 bring this news, had finished the story. 
 
 "Yes, it kind o' spyles the place," said Samson. 
 "Bim was a wonderful girl spite of all her foolish- 
 ness like the birds that sing among the flowers on 
 the prairie kind o' yes, sir she was. I'm afraid for 
 Jack Kelso 'fraid it'll bust his fiddle if it don't break 
 his heart. His wife is alone now. We must ask her 
 to come and stay with us." 
 
 "The Aliens have taken her in," said Mrs. 
 Waddell. 
 
 "That's good," said Sarah. "I'll go down there to^ 
 morrow and offer to do anything we can." 
 
 When Mr. and Mrs. Waddell had gone Sarah said : 
 
"I can't help thinking of poor Harry. He was ter- 
 ribly in love with her." 
 
 "Well, he'll have to get over it that's all," said 
 Samson. "He's young and the wound will heal." 
 
 It was well for Harry that he was out of the way 
 of all this, and entered upon adventures which ab- 
 sorbed his thought. As to what was passing with him 
 we have conclusive evidence in two letters, one from 
 Colonel Zachary Taylor in which he says : 
 
 "Harry Needles is also recommended for the most 
 intrepid conduct as a scout and for securing informa^ 
 tion of great value. Compelled to abandon his wound- 
 ed horse he swam a river under fire and under the 
 observation of three of our officers, through whose help 
 he got back to his command, bringing a bullet in his 
 thigh.'' 
 
 With no knowledge of military service and a com- 
 pany of untrained men, Abe had no chance to win 
 laurels in the campaign. His command did not get in 
 touch with the enemy. He had his hands full main- 
 taining a decent regard for discipline among the raw 
 frontiersmen of his company. 
 
 He saved the life of an innocent old Indian, with 
 a passport from General Cass, who had fallen into 
 their hands and whom, in their excitement and lust 
 for action, they desired to hang. This was the only 
 incident of his term of service which gave him the 
 least satisfaction. 
 
158 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Early in the campaign Harry had been sent with a 
 message to headquarters, where he won the regard of 
 Colonel Taylor and was ordered to the front with a 
 company of scouts. No member of the command had 
 been so daring. He had the recklessness of youth 
 and its wayward indifferences to peril. William Boone, 
 a son of Daniel, used to speak of "the luck of that dare- 
 devil farmer boy." 
 
 One day in passing mounted through a thick woods 
 on the river, near the enemy, he suddenly discovered 
 Indians all around him. They sprang out of the 
 bushes ahead and one of them opened fire. He turned 
 and spurred his horse and saw the painted warriors on 
 every side. He rode through them under a hot fire. 
 His horse fell wounded near the river shore and Harry 
 took to the water and swam beneath it as far as he 
 could. When he came up for breath bullets began 
 splashing and whizzing around him. It was then that 
 he got his wound. He dove and reached the swift 
 current which greatly aided his efforts. Some white 
 men in a boat about three hundred yards away wit- 
 nessed his escape and said that the bullets "tore the 
 river surface into rags" around him as he came up. 
 Courage and his skill as a diver and swimmer saved 
 his life. Far below, the boat, in which were a num- 
 ber of his fellow scouts overtook him and helped him 
 back to camp. So it happened that a boy won a reputa- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 159 
 
 tion in the "Black Hawk War" which was not lavish 
 in its bestowal of honors. 
 
 When the dissatisfied volunteers were mustered out 
 late in May, Kelso and McNeil, being sick with a stub- 
 born fever, were declared unfit for sendee and sent 
 back to New Salem as soon as they were able to ride. 
 Abe and Harry joined Captain lies' Company of In- 
 dependent Rangers and a month or so later Abe, re- 
 enlisted to serve with Captain Early, Harry being un- 
 der a surgeon's care. The latter's wound was not 
 serious and on July third he too joined Early's com- 
 mand. 
 
 This company was chiefly occupied in the moving 
 of supplies and the burying of a few men who had 
 been killed in small engagements with the enemy. It 
 was a band of rough-looking fellows in the costume 
 of the frontier farm and workshop ragged, dirty 
 and unshorn. The company was disbanded July tenth 
 at Whitewater, Wisconsin, where, that night, the horses 
 of Harry and Abe were stolen. From that point 
 they started on their long homeward tramp with a 
 wounded sense of decency and justice. They felt that 
 the Indians had been wronged : that the greed of land 
 grabbers had brutally violated their rights. This feel- 
 ing had been deepened by the massacre of the red 
 women and children at Bad Ax. 
 
 A number of mounted men went with them and 
 gave them a ride now and then. Some of the travel- 
 
160 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ers had little to eat on the journey. Both Abe and 
 Harry suffered from hunger and sore feet before 
 they reached Peoria where they bought a canoe and 
 in the morning of a bright day started down the Illi- 
 nois River. 
 
 They had a long day of comfort in its current with 
 a good store of bread and butter and cold meat and 
 pie. The prospect of being fifty miles nearer home be- 
 fore nightfall lightened their hearts and they laughed 
 freely while Abe told of his adventures in the cam- 
 paign. To him it was all a wild comedy with tragic 
 scenes dragged into it and woefully out of place. In- 
 deed he thought it no more like war than a pig stick- 
 ing and that was the kind of thing he hated. 
 
 At noon they put ashore and sat on a grassy bank 
 in the shade of a great oak, to escape the withering 
 sunlight of that day late in July, while they ate their 
 luncheon. 
 
 "I reckon that the Black Haw*k peril was largely 
 manufactured," said Abe as they sat in the cool shade. 
 
 "If they had been let alone I don't believe the In- 
 dians would have done any harm. It reminds me a 
 little of the story of a rich man down in Lexington 
 who put a cast iron buck in his dooryard. Next morn- 
 ing all the dogs in the neighborhood got together and 
 looked him over from a distance. He had invaded 
 their territory and they reckoned that he was theirs. 
 They saw a chance for war. One o' their number vol- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 161 
 
 unteered to go and scare up the buck. So he raised 
 the hair on his back and sneaked up from behind and 
 when he was about forty feet away made hell bent 
 for the buck's heels. The buck didn't move and the 
 dog nearly broke his neck on that pair o' cast iron 
 legs. He went limping back to his comrades. 
 
 " 'What's the trouble ?' they asked. 
 
 " 'It's nary buck,' said the dog. 
 
 "'What is it then?' 
 
 " 'Darned if I know. It kicks like a mule an' smells 
 like a gate post.' 
 
 " 'Come on, you fellers. It looks to me like a good 
 time to go home,' said a wise old dog. 'I've learned 
 that ye can't always believe yerself.' 
 
 "It's a good thing for a man or a government to 
 learn," Abe went on as they resumed their journey. 
 "I've learned not to believe everything I hear. The 
 first command I gave, one o' the company hollered 
 'Go to h 1.' Every one before me laughed. It was 
 a chance to get mad. I didn't for I knew what it 
 meant. I just looked sober and said : 
 
 " 'Well, boys, I haven't far to go and I reckon we'll 
 all get there if we don't quit fooling an' 'tend to busi- 
 ness.' 
 
 "They agreed with me." 
 
 Harry had not heard from home since he left it, 
 Abe had had a letter from Rutledge which gave him 
 the news of Bim's elopement. The letter had said: 
 
1 62 A' MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I was over to Beardstown the day Kelso and Mc- 
 Neil got off the steamer. I brought them home with 
 me. Kelso was bigger than his trouble. Said that 
 the ways of youth were a part of the great plan. 
 'Thorns! Thorns!' he said. 'They are the teachers 
 of wisdom and who am I that I should think myself 
 or my daughter too good for the like since it is written 
 that Jesus Christ did not complain of them.' ' 
 
 "Have you heard from home ?" Abe asked as they 
 paddled on. 
 
 "Not a word," said Harry. 
 
 "You're not expecting to meet Bim Kelso?" 
 
 "That's the best part of getting home for me," said 
 Harry, turning with a smile. 
 
 "Let her drift for a minute," said Abe. "I've got 
 a letter from James Rutledge that I want to read to 
 you. There's a big lesson in it for both of us some- 
 thing to remember as long as we live." 
 
 Abe read the letter. Harry sat motionless. Slowly 
 his head bent forward until his chin touched his 
 breast 
 
 Abe said with a tender note in his voice as he folded 
 the letter: 
 
 "This man is well along in life. He hasn't youth to 
 help him as you have. See how he takes it and she's 
 the only child he has. There are millions of pretty 
 girls in the world for you to choose from." 
 
 "I know it but there's only one Bim Kelso in the 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 163 
 
 world," Harry answered mournfully. "She was the 
 one I loved." 
 
 "Yes, but you'll find another. It looks serious but 
 it isn't you're so young. Hold up your head and 
 keep going. You'll be happy again soon." 
 
 "Maybe, but I don't see how," said the boy. 
 
 "There are lots of things you can't see from where 
 you are at this present moment. There are a good 
 many miles ahead o' you I reckon and one thing you'll 
 see plainly, by and by, that it's all for the best. I've 
 suffered a lot myself but I can see now it has been a 
 help to me. There isn't an hour of it I'd be willing 
 to give up." 
 
 They paddled along in silence for a time. 
 
 "It was my fault," said Harry presently. "I never 
 could say the half I wanted to when she was with me. 
 My tongue is too slow. She gave me a chance and 
 I wasn't man enough to take it. That's all I've got 
 to say on that subject." 
 
 He seemed to find it hard to keep his word for in 
 a moment he added : 
 
 "I wouldn't have been so good a scout if it hadn't 
 been foi her. I guess the Injuns would have got me 
 but when I thought of her I just kept going." 
 
 "I think you did it just because you were a brave 
 man and had a duty to perform," said Abe. 
 
 Some time afterward in a letter to his father the 
 boy wrote: 
 
164 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I often think of that ride down the river and the 
 way he talked to me. It was so gentle. He was a 
 big, powerful giant of a man who weighed over two 
 hundred pounds, all of it bone and muscle. But un< 
 der his great strength was a woman's gentleness; un- 
 der the dirty, ragged clothes and the rough, brown 
 skin grimy with dust and perspiration, was one of 
 the cleanest souls that ever came to this world. I 
 don't mean that he was like a minister. He could tell 
 a story with pretty rough talk in it but always for a 
 purpose. He hated dirt on the hands or on the tongue. 
 If another man had a trouble Abe took hold of it with 
 him. He would put a lame man's pack on top of his 
 own and carry it. He loved flowers like a woman. He 
 loved to look at the stars at night and the colors of 
 the sunset and the morning dew on the meadows. I 
 never saw a man so much in love with fun and beauty." 
 
 They reached Havana that evening and sold their 
 canoe to a man who kept boats to rent on the river 
 shore. They ate a hot supper at the tavern and got a 
 ride with a farmer who was going ten miles in their 
 direction. From his cabin some two hours later they 
 set out afoot in the darkness. 
 
 "I reckon it will be easier under the stars than under 
 the hot sun," said Abe. "Our legs have had a long 
 rest anyhow." 
 
 They enjoyed the coolness and beauty of the summer 
 night. 
 
 "Going home is the end of all journeys," said Abe 
 as they tramped along. "Did it ever occur to you that 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 165 
 
 every living creature has its home? The fish of the 
 sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field and 
 forest, the creepers in the grass, all go home. Most 
 of them turn toward it when the day wanes. The 
 call of home is the one voice heard and respected all 
 the way down the line of life. And, ye know, the most 
 wonderful and mysterious thing in nature is the power 
 that fool animals have to go home through great dis- 
 tances, like the turtle that swam from the Bay of Bis- 
 cay to his home off Van Dieman's Land. Some- 
 how coming over in a ship he had blazed a trail through 
 the pathless deep more than ten thousand miles long. 
 It's the one miraculous gift the one call that's irre- 
 sistible. Don't you hear it new? I never lie down 
 in the darkness without thinking of home when I am 
 away." 
 
 "And it's hard to change your home when you're 
 wonted to it," said Harry. 
 
 "Yes, it's a little like dying when you pull up the 
 roots and move. It's been hard on your folks." 
 
 This remark brought them up to the greatest of mys- 
 teries. They tramped in silence for a moment. Abe 
 broke in upon it with these words : 
 
 "I reckon there must be another home somewhere 
 to go to after we have broke the last camp here and 
 a kind of a bird's compass to help us find it. I reckon 
 we'll hear the call of it as we grow older." 
 
 He stopped and took off 'his hat and looked up at 
 the stars and added : 
 
166 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "If it isn't so I don't see why the long procession 
 of life keeps harping on this subject of home. I think 
 I see the point of the whole thing. It isn't the place 
 or the furniture that makes it home, but the love and 
 peace that's in it. By and by our home isn't here any 
 more. It has moved. Our minds begin to beat about 
 in the undiscovered countries looking for it. Some- 
 how we get it located each man for himself." 
 
 For another space they hurried along without speak- 
 ing. 
 
 "I tell you, Harry, whatever a large number of in- 
 telligent folks have agreed upon for some generations 
 is so if they have been allowed to do their own think- 
 ing," said Abe. "It's about the only wisdom there is." 
 
 He had sounded the keynote of the new Democracy. 
 
 "There are some who think that Reason is the only 
 guide but in the one problem of going home it don't 
 compare with the turtle's wisdom," Abe added. "His 
 head isn't bigger than a small apple. But I reckon 
 the scientist can't teach him anything about navigation. 
 Reminds me o' Steve Nuckles. His head is full of 
 ignorance but he'll know how to get home \vhen the 
 time conies." 
 
 "My stars! How we're hurrying!" Harry ex- 
 claimed at length. 
 
 "I didn't realize it I'm so taken up with the 
 thought of getting back," said Abe. "It's as if my 
 friends had a rope around me and were pulling it." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 167 
 
 So under the lights of heaven, speaking in the si- 
 lence of the night, of impenetrable mysteries, they 
 journeyed on toward the land of plenty. 
 
 "It's as still as a graveyard," Harry whispered when 
 they had climbed the bluff by the mill long 1 after mid- 
 night and were near the little village. 
 
 "They're all buried in sleep," said Abe. "We'll get 
 Rutledge out of bed. He'll give us a shake-down 
 somewhere." 
 
 His loud rap on the door of the tavern signalized 
 more than a desire for rest in the weary travelers, for 
 just then a cycle of their lives had ended. 
 
BOOK TWO 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 IN WHICH ABE AND SAMSON WRESTLE AND SOME 
 RAIDERS COME TO BURN AND STAY TO REPENT. 
 
 WITHIN a week after their return the election came 
 off and Abe was defeated, although in his precinct two 
 hundred and twenty-seven out of a total of three hun- 
 dred votes had been cast for him. He began to con- 
 sider which way to turn. He thought seriously of the 
 trade of the blacksmith which many advised. Burns 
 and Shakespeare, who had been with him in recent 
 vicissitudes seemed to disagree with him. Jack Kelso, 
 who had welcomed the returning warriors in the 
 cheery fashion of old, vigorously opposed his trying 
 "to force the gates of fortune with the strong arm." 
 They were far more likely to yield, he said, to a well 
 trained intellect of which mighty sinews were a poor 
 tool but a good setting. Moreover, Major John T. 
 Stuart a lawyer of Springfield who had been his 
 comrade in the "war" had encouraged him to study 
 law and, further, had offered to lend him books. So 
 he looked for an occupation which would give him 
 leisure for study. Offut, his former employer, had 
 
 1 68 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 169 
 
 failed and cleared out. The young giant regarded 
 thoughtfully the scanty opportunities of the village. 
 He could hurl his great strength into the axhead and 
 make a good living but he had learned that such a use 
 of it gave him a better appetite for sleep than study. 
 
 John McNeil, who for a short time had shared his 
 military adventures, had become a partner of Samuel 
 Hill in a store larger and better stocked than any the 
 village had known. But Hill and McNeil had no 
 need of a clerk. Rowan Herndon and William Berry 
 he of the morning-glory shirt had opened a general 
 store. Mr. Herndon offered to sell his interest to Abe 
 and take notes for his pay. It was not a proposition 
 that promised anything but loss. The community was 
 small and mere were three other stores and there was 
 no other "Bill" Berry, who was given to drink and 
 dreams as Abe knew. He was never offensive. Drink 
 begat in Bill Berry a benevolent form of intemperance. 
 It imparted to him a feeling of pity for the human 
 race and a deep sense of obligation to it. In his cups 
 he acquired a notable generosity and politeness. In 
 the words of Jack Kelso he was then "as placid as a 
 mill pond and as full of reflection." He had many 
 friends and no one had questioned his honesty. 
 
 Abe Lincoln had not been trained to weigh the con- 
 sequences of a business enterprise. The store would 
 give him leisure for study and New Salem could offer 
 him nothing else save consuming toil with the axe or 
 
1 70 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 the saw. He could not think of leaving the little cabin 
 village. There were Ann Rutledge and Jack Kelso and 
 Samson Traylor and Harry Needles. Every ladder 
 climber in the village and on the plain around it was 
 his friend. 
 
 Upon these people who knew and respected him 
 Abe Lincoln based his hopes. Among them he had 
 found his vision and failure had not diminished or 
 dimmed it. He would try again for a place in which 
 he could serve them and if he could learn to serve San- 
 gamon County he could learn to serve the state and, 
 possibly, even the Republic. With this thought and a 
 rather poor regard for his own interest his name fell 
 into bad company on the sign-board of Berry and Lin- 
 coln. Before he took his place in the store he walked 
 to Springfield and borrowed a law book from his 
 friend Major Stuart. 
 
 The career of the firm began on a hot day late in 
 August with Bill Berry smoking his pipe in a chair 
 on the little veranda of the store and Abe Lincoln 
 sprawled in the shade of a tree that partly overhung its 
 roof, reading a law book. The latter was collarless and 
 without coat or waistcoat. His feet were in yarn 
 socks and heavy cloth slippers. Mr. Berry was looking 
 intently at nothing. He was also thinking of nothing 
 with a devotion worthy of the noblest cause. No 
 breeze touched the mill pond of his consciousness. He 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES ii 
 
 would have said that he "had his traps set for an idea 
 and was watching them." Generally he was watching 
 his traps with a look of dreamy contemplation. He, too, 
 wore no coat or waistcoat His calico shirt was deco- 
 rated with diminutive roses in pink ink. His ready 
 tied necktie was very red and fastened on his collar 
 button with an elastic loop. A nugget of free gold 
 which, he loved to explain, had come from the Rocky 
 Mountains and had ten dollars' worth of the root of 
 evil i'n it, adorned his shirt-front dangling from a 
 pin bar on a tiny chain. 
 
 The face of Mr. Berry suddenly assumed a look 
 of animation. A small, yellow dog which had been 
 lying 1 in repose beside him rose and growled, his hair 
 rising, and with a little cry of alarm and astonishment 
 fled under the store. 
 
 "Here comes Steve Nuckles on his old mare with a 
 lion following him," said Berry. 
 
 Abe closed his book and rose and looked at tha 
 approaching minister and his big dog. 
 
 "If we ain't careful we'll git prayed for plenty," 
 said Berry. 
 
 "If the customers don't come faster I reckon we'll 
 need it," said Abe. 
 
 "Howdy," said the minister as he stopped at the 
 hitching bar, dismounted and tied his mare. "Don't 
 be skeered o' this 'ere dog. He were tied when I 
 
172 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 left home but he chawed his rope an' come a'ter me. 
 I reckon if nobody feeds him he'll patter back to-night.'"' 
 
 "He's a whopper!" said Abe. 
 
 "He's the masteris' dog I ever did see," said the min- 
 ister, a tall, lank, brawny, dark-skinned man with gray 
 eyes, sandy whiskers on the point of his chin, and 
 clothes worn and faded. "Any plug tobaccer?" 
 
 "A back load of it," said Berry, going into the 
 store to wait on the minister. 
 
 When they came out the latter carved off a corner 
 of the plug with his jack-knife, put it into his mouth 
 and sat down on the door-step. 
 
 "Mr. Nuckles, how did you happen to become a 
 minister?" Abe asked. 
 
 "Well, sur, I done had a dream," said the Reverend 
 Mr. Nuckles, as he clasped his hands over a knee and 
 chewed vigorously. "I done dreamt that I had swall- 
 ered a double wagon and that the tongue o' the wagon 
 were stickin' out o' my mouth. It were a cur'ous dream 
 an' I cain't tell what you'd make of it, but I done tuk 
 it for a sign that my tongue were to be used on the 
 gospel." 
 
 "It shows that a man who can swaller a wagon can 
 swaller anything," said Abe. "But I'm glad you took 
 it for a sign. You've done a lot of good in this coun- 
 try. I've seen you out in all weather and you've made 
 over many a man and broke and bitted some of the 
 wildest colts on the prairie." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 173 
 
 "I jes' keep watch an' when ol' Satan comes snoopin' 
 eround I'm right thar to ketch holt an' flop him. It 
 done come to pass frequent I've laid it on till he were 
 jest a hollerin' fer mercy. Where do Samson Tray lot 1 
 live?" 
 
 Abe took him to the road and pointed the way. 
 
 "There be goin' to be a raid," said Nuckles. "I reck- 
 on, by all I've heard, it'll come on to-night." 
 
 "A raid ! Who's going to be raided ?" Abe asked. 
 
 "Them Traylor folks. A lady done tol' me yester- 
 day. Soon as ever I got her soul saved she blabbed it. 
 Thar be a St. Louis man name o' Biggs, done stirred 
 up the folks from Missourey and Tennessee on the 
 south road 'bout the Yankee who holps the niggers out 
 o' bondage. Them folks'd have slavery in this here 
 county if they could. They be right hot I reckon. A 
 stranger done been goin' eround with whisky in his 
 bags startin' a band o' regulators. Held a meetin' las' 
 Sunday. They be goin' to do some regulatin' to-night. 
 Ol' Satan'll break loose. Ef you don't wa'ch out 
 they'll come over an' burn his house sartin." 
 
 "We'll watch out," said Abe. "They don't 
 know Traylor. He's one of the best men in this 
 county." 
 
 "I've heered he were a he man an' a right powerful, 
 God-fearin' man," said the minister. 
 
 "He's one of the best men that ever came to this 
 country and any one that wants to try his strength 
 
174 f A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 is welcome to; I don't," said Abe. "Are you going 
 over there?" 
 
 "I were goin' to warn 'em an' holp 'em ef I cain." 
 
 "Well, go on, but don't stir 'em up," Abe cautioned 
 him. "Don't say a word about the raid. I'll be over 
 there with some other fellers soon after sundown. 
 We'll just tell 'em it's a he party come over for a story- 
 tellin' an' a rassle. I reckon we'll have some fun. 
 Ride on over and take supper with 'em. They're worth 
 knowing." 
 
 In a few minutes the minister mounted his horse 
 and rode away followed by his big dog. 
 
 "If I was you I wouldn't go," said Berry. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "It'll hurt trade. Let the rest of Traylor's friends 
 go over. There's enough of 'em." 
 
 "We must all stand as one man for law and order," 
 said Abe. "If we don't there won't be any." 
 
 As soon as Abe had had his supper he went from 
 house to house and asked the men to come to his store 
 for a piece of important business. When they had 
 come he told them what was in the wind. Soon after 
 that hour Abe and Philemon Morris, and Alexander 
 Ferguson, and Martin Waddell and Robert Johnson 
 and Joshua Miller and Jack Kelsp and Samuel Hill 
 and John McNeil set out for the Traylor cabin. Doc- 
 tors Allen and Regnier and James Rutledge and John 
 Cameron and Isaac Gollaher, being older men, were re- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 175 
 
 quested to remain in the village and to use their guns, 
 if necessary, to prevent a demonstration there. Sam- 
 son greeted the party with a look of surprise. 
 
 "Have you come out to hang me?" he asked. 
 
 "No just to hang around ye," said Abe. 
 
 "This time it's a heart warmin'," Jack Kelso 
 averred. "We left our wives at home so that we could 
 pay our compliments to Mrs. Traylor without reserve 
 knowing you to be a man above jealousy." 
 
 "It's what we call a he party on the prairies," said 
 Ferguson. "For one thing I wanted to see Abe and 
 the minister have a rassle." 
 
 The Reverend Stephen Nuckles stood in front of the 
 door with Sarah and Harry and the children. He 
 was a famous wrestler. Forthwith he playfully jumped 
 into the air clapping his heels together three times be- 
 fore he touched the ground. 
 
 "I cain't rassle like I used to could but I be willin' 
 to give ye a try, Abe," said the minister. 
 
 "You'd better save your strength for ol* Satan," 
 said Abe. 
 
 "Go on, Abe," the others urged. "Give him a try." 
 
 Abe modestly stepped forward. In the last year 
 he had grown less inclined to that kind of fun. The 
 men took hold of each other, collar and elbow. They 
 parried with their feet for an instant. Suddenly Abe's 
 long right leg caught itself behind the left knee of 
 the minister. It was the hip lock as they called it those 
 
1 76 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 days. Once secured the stronger man was almost sure 
 to prevail and quickly. The sturdy circuit rider stood 
 against it for a second until Abe sprang his bow. 
 Then the heels of the former flew upward and his body 
 came down to the grass, back first. 
 
 "That ar done popped my wind bag," said the min- 
 ister as he got up. 
 
 "Call in," said John McNeil and the others echoed 
 it. 
 
 "I call you," said the minister turning to McNeil. 
 
 "McNeil !" the onlookers called. 
 
 The stalwart young Irishman stepped forward and 
 said: 
 
 "I don't mind measuring my length on the grass." 
 
 This he did in less than half a moment. As the 
 young man rose from the grass he said : 
 
 "I call in Samson Trayloi." 
 
 At last the thing which had long been a subject of 
 talk and argument in the stores and houses of New 
 Salem was about to come to pass a trial of strength 
 and agility between the two great lions of Sangamon 
 County. Either of them would have given a month's 
 work to avoid it. 
 
 "I reckon we better begin our story-telhn , said 
 Abe. 
 
 "I think so too," Samson declared. "It's purty dusk 
 now." 
 
 "A rassle a rassle," their neighbors shouted. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 177 
 
 "I'd rather give ten bushel o' wheat than miss 
 seein' you fellers take hold o' each other," said Alex- 
 ander Ferguson. 
 
 "I would too," said Martin Waddell. 
 
 So it happened that these friendly giants, each 
 dreading the ordeal, faced each other for a contest. 
 
 "Now we shall see which is the son of Peleus and 
 which the son of Telemon," Kelso shouted. 
 
 "How shall we rassle?" Samson asked. 
 
 "I don't care," said Abe. 
 
 "Rough and tumble," Ferguson proposed. 
 
 Both men agreed. They bent low intently watching 1 
 each other, their great hands outreaching. They stood 
 braced for a second and suddenly both sprang for- 
 ward. Their shoulders came together with a thud. 
 It was like two big bison bulls hurling their weight 
 in the first shock of battle. For a breath each bort 
 with all his strength and then closed with his ad- 
 versary. Each had an under hold with one arm, the 
 other hooked around a shoulder. Samson lifted Abe 
 from his feet but the latter with tremendous efforts 
 loosened the hold of the Vermonter, and <~egained the 
 turf. They struggled across the dooryard, the ground 
 trembling beneath their feet. They went against the 
 side of the house shaking it with the force of their im- 
 pact. Samson had broken the grip of one of Abe's 
 hands and now had his feet in the air again but the 
 young giant clung to hip and shoulder and wriggled 
 
178 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 back to his foothold. Those lesser men were thrilled 
 and a little frightened by the mighty struggle. Know- 
 ing the strength of the wrestlers they felt a fear of 
 broken bones. Each had torn a rent in the coat of 
 the other. If they kept on there was danger that both 
 would be stripped. The children had begun to cry. 
 Sarah begged the struggling men to stop and they 
 obeyed her. 
 
 "If any of you fellers think that's fun you can have 
 my place," said Abe. "Samson, I declare you elected 
 the strongest man in this county. You've got the 
 muscle of a grizzly bear. I'm glad to be quit o' ye.'' 
 
 "It ain't a fair election, Abe," Samson laughed. "If 
 you were rassling for the right you could flop me. 
 This little brush was nothing. Your heart wasn't in 
 it, and by thunder, Abe! when it comes to havin' fun 
 I rather guess we'd both do better to let each other 
 alone." 
 
 " 'Tain't exactly good amusement, not for us," Abe 
 agreed. 
 
 It was growing dark. Ann Rutledge arrived on her 
 pony, and called Abe aside and told him that the raid- 
 ers were in the village and were breaking the windows 
 of Radford's store because he had refused to sell them 
 liquor. 
 
 "Have they any guns with them?" Abe asked. 
 
 "No," Ann answered. 
 
 "Don't say anything about it," Abe cautioned her. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 179 
 
 go into the house with Sarah Traylor and sit 
 down and have a good visit. We'll look after the raid- 
 ers." 
 
 Then Abe told Samson what was up. The men con- 
 cealed themselves in some bushes by the roadside while 
 the minister sat close against an end of the house with 
 his blood hound beside him. Before they were settled 
 in their places they heard the regulators coming. The 
 horses of the latter were walking as they approached. 
 Not a sound came from the men who rode them. They 
 proceeded to the grove just beyond the cabin and 
 hitched their horses. There were eight men in the 
 party according to Abe's count as they passed. The 
 men, in concealment, hurried to the cabin and sur- 
 rounded it, crouched against the walls. In a moment 
 they could see a big spot, blacker than the darkness, 
 moving toward them. It was the massed raiders. 
 They came on with the stealth of a cat nearing its 
 prey. A lion-like roar broke the silence. The blood 
 hound leaped forward. The waiting men sprang to 
 their feet and charged. The raiders turned and ran, 
 pell mell, in a panic toward their horses. Suddenly the 
 darkness seemed to fill with moving figures. One of 
 the fleeing men, whose coat tails the dog had seized, 
 was yelling for help. The minister rescued him and 
 the dog went on roaring after the others. When the 
 New Salemites got to the edge of the grove they could 
 hear a number of regulators climbing into the tree- 
 
i8o A> MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 tops. Samson had a man in each hand; Abe had an- 
 other, while Harry Needles and Alexander Ferguson 
 were in possession of the man whom the dog had cap- 
 tured. The minister was out in the grove with his 
 blood hound that was barking and growling under a 
 tree. Jack Kelso arrived with a lantern. One of Sam- 
 son's captives began swearing and struggling to get 
 away. Samson gave him a little shake and bade him, 
 be quiet The man uttered a cry of fear and pain 
 and offered no more resistance. Stephen Nuckles came 
 out of the grove. 
 
 "The rest o' that ar party done gone up-stairs to 
 roost," said the minister. "I reckon my dog'll keep 
 'em thar. We better jest tote these men inter the 
 house an' have a prayin' bee. I've got a right smart 
 good chanct, now, to whop ol' Satan." 
 
 They moved the raiders' horses. Then the party 
 save Harry Needles, who stayed in the grove to keep 
 watch took its captives into the cabin. 
 
 "You set here with this gun and if any o' them tries 
 to get away you take a crack at him," said Samson, 
 as they were leaving, in a voice intended for the men 
 in the tree-tops. 
 
 The men and the four dejected raiders crowded 
 into the cabin. 
 
 Sarah, who had heard the disturbance and won- 
 dered what it meant, met them at the door with a 
 look of alarm. 
 
 "These men came to do us harm," Samson said to 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 181 
 
 Sarah. "They are good fellows but they got an idea 
 in their heads that we are bad folks. I hear that young 
 Mr. Biggs set them up against us. Let's give them a 
 bite to eat the first thing we do." 
 
 They took a look at the captives. Three of them 
 were boys from eighteen to twenty years of age. The 
 other was a lanky, bearded Tennessean some forty 
 years old. One of the young lads had hurt his hand 
 in the evening's frolic. Blood was dripping from it. 
 The four sat silent and fearful and ashamed. 
 
 Sarah made tea and put it with meat and milk and 
 doughnuts and bread and butter on the table for them. 
 Samson washed and bandaged the boy's wound. The 
 captives ate as if they were hungry while the minister 
 went out to feed his dog. When the men had finished 
 eating Samson offered them tobacco. The oldest man 
 filled his pipe and lighted it with a coal. Not one of 
 the captives had said a word until this tall Tennessean 
 remarked after his pipe was going: 
 
 "Thankee, mister. You done been right good to us." 
 
 "Who told you to come here?" Samson demanded. 
 
 ' 'Twere a man from St. Louis. He done said you 
 
 hated the South an' were holpin' niggers to run away." 
 
 "And he offered to pay you to come here and burn 
 this house and run Traylor out of the county, didn't 
 he ?" Abe asked. 
 
 "He did yes, suh he suah did," answered the man 
 like a child in his ignorance and simplicity. 
 
 "I thought so," Abe rejoined. "You tackled a big 
 
182 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 job, my friend. Did you know that every one of 
 you could be sent to prison for a term of years and 
 I've a good mind to see that you go there. You men 
 have got to begin right now to behave yourselves 
 mighty proper or you'll begin to sup sorrow." 
 
 Stephen Nuckles returned as Abe was speaking. 
 
 "You jest leave 'em to me, Mr. Lincoln," he said. 
 "These be good men but oT Satan done got his hooks 
 on 'em. Mis' Tray lor, ef you don't mind I be goin' 
 to do a job o' prayin' right now. Men, you jest git 
 down on yo' knees right hyar along o' me." 
 
 The men and the minister knelt on the puncheon 
 floor while the latter prayed long and loudly for the 
 saving of their souls. Every one who heard it felt 
 the simple, moving eloquence of the prayer. Kelso 
 said that Christ's love of men was in it. When the 
 prayer was ended the minister asked permission to go 
 with the raiders to the barn and spend the night with 
 them. Of this curious event Samson wrote in his 
 diary : 
 
 "Of what was done in the barn I have no knowl- 
 edge but when Nuckles came back to the house with 
 them in the morning the minister said that they had 
 come into the fold and that he would promise for them 
 that they would be good citizens in the future. They 
 got their breakfast, fed and watered their horses and 
 rode away. We found five men up in the tree-tops 
 and the dog on watch. The minister went out and 
 preached to them -for about half an hour and then 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 183 
 
 prayed for their souls. When that was over he 
 said: 
 
 " 'Now, boys, be you ready to accept Christ and a 
 good breakfast? If not you'll have to git a new grip 
 on yer pews an' set right thar while I preach another 
 sermon. Thar ain't nary one of us goin' to break our 
 fast till you're willin' to be saved/ 
 
 "They caved in. 
 
 " 'I couldn't stan' another sermon no how,' said 
 one in a sorrowful voice. 'I feel like a wownded bird. 
 Send up a charge o' buck shot if you keer to, but don't 
 preach no more sermons to me. It's jest a waste o' 
 breath. I reckon we're all on the monah's bench.' 
 
 "When they had come down out of the tree-tops not 
 one of them could stand on his legs for a little while.'" 
 
 The gentleman of the sorrowful voice and the brok- 
 en spirit said : 
 
 " Tears like I'll have to be tuk down an' put together 
 again." 
 
 They were meek and sore when they limped to the 
 cabin and washed on the stand by the doorside and 
 went in to breakfast. After they had eaten the min- 
 ister prayed some more and rode away with them. 
 
 It is recorded later in the diary that the rude Shep- 
 herd of the prairies worked with these men on their 
 farms for weeks until he had them wonted to the fold. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 IN WHICH ABE, ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE, 
 GIVES WHAT COMFORT HE CAN TO ANN RUTLEDGE 
 IN THE BEGINNING OF HER SORROWS. ALSO HE 
 GOES TO SPRINGFIELD FOR NEW CLOTHES AND IS 
 ASTONISHED BY ITS POMP AND THE CHANGE IN ELI. 
 
 RADFORD'S grocery had been so wrecked by the raid- 
 ers that its owner was disheartened. Reenforced by 
 John Cameron and James Rutledge he had succeeded 
 in drawing them away before they could steal whisky 
 enough to get drunk. But they had thrown many of 
 his goods into the street. Radford mended his win- 
 dows and offered his stock for sale. After a time 
 Berry and Lincoln bought it, giving notes in payment, 
 and applied for a license to sell the liquors they had 
 thus acquired. 
 
 The Traylors had harvested a handsome crop of 
 corn and oats and wheat only to find that its value 
 would be mostly consumed by threshing and trans- 
 portation to a market. Samson was rather discour- 
 aged. 
 
 "It's the land of plenty but it's an awful ways from 
 the land of money," he said. "We've got to hurry up 
 and get Abe into the Legislature or this community 
 
 184 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 185 
 
 can't last. We've got to have some way to move 
 things." 
 
 None of their friends had come out to them and 
 only one letter from home had reached the cabin 
 since April. 
 
 Late that autumn a boy baby arrived in their home. 
 Mrs. Onstott, Mrs. Waddell and Mrs. Kelso came to 
 help and one or the other of them did the nursing and 
 cooking while Sarah was in bed and for a little time 
 thereafter. The coming of the baby was a comfort 
 to this lonely mother of the prairies. Joe and Betsey 
 asked their father in whispers while Sarah was lying 
 sick where the baby had come from. 
 
 "I don't know," he answered. 
 
 "Don't you know ?" Joe asked with a look of wonder. 
 
 "No, sir, I don't that's honest," said Samson. 
 "But there's some that say they come on the back of a 
 big crane and at the right home the ol' crane lights an' 
 pecks on the door and dumps 'em off, just as gentle as 
 he can." 
 
 Joe examined the door carefully to find where the 
 crane had pecked on it. 
 
 That day he confided to Betsey that in his opinion 
 the baby didn't amount to much. 
 
 "Why?" Betsey asked. 
 
 "Can't talk or play with any one or do anything but 
 just make a noise like a squirrel. Nobody can do 
 anything but whisper an' go 'round on his tiptoes." 
 
186 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "He's our little brother and we must love him," said 
 Betsey. 
 
 "Yes; we've got to love him," said Joe. "But it's 
 worse 'n pickin' up potatoes. I wisht he'd gone to some 
 other house." 
 
 That day Sarah awoke from a bad dream with tears 
 flowing down her cheeks. She found the little lad 
 standing by her pillow looking very troubled. He 
 kissed her and whispered: 
 
 "God help us all and make His face to shine upon 
 us." 
 
 There is a letter from Sarah to her brother dated 
 May, 10, 1833, in which she sums up the effect of all 
 this and some months of history in the words that 
 follow : 
 
 "The Lord has given us a new son. I have lived 
 through the ordeal thanks to His goodness and am 
 strong again. The coming of the baby has reconciled 
 us to the loss of our old friends as much as anything 
 could. It has made this little home dear to us and 
 proved the quality of our new friends. Nothing is 
 too much for them to do. I don't wonder that Abe 
 Lincoln has so much confidence in the people of this 
 country. They are sound at heart both the northern- 
 ers and the southerners 'though some of the latter 
 that we see here are awfully ignorant and prejudiced. 
 We have had wonderful fun with the children since 
 the baby was born. It has been like a play or a story 
 book to hear the talk of Joe and Betsey. She loves 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 187 
 
 to play mother to this wonderful new doll and is quite 
 a help to me. Harry Needles is getting over his dis- 
 appointment. He goes down to the store often to 
 sit with Abe and Jack Kelso and hear them talk. He 
 and Samson are getting deeply interested in politics. 
 Abe lets Harry read the books that he borrows from 
 Major Stuart of Springfield. The boy is bent on be- 
 ing a lawyer and improving his mind. Samson found 
 him the other day making a speech to the horses and 
 to poor Sambo out in the barn. Bim Kelso writes to 
 her mother that she is very happy in her new home 
 but there is something between the lines which seems 
 to indicate that she is trying to put a good face on a 
 bad matter. What a peril it is to be young and pretty 
 and a girl ! Berry and Lincoln have got a license and 
 are selling liquor in their store but nobody thinks 
 anything of that here. Abe has been appointed Post- 
 master. Everytime he leaves the store he takes the 
 letters in his hat and delivers them as he gets a chance. 
 We have named tht new baby Samuel." 
 
 The firm of Lincoln and Berry had not prospered. 
 After they had got their license things went from bad 
 to worse with them. Mr. Berry, who handled the 
 liquors, kept himself in a genial stage of inebriation 
 and sat in smiles and loud calico talking of gold mines 
 and hidden treasure. Jack Kelso said that a little whis- 
 ky converted Berry's optimism into opulence. 
 
 "It is the opulence that tends to poverty," Abe an- 
 swered. "Berry gets so rich, at times, that he will 
 have nothing to do with the vulgar details of trade." 
 
1 88 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "And he exhibits such a touching sympathy for the 
 poor," said Kelso, "you can't help loving him. I have 
 never beheld such easy and admirable grandeur." 
 
 The addition of liquors to its stock had attracted 
 some rather tough characters to the store. One of 
 them who had driven some women out of it with pro- 
 fanity was collared by Abe and conducted out of the 
 door and thrown upon the grass where his face was 
 rubbed with smart weed until he yelled for mercy. 
 After that the rough type of drinking man chose 
 his words with some care in the store of Berry and 
 Lincoln. 
 
 One evening, of that summer, Abe came out to the 
 Traylors' with a letter in his hat for Sarah. 
 
 "How's business?" Samson asked. 
 
 "Going to peter out I reckon," Abe answered with 
 a sorrowful look. "It will leave me badly in debt. I 
 wanted something that would give me a chance for 
 study and I got it. By jing! It looks as if I was go- 
 ing to have years of study trying to get over it. I've 
 gone and jumped into a mill pond to get out of the rain. 
 I'd better have gone to Harvard College and walked 
 all the way. Have you got any w r ork to give me ? You 
 know I can split rails about as fast as the next man 
 and I'll take my pay in wheat or corn." 
 
 "You may give me all the time you can spend out- 
 side the store," said Samson. 
 
 That evening they had a talk about the whisky 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 189 
 
 business and its relation to the character of Eliphalet 
 Biggs and to sundry infractions of law and order in 
 their community. Samson had declared that it was 
 wrong to sell liquor. 
 
 "All that kind of thing can be safely left to the 
 common sense of our people," said Abe. "The remedy 
 is education, not revolution. Slowly the people will 
 have to set down all the items in the ledger of com- 
 mon sense that passes from si're to son. By and 
 by some generation will strike a balance. That may 
 not come in a hundred years. Soon or late the ma- 
 jority of the people will reach a reckoning with John 
 Barleycorn. If there's too much against him they will 
 act. You might as well try to stop a glacier by build- 
 ing a dam in front of it. They have opened an ac- 
 count with Slavery too. By and by they'll decide its 
 fate." 
 
 Such was his faith in the common folk of America 
 whose way of learning and whose love of the right 
 he knew as no man has known it. 
 
 In this connection the New Englander wrote in his 
 diary : 
 
 "He has spent his boyhood in the South and his 
 young manhood in the North. He has studied the East 
 and lived in the West. He i's the people I sometimes 
 think and about as slow to make up his mind. As 
 Isaiah says : 'He does not judge after the sight of his 
 eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.' 
 Abe has to think about it." 
 
190 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Many days thereafter Abe and Harry and Samson 
 were out in the woods together splitting rails and 
 making firewood. Abe always took his book with him 
 and read aloud to Harry and Samson in the noon-hour. 
 He liked to read aloud and thought that he remem- 
 bered better what he had read with both eye and ear 
 taking it in. 
 
 One day while they were at work Pollard Simmons 
 came out to them and said that John Calhoun the 
 County Surveyor wanted Abe to be his assistant. 
 
 "I don't know how to survey," said Abe. 
 
 "But I reckon you can learn it," Simmons answered. 
 "You're purty quick to learn." 
 
 Abe thought a moment. Calhoun was a Democrat. 
 
 "Would I have to sacrifice any of my principles?" 
 he asked. 
 
 "Nary a one," said Simmons. 
 
 "Then I'll try and see if I can get the hang of it," 
 Abe declared. "I reckon Menton Graham could help 
 me." 
 
 "Three dollars a day is not to be sneezed at," said 
 Simmons. 
 
 "No, sir not if you can get it honest," Abe an- 
 swered. "I'm not so careless with my sneezing as 
 some men. Once when Eb Zane was out on the Ohio 
 in a row-boat Mike Fink the river pirate got after him. 
 Eb had a ten dollar gold piece in his pocket. For fear 
 that he would be captured he clapped it into his mouth. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 191 
 
 Eb was a good oarsman and got away. He was no 
 sooner out of danger than he fetched a sneeze and 
 blew the gold piece into the river. After that he used 
 to say that he had sneezed himself poor and that if he 
 had a million dollars it wouldn't bother him to sneeze 
 'em away. Sneezing is a form of dissipation which has 
 not cost me a cent so far and I don't intend to yield to 
 it" 
 
 Immediately after that Abe got Flint and Gibson's 
 treatise on surveying and began to study it day and 
 night under the eye of the kindly schoolmaster. In 
 about six weeks he had mastered the book and re- 
 ported for duty. 
 
 In April Abe wrote another address to the voters 
 announcing that he was again a candidate for a seat 
 in the Legislature. Late that month Harry walked 
 with him to Pappsville where a crowd had assembled 
 to attend a public sale. When the auctioneer had fin- 
 ished Abe made his first stump speech. A drunken 
 man tried to divert attention to himself by sundry 
 interruptions. Harry asked him to be quiet, where- 
 upon the ruffian and a friend pitched upon the boy 
 and began to handle him roughly. Abe jumped down, 
 rushed into the crowd, seized the chief offender and 
 raising him off his feet flung him into the air. He hit 
 the ground in a heap some four yards from where 
 Abe stood. The latter resumed his place and went 
 on with his speech. The crowd cheered him and there 
 
192 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 was no further disturbance at that meeting 1 . The 
 speech was a modest, straightforward declaration of 
 his principles. When he was leaving several voices 
 called for a story. Abe raised a great laugh with a 
 humorous anecdote in which he imitated the dialect 
 and manners of a Kentucky backwoodsman. They 
 kept him on the auctioneer's block for half an hour 
 telling the wise and curious folk tales of which he 
 knew so many. He had won the crowd by his prin- 
 ciples, his humor and good nature as well as by the 
 brave and decisive exhibition of his great strength. 
 
 Abe and Harry went to a number of settlements in 
 the county with a like result save that no more violence 
 was needed. At one place there were men in the 
 crowd who knew Harry's record in the war. They 
 called on him for a speech. He spoke on the need of 
 the means of transportation irr Sangamon County 
 with such insight and dignity and convincing candor 
 that both Abe and the audience hailed him as a com- 
 ing man. Abe and he were often seen together those 
 days. 
 
 In New Salem they were called the disappointed lov- 
 ers. It was known there that Abe was very fond of 
 Ann Rutledge although he had not, as yet, openly 
 confessed to any one not even to Ann there being 
 no show of hope for him. Ann was deeply in love 
 with John McNeil the genial, handsome and success- 
 ful young Irishman. The affair had reached the stage 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 193 
 
 of frankness, of an open discussion of plans, of fond 
 affection expressing itself in caresses quite indifferent 
 to ridicule. 
 
 For Ann it had been like warm sunlight on the 
 growing rose. She was neater in dress, lovelier in 
 form and color, more graceful in movement and 
 sweeter-voiced than ever she had been. It is the old 
 way that Nature has of preparing the young to come 
 out upon the stage of real life and to act in its moving 
 scenes. Abe manfully gave them his best wishes and 
 when he spoke of Ann it was done very tenderly. The 
 look of sadness, which all had noted in his moments of 
 abstraction, deepened and often covered his face with 
 its veil. That is another way that Nature has of pre- 
 paring the young. For these the roses have fallen and 
 only the thorns remain. They are not lured; they 
 seem to be driven to their tasks, but for all, soon or 
 late, her method changes. 
 
 On a beautiful morning of June, 1834, John McNeil 
 left the village. Abe Lincoln and Harry and Samson 
 and Sarah and Jack Kelso and his wife stood with the 
 Rutledges in the dooryard of the tavern when he 
 rode away. He was going back to his home in the 
 far East to return in the autumn and make Ann his 
 bride. The girl wept as if her heart would break 
 when he turned far down the road and waved his hand 
 to her. 
 
 "Oh, my pretty lass! Do you not hear the birds 
 
194 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 singing in the meadows?" said Jack Kelso. "Think 
 of the happiness all around you and of the greater 
 happiness that is coming when he returns. Shame on 
 you!" 
 
 "I'm afraid he'll never come back," Ann sobbed. 
 
 "Nonsense! Don't get a maggot in your brain and 
 let the crows go walking over your face. Come, we'll 
 take a ride in the meadows and if I don't bring you 
 back laughing you may call me no prophet." 
 
 So the event passed. 
 
 Harry traveled about with Abe a good deal that 
 summer, "electioneering," as they called it, from farm 
 to farm. Samson and Sarah regarded the association 
 as a good school for the boy who had a taste for poli- 
 tics. Abe used to go into the fields, with the men 
 whose favor he sought, and bend his long back over a 
 scythe or a cradle and race them playfully across the 
 field of grain cutting a wider swath than any other 
 and always holding the lead. Every man was out of 
 breath at the end of his swath and needed a few min- 
 utes for recuperation. That gave Abe a chance for 
 his statement of the county's needs and his plan of 
 satisfying them. He had met and talked with a ma- 
 jority of the voters before the campaign ended in his 
 election in August. Those travels about the county 
 h'.d been a source of education to the candidate and 
 the voters. 
 
 At odd times that summer he had been surveying a 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 195 
 
 new road with Harry Needles for his helper. In Sep- 
 tember they resumed their work upon it in the vicinity 
 of New Salem and Abe began to carry the letters in 
 his hat again. Every day Ann was looking for him 
 as he came by in the dim light of the early morning on 
 his way to work. 
 
 "Anything for me?" she would ask. 
 
 "No mail in since I saw you, Ann," was the usual 
 answer. 
 
 Often he would say : "I'm afraid not, but here you 
 take these letters and look through 'em aixi make sure." 
 
 Ann would take them in her hands, trembling with 
 eagerness, and run indoors to the candlelight, and 
 look them over. Always she came back with the little 
 bundle of letters very slowly as if her disappointment 
 were a heavy burden. 
 
 "There'll be one next mail if I have to write it my- 
 self," Abe said one morning in October as he went 
 on. 
 
 To Harry Needles who was with him that morning 
 he said: 
 
 "I wonder why that fellow don't write to Ann. I 
 couldn't believe that he has been fooling her but now 
 I don't know what to think of him. Every day I have 
 to deliver a blow that makes her a little paler and thin- 
 ner. It hurts me like smashing a ringer nail. I won- 
 der what has happened to the fellow." 
 
 The mail stage was late that evening. As it had 
 
196 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 not come at nine Mr. Hill went home and left Abe in 
 the store to wait for his mail. The stage arrived a 
 few minutes later. It came as usual in a cloud of dust 
 and a thunder of wheels and hoofs mingled with the 
 crack of the lash, the driver saving his horses for this 
 little display of pride and pomp on arriving at a vil- 
 lage. Abe examined the little bundle of letters and 
 newspapers which the driver had left with him. Then 
 he took a paper and sat down to read in the firelight. 
 While he was thus engaged the door opened softly and 
 Ann Rutledge entered. The Postmaster was not aware 
 of her presence until she touched his arm. 
 
 "Please give me a letter," she said. 
 
 "Sit down, Ann," said he, very gently, as he placed 
 a chair in the fire-glow. 
 
 She took it, turning toward him with a look of fear 
 and hope. Then he added : 
 
 "I'm sorry but the truth is it didn't come." 
 
 "Don't don't tell me that again," she pleaded in a 
 broken voice, as she leaned forward covering her face 
 with her hands. 
 
 "It is terrible, Ann, that I have to help in this 
 breaking of your heart that is going on. I seem to be 
 the head of the hammer that hits you so hard but the 
 handle is in other hands. Honestly, Ann, I wish I 
 could do the suffering for you every bit of it and 
 give your poor heart a rest. Hasn't he written you 
 this summer?" 
 
 "Not since July tenth," she answered. Then she 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 197 
 
 confided to Abe the fact that her lover had told her 
 before he went away that his name was not McNeil 
 but McNamar;-that he had changed his name to keep 
 clear of his family until he had made a success; that 
 he had gone east to get his father and mother and 
 bring them back with him; lastly she came to the 
 thing that worried her most the suspicion of her 
 father and mother that John was not honest. 
 
 "They say that nobody but a liar would live with a 
 false name," Ann told him. "They say that he prob- 
 ably had a wife when he came here that that is why 
 he don't write to me." 
 
 Then after a little silence she pleaded : "You don't 
 think that, do you, Abe?" 
 
 "No," said the latter, giving her the advantage of 
 every doubt. "John did a foolish thing but we must 
 not condemn him without a knowledge of the facts. 
 The young often do foolish things and sickness would 
 account for his silence. But whatever the facts are 
 you mustn't let yourself be slain by disappointment. 
 It isn't fair to your friends. John McNamar may be 
 the best man in the world still the fact remains that 
 it would be a pretty good world even if he were not 
 in it and I reckon there'd be lots of men whose love 
 would be worth having too. You go home and go to 
 sleep and stop worrying, Ann. You'll get that letter 
 one of these days." 
 
 A day or two later Abe and Harry went to Spring- 
 field. Their reason for the trip lay in a talk between 
 
198 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 the Postmaster and Jack Kelso the night before as they 
 sat by the latter's fireside. 
 
 "I've been living where there was no one to find 
 fault with my parts of speech or with the parts of 
 my legs which were not decently covered," said Abe. 
 "The sock district of my person has been without rep- 
 resentation in the legislature of my intellect up to its 
 last session. Then we got a bill through for local im- 
 provements and the Governor has approved the appro- 
 priation. Suddenly we discovered that there was no 
 money in the treasury. But Samson Traylor has 
 offered to buy an issue of bonds of the amount of 
 fifteen dollars." 
 
 "I'm glad to hear you declare in favor of external 
 improvements," said Kelso. "We've all been too much 
 absorbed by internal improvements. You're on the 
 right trail, Abe. You've been thinking of the public 
 ear and too little of the public eye. We must show 
 some respect for both." 
 
 "Sometimes I think that comely dress ought to 
 go with comely diction," said Abe. "But that's a 
 thing you can't learn in books. There's no gram- 
 marian of the language of dress. Then I'm so big 
 and awkward. It's a rather hopeless problem." 
 
 "You're in good company," Kelso assured him. 
 "Nature guards her best men with some sort of singu- 
 larity not attractive to others. Often she makes them 
 odious with conceit or deformity or dumbness or gar- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 199 
 
 rulity. Dante was such a poor talker that no one 
 would ever ask him to dinner. If it had not been so I 
 presume his muse would have been sadly crippled by 
 indigestion. If you had been a good dancer and a 
 lady's favorite I wonder if you would have studied 
 Kirkham and Burns and Shakespeare and 'Blackstone 
 and Greenleaf, and the science of surveying and been 
 elected to the Legislature. I wonder if you could even 
 have whipped Jack Armstrong." 
 
 "Or have enjoyed the friendship of Bill Berry 
 and acquired a national debt, or have saved my 
 imperiled country in the war with Black Hawk," Abe 
 laughed. 
 
 In the matter of dress the Postmaster had great con- 
 fidence in the taste and knowledge of his young friend, 
 Harry Needles, whose neat appearance Abe regarded 
 with serious admiration. So he asked Harry to go 
 with him on this new mission and help to choose 
 the goods and direct the tailoring, for it seemed to him 
 a highly important enterprise. 
 
 "It's a difficult problem," said Abe. "Given a big 
 man and a small sum and the large amount of re- 
 spectability that's desired. We mustn't make a mis- 
 take." 
 
 They got a ride part of the way with a farmer go- 
 ing home from Rutledge's Mill. 
 
 "Our appropriation is only fifteen dollars," said Abe 
 as they came in sight of "the big village" on a warm 
 
200 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 bright day late in October. "Of course I can't expect 
 to make myself look like the President of the United 
 States with such a sum but I want to look like a re- 
 spectable citizen of the United States if that is possi- 
 ble. I'll give the old Abe and fifteen dollars to boot 
 for a new one and we'll see what comes of it." 
 
 Springfield had been rapidly changing. It was still 
 small and crude but some of the best standards of 
 civilization had been set up in that community. Fami- 
 lies of wealth and culture in the East had sent their 
 sons and a share of their capital to this little metropolis 
 of the land of plenty to go into business. The Ed- 
 wardses in their fine top boots and ruffled shirts were 
 there. So were certain of the Ridgleys of Maryland 
 well known and successful bankers. The Logans and 
 the Conklings and the Stuarts who had won reputa- 
 tions at the bar before they arrived were now settled 
 in Springfield. Handsome, well groomed horses, in 
 silver mounted harness, drawing carriages that shone 
 "so you could see your face in them," to quote from 
 Abe again, were on its streets. 
 
 "My conscience! What a lot of jingling and high 
 stepping there is here in the street and on the side- 
 walk," said Abe as they came into the village. "I 
 reckon there's a mile of gold watch chains in this 
 crowd." 
 
 A public sale was on and the walks were thronged. 
 Women in fine silks and millinery; men in tall beaver 
 
2OI 
 
 hats and broadcloth and fine linen touched elbows 
 with the hairy, rough clad men of the prairies and 
 their worn wives in old-fashioned bonnets and faded 
 coats. 
 
 The two New Salem men stopped and studied a 
 big sign in front of a large store on which this an- 
 nouncement had been lettered : 
 
 "Cloths, cassinettes, cassimeres, velvet silks, satins, 
 Marseilles waistcoating, fine, calf boots, seal and mo- 
 rocco pumps for gentlemen, crepe lisse, lace veils. 
 Thibet shawls, fine prunella shoes." 
 
 "Reads like a foreign language to me," said Abe. 
 "The pomp of the East has got here at last. I'd like 
 to know what seal and morocco pumps are. I reckon 
 they're a contrivance that goes down into a man's 
 pocket and sucks it dry. I wonder what a cassinette 
 is like, and a prunella shoe. How would you like a 
 little Marseilles waistcoating?" 
 
 Suddenly a man touched his shoulder with a hearty 
 "Howdy, Abe?" 
 
 It was Eli, "the wandering Jew," as he had been 
 wont to call himself in the days when he carried a pack 
 on the road through Peter's Bluff and Clary's Grove 
 and New Salem to Beardstown and back. 
 
 "Dis is my store," said Eli. 
 
 "Your store!" Abe exclaimed. 
 
 "Ya, look at de sign." 
 
202 A' MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 The Jew pointed to his sign-board, some fifty feet 
 long under the cornice, on which they read the legend : 
 
 "Eli Fredenberg's Emporium." 
 
 Abe looked him over from head to foot and ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 "My conscience ! You look as if you had been fixed 
 up to be sold to the highest bidder." 
 
 The hairy, dusty, bow-legged, threadbare peddler 
 had been touched by some miraculous hand. The lav- 
 ish hand of the West had showered her favors on him. 
 They resembled in some degree the barbaric pearl and 
 gold of the East. He glowed with prosperity. Dia- 
 monds and ruffled linen and Scotch plaid and red 
 silk on his neck and a blue band on his hat and a 
 smooth-shorn face and perfumery were the glittering 
 details that surrounded the person of Eli. 
 
 "Come in," urged the genial proprietor of the Em- 
 porium. "I vould like to show you my goots and in- 
 troduce you to my brudder." 
 
 They went in and met his brother and had their 
 curiosity satisfied as to the look and feel of cassinettes 
 and waistcoatings and seal and morocco pumps and 
 prunella shoes. 
 
 In the men's department after much thoughtful dis- 
 cussion they decided upon a suit of blue jeans that 
 being 1 the only goods which, in view of the amount 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 203 
 
 of cloth required, came within the appropriation. Eli 
 advised against it. 
 
 "You are like Eli already," he said. "You haf 
 got de pack off your back. Look at me. Don't you 
 hear my clothes say somet'ing?" 
 
 "They are very eloquent," said Abe. 
 
 "Veil dey make a speech. Dey say 'Eli Fredenberg- 
 he i's no more a poor devil. You can not sneeze at 
 him once again. Nefer. He has climb de ladder up.' 
 Now you let me sell you somet'ing vat makes a 
 good speech for you." 
 
 "If you'll let me dictate the speech I'll agree," said 
 Abe. 
 
 "Veil vat is it?" Eli asked. 
 
 "I would like my clothes to say in a low tone of 
 voice: 'This is humble Abraham Lincoln about the 
 same length and breadth that I am. He don't want 
 to scare or astonish anybody. He don't want to look 
 like a beggar or a millionaire. Just put him down for 
 a hard working man of good intentions who is badly 
 in debt.' " 
 
 That ended all argument. The suit of blue jeans 
 was ordered and the measures taken. As they were 
 about to go Eli said : 
 
 "I forgot to tell you dot I haf seen Bim Kelso de 
 odder day in St. Louis. I haf seen her on de street. 
 She has been like a queen so grand ! De hat and gown 
 from Paris and she valk so proud ! But she look 
 
204 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 not so happy like she usit to be. I speak to her. Oh 
 my, she vas glad and so surprised! She tolt me dot 
 she vould like to come home for a visit but her husband 
 he does not vant her to go dere nefer again. My 
 jobber haf tolt me dot Mr. Biggs is git drunk efery 
 day. Bim she t'ink de place no good. She haf tolt 
 me dey treat de niggers awful. She haf cry ven she 
 tolt me dot." 
 
 "Poor child!" said Abe. "I'm afraid she's in trou- 
 ble." 
 
 "I've been thinking for some time that I'd go down 
 there and try to see her," said Harry as they were leav- 
 ing the store. "Now, I'll have to go." 
 
 "Maybe I'll go with you," said Abe. 
 
 They got a ride part of the way back and had a 
 long tramp again under the starlight. 
 
 "I don't believe you had better go down to St. 
 Louis," Abe remarked as they walked along. "It 
 might make things worse. I'm inclined to think that 
 I'd do better alone with that problem." 
 
 "I guess you're right," said Harry. "It would b 
 like me to do something foolish." 
 
 "And do it very thoroughly," Abe suggested, 
 "You're in love with the girl. I wouldn't trust your 
 judgment in St. Louis." 
 
 "She hasn't let on to her parents that she's unhap- 
 py. Mother Traylor told me that they got a letter 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 205 
 
 from her last week that told of the good times she was 
 having." 
 
 "We know what that means. She can't bear to 
 acknowledge to them that she has made a mistake and 
 she don't want to worry them. Her mother is in part 
 responsible for the marriage. Bim don't want her to 
 be blamed. Eli caught her off her guard and her heart 
 and her face spoke to him." 
 
 In a moment Abe added: "Her parents have be- 
 gun to suspect that something is wrong. They have 
 never been invited to go down there and visit the girl. 
 I reckon we'd better say nothing to any one of what 
 we have heard at present." 
 
 They reached New Salem in the middle of the night 
 and went into Rutledge's barn and lay down on the 
 haymow between two buffalo hides until morning. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 WHICH CONTINUES THE ROMANCE OF ABE AND ANN 
 UNTIL THE FORMER LEAVES NEW SALEM TO BEGIN 
 HIS WORK IN THE LEGISLATURE. ALSO IT DE- 
 SCRIBES THE COLONELING OF PETER LUKINS. 
 
 THE next day after his return, Abe received a letter 
 for Ann. She had come over to the store on the ar- 
 rival of the stage and taken her letter and run home 
 with it. That Saturday's stage brought the new suit 
 of clothes from Springfield. Sunday morning Abe 
 put it on and walked over to Kelso's. Mrs. Kelso was 
 sweeping the cabin. 
 
 "We shall have to stand outside a moment," said 
 Jack. "I have an inappeasable hatred of brooms. A 
 lance in the hand of the Black Knight was not more 
 terrible than a broom in the hands of a righteous 
 woman. I had to flee from The Life and Adventures 
 of Duncan Campbell when I saw the broom flashing in 
 a cloud of dust and retreated." 
 
 He stepped to the door and said : "A truce, madam ! 
 Here is the Honorable Abraham Lincoln in his new 
 suit" 
 
 Mrs. Kelso came out-of-doors and she and her 
 husband surveyed the tall young Postmaster. 
 
 "Well it is, at least, sufficient," said Kelso. 
 206 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 207 
 
 "The coat ought to be a little longer," Mrs. Kelso 
 suggested. 
 
 "It will be long enough before I get another," said 
 Abe. 
 
 "It is not what one would call an elegant suit but 
 it's all right," Kelso added. 
 
 "The fact is, elegance and I wouldn't get along well 
 together," Abe answered. "It would be like going into 
 partnership with Bill Berry." 
 
 "Next month you'll be off at the capital and we shall 
 be going to Tazewell County," said Kelso. 
 
 "To Tazewell County 1" 
 
 "Aye. It's a changing world! We should always 
 remember that things can not go on with us as they 
 are. The Governor has given me a job." 
 
 "And me a great sadness," said Abe. "You must 
 always let me know where to find you." 
 
 "Aye ! Many a night you and I shall hear the cock 
 crowing." 
 
 It was an Indian summer day of the first week in 
 November. That afternoon Abe went to the tavern 
 and asked Ann to walk out to the Traylors' with him. 
 She seemed to be glad to go. She was not the cheer- 
 ful, quick footed, rosy cheeked Ann of old. Her face 
 was pale, her eyes dull and listless, her step slow. 
 Neither spoke until they had passed the Waddell cabin 
 and were come to the open fields. 
 
 "I hope your letter brought good news," said Abe. 
 
 "It was very short," Ann answered. "He took a 
 
208 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 fever in Ohio and was sick there four weeks and then 
 he went home. In two months he never wrote a word 
 to me. And this one was only a little bit of a letter 
 with no love in it. I don't believe he will ever come 
 back. I don't think he cares for me now or, perhaps, 
 he is married. I don't know. I'm not going to cry 
 about it any more. I can't I've no more tears to shed. 
 I've given him up." 
 
 "Then I reckon the time has come for me to tell 
 you what is on my heart," said Abe. "I love you, Ann. 
 I have loved you for years. I would have told you 
 long ago but I could not make myself believe that I 
 was good enough for you. I love you so much mat 
 if you can only be happy with John McNamar I will 
 pray to God that he may turn out to be a good and 
 faithful man and come back and keep his promise." 
 
 She looked up at him with a kind of awe in her 
 face. 
 
 "Oh, Abe!" she whispered. "I had made up my 
 mind that men were all bad but my father. I was 
 wrong. I did not think of you." 
 
 "Men are mostly good," said Abe. "But it's very 
 easy to misunderstand them. In my view it's quite 
 likely that John McNamar is better than you think 
 him. I want you to be fair to John. If you conclude 
 that you can not be happy with him give me a chance. 
 I would do my best to bring back the joy of the old 
 days. Sometimes I think that I am going to do some- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 209 
 
 thing worth while. Sometimes I think that I can see 
 my way far ahead and it looks very pleasant, and you, 
 Ann, are always walking beside me in it." 
 
 They proceeded in silence for a moment. A great 
 flock of wild pigeons darkened the sky above them and 
 filled it with the whirr of their wings. The young 
 man and woman stopped to look up at them. 
 
 "They are going south," said Abe. "It's a sign of 
 bad weather." 
 
 They stood talking for a little time. 
 
 "I'm glad they halted us for we have not far to go," 
 Abe remarked. "Before .we take another step I wish 
 you could give me some hope to live on just a little 
 straw of hope." 
 
 "You are a wonderful man, Abe," said Ann, touched 
 by his appeal. "My father says that you are going to 
 be a great man." 
 
 "I can not hold out any such hope to you," Abe an- 
 swered. "I'm rather ignorant and badly in debt but 
 I reckon that I can make a good living and give you 
 a comfortable home. Don't you think, taking me just 
 as I am, you could care for me a little?" 
 
 "Yes; sometimes I think that I could love you, 
 Abe," she answered. "I do not love you yet but I 
 may sometime. I really want to love you." 
 
 "That is all I can ask now," said Abe as they went 
 on. "Do you hear from Bim Kelso ?" 
 
 "I have not heard from her since June." 
 
210 A< MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I wish you would write to her and tell her that I 
 am thinking of going down to St. Louis and that I 
 would like to go and see her." 
 
 "I'll write to her to-morrow," said Ann. 
 
 They had a pleasant visit and while Ann was play- 
 ing with the baby she seemed to have forgotten her 
 troubles. They stayed to supper, after which the whole 
 family walked to the tavern with them, Joe and Betsey 
 drawing the baby in their "bumble wagon," which 
 Samson had made for them. When Ann began to 
 show weariness, Abe gently lifted her in his arms and 
 carried her. 
 
 That evening Mrs. Peter Lukins called upon Abe 
 at Sam Hill's store where he sat alone, before the fire, 
 reading with two candles burning on the end of a dry 
 goods box at his elbow. 
 
 There was an anxious look in her one eye as she 
 accepted his invitation to sit down in the firelight. 
 
 "I wanted to see you private 'bout Lukins," she be- 
 gan. "There's them that calls him Bony Lukins but I 
 reckon he ain't no bonier than the everidge run o' men 
 not a bit an' if he was I don't reckon his bones 
 orto be throwed at him every time he's spoke to that 
 away." 
 
 Peter Lukins was a slim, sober faced, quiet little 
 man with a long nose who worked in the carding mill. 
 He never spoke, save when spoken to, and then with 
 a solemn look as if the matter in hand, however slight, 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 211 
 
 were likely to affect his eternal welfare. In his cups 
 he was speechless and, in a way, dumb with merriment. 
 He answered no questions, he expressed no opinions, he 
 told no stories. He only smiled and broke into roars 
 of laughter, even if there was no one to share his 
 joy, as if convinced, at last, of the hopeless absurdity 
 of life. Some one told of following him from Spring- 
 field to New Salem and of hearing him laugh all the 
 way. Many had noted another peculiarity in the man. 
 He seemed always to have a week's growth of beard 
 on his face. 
 
 "What can I do about it ?" Abe asked. 
 
 "I've been hopin' an' wishin' some kind of a decent 
 handle could be put on to his name," said Mrs. Lukins, 
 with her eye upon a knot hole in the counter. 
 ''Something with a good sound to it. You said that 
 anything you could do for the New Salem folks you 
 was goin' to do an' I thought maybe you could fix it." 
 
 Abe smiled and asked : "Do you want a title ?" 
 
 "If it ain't plum owdacious I wisht he could be 
 made a Colonel." 
 
 "That's a title for fighting men," said Abe. 
 
 "An' that man has fit for his life ever since he was 
 born," said Mrs. Lukins. "He's fit the measles an' the 
 smallpox an' the fever an' ager an' conquered 'em." 
 
 "I reckon he deserves the title," Abe remarked. 
 
 "I ain't sayin' but what there is purtier men," she 
 said, reflectively, as she stuck her finger into the knot 
 
212 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 hole and felt its edges. "I ain't sayin' but what there 
 is smarter men but I do say that the name o' Bony 
 ain't hardly fit to be heard in company." 
 
 "A little whitewash wouldn't hurt it any," said Abe. 
 "I'd gladly give him my title of Captain if I could un- 
 hitch it someway." 
 
 "Colonel is a more grander name," she insisted. 
 "I call it plum coralapus." 
 
 She had thus expressed her notion of the limit of 
 human grandeur. 
 
 "Do you like it better than Judge ?" 
 
 "Wall, Judge has a good sound to it but I'm plum 
 sot on Colonel. If you kin give that name to a horse, 
 which Samson Traylor has done it, I don't see why a 
 man shouldn't be treated just as well." 
 
 "I'll see what can be done but if he gets that title 
 he'll have to live up to it." 
 
 "I'll make him walk a chalk line you see," the good 
 woman promised as she left the store. 
 
 That evening Abe wrote a playful commission as 
 Colonel for Peter Lukins which was signed in due time 
 by all his friends and neighbors and presented to Lu- 
 kins by a committee of which Abe was chairman. 
 
 Coleman Smoot a man of some means who had a 
 farm on the road to Springfield was in the village 
 that evening. Abe showed him the commission and 
 asked him to sign it. 
 
 "I'll sign it on one condition," said Smoot. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 213 
 
 "What is that?" Abe asked. 
 
 "That you'll give me a commission." 
 
 "A man like you can't expect too much. Would 
 you care to be a General?" 
 
 "I wouldn't give the snap of my ringer for that. 
 What I want to be is your friend." 
 
 "You are that now, aren't you?" Abe asked. 
 
 "Yes, but I haven't earned my commission. You 
 haven't given me a chance yet. What can I do to 
 help you along?" 
 
 Abe was much impressed by these kindly words. 
 
 "My friends do not often ask what they can do 
 for me," he said. "I suppose they haven't thought of 
 it. I'll think it over and let you know." 
 
 Three days later he walked out to Coleman Smoot's 
 after supper. As they sat together by the fireside Abe 
 said : 
 
 "I've been thinking of your friendly question. It's 
 dangerous to talk that way to a man like me. The 
 fact is I need two hundred dollars to pay pressing debts 
 and give me something in my pocket when I go to 
 Vandalia. If you can not lend it to me I shall think 
 none the less of you." 
 
 "I can and will," said Smoot. "I've been watching 
 you for a long time. A man who tries as hard as you 
 do to get along deserves to be helped. I believe in you. 
 I'll go up to Springfield and get the money and bring it 
 to you within a week or so." 
 
214 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Abe Lincoln had many friends who would have done 
 the like for him if they could, and he knew it. 
 
 "Every one has faith in you," said Smoot. "We 
 expect much of you and we ought to be willing to do 
 what we can to help." 
 
 "Your faith will be my strength if I have any," 
 said Abe. 
 
 On his way home that night he thought of what 
 Jack Kelso had said of democracy and friendship. 
 
 On the twenty-second of November a letter came 
 to Ann from Bim Kelso which announced that she 
 was going to New Orleans for the winter with her hus- 
 band. Thereupon Abe gave up the idea of going to 
 St. Louis and six days later took the stage for the 
 capital, at Rutledge's door, where all the inhabitants 
 of the village had assembled to bid him good-by. Ann 
 Rutledge with a flash of her old playfulness kissed him 
 when he got into the stage. Abe's long arm was wav- 
 ing in the air as he looked back at his cheering friends 
 while the stage rumbled down the road toward the 
 great task of his life upon which he was presently to 
 begin in the little village of Vandalia. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 WHEREIN THE ROUTE OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD 
 IS SURVEYED AND SAMSON AND HARRY SPEND A 
 NIGHT IN THE HOME OF HENRY BRIMSTEAD AND 
 HEAR SURPRISING REVELATIONS, CONFIDENTIALLY 
 DISCLOSED, AND ARE CHARMED BY THE PERSON- 
 ALITY OF HIS DAUGHTER ANNABEL. 
 
 EARLY in the autumn of that year the Reverend 
 Elijah Lovejoy of Alton had spent a night with the 
 Traylors on his way to the North. Sitting by the 
 fireside he had told many a vivid tale of the cruelties 
 of slavery. 
 
 "I would not have you think that all slave-holders 
 are wicked and heartless," he said. "They are like 
 other men the world over. Some are kind and indul- 
 gent. If all men were like them slavery could be tol- 
 erated. But they are not. Some men are brutal in 
 the North as well as in the South. If not made so by 
 nature they are made so by drink. To give them the 
 power of life and death over human beings, which 
 they seem to have in parts of the South, is a crime 
 against God and civilization. Our country can not live 
 and prosper with such a serpent in its bosom. No 
 good man should rest until the serpent is slain." 
 
 "I agree with you," said Samson. 
 215 
 
216 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I knew that you would," the minister went on. 
 "We have already had some help from you but we 
 need more. I take it as a duty which God has laid 
 upon me to help every fugitive that reaches my door. 
 Thousands of New Englanders have come into Illi- 
 nois in the last year. They will help the good work 
 of mercy and grace. If you hear three taps upon your 
 window after dark or the hoot of an owl in your door- 
 yard you will know what it means. Fix some place 
 on your farm where these poor people who are seek- 
 ing the freedom which God wills for all His children, 
 may find rest and refreshment and security until they 
 have strength to go on." 
 
 Within a week after the visit of Mr. Lovejo}; Sam- 
 son and Harry built a hollow haystack about half-way 
 from the house to the barn. The stack had a comfort- 
 able room inside of it about eight feet by seven and 
 some six feet in height. Its entrance was an opening 
 near the bottom of the stack well screened by the 
 pendant hay. But no fugitive came to occupy it that 
 winter. 
 
 Early in March Abe wrote a letter to Samson in 
 which he said: 
 
 "I have not been doing much. I have been getting 
 the hang of things. There are so many able men here 
 that I feel like being modest for a while. It's good 
 practice if it is a little hard on me. Here are such 
 men as Theodore Ford, William L. D. Ewing, Stephen 
 T. Logan, Jesse K. Duboi's and Governor Duncan. 
 You can not wonder that I feel like lying low until I 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 217 
 
 can see my way a little more clearly. I have met here 
 a young man from your state of the name of Stephen 
 A. Douglas. He is twenty-one years old and about 
 the least man I ever saw to look at but he is bright and 
 very ambitious. He has taught school and studied law 
 and been admitted to the bar and is bristling up to 
 John J. Hardin in a contest for the office of State's 
 Attorney. Some pumpkins for a boy of twenty-one I 
 reckon. No chance for internal improvements this 
 session. Money is plenty and next year I think we 
 can begin harping on that string. More than ever 
 I am convinced that it is no time for anti-slavery agi- 
 tation much as we may feel inclined to it. There's 
 too much fire under the pot now." 
 
 Soon after the new year of 1835 Samson and Harry 
 moved the Kelsos to Tazewell County. Mr. Kelso had 
 received an appointment as Land Agent and was to 
 be stationed at the little settlement of Springdale near 
 the home of John Peasley. 
 
 "I hate to be taking you so far away," said Sam- 
 son. 
 
 "Hush, man," said Kelso. "It's a thing to be thought 
 about only in the still o' the night." 
 
 "I shall be lonesome." 
 
 "But we live close by the wells of wisdom and so we 
 shall not be comfortless." 
 
 Late in the afternoon Harry and Samson left the 
 Kelsos and their effects at a small frame house in 
 the little village of Springdale. The men had no 
 sooner begun to unload than its inhabitants came to 
 
218 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 welcome the newcomers and help them in the work 
 of getting settled. When the goods were deposited in 
 the dooryard Samson and Harry drove to John Peas- 
 ley's farm. Mr. Peasley recognized the big, broad- 
 shouldered Vermonter at the first look. 
 
 "Do I remember you?" he said. "Well, I guess I 
 do. So does my barn door. Let me take hold of that 
 right hand of yours again. Yes, sir. It's the same old 
 iron hand. Many Ann!" he called as his wife came 
 out of the door. "Here's the big man from Vergennes 
 who tossed the purty slaver." 
 
 "I see it is," she answered. "Ain't ye comin' in?" 
 
 "We've been moving a man to Springdale and shall 
 have to spend the night somewhere in this neighbor- 
 hood," said Samson. "Our horses are played out." 
 
 "If you try to pass this place I'll have ye took up," 
 said Peasley. "There's plenty of food in the house an* 
 stable." 
 
 "Look here that's downright selfish," said his wife, 
 "If we tried to keep you here Henry Brimstead would 
 never forgive us. He talks about you morning, noon 
 and night. Any one would think that you was the 
 Samson that slew the Philistines." 
 
 "How is Henry?" Samson asked. 
 
 "He married my sister and they're about as happy 
 as they can be this side the river Jordan," she went 
 on. "They've got one o' the best farms in Tazewell 
 County and they're goi'n' to be rich. They've built 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 219 
 
 'em a splendid house with a big spare room in it. Henry 
 would have a spare room because he said that maybe 
 the Traylors would be comin' here to visit 'em some 
 time." 
 
 "Yes, sir; I didn't think o' that," said Peasley. 
 "Henry and his wife would holler if we didn't take ye 
 over there. It's only a quarter of a mile. I'll show 
 ye the way and we'll all come over this evening and 
 have a talkin' bee." . 
 
 Samson was pleased and astonished by the look 
 of Brimstead and his home and his family and the 
 account of his success. The man from the sand flats 
 had built a square, two-story house with a stairway 
 and three rooms above it and two below. He was 
 cleanly shaved, save for a black mustache, and neat- 
 ly dressed and his face glowed with health and high 
 spirits. A handsome brown-eyed miss of seventeen 
 came galloping up the road on her pony and stopped 
 near them. 
 
 "Annabel, do you remember this man?" Brimstead 
 asked. 
 
 The girl looked at Samson. 
 
 "He is the man who helped us out of Flea Valley," 
 said the girl. 
 
 Brimstead leaned close to the ear of Samson and 
 said in a low tone : 
 
 "Say, everything knew how to jump there. I had 
 a garden that could hop over the fence and back 
 
220 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ag'in. Sometimes it was there and sometimes it was 
 off on a vacation. I jumped as soon as I got the 
 chance." 
 
 "We call it No Santa Claus Land," said Samson. 
 "Do ye remember how the little girl clung to the wa- 
 gon?" 
 
 "That was me," said a small miss of ten who ran out 
 of the door into the arms of the big man and kissed 
 him. 
 
 "Would you mind if I kissed you?" Annabel asked. 
 
 "I would be sorry if you didn't," said Samson. 
 "Here's my boy, Harry Needles. You wouldn't dare 
 kiss him I guesSo" 
 
 "I would be sorry, too, if you didn't," Harry laughed 
 as he took hei hand. 
 
 "I'm afraid you'll have to stay sorry," said Anna- 
 bel turning red with embarrassment. "I never saw 
 you before." 
 
 "Better late than never," Samson assured her. "You 
 don't often see a better fellow." 
 
 The girl laughed, with a subtle look of agreement 
 in her eyes. Then came up from the barn the ragged 
 little lad of No Santa Claus Land now a sturdy, 
 bright eyed, handsome boy of twelve. 
 
 The horses were put out and all went in to supper. 
 
 "I have always felt sorry for any kind of a slave," 
 said Samson as they sat down. "When I saw you on 
 the sand plains you were in bondage." 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead, as he leaned to- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 221 
 
 ward Samson, seeming to be determined at last to make 
 a clean breast of it. "Say, I didn't own that farm. It 
 owned me. I got a sandy intellect. Couldn't get any- 
 thing out of it but disappointment. My farm was 
 mortgaged to the bank and I was mortgaged to the 
 children. I couldn't even die." 
 
 Samson wrote in his diary that night : 
 
 "When Brimstead. brings his sense of humor into 
 play he acts as if he was telling a secret. When he 
 says anything that makes me laugh, he's terribly confi- 
 dential. Seems so he was kind of ashamed of it. He 
 never laughs himself unless he does it inside. His 
 voice always drops, too, when he talks business." 
 
 "The man that's a fool and don't know it is a good 
 deal worse off," said Samson. 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye he's worse off but he's happier. If 
 it hurts there's hope for ye." 
 
 "They tell me you've prospered," said Samson. 
 
 Brimstead spoke in a most confidential tone as he 
 answered: "Say, I'll tell ye no wise man is ever an 
 idiot but once. I wouldn't care to spread it around 
 much but we're gettin' along. I've built this house 
 and got my land paid for. You see we are only four 
 miles from the Illinois River on a good road. I can 
 ship my grain to Alton or St. Louis or New Orleans 
 without much trouble. I've invented a machine to cut 
 it and a double plow and I expect to have them both 
 working next year. They ought to treble my output 
 at least." 
 
222 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 After supper Brimstead showed models of a mow- 
 ing machine with a cut bar six feet long, and a plow 
 which would turn two furrows. 
 
 "That's what we need on these prairies," said Sam- 
 son. "Something that'll turn 'em over and cut the 
 crop quicker." 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead as if about to dis- 
 close another secret. "I found after I looked the 
 ground over here that I needed a brain. I began to 
 paw around an' discovered a rusty old brain among 
 my tools. It hadn't been used for years. I cleaned 
 an' oiled the thing an' got it workin'. On a little 
 Vermont farm you could git along without it but 
 here the ground yells for a brain. We don't know 
 how to use our horses. They have power enough tQ 
 do all the hard work, if we only knew how to put 
 it into wheels and gears. We must begin to work our 
 brains as well as our muscles on a farm miles long 
 an' wide." 
 
 "It ain't fair to expect the land to furnish all the 
 fertility," said Samson 
 
 Brimstead's face glowed as he outlined his vision : 
 
 "These great stretches of smooth, rich land just 
 everlastingly ram the spurs into you and keep your 
 brain galloping. Mine is goin' night and day. The 
 prairies are a new thing and you've got to tackle 'em 
 in a new way. I tell you the seeding and planting 
 and mowing and reaping and threshing is all going to 
 
223 
 
 be done by machinery and horses. The wheel will be 
 the foundation of the new era." 
 
 "You're right," said Samson. 
 
 "How are you gettin' along?" 
 
 "Rather slow," Samson answered. "It's hard to 
 get our stuff to market down in the Sangamon coun- 
 try. Our river isn't navigable yet. We hope that 
 Abe Lincoln, who has just been elected to the Legis- 
 lature, will be able to get it widened and straightened 
 and cleaned up so it will be of some use to us down 
 there." 
 
 "I've heard of him. They call him Honest Abe, 
 don't they?" 
 
 "Yes ; and he is honest if a man ever was." 
 
 "That's the kind we need to make our laws," said 
 Mrs. Brimstead. "There are not many men who get 
 a reputation for honesty. It ought to be easy, but it 
 isn't." 
 
 "Men are pretty good in the main," said Samson. 
 "But ye know there are not so many who can exactly 
 toe the mark. They don't know how or they're too busy 
 or something. I guess I'm a little careless, and I don't 
 believe I'm a bad fellow either. Abe's conscience don't 
 ever sit down to rest. He traveled three miles one 
 night to give back four cents that he had overcharged 
 a customer. I'd probably have waited to have her 
 come back, and by that time it might have slipped my 
 mind or maybe she would have moved away. I sup- 
 
224 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 pose that in handling dollars we're mostly as honest 
 as Abe, but we're apt to be a little careless with the 
 cents. Abe toed the penny mark, and that's how he 
 got his reputation. The good God has given him a 
 sense of justice that is like a chemist's balance. It can 
 weigh down to a fraction of a grain. Now he don't 
 care much about pennies. He can be pretty reckless 
 with 'em. But when they're a measure on the balance, 
 he counts 'em careful, I can tell ye." 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead. "Honesty is 
 like Sapington's pills. There's nothing that's so well 
 recommended. It has a great many friends. But 
 Honesty has to pay prompt. We don't trust it long. 
 It has poor credit. When we have to give a dollar's 
 worth of work to correct an error of four cents, we're 
 apt to decide that Honesty don't pay. But that's when 
 it pays best We've heard the jingle o' them four 
 cents 'way up here in Tazewell County, an' long be- 
 fore you told us. They say he's a smart talker an' 
 that he can split ye wide open laughin'." 
 
 "He's a great story-teller, but that's a small part of 
 him," said Samson. "He's a kind of a four horse 
 team. He knows more than any man I ever saw and 
 can tell it and he can wrestle like old Satan and swing 
 a scythe or an axe all day an' mighty supple. He's 
 one of us common folks and don't pretend to be a bit 
 better. He is, though, and we know it, but I don't 
 think he knows it." 
 
 "Say, there ain't many of us smart enough to keep 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 225 
 
 that little piece of ignorance in our heads," said Brim- 
 stead. "It's worth a fortune, now ain't it?" 
 
 "Is he going to marry the Rutledge girl?" was the 
 query of Mrs. Brimstead. 
 
 "I don't think so," Samson answered, a little sur- 
 prised at her knowledge of the attachment. "He's as 
 humly as Sam Hill and dresses rough and ain't real 
 handy with the gals. Some fellers are kind o' fenced 
 in with humliness and awkwardness." 
 
 Brimstead expressed his private opinion in a clearly 
 audible whisper: "Say, that kind o' protection is 
 better'n none. A humly boy don't git tramped on 
 an' nibbled too much." 
 
 Annabel and Harry sat in a corner playing checkers. 
 They seemed to be much impressed by the opinion of 
 Mr. Brimstead. For a moment their game was for- 
 gotten. 
 
 "That boy has a way with the gals," Samson 
 laughed. "There's no such fence around either of 
 them." 
 
 "They're both liable to be nibbled some," said 
 Brimstead. 
 
 "I like to see 'em have a good time," said his wife. 
 "There are not many boys to play with out here." 
 
 "The boys around here are all fenced in," said Anna- 
 bel. "There's nobody here of my age but Lanky 
 Peters, who looks like a fish, and a red-headed Irish 
 boy with a wooden leg." 
 
 "Say, she's like a woodpecker in a country where 
 
226 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 there ain't any trees," said Brimstead, in his confiden- 
 tial tone. 
 
 "No I'm not," the girl answered. "A woodpecker 
 has wings and the right to use them." 
 
 "Cheer up. A lot of people will be moving in here 
 this spring more boys than you could shake a stick 
 at," Mrs. Brimstead remarked, cheerfully. 
 
 "If I shake any stick at them, it will be a stick of 
 candy, for fear of scaring them away," said Annabel, 
 with a laugh. 
 
 Brimstead said to Samson : "Say, I'll tell ye, you're 
 back in a cove. You must get out into the current." 
 
 "And give the young folks a chance to play checkers 
 together," said Samson. 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead. "This country 
 is mostly miles. They can be your worst enemy unless 
 you get on the right side of 'em. Above all, don't let 
 'em get too thick between you an' your market. When 
 you know about where it is, keep the miles behind ye. 
 Great markets will be springin' up in the North. You'll 
 see a big city growin' on the southern shore of Lake 
 Michigan before long. I think there will be better 
 markets to the north than there are to the south of us." 
 
 "By jingo!" Samson exclaimed. "Your brain i's 
 about as busy as a beehive on a bright summer day." 
 
 "Say, don't you mention that to a livin' soul," said 
 Brimstead. "My brain began to chase the rainbow 
 when I was a boy. It drove me out o' Vermont into 
 the trail to the West and landed me in Flea Valley. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 227 
 
 Now I'm in a country where no man's dreams are 
 goin' to be big enough to keep up with the facts. We're 
 right under the end o' the rainbow and there's a pot o' 
 gold for each of us." 
 
 "The railroad will be a help in our fight with the 
 miles," said Samson. 
 
 "All right. You get the miles behind ye and let 
 the land do the waiting. It won't hurt the land any, 
 but you'd be spoilt if you had to wait twenty years." 
 
 The Peasleys arrived and the men and women spent 
 a delightful hour traveling without weariness over the 
 long trail to beloved scenes and the days of their 
 youth. Every day's end thousands were going east on 
 that trail, each to find his pot of gold at the foot of 
 the rainbow of memory. 
 
 Before they went to bed that night Brimstead paid 
 his debt to Samson, with interest, and very confiden- 
 tially. 
 
 At daylight in the morning the team was at the 
 door ready to set out for the land of plenty. As Sam- 
 son and Harry were making their farewells, Annabel 
 asked the latter: 
 
 "May I whisper something in your ear ?" 
 
 "I was afraid you wouldn't," he said. 
 
 He bent his head to her and she kissed his cheek and 
 ran away into the house. 
 
 "That means come again," she called from the door, 
 with a laugh. 
 
 "I guess I'll have to to get even," he answered. 
 
228 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "That's a pretty likely girl," said Samson, as they 
 were driving away. 
 
 "She's as handsome as a picture." 
 
 "She is no mistake!" Samson declared. "She's a 
 good-hearted girl, too. You can tell that by her face 
 and her voice. She's as gentle ?s a kitten, and about 
 as wide awake as a weasel." 
 
 "I don't care much for girls these days," Harry an- 
 swered. "I guess I'll never get married." 
 
 "Nonsense! A big, strapping, handsome young 
 feller like you, only twenty years old ! Of course you'll 
 get married." 
 
 "I don't see how I'm ever going to care much for 
 another girl," the boy answered. 
 
 "There are a lot o' things in the world that you don't 
 see, boy. It's a big world and things shift around a 
 good deal and some of our opinions are apt to move 
 with the wind like thistledown." 
 
 It was a long, wearisome ride back to the land of 
 plenty, over frozen ground, with barely an inch of 
 snow upon it, under a dark sky, with a chilly wind 
 blowing. 
 
 "After all, it's home," said Samson, when late in 
 the evening they saw the lighted windows of the cabin 
 ahead. When they had put out their horses and come 
 in by the glowing fire, Samson lifted Sarah in his arms 
 again and kissed her. 
 
 "I'm kind o' silly, mother, but I can't help it you 
 look so temptin'," said Samson. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 229 
 
 "She looks like an angel," said Harry, as he im- 
 proved his chance to embrace and kiss the lady of the 
 cabin. 
 
 "The wind has been peckin' at us all day,'' said 
 Samson. "But it's worth it to get back home and 
 see your face and this blazin' fire." 
 
 "And the good, hot supper," said Harry, as they 
 sat down at the table. 
 
 They told of the .Brimsteads and their visit. 
 
 "Well, I want to know!" said Sarah. "Big house 
 and plenty o' money ! If that don't beat all !" 
 
 "That oldest girl is the thing that beats all," said 
 Samson. "She's as handsome as Birn." 
 
 "I suppose Harry fell in love with, her," Sarah sug- 
 gested, with a smile. 
 
 "I've lost my ability to fall in love," said the young 
 man. 
 
 "It will come back you see," said Sarah. "I'm 
 going to get her to pay us a visit in the spring." 
 
 Harry went out to feed and water the horses. 
 
 "Did you get along all right?" Samson asked. 
 
 "Colonel Lukins did the chores faithfully, night and 
 morning," Sarah answered. "His wife helped me with 
 the sewing yesterday. She talked all day about the 
 'Colonel.' Mrs. Beach, that poor woman from Ohio 
 on the west road who has sent her little girl so often 
 to borrow tea and sugar, came to-day and wanted to 
 borrow the baby. Her baby is sick and her breasts 
 were paining her." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 IN WHICH ABE RETURNS FROM VANDALIA AND IS EN- 
 GAGED TO ANN, AND THREE INTERESTING SLAVES 
 ARRIVE AT THE HOME OF SAMSON TRAYLOR, WHO, 
 WITH HARRY NEEDLES, HAS AN ADVENTURE OF 
 MUCH IMPORTANCE ON THE UNDERGROUND ROAD. 
 
 AGAIN spring had come. The great meadows were 
 awake and full of color. Late in April their green 
 floor was oversown with golden blossoms lying close 
 to the warming breast of the earth. Then came the 
 braver flowers of May lifting their heads to the sun- 
 light in the lengthening grasses red and white and 
 pink and blue and over all the bird songs. They 
 seemed to voice the joy in the 'heart of man. Sarah 
 Traylor used to say that the beauty of the spring more 
 than paid for the loneliness of the winter. 
 
 Abe came back from the Legislature to resume his 
 duties as postmaster and surveyor. The evening of 
 his arrival he went to see Ann. The girl was in poor 
 health. She had had no news of McNamar since 
 January. Her spirit seemed to be broken. They 
 walked together up and down the deserted street of 
 the little village that evening. Abe told her of his life 
 in Vandalia and of his hopes and plans. 
 
 "My greatest hope is that you will feel that you can 
 230 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 231 
 
 put up with me/' he said. "I would try to learn how 
 to make you happy. I think if you would help me a 
 little I could do it." 
 
 ."I don't think I am worth having," the girl an- 
 swered. "I feel like a little old woman these days." 
 
 "It seems to me that you are the only one in the 
 world worth having," said Abe. 
 
 "If you want me to, I will marry you, Abe," said 
 she. "I can not say that I love you, but my mother 
 and father say that I would learn to love you, and 
 sometimes I think it is true. I really want to love 
 you." 
 
 They were on the bluff that overlooked the river and 
 the deserted mill. They were quite alone looking down 
 at the moonlit plains. A broken sigh came from the 
 lips of the tall young man. He wiped his eyes with 
 his handkerchief. He took her hand in both of his 
 and pressed it against his breast and looked down into 
 her face and said : 
 
 "I wish I could tell you what is in my heart There 
 are things this tongue of mine could say, but not that 
 I shall show you, but I shall not try to tell you. Words 
 are good enough for politics and even for the religion 
 of most men, but not for this love I feel. Only in my 
 life shall I try to express it." 
 
 He held her hand as they walked on in silence for a 
 moment. 
 
 "About a year from now we can be married," he 
 said. "I shall be able to take care of you then, I 
 
232 A- MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 think. Meanwhile we will all help you to take care of 
 yourself. You don't look well." 
 
 She kissed his cheek and he kissed hers when they 
 parted at the door of the tavern. 
 
 "I am sure I shall love you," she whispered. 
 
 "Those are the best words that ever came to my 
 ears," he answered, and left her with a solemn sense 
 of his commitment. 
 
 Soon after that Abe went to the north line of the 
 county to do some surveying, and on his return, in 
 the last week of May, came out for a talk with the 
 Traylors. 
 
 "I've been up to the Kelsos' home and had a won- 
 derful talk with him and Brimstead," said Abe. "They 
 have discovered each other. Kelso lives in a glorious 
 past and Brimstead in a golden future. They're both 
 poets. Kelso is translating the odes of Pindar. Brim- 
 stead is constructing the future of Illinois. They laugh 
 at each other and so create a fairly agreeable present." 
 
 "Did you see Annabel ?" Harry asked. 
 
 "About sixty times a minute while I was there. So 
 pretty you can't help looking at her. She's coming 
 down to visit Ann, I hope. If you don't see her every 
 day she's here, I shall lose my good opinion of you. 
 It will be a sure sign that your eyes don't know how 
 to enjoy themselves." 
 
 "We shall all see her and fall in love with her, too, 
 probably," said Sarah. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 233 
 
 "She's made on the right pattern of the best 
 rial," Abe went on. "She's full of fun and I thought 
 it would be a great thing for Ann. She hasn't had 
 any one to play with of her own age and standing 
 since Bim went away. I was thinking of Harry, too. 
 He needs somebody to play with." 
 
 "Much obliged !" the young man exclaimed. "I was 
 thinking that I'd have to take a trip to Springdale, 
 myself." 
 
 "I knew he'd come around," Sarah laughed. 
 
 But all unknown to these good people, the divinities 
 were at that moment very busy. 
 
 That was the 26th of May, 1835, a date of much im- 
 portance in the calendar of the Traylors. It had been 
 a clear, warm day, followed by a cloudless, starry 
 night, with a chilly breeze blowing. Between eleven 
 and twelve o'clock Sarah and Samson were awakened 
 by the hoot of an owl in the dooryard. In a moment 
 they heard three taps on a window-pane. They knew 
 what it meant. Both got out of bed and into their 
 clothes as quickly as possible. Samson lighted a candle 
 and put some wood on the fire. Then he opened the 
 door with the candle in his hand. A stalwart, good- 
 looking mulatto man, with a smooth shaven face, stood 
 in the doorway. 
 
 "Is the coast clear ?" he whispered. 
 
 "All clear," Samson answered, in a low tone. 
 
 "I'll be back in a minute," said the negro, as he 
 
234 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 'disappeared in the darkness, returning presently with" 
 two women, both very black. They sat down in the 
 dim light of the cabin. 
 
 "Are you hungry ?" Sarah asked. 
 
 "We have had only a little bread and butter to-day, 
 madame," said the mulatto, whose speech and man- 
 ners were like those of an educated white man of the 
 South. 
 
 "I'll get you something," said Sarah, as she opened 
 the cupboard. 
 
 "I think we had better not stop to eat now, 
 madame," said the negro. "We will be followed and 
 they may reach here any minute." 
 
 Harry, who had been awakened by the arrival of 
 the strangers, came down the ladder. 
 
 "These are fugitive slaves on their way north," said 
 Samson. "Take them out to the stack. I'll bring 
 some food in a few minutes." 
 
 Harry conducted them to their hiding-place, and 
 when they had entered it, he brought a ladder and 
 opened the top of the stack. A hooped shaft in the 
 middle of it led to a point near its top and provided 
 ventilation. Then he crawled in at the entrance, 
 through which Samson passed a pail of food, a jug of 
 water and some buffalo hides. Harry sat with them 
 for a few moments in the black darkness of the stack 
 room to learn whence they had come and whither they 
 wished to go. 
 
 "We are from St. Louis, suh," the mulatto an- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 235 
 
 swered. "We are on our way to Canada. Our next 
 station is the house of John Peasley, in Tazewell 
 County." 
 
 "Do you know a man of the name of Eliphalet 
 Biggs who lives in St. Louis?" Harry asked. 
 
 "Yes, suh; I see him often, suh," the negro an- 
 swered. 
 
 "What kind of a man is he ?" 
 
 "Good when he is sober, stih, but a brute when he 
 is drunk." 
 
 "Is he cruel to his wife?" 
 
 "He beats her with a whip, suh." 
 
 "My God!" Harry exclaimed. "Why don't she 
 leave him?" 
 
 "She has left him, suh. She is staying with a 
 friend. It has been hard for her to get away. She 
 has been a slave, too." 
 
 Harry's voice trembled with emotion when he an- 
 swered : 
 
 "I am sure that none of her friends knew how she 
 was being treated." 
 
 "I suppose that she was hoping an' praying, suh, 
 that he would change." 
 
 "I think that one of us will take you to Peasley's 
 to-morrow night," said Harry. "Meanwhile I hope 
 you get a good rest." 
 
 With that he left them, filled the mouth of the cave 
 with hay and went into the house. There he told his 
 good friends of what he had heard. 
 
236 r A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I shall go down to St. Louis," he said. "I read in 
 the paper that there was a boat Monday." 
 
 "The first thing to do is to go to bed," said Sarah. 
 "There's not much left of the night." 
 
 They went to bed, but the young man could not 
 sleep. Bim had possession of his heart again. In a 
 kind of half sleep he got the notion that she was 
 sitting by his bedside and trying to comfort him. Then 
 he thought that he heard her singing in the sweet 
 voice of old: 
 
 "Come sit yourself down 
 With me on the ground 
 On this bank where the primroses grow. 
 We will hear the fond tale 
 Of the sweet nightingale, 
 As she sings in the valleys below, 
 As she sings in the valleys below." 
 
 He roused himself and thought that he saw her 
 form receding in the darkness. 
 
 Fortunately, the spring's work was finished and 
 there was not much to be done next day. Samson 
 went to "Colonel" Lukins' cabin and arranged with 
 him and his wife to come and stay with Sarah and 
 made other preparations for the journey to the north. 
 Soon after nightfall they put their guests on a small 
 load of hay, so that they could quickly cover them- 
 selves if necessary, and set out for Peasley's farm. As 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 237 
 
 they rode along Samson had a frank talk with 
 Harry. 
 
 "I think you ought to get over being in love with 
 Bim," he said. 
 
 "I've told myself that a dozen times, but it don't 
 do any good," said the boy. 
 
 "She's another man's wife and you have no right 
 to love her." 
 
 "She's another man's slave, and I can't stand the 
 thought of it," Harry answered. "If she was happy 
 I could mind my business and get over thinking of 
 her, by and by, maybe, but now she needs a friend, 
 if she ever did, and I intend to do what I can for 
 her." 
 
 "Of course, we'll all do what we can for her," said 
 Samson. "But you must get over being in love with 
 a married woman." 
 
 "If a man's sister were in such trouble, I think he'd 
 have the right to help her, and she's more than a sister 
 to me." 
 
 "I'll stand with you on the sister platform," said 
 Samson. 
 
 In the middle of the night they stopped by a stream 
 of water to feed the horses and take a bite of luncheon. 
 The roads were heavy from recent rains and daylight 
 came before they could make their destination. At 
 sunrise they stopped to give their horses a moment to 
 rest. In the distance they could see Brimstead's house 
 
238 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 and the harrowed fields around it. The women were 
 lying covered by the hay ; the man was sitting up and 
 looking back down the road. 
 
 "They're coming," he exclaimed, suddenly, as he 
 got under the hay. 
 
 Samson and Harry could see horsemen following at 
 a gallop half a mile or so down the road. It looked 
 like trouble, for at that hour men were not likely to 
 be abroad in the saddle and riding fast on any usual 
 errand. Our friends hurried their team and got to 
 Brimstead's door ahead of the horsemen. A grove of 
 trees screened the wagon from the view of the latter 
 for a moment. Henry Brimstead stood in the open 
 door. 
 
 "Take these slaves into the house and get them out 
 of sight as quick as you can," said Samson. "There's 
 going to be a quarrel here in a minute." 
 
 The slaves slid off the load and ran into the house. 
 
 This was all accomplished in a few seconds. The 
 team started on toward Peasley's farm as if nothing 
 had happened, with Harry and Samson standing on 
 the load. In a moment they saw, to their astonish- 
 ment, Biggs and a colored servant coming at a slow 
 trot. AVere the slaves they carried the property of 
 Biggs? 
 
 "Stop that wagon," the latter shouted. 
 
 Samson kept on, turning out a little to let them pass. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 239 
 
 "Stop or we'll shoot your horses," Biggs demanded. 
 
 "They'll have to pass close to the load," Harry- 
 whispered. "I'll jump on behind Biggs as he goes by." 
 
 The words were scarcely out of his mouth when 
 Harry sprang off the load, catching Biggs's shoulders 
 and landing squarely on the rump of his horse. It was 
 a rough minute that followed. The horse leaped and 
 reared and Biggs lost his seat, and he and Harry rolled 
 to the ground and into a fence corner, while the horse 
 ran up the road, with the pistols in their holsters on 
 his back. They rose and fought until Harry, being 
 quicker and stronger, got the best of it. The slaver 
 was severely punished. The negro's horse, frightened 
 by the first move in the fracas, had turned and run 
 back down the road. 
 
 Biggs swore bitterly at the two Yankees. 
 
 'Til have you dirty suckers arrested if there's any 
 law in this state," he declared, as he stood leaning 
 against the fence, with an eye badly swollen and blood 
 streaming from his nose. 
 
 "I suppose you can do it," said Samson. "But first 
 let's see if we can find your horse. I think I saw him. 
 turn i'n at the house above." 
 
 Samson drove the team, while Biggs and Harry 
 walked up the road in silence. The negro followed 
 in the saddle. Peasley had caught Biggs's horse and 
 was standing at the roadside. 
 
240 A' MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 r 
 
 "I want to find a Justice of the Peace," said Biggs. 
 "There's one at the next house above. I'll send my 
 boy for him," Peasley answered. 
 
 The Justice arrived in a few minutes and Biggs 
 lodged a complaint founded on the allegation that his 
 slaves were concealed in the hay on Samson's wagon. 
 The hay was removed and no slaves were discovered. 
 
 "I suppose they left my niggers at the house below," 
 said Biggs as he mounted his horse and, with his com- 
 panion, started at a gallop in the direction of 'Brim- 
 stead's. Samson remained with Peasley and the 
 Justice. 
 
 "You had better go down and see what happens," he 
 said to Harry. "We'll follow you in a few minutes." 
 
 So Harry walked down to Brimstead's. 
 
 He found the square house in a condition of 
 panic. Biggs and his helper had discovered the mulatto 
 and his wife hiding in the barn. The negroes and the 
 children were crying. Mrs. Brimstead met Harry out- 
 side the door. 
 
 "What are we to do?" she asked, tearfully. 
 
 "Just keep cool," said Harry. "Father Traylor and 
 Mr. Peasley will be here soon." 
 
 Biggs and his companion came out of the door with 
 Brimstead. 
 
 "We will take the niggers to the river and put them 
 on a boat," Biggs was saying. 
 
 His face and shirt and bosom were smeared with 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 241 
 
 blood. He asked Mrs. Brimstead for a basin of water 
 and a towel. The good woman took him to the wash- 
 stand and supplied his needs. 
 
 In a few moments Samson and Peasley arrived, with 
 the latter's team hitched to a Conestoga wagon. 
 
 "Well, you've found them, have you?" Peasley 
 asked. 
 
 "They were here, as I thought," said Biggs. 
 
 "Well, the Justice says we must surrender the 
 negroes and take them to the nearest landing for you. 
 We've come to do it." 
 
 "It's better treatment than I expected," Biggs an- 
 swered. 
 
 "You'll find that we have a good deal of respect for 
 the law," said Peasley. 
 
 Biggs and his friend went to the barn for their 
 horses. The others conferred a moment with the two 
 slaves and Mrs. Brimstead. Then the latter went out 
 into the garden lot to a woman in a sunbonnet who 
 was working with a hoe some fifteen rods from the 
 house. Mrs. Brimstead seemed to be conveying a 
 message to the woman by signs. Evidently the latter 
 was deaf and dumb. 
 
 "That is the third slave," Brimstead whispered. "I 
 don't believe they'll discover her." 
 
 Soon Peasley and Samson got into the wagon with 
 the negroes and drove away, followed by the two horse- 
 men. 
 
242 r Aj MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 In a little village on the river they stopped at a low 
 frame house. A woman came to the door. 
 
 "Is Freeman Collar here ?" Peasley demanded. 
 
 "He is back in the garden," the woman answered. 
 
 "Please ask him to come here." 
 
 In a moment Collar came around the house with a 
 "hoe on his shoulder. He was a slim, sandy bearded, 
 long-haired man of medium height, with keen gray 
 eyes. 
 
 "Good morning, Mr. Constable," said Peasley. 
 "This is Eliphalet Biggs of St. Louis, and here is a 
 warrant for his arrest." 
 
 He passed a paper to the officer. 
 
 "For my arrest!" Biggs exclaimed. "What is the 
 charge ?" 
 
 "That you hired a number of men to burn the 
 house of Samson Henry Traylor, near the village of 
 New Salem, in Sangamon County, and, by violence, to 
 compel him to leave said county; that, on the 2gth of 
 August, said men the same being eight in number 
 attempted to carry out your design and, being cap- 
 tured and overpowered, all confessed their guilt and 
 your connection with it, their sworn confessions being 
 now in the possession of one Stephen Nuckles, a 
 minister of this county. I do not need to remind you 
 that it is a grave offense and likely to lead to your 
 confinement for a term of years." 
 
 "Well, by G ," Biggs shouted, in anger. "You 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 243 
 
 suckers will have some traveling to do before you 
 arrest me." 
 
 He struck the spurs in his horse and galloped 
 away, followed by his servant. Samson roared with 
 laughter. 
 
 "Now, Collar, get on your horse and hurry 'em 
 along, but don't ketch up with 'em if you can help it," 
 said Peasley. "We've got them on the run now. 
 They'll take to the woods an' be darn careful to keep 
 out of sight." 
 
 When the Constable had gone, Peasley said to Sam- 
 son: "We'll drop these slaves at Nate Haskell's door. 
 He'll take care of 'em until dark and start 'em on the 
 north road. Late in the evening I'll pick 'em up an' 
 get 'em out o' this part o' the country." 
 
 Meanwhile Brimstead and Harry had stood for a 
 moment in the dooryard of the former, watching the 
 party on its way up the road. Brimstead blew out his 
 breath and said in a low tone : 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye, I ain't had so much excitement 
 since Samson Traylor rode into Flea Valley. The 
 women need a chance to wash their faces and slick up 
 a little. Le's you and me go back to the creek and go 
 in swimmin' an' look the farm over." 
 
 "What become of the third nigger ?" Harry asked. 
 
 "She went out in the field in a sunbonnet an' went 
 to work with a hoe and they didn't discover her," said 
 Brimstead. 
 
244 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "It must have been a nigger that didn't belong to 
 him," Harry declared. 
 
 "I guess it was one that the others picked up on the 
 road." 
 
 They set out across the sown fields, while Brim- 
 stead, in his most divulging mood, confided many 
 secrets to the young man. Suddenly he asked: 
 
 "Say,- did you take parti c'lar notice o* that yaller 
 nigger?" 
 
 "I didn't see much of him." 
 
 "Well, I'll tell ye, he was about as handsome a feller 
 "as you'd see in a day's travel straight as an arrow 
 and about six feet tall and well spoken and clean faced. 
 He told me that another master had taught him to 
 read and write and cipher. He's read the Bible 
 through, and many of the poems of Scott and Byron 
 and Burns. Don't it rile ye up to think of a man 
 like that bein' bought and sold and pounded around 
 like a steer? It ain't decent." 
 
 "It's king work; it isn't democracy," Harry an- 
 swered. "We've got to put an end to it." 
 
 "Say, who's that?" Brimstead asked, as he pointed 
 to a pair of horsemen hurrying down the distant road. 
 
 "It's Biggs and his servant," Harry answered. 
 
 "Whew! They ain't lettin' the grass grow under 
 their feet. They'll kill them horses." 
 
 "Biggs is a born killer. I'd like to give him one 
 more licking." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 245 
 
 In a moment they saw another horseman a quarter 
 of a mile behind the others and riding fast. 
 
 "Ha, ha! That explains their haste," said Brim- 
 stead. "It's oT Free Collar on his sorrel mare. Say, 
 I'll tell ye," Brimstead came close to Harry and added 
 in a low tone: "If Biggs tries any fightin' business 
 with Collar he'll git killed sure. That man loves ex- 
 citement. He don't take no nonsense at all, and he 
 can put a bullet into a gimlet hole at ten rods." 
 
 They had their swim in the creek and got back to 
 the house at dinner time. Samson had returned and, 
 as they sat down at the table, he told what had hap- 
 pened at the Constable's house and learned of the pass- 
 ing of Biggs and his friend in the road, followed by 
 Collar on his sorrel mare. 
 
 "We must hurry back, but we will have to give the 
 horses a rest," said Samson. 
 
 "And the young people a chance to play checkers?" 
 said Mrs. Brimstead. 
 
 "I have no heart for play," said Annabel, with a 
 sigh. 
 
 "The excitement and the sight o' those poor slaves 
 have taken all the fun out of her," the woman re- 
 marked. 
 
 Then Harry asked: "What have you done with 
 the third slave?" 
 
 "She's been up-stai'rs, getting washed and dressed," 
 said Mrs. Brimstead. 
 
246 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 As she spoke, the stairway door opened and Bim 
 entered the room in a silk gown and slippers. Sor- 
 row had put its mark upon her face, but had not ex- 
 tinguished her beauty. All rose from the table. Harry 
 walked toward her. She advanced to meet him. Face 
 to face, they stopped and looked into each other's eyes. 
 The moment long desired, the moment endeared and 
 sublimated by the dreams of both, the moment toward 
 which their thoughts had been wont to hasten, after 
 Ihe cares of the day, like brooks coming down from 
 the mountains, had arrived suddenly. She was in a 
 way prepared for it. She had taken thought of what 
 she would do and say. He had not. Still it made no 
 difference. This little point of time had been so filled 
 with the power which had flowed into it out of their 
 souls there was no foretelling what they would do 
 when it touched them. Scarcely a second of that 
 moment was wasted in hesitation, as a matter of fact. 
 Quickly they fell into each other's embrace, and the 
 depth of their feeling we may guess when we read in 
 the diary of the rugged and rather stoical Samson that 
 no witness of the scene spoke or moved "until I turned 
 my back upon it for shame of my tears." 
 
 Soon Bim came and kissed Samson's cheek and 
 said: 
 
 "I am not going to make trouble. I couldn't help 
 this. I heard what he said to you last night. It made 
 me happy in spite of all my troubles. I love him but 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 247 
 
 above all I shall try to keep his heart as clean and noble 
 as it has always been. I really meant to be very strong 
 and upright. It i's all over now. Forgive us. We 
 are going to be as respectable as as we can." 
 
 Samson pressed her hand and said : 
 
 "You came with the slaves and I guess you heard 
 our talk in the wagon." 
 
 "Yes, I came with the slaves, and was as black as 
 either of them. We had all suffered. I should have 
 come alone, but they had been good and faithful to 
 me. I could not bear to leave them to endure the 
 violence of that man. We left together one night 
 when he was in a drunken stupor. We took a boat 
 to Alton and caught The Star of the North to Beards- 
 town they traveling as my servants. There I hired 
 a team and wagon. It brought us to the grove near 
 your house." 
 
 "Why did you disguise yourself before you came 
 in?" 
 
 "I longed to see Harry, but I did not want him to 
 see me. I did not know that he would care to see 
 me," she answered. "I longed to see all of you." 
 
 "Isn't that like Bim?" Samson asked. 
 
 "I am no longer the fool I was," she answered. "It 
 was not just a romantic notion. I wanted to share the 
 lot of a runaway slave for a few days and know what 
 it means. That mulatto Roger Wentworth and his 
 wife are as good as I am, but I have seen them kicked 
 
248 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 and beaten like dogs. I know slavery now and all 
 the days of my life I am going to fight against it. 
 Now I am ready to go to my father's house like the 
 Prodigal Son coming back after his folly." 
 
 "But you will have some dinner first," said Mrs. 
 Brimstead. 
 
 "No, I can not wait I will walk. It is not far to 
 Springdale." 
 
 "Percy is at the door now with his buggy," said 
 Brimstead. 
 
 Bim kissed Samson's cheek and embraced Annabel 
 and her mother and hurried out of the house. Harry 
 carried her bag to the buggy and helped her in. 
 
 "Harry, I want you to fall in love with this pretty 
 girl," she said. "Don't you dare think of me any 
 more or come near me. If you do, I'll shoo you away. 
 Go on, Percy." 
 
 She waved her hand as the buggy went up the road. 
 
 "It's the same old Bim," Harry said to himself, as 
 he stood watching her. "But I think she's lovelier 
 than she ever was." 
 
 The next day Samson wrote in his diary: 
 
 "Bim was handsomer, but different. She had a 
 woman's beauty. I noticed her loose clothes and that 
 gentle look in her face that used to come to Sarah's 
 when her time was about half over. I am glad she 
 got away before she was further along." 
 
WHEREIN HARRY AND ABE RIDE UP TO SPRINGDALE AND 
 VISIT KELSO'S AND LEARN OF THE CURIOUS LONE- 
 SOMENESS OF ELIPHALET BIGGS. 
 
 ILLINOIS was growing 1 . In June scores of prairie 
 schooners, loaded with old and young, rattled over the 
 plains from the East. There were many Yankees from 
 Ohio, New York and New England in this long 
 caravan. There were almost as many Irish, who had 
 set out for this land of golden promise as soon as they 
 had been able to save money for a team and wagon, 
 after reaching the new world. There were some Ger- 
 mans and Scandinavians in the dust clouds of the 
 National Road. Steamers on the Illinois River scat- 
 tered their living freight along its shores. These were 
 largely from Kentucky, southern Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland and Virginia. The call of the rich and 
 kindly lands had traveled far and streams of life 
 were making toward them, to flow with increasing 
 speed and volume for many years. 
 
 People in Sangamon County had begun to learn of 
 the thriving village of Chicago in the North. Abe said 
 that Illinois would be the Empire State of the West; 
 
 249 
 
350 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 that a new era of rapid development and great pros- 
 perity was near. Rumors of railroad and canal 
 projects and river improvements were on every tongue. 
 Samson and Sarah took new heart of the prospect and 
 decided to try another year in New Salem, although an 
 Irishman had made a good offer for their farm. Land 
 was in great request and there were many transfers 
 of title. Abe had more surveying to do than he was 
 able to accomplish that summer. Harry was with him 
 'for some weeks. He could earn two dollars a day 
 with Abe, whereas Samson was able to hire a helper 
 for half that sum. Harry made a confident of his 
 friend, and when they were working at the northern 
 end of the county they borrowed a pair of horses and 
 rode up to Kelso's house and spent a Sunday there. 
 
 Bim met them down the road a mile or so from 
 Springdale. She, too, was on the back of a horse. 
 She recognized them before they were in hailing dis- 
 tance and waved her hand and hurried toward them 
 with a happy face. 
 
 "Where are you going?" she asked. 
 
 "To see you and your father and mother," said 
 Harry. 
 
 A sad look came into her eyes. 
 
 "If I had a stone I would throw it at you," she 
 said. 
 
 "Why?" Harry asked. 
 
 "Because I have to get used to being miserable, and 
 just as I begin to be resigned to it, you come along 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 251 
 
 and make me happy, and I have it all to do over 
 again." 
 
 The young man stopped his horse. 
 
 "I hadn't thought of that," he said, with a sad face. 
 "It isn't fair to you, is it? It's rather selfish." 
 
 "Why don't you go to Brimstead's," Bim suggested. 
 "A beautiful girl over there is in love with you. Hon- 
 estly, Harry, there isn't a sweeter girl in all the world." 
 
 "I ought not to go there, either," said the young 
 man. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Because I mustn't let her think that I care for her. 
 I'll go over to Peasley's and wait for Abe there." 
 
 "Look here," said the latter. "You both remind me 
 of a man in a Kentucky village who couldn't bear to 
 hear a rooster crow. It kept him awake nights, for 
 the roosters did a lot o' crowing down there. He 
 moved from one place to another, trying to find a 
 cockless town. He couldn't. There was no such 
 place in Kentucky. He thought of taking to the 
 woods, but he hated loneliness more than he hated 
 roosters. So he did a sensible thing. He started a 
 chicken farm and got used to it. He found that a 
 little crowing was too much, and that a lot of it was 
 just what he needed. You two have got to get used 
 to each other. What you need is more crowing. If 
 you saw each other every day you wouldn't look so 
 wonderful as when you don't." 
 
 "I reckon that's a good idea," said Bim. "Come on, 
 
252 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Harry, let's get used to crowing. We'll start in to- 
 day to fall out of love with each other. We must be 
 very cold and distant and haughty and say every mean 
 thing we can think of." 
 
 So it happened that Harry went on with Bim and 
 Abe to the little house in Springdale. Jack Kelso sat 
 reading in the shade of a tree by his door-step. 
 
 "I hope you feel as good as you look," Abe called, 
 as they rode up. 
 
 "I've been feeling like a fly in a drum," Jack an- 
 swered. "I've just heard a sermon by Peter Cart- 
 wright." 
 
 "What do you think of him?" 
 
 "He is saturated in the statistics of vice. His Satan 
 is too busy ; his hell is too big, too hot and too durable. 
 He is a kind of human onion designed to make women 
 weep." 
 
 Abe answered with a laugh: 
 
 "It is said that General Jackson went into his church 
 one Sunday and that a deacon notified Mr. Cartwright 
 of the presence of the great man. They say that the 
 stern preacher exclaimed in a clearly audible tone: 
 'General Jackson! What does God care for General 
 Jackson? If he don't repent, God will damn him as 
 quick as he would damn a Guinea nigger.' ' 
 
 "He's just that thumping, downright kind of a 
 man," Kelso remarked. "How are you getting on 
 with the books ?" 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 253 
 
 "I have Parsons on Contracts strapped to the pom- 
 mel," said Abe.. ''I did my stint coming over, but I 
 had to walk and lead the pony." 
 
 "Every book you read gets a baptism of Democ- 
 racy," said Kelso. "An idle aristocracy of the shelves 
 loafing in fine coats and immaculate linen is not for 
 the wise man. Your book has to roll up its sleeves 
 and go to work and know the touch of the sweaty 
 hand. Swift used to say that seme men treat books 
 as they do Lords learn their titles and then brag of 
 having been in their company. There are no Lords 
 and Ladies among your books. They are just men 
 and women made for human service." 
 
 "I don't read long at once," Abe remarked. "I 
 scratch into a book, like a hen on a barn floor, until 
 my crop is full, and then I digest what I have taken." 
 
 Harry and Bim had put out the horses. Now the 
 girl came and sat on her father's knee. Harry sat 
 down by the side of Abe on the grass in the oak's 
 shadow. 
 
 "It is a joy to have the little girl back again," said 
 Kelso, as he touched her hair with his hand. "It is 
 still as yellow as a corn tassel. I wonder it isn't gray." 
 
 "Her eyes look as bright as ever to-day," said Harry. 
 
 "No compliments, please. I want you to be down- 
 right mean," Bim protested. 
 
 Kelso looked up with a smile: "My boy, it was 
 Leonardo da Vinci who said that a man could have 
 
254 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 neither a greater nor a less dominion than that over 
 himself." 
 
 "What a cruel-looking villain he is !"Bim exclaimed, 
 with a smile. "I wouldn't dare say what I think of 
 him." 
 
 "If you keep picking on me I'll cut loose and ex- 
 press my opinion of you," he retorted. 
 
 "Your opinions have ceased to be important," she 
 answered, with a look of indifference. 
 
 "I think this is a clear case of assault and flattery," 
 said Kelso. 
 
 "It pains me to look at you," Bim went on. 
 
 "Wait until I learn to play the flute and the snare 
 drum," Harry threatened. 
 
 "I'm glad that New Salem is so far away," she 
 sighed. 
 
 "I'll go and look at the new moon through a knot 
 hole," he laughed. 
 
 "My dears, no more of this piping," said Kelso. 
 "Bim must tell us what she has learned of the great 
 evil of slavery. It is most important that Abe should 
 hear it." 
 
 Bim told of revolting scenes she had witnessed in 
 St. Louis and New Orleans of flogging and buying 
 and selling and herding. It was a painful story, the 
 like of which had been traveling over the prairies of 
 Illinois for years. Some had accepted these reports; 
 many, among whom were the most judicious men, had 
 thought they detected in them the note of gross exag- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 255 
 
 geration. Here, at last, was a witness whose word it 
 was impossible for those who knew her to doubt. Abe 
 put many questions and looked very grave when the 
 testimony was all in. 
 
 "If you have any doubt," said Bim, "I ask you to 
 look at that mark on my arm. It was made by the 
 whip of Mr. Eliphalet Biggs." 
 
 The young men looked with amazement at a scar 
 some three or four inches long on her forearm. 
 
 "If he would do that to his wife, what treatment 
 could you expect for his niggers ?" Bim asked. "There 
 are many Biggses in the South." 
 
 "What so vile as a cheap, rococo aristocracy grow- 
 ing up in idleness, too noble to be restrained, with 
 every brutal passion broad blown as flush as May?" 
 Kelso growled. 
 
 "Nothing is long sacred in the view of any aris- 
 tocracy not even God," Abe answered. "They make 
 a child's plaything of Him and soon cast Him aside." 
 
 "But I hold that if our young men are to be trained 
 to tyranny in a lot of little nigger kingdoms, our De- 
 mocracy will die." 
 
 Abe made no answer. He was always slow to com- 
 mit himself. 
 
 "The North is partly to blame for what has come," 
 said Samson. "I guess our Yankee captains brought 
 over most of the niggers and sold them to the planters 
 of the South." 
 
 "There was a demand for them, or those Yankee 
 
256 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 pirates wouldn't have brought the niggers," Harry 
 answered. "Both seller and buyer were committing a 
 crime." 
 
 "They established a great wrong and now the South 
 is pushing to extend and give it the sanction of law," 
 said Abe. "There is the point of irritation and 
 danger." 
 
 "I hear that in the next Legislature an effort will be 
 made to endorse slavery," said Kelso. "It would be 
 like endorsing Nero and Caligula." 
 
 "It is a dangerous subject," Abe answered. "What- 
 ever happens, I shall not fail to express my opinion of 
 slavery if I go back." 
 
 "The time is coming when you will take the bull 
 by the horns," said Kelso. "There's no fence that 
 will keep him at home." 
 
 "I hope that isn't true," Abe answered. 
 
 Soon Mrs. Kelso called Bim to set the table. She 
 and Harry brought it out under the tree, where, in 
 the cool shade, they had a merry dinner. 
 
 When the dishes were put away Percy Brimstead 
 arrived with his sister Annabel in their buggy. Bim 
 went out to meet them and came into the dooryard 
 with her arm around Annabel's waist. 
 
 "Did any one ever see a lovelier girl than this?" 
 Bim asked, as they stood up before the dinner party. 
 
 "Her cheeks are like wild roses, her eyes like the 
 dew on them when the sun is rising," said Kelso. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 257 
 
 "But look at her mouth and the teeth in it the next 
 time she smiles," Bim went on. 
 
 "Aye, they are well wrought," her father an- 
 swered. 
 
 "If you don't stop, I shall run," Annabel pro- 
 tested. 
 
 "I haven't said a word, but I want you to know that 
 I am deeply impressed," said Harry. "No girl has a 
 right to be as handsome as you are and come and look 
 into the face of a young man who has resolved to look 
 at the new moon through a knot hole." 
 
 "Well, who would have thought it!" Bim exclaimed. 
 "Such a wonderful compliment, and from Harry 
 Needles!" 
 
 "Of course he didn't mean it," said Annabel, whose 
 cheeks were now very red. 
 
 "Of course I mean it," Harry declared. "That's 
 why I keep away from your house. I am bound to 
 stay single." 
 
 "Did you ever see a fairy going to mill on a butter- 
 fly's back ?" Bim asked, looking at Harry. 
 
 "Not as I remember," he answered. 
 
 "If you had, you wouldn't expect us to believe it," 
 Bim asserted. 
 
 "There was a soldier in Colonel Taylor's regiment 
 who always ran when the enemy was in sight," Abe 
 began. "When he was brought up for discipline, he 
 said 'My heart is as brave as Julius Caesar's, but my 
 
258 A ; MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 legs can't be trusted.' I know Harry's legs are all 
 right, but I don't believe his heart can be trusted in a 
 battle of this kind." 
 
 "I've heard all about his brave adventures in the 
 war," said Bim. "He'll find that girls are worse than 
 Indians." 
 
 "If they're as well armed as you two, I guess you're 
 right," said Samson. 
 
 Abe rose and said : "The day is passing. I'll start 
 on with Parsons and the pony and read my stint afoot. 
 You come along in a few minutes. By the time you 
 overtake me I'll be ready to get into the saddle." 
 
 Half an hour or so after Abe had gone, Harry's 
 horse, which had been whinnying for his mate, 
 bounded out of the stable and went galloping down 
 the road, having slipped his halter. 
 
 "He will not stop until he overtakes the other horse," 
 said Harry. 
 
 "You can ride with us," Annabel suggested. 
 
 So the young man brought his saddle and bridle and 
 put it under the seat of the buggy and got in with 
 Annabel and her small brother. 
 
 "Don't let us go too far," said Bim, as she stood by 
 the side of the buggy. "You haven't offered to shake 
 hands." 
 
 "It was a deliberate slight just to please you," 
 Harry answered, as they shook hands. 
 
 "You are behaving terribly well," Bim exclaimed, 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 259 
 
 merrily. "Now, Annabel, here is your chance to con- 
 vert him." 
 
 She laughed and shook her hand, as they rode away, 
 and went into the house and sat down and for a time 
 was like one whose heart is broken. 
 
 "Oh, the troubles of the young!" her mother ex- 
 claimed, as she kissed her. 
 
 "They are ever the wonder of the old!" said Kelso, 
 who stood near. 
 
 "I love him ! I love him !" the girl moaned. 
 
 "I don't wonder," her father answered. "He is a 
 big, brave, clean lad, and handsome as a Greek god. 
 He will love you all the better for your self-restraint 
 It makes me proud of you, my daughter proud of 
 you ! Be of good cheer. The day of your emancipa- 
 tion may not be long delayed." 
 
 Some two miles down the road Harry found Abe 
 standing between the horses, holding the runaway by 
 his forelock. The latter was saddled and bridled, 
 while the buggy went on ahead. 
 
 "That is a wonderful girl," said Harry, as he and 
 Abe were riding along together. "She is very modest 
 and gentle hearted." 
 
 "And as pleasant to look at as the flowery 
 meadows," Abe answered. 
 
 "I have promised to stop there a few minutes on 
 our way back." 
 
 "It is possible Bim could get a divorce," said Abe, 
 
260 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 looking down thoughtfully at the mane of his horse. 
 "I'll ask Stuart what he thinks about it when I see 
 him again." 
 
 "I hope you'll see him soon." 
 
 "As soon as I can get to Springfield." 
 
 Brimstead and Abe had a talk together, while Harry 
 went into the house. 
 
 "Say, there's a good many kinds o' trouble," said 
 the former, in a low tone, "but one o' the worst is 
 skunks. Say, I'll tell ye, there's a feller lives over in 
 the woods a few miles from here that had a skunk in 
 a pen. His name is Hinge. Somebody had been 
 stealin' his grain, so the other night he hitched that 
 skunk right under the barn door. The thief came and 
 the skunk punished him tolerable severe. The next 
 day Free Collar, the famous Constable, was comin' 
 up the road from Sangamon County and met that man 
 Biggs on a horse. Say " 
 
 Brimstead looked about him and stepped close to 
 Abe and added in a tone of extreme confidence: "Biggs 
 had left a streak behind him a mile long. Its home 
 was Biggs. It had settled down and gone into busi- 
 ness on him and was doin' well and gettin' a reputa- 
 tion. Collar coughed and backed away. For four 
 days he had been chasin' that man to arrest him. Biggs 
 had been hid in the woods near Hinge's cabin an' 
 had stole grain for his horses. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 261 
 
 " 'Here I am,' said Biggs. 'You can have me. I'm 
 lonesome.' 
 
 " 'You'll be lonesomer 'fore I go near ye,' says 
 Collar. 
 
 " 'I thought you wanted to arrest me/ says Biggs. 
 
 " 'Say, man, I'd 'a' been glad to see you go to prison 
 for a year or two, but now I'm plum sorry for ye,' 
 says Collar. 'A constable who wouldn't run if he 
 smelt you comin' would be a durn fool.' 
 
 "They started in opposite directions. In half a 
 minute the Constable hollered to Biggs: 
 
 " 'Say, they've got a railroad train on a track over 
 in Ohio, but they can't make it run. I wouldn't won- 
 der if you could help 'em.' ' 
 
 Brimstead added in a half whisper : 
 
 "Biggs went on, but the poor devil is livin' a God 
 lonesome life. He can't sleep in a buildin' an' his 
 food'll have to be throwed to him. It's a new way to 
 defeat justice." 
 
 Abe's laughter was like the neigh of a horse. It 
 brought Harry out of the house. He mounted his 
 pony and, as they rode away, Abe told him of the 
 fate of Biggs. 
 
 "I don't believe he'll take another Illinois girl away 
 with him," Abe laughed. 
 
 "Talk about the chains of bondage! He's buried in 
 'em," Harry exclaimed. 
 
262 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 In a moment he said : "That lovely girl gave me a 
 necktie and a pair of gloves that she has knit with her 
 own hands. I'll never forget the way she did it and 
 the look of her. It rather touched my heart." 
 
 "She's as innocent as a child," said Abe. "It's hard 
 on a girl like that to have to live in this new country. 
 Her father and mother have promised to let her come 
 for a visit with Ann. I'll go up next Saturday and 
 take her down to New Salem with me." 
 
 This kindly plan of Abe's so full of pleasant pos- 
 sibilities fell into hopeless ruin next day, when a 
 letter came from Dr. Allen, telling him that Ann was 
 far gone with a dangerous fever. Both Abe and Harry 
 dropped their work and went home. Ann was too 
 sick to see her lover. 
 
 The little village was very quiet those hot summer 
 days. The sorrow of the pretty maiden had touched 
 the hearts of the simple kindly folk who lived there. 
 They would have helped her bear it if that had been 
 possible as readily as they would have helped at a 
 raising. For a year or more there had been a tender 
 note in their voices when they spoke of Ann. They 
 had learned with great gladness of her engagement to 
 marry Abe. The whole community were as one family 
 with its favorite daughter about to be crowned with 
 good fortune greater than she knew. Now that she 
 was stricken down, their feeling was more than sym- 
 pathy. The love of justice, the desire to see a great 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 263 
 
 wrong righted, in a measure, was in their hearts when 
 they sought news of the little sufferer at the tavern. 
 
 There was no shouting in the street, no story-telling 
 in the dooryards, no jesting in the stores and houses, 
 no merry parties, gladdened by the notes of the violin, 
 in the days and nights of Ann's long illness. 
 
 Samson writes in his diary that Abe went about like 
 a man in a dream, with no heart for work or study. 
 He spent much time at the Doctor's office, feeling for 
 some straw of hope. 
 
 One day late in August, as he stood talking with 
 Samson Traylor in the street, Dr. Allen called him 
 from his door-step. Abe turned very pale as he obeyed 
 the summons. 
 
 "I've just come from her bedside," said Dr. Allen. 
 "She wants to see you. I've talked it over with her 
 parents, and we've decided to let you and her have a 
 little visit together. You must be prepared for a great 
 change in Ann. There's not much left of the poor girl. 
 A breath would blow her away. But she wants to see 
 you. It may be better than medicine. Who knows ?" 
 
 The two men went across to the tavern. Mrs. Rut- 
 ledge and Abe tiptoed up the stairway. The latter 
 entered the room of the sick girl. The woman closed 
 the door. Ann Rutledge was alone with her lover. 
 There were none who knew what happened in that 
 solemn hour save the two one of whom was on the 
 edge of eternity, and the other was never to speak of it. 
 
264 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 The only record of that hour is to be found in the 
 face and spirit of a great man. 
 Years later Samson wrote in a letter. 
 
 "I saw Abe when he came out of the tavern that 
 day. He was not the Abe we had all known. He was 
 different. There were new lines in his face. It was 
 sorrowful. His steps were slow. He had passed out 
 of his young manhood. When I spoke to him, he 
 answered with that gentle dignity now so familiar to 
 all who know him. From that hour he was Abraham 
 Lincoln." 
 
 Ann passed away before the month ended and be- 
 came, like many of her kind, an imperishable memory. 
 In her presence the spirit of the young man had re- 
 ceived such a baptism that henceforward, taking 
 thought of her, he was to love purity and all clean- 
 ness, and no Mary who came to his feet with tears and 
 ointment was ever to be turned away. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 WHEREIN YOUNG MR. LINCOLN SAFELY PASSES TWO 
 GREAT DANGER POINTS AND TURNS INTO THE HIGH- 
 WAY OF HIS MANHOOD. 
 
 FOR days thereafter the people of New Salem were 
 sorely troubled. Abe Lincoln, the ready helper in 
 time of need, the wise counselor, the friend of all 
 "old and young, dogs and horses," as Samson was 
 wont to say the pride and hope of the little cabin- 
 village, was breaking down under his grief. He 
 seemed to care no more for work or study or friend- 
 ship. He wandered out in the woods and upon the 
 prairies alone. Many feared that he would lose his 
 reason. 
 
 There was a wise and merry-hearted man who lived 
 a mile or so from the village. His name was Bowlin 
 Green. Every one on Salem Hill and in the country 
 round about it laid claim to the friendship of this re- 
 markable man. Those days when one of middle age 
 had established himself in the affections of a com- 
 munity, its members had a way of adopting him. So 
 Mr. Green had been adopted into many families from 
 
 265 
 
266 r A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Beardstown to Springfield. He was everybody's 
 "Uncle Bowlin." He had a most unusual circumfer- 
 ence and the strength to carry it. He was indeed a 
 man of extended boundaries, embracing noble gifts, 
 the best of which was good nature. His jests, his loud 
 laughter and his quaking circumference were the three 
 outstanding factors in his popularity. The loss of 
 either would have been a misfortune to himself and 
 neighbors. His ruddy cheeks and curling locks and 
 kindly dark eyes and large head were details of im- 
 portance. Under all were a heart with the love of 
 men, a mind of unusual understanding and a hand 
 skilled in all the arts of the Kentucky pioneer. He 
 could grill a venison steak and roast a grouse and broil 
 a chicken in a way which had filled the countryside 
 with fond recollections of his hospitality; he could 
 kindle a fire with a bow and string, a pine stick and 
 some shavings ; he could make anything from a splint 
 broom to a rocking horse with his. jack-knife. Abe 
 Lincoln was one of the many men who knew and loved 
 him. 
 
 On a warm, bright afternoon early in September, 
 Bowlin Green was going around the pasture to put 
 his fence in repair, when he came upon young Mr. 
 Lincoln. The latter sat in the shade of a tree on the 
 hillside. He looked "terribly peaked," as Uncle Bowlin 
 has said in a letter. 
 
 "Why, Abe, where have you been?" he asked. "The 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 267 
 
 whole village is scared. Samson Traylor was here 
 last night lookin' for ye." 
 
 "I'm like a deer that's been hurt," said the young 
 man. "I took to the woods. Wanted to be alone. 
 You see, I had a lot of thinking to do the kind of 
 thinking that every man must do for himself. I've got 
 the brush cleared away, at last, so I can see through. 
 I had made up my mind to go down to your house for 
 the night and was trying to decide whether I have 
 energy enough to do it." 
 
 "Come on; it's only a short step," urged the big- 
 hearted Bowlin. "The wife and babies are over to 
 Beardstown. We'll have the whole place to ourselves. 
 The feather beds are ladder high. I've got a haunch 
 ^of venison buried in the hide and some prairie chickens 
 that I killed yesterday, and, besides, I'm lonesome." 
 
 "What I feel the need of, just now, is a week or 
 two of sleep," said Mr. Lincoln, as he rose and started 
 down the long hill with his friend. 
 
 Some time later Bowlin Green gave Samson this 
 brief account of what happened in and about the 
 cabin : 
 
 "He wouldn't eat anything. He wanted to go down 
 to the river for a dip, and I went with him. When 
 we got back, I induced him to take off his clothes and 
 get into bed. He was fast asleep in ten minutes. When 
 night came I went up the ladder to bed. He was still 
 asleep when I came down in the morning. I went out 
 
268 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 and did my chores. Then I cut two venison steaks, 
 each about the size o' my hand, and a half moon of 
 bacon. I pounded the venison to pulp with a little 
 salt and bacon mixed in. I put it on the broiler and 
 over a bed o' hickory coals. I got the coffee into the 
 pot and up next to the fire and some potatoes in the 
 ashes. I basted a bird with bacon strips and put it 
 into the roaster and set it back o' the broiling bed. 
 Then I made some biscuits and put 'em into the oven. 
 I tell you, in a little while the smell o' that fireplace 
 would have 'woke the dead honest! Abe began to 
 stir. In a minute I heard him call : 
 
 " 'Say, Uncle Bowlin, I'm goin' to get up an' eat 
 you out o' house and home. I'm hungry and I feel 
 like a new man. What time is it ?' 
 
 " 'It'll be nine o'clock by the time you're washed and 
 dressed,' I says. 
 
 " 'Well, I declare,' says he, 'I've had about sixteen 
 hours o' solid sleep. The world looks better to me 
 this morning.' 
 
 "He hurried into his clothes and we sat down at 
 the table with the steak and the chicken and some wild 
 grape jelly and baked potatoes, with new butter and 
 coffee and cream and hot biscuit and clover honey, and 
 say, we both et till we was ashamed of it. 
 
 "At the table I told him a story and got a little 
 laugh out of him. He stayed with me three weeks, 
 choring around the place and taking it easy. He read 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 269 
 
 all the books I had, until you and Doc Allen came 
 with the law books. Then he pitched into them. I 
 think he has changed a good deal since Ann died. He 
 talks a lot about God and the hereafter." 
 
 In October young Mr. Lincoln returned to his sur- 
 veying, and in the last month of the year to Vandalia 
 for an extra session of the Legislature, where he took 
 a stand against the convention system of nominating 
 candidates for public office. Samson went to Vandalia 
 for a visit with him and to see the place before the 
 session ended. The next year, in a letter to his brother, 
 he says : 
 
 "Vandalia is a small, crude village. It has a strong 
 flavor of whisky, profanity and tobacco. The night 
 after I got there I went to a banquet with Abe Lincoln. 
 Heard a lot about the dam nigger-loving Yankees who 
 were trying to ruin the state and country with aboli- 
 tion. There were some stories like those we used to 
 hear in the lumber camp, and no end of powerful talk, 
 in which the names of God and the Savior were 
 roughly handled. A few of the statesmen got drunk, 
 and after the dinner was over two of them jumped 
 on the table and danced down the whole length of it, 
 shattering plates and cups and saucers and glasses. 
 Nobody seemed to be able to stop them. I hear that 
 they had to pay several hundred dollars for the dam- 
 age done. You will be apt to think that there is too 
 much liberty here in the West, and perhaps that is so, 
 but the fact is these men are not half so bad as they 
 seem to be. Lincoln tells me that they are honest 
 
270 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 almost to a man and sincerely devoted to the public 
 good as they see it. I asked Abe Lincoln, who all 
 his life has associated with rough tongued, drinking 
 men, how he had managed to hold his own course and 
 keep his talk and habits so clean. 
 
 : 'Why, the fact is,' said he, 'I have associated with 
 the people who lived around me only part of the time, 
 but I have never stopped associating with myself and 
 with Washington and Clay and Webster and Shake- 
 speare and Burns and DeFoe and Scott and Blackstone 
 and Parsons. On the whole, I've been in pretty good 
 company.' 
 
 "He has not yet accomplished much in the Legis- 
 lature. I don't think that he will until some big issue 
 comes along. 'I'm not much of a hand at hunting 
 squirrels/ he said to me the other day. 'Wait till I see 
 a bear.' The people of Vandalia and Springfield have 
 never seen him yet. They don't know him as I do. 
 But they all respect him just for his good fellow- 
 ship, honesty and decency. I guess that every fellow 
 with a foul mouth hates himself for it and envies the 
 man who isn't like him. They begin to see his skill 
 as a politician, which has shown itself in the passage 
 of a bill removing the capitol to Springfield. Abe Lin- 
 coln was the man who put it through. But he has not 
 yet uncovered his best talents. Mark my word, some 
 day Lincoln will be a big man. 
 
 "The death of his sweetheart has aged and sobered 
 him. When we are together he often sits looking down 
 with a sad face. For a while not a word out of him. 
 Suddenly he will begin saying things, the effect of 
 which will go with me to my grave, although I can not 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 271 
 
 call back the words and place them as he did. He is 
 what I would call a great Captain of words. Seems 
 as if I heard the band playing while they march by 
 me as well dressed and stepping as proud and regular 
 as The Boston Guards. In some great battle between 
 Right and Wrong you will hear from him. I hope 
 it may be the battle between Slavery and Freedom, 
 although at present he thinks they must avoid coming 
 to a clinch. In my opinion, it can not be done. I ex- 
 pect to live to see the fight and to take part in it." 
 
 Late in the session of 1836-1837 the prophetic truth 
 of these words began to reveal itself. A bill was be- 
 ing put through the Legislature denouncing the growth 
 of abolition sentiment and its activity in organized so- 
 cieties and upholding the right of property in slaves. 
 
 Suddenly Lincoln had come to a fork in the road. 
 Popularity, the urge of many friends, the counsel of 
 Wealth and Power, and Public Opinion, the call of 
 good politics pointed in one direction and the crowd 
 went that way. It was a stampede. Lincoln stood 
 alone at the corner. The crowd beckoned, but in 
 vain. One man came back and joined him. It was 
 Dan Stone, who was not a candidate for re-election. 
 His political career was ended. There were three 
 words on the sign-board pointing toward the perilous 
 and lonely road that Lincoln proposed to follow. They 
 were the words Justice and Human Rights. Lincoln 
 and Dan Stone took that road in a protest, declaring 
 
272 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 that they "believed the institution of slavery was 
 founded upon injustice and bad policy." Lincoln had 
 followed his conscience, instead of the crowd. 
 
 At twenty-eight years of age he had safely passed 
 the great danger point in his career. The declaration 
 at Decatur, the speeches against Douglas, the miracle 
 of turning 4,000,000 beasts into 4,000,000 men, the 
 sublime utterance at Gettysburg, the wise parables, the 
 second inaugural, the innumerable acts of mercy, all 
 of which lifted him into undying fame, were now pos- 
 sible. Henceforth he was to go forward with the 
 growing approval of his own spirit and the favor of 
 God. 
 
BOOK THREE 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 WHEREIN YOUNG MR. LINCOLN BETRAYS IGNORANCE. 
 OF TWO HIGHLY IMPORTANT SUBJECTS, IN CONSE- 
 QUENCE OF WHICH HE BEGINS TO SUFFER SERIOUS 
 EM BARRASSMENT. 
 
 THERE were two subjects of which Mr. Lincoln had 
 little understanding. They were women and finance. 
 Up to this time his tall, awkward, ill clad figure had 
 been a source of amusement to those unacquainted 
 with his admirable spirit. Until they had rightly ap- 
 praised the value of his friendship, women had been 
 wont to regard him with a riant curiosity. He had 
 been aware of this, and for years had avoided women, 
 save those of old acquaintance. When he lived at the 
 tavern in the village often he had gone without a meal 
 rather than expose himself to the eyes of strange 
 women. The reason for this was well understood by 
 those who knew him. The young man was an ex- 
 ceedingly sensitive human being. No doubt he had 
 suffered more than any one knew from ill concealed 
 ridicule, but he had been able to bear it with com- 
 
 273 
 
274 & MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 posure in his callow youth. Later nothing roused his 
 anger like an attempt to ridicule him. No man who 
 came in his way in after life was so quickly and com- 
 pletely floored as one George Forquer, who, in a 
 moment of folly, had attempted to make light of him. 
 
 Two women he had regarded with great tenderness 
 his foster mother, the second wife of Thomas Lin- 
 coln, and Ann Rutledge. Others had been to him, 
 mostly, delightful but inscrutable beings. The com- 
 pany of women and of dollars had been equally un- 
 familiar to him. He had said more than once in his 
 young manhood that he felt embarrassed in the pres- 
 ence of either, and knew not quite how to behave him- 
 self an exaggeration in which there was no small 
 amount of truth. 
 
 In 1836 the middle frontier had entered upon a 
 singular phase of its development. Emigrants from 
 the East and South and from overseas had been pour- 
 ing into it. The summer before the lake and river 
 steamers had been crowded with them, and their 
 wagons had come in long processions out of the East. 
 Chicago had begun its phenomenal growth. A frenzied 
 speculation in town lots had been under way in that 
 community since the autumn of '35. It was spreading 
 through the state. Imaginary cities were laid out on 
 the lonely prairies and all the corner lots sold to eager 
 buyers and paid for with promises. Fortunes of 
 imaginary wealth were created by sales of future 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 275 
 
 greatness. Millions of conversational, promissory dol- 
 lars, based upon the gold at the foot of the rainbow, 
 were changing hands day by day. The Legislature, 
 with an empty treasury behind it, voted twelve mil- 
 lions for river improvements and imaginary railroads 
 and canals, for which neither surveys nor estimates 
 had been made, to serve the dream-built cities of the 
 speculator. If Mr. Lincoln had had more experience 
 in the getting and use of dollars and more acquaintance 
 with the shrinking timidity of large sums, he would 
 have tried to dissipate these illusions of grandeur. 
 But he went with the crowd, every member of which 
 had a like inexperience. 
 
 In the midst of the session Samson Traylor arrived 
 in Vandalia on his visit to Mr. Lincoln. 
 
 "I have sold my farm," said Samson to his old 
 friend the evening of his arrival. 
 
 "Did you get a good price?" Mr. Lincoln asked. 
 
 "All that my conscience would allow me to take," 
 said Samson. "The man offered me three dollars an 
 acre in cash and ten dollars in notes. We compro- 
 mised on seven dollars, all cash." 
 
 "It's a mistake to sell now. The river is going to be 
 deepened and improved for navigation." 
 
 "I've made up my mind that it can't be done, unless 
 you can invent a way to run a steamboat on moist 
 ground," said Samson. "You might as well try to 
 make a great man out of 'Colonel Lukins.' It hasn't 
 
276 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 the water-shed. To dig a deep channel for the Sanga- 
 mon would be like sending 'Colonel Lukins' to Har- 
 vard. We're going too fast. We have little to sell 
 yet but land. The people are coming to us in great 
 numbers, but most of them are poor. We must give 
 them time to settle down and create something and 
 increase the wealth of the state. Then we shall have 
 a solid base to build upon ; then we shall have the con- 
 fidence of the capital we require for improvements. 
 Now I fear that we are building on the sands." 
 
 "Don't you think that our bonds would sell in the 
 East?" 
 
 "No; because we have only used our lungs in all 
 these plans of ours. No one has carefully considered 
 the cost. For all we know, it may cost more than 
 the entire wealth of the state to put through the im- 
 provements already planned. The eastern capitalists 
 will want to know about costs and security. Un- 
 doubtedly Illinois is sure to be a great state. But 
 we're all looking at the day of greatness through a 
 telescope. It seems to be very near. It isn't. It's at 
 least ten years in the future." 
 
 Young Mr. Lincoln looked very grave for a moment. 
 Then he laughed and said : "I don't know but we're 
 all a lot of fools. I begin to suspect myself. The 
 subject of finance is new to me. I don't know much 
 about it, but I'm sure if I were to say what you have 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 277 
 
 said, in the House of Representatives, they would 
 throw me out-of-doors." 
 
 "Just at present the House is a kind of insane 
 asylum," said Samson. "You'll have to stick to the 
 procession now. The road is so crowded that nobody 
 can turn around. The folly of the state is so unani- 
 mous no one will be more to blame than another when 
 the crash comes. You have meant well, anyhow." 
 "You make me feel young and inexperienced." 
 "You are generally wise, Abe, but there's one thing 
 you don't know that's the use of capital. For two 
 years Sarah and I have been studying the subject of 
 finance." 
 
 "I've seen too little of you in the last year or 'so," 
 said the young statesman. "What are you going to 
 do now that you have sold out?" 
 
 "I was thinking of going up to Tazewell County." 
 "Why don't you go to the growing and prosperous 
 town of Springfield," Mr. Lincoln asked. "The cap- 
 itol will be there, and so will I. It is going to be a big 
 city. Men who are to make history will live in Spring- 
 field. You must come and help. The state will need 
 a man of your good sense. It would be a great com- 
 fort to me to have you and Sarah and Harry and the 
 children near me. I shall need your friendship, your 
 wisdom and your sympathy. I shall want to sit often 
 by your fireside. You'll find a good school there for 
 
278 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 the children. If you'll think of it seriously, I'll try 
 to get you into the public service." 
 
 "We need you plenty," Samson answered. "We 
 kind o' think o' you as one o' the family. I'll talk it 
 over with Sarah and see. Never mind the job. If I 
 keep you behavin' yourself, it'll be job enough. Any- 
 way, I guess we can manage to get along. Sarah's 
 uncle in Boston died last month and left her a little 
 money. If we can get what we have well invested, all 
 I shall need will be a few acres and a few tools and 
 some friends to swap stories with." 
 
 "I've had a talk with Stuart and have some good 
 news for Harry and Bim," said young Mr. Lincoln. 
 "Stuart thinks she can get a divorce under the law of 
 1827. I suppose they are still interested in each other." 
 
 "He's like most of the Yankees. Once he gets set, 
 it's hard to change him. The Kelsos have moved to 
 Chicago, and I don't know how Bim stands. If Harry 
 knows, he hasn't said a word to us about it." 
 
 "I'm interested in that little romance," said the 
 legislator. "It's our duty to do what we can to secure 
 the happiness of these young lovers. We mustn't 
 neglect that in the pressure of other things. They and 
 their friends are dear to me. Tell Harry to come 
 'over here. I want to talk with him." 
 
 This dialogue was about the last incident in the visit 
 of Samson Traylor. 
 
 Late in the historic session of that spring, wherein 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 279 
 
 the Whigs adopted the convention system of nomina- 
 tions and many plans were made for the expenditure 
 of visionary millions, young Mr. Lincoln received a 
 letter from his friend, Mrs. Bennet Able of New 
 Salem, which conveyed a shock to his nerves. Before 
 he had gone to the session, Mrs. Able had said to him 
 lightly : 
 
 "Abe, I'll ask my sister Mary to come up here for 
 a visit if you'll agree to marry her." 
 
 "All right," the young man had answered playfully. 
 
 He remembered Mary. When he had left Kentucky, 
 years before, Mary a slender, sweet-faced girl had 
 been one of those who bade him good-by. 
 
 The letter had said among other things : "Mary has 
 come, and now we expect you to keep your word." 
 
 No knight of old had a keener sense of chivalry 
 than the young statesman of Salem Hill. It was al- 
 most as Quixotic as the excesses at which Cervantes 
 aimed his ridicule. An appalling fear took possession 
 of him a fear that Mrs. Able and the girl had taken 
 him seriously. It worried him. 
 
 About this time Harry Needles arrived in Vandalia. 
 The Legislature had adjourned for a week-end. It was 
 a warm, bright Saturday, early in March. The two 
 friends went out for a stroll in the woods. 
 
 "Have you seen Mrs. Abie's sister, Mary Owens?" 
 Abe Lincoln asked. 
 
 "I've seen her often." 
 
280 r A< MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "What kind of a girl is she?" 
 
 "A good kind, but heavy." 
 
 "Fat?" 
 
 "Massive and most of her front teeth gone." 
 
 Lincoln looked thoughtful. 
 
 "You look as if she had stepped on your foot," 
 Harry remarked. 
 
 "The fact is I'm engaged to her in a kind of a 
 way." 
 
 "Of course that's a joke." 
 
 "You're right; it's a joke, but I'm afraid she and 
 her sister have taken it seriously. A man must be 
 careful of the heart of a young woman. After all, it 
 isn't a thing to play with. As usual, when I try to 
 talk with women, I make a fool of myself." 
 
 "It would be easier to make a whistle out of a pig's 
 tail than a fool out of you," said Harry. "I have 
 joked like that with Annabel and other girls, but they 
 knew that it was only fun." 
 
 "Still true to your old love?" 
 
 "As firm as a nail driven in oak," said Harry. "I 
 seem to be built that way. I shall never care much 
 for any other girl." 
 
 "Do you hear from Bim?" 
 
 "Once in a while I get a long, playful letter from 
 her, full of things that only Bim could write." 
 
 "Stuart says she can get a divorce. We know the 
 facts pretty well. If you say so, we'll prepare the 
 papers and you can take them up to Chicago and get 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 281 
 
 them signed and attested. Stuart tells me that we 
 can serve them by advertising." 
 
 "Good!" Harry exclaimed. "Get the papers ready 
 as soon as you can and send them up to me. When 
 they come I'll mount that new pony of mine and start 
 for Chicago. If she won't have me, let her take a 
 better man." 
 
 "In my opinion Bim will want you," said the legis- 
 lator. "I'll be coming home in a few days and will 
 bring the papers with me. The session is about over. 
 If the rich men refuse to back our plans, there's going 
 to be a crowd of busted statesmen in Illinois, and I'll 
 be one of 'em." 
 
 "Shall you spend the summer in New Salem?" 
 
 "I don't know yet what I shall do. First I must 
 tackle the delicate task of getting disengaged from 
 Mary." 
 
 "I shouldn't think it would take long," said Harry, 
 with a smile. 
 
 "I can tell better after a preliminary survey." 
 
 "No doubt Mrs. Able would like to have you marry 
 her sister. She knows that you have a promising 
 future ahead of you. But don't allow her to look 
 serious over that little joke." 
 
 Abe Lincoln laughed and said: "Mary would be 
 like the man who traded horses unsight and unseen 
 and drew a saw horse." 
 
 Harry returned to New Salem. After the session, 
 young Mr. Lincoln went to Springfield and did not 
 
282 A' MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 reach New Salem until the first week of May. When 
 he arrived there, Mrs. Able met the stage from which 
 he alighted and asked him to come to supper at her 
 house that evening. Not a word was said of Mary in 
 the excitement, about all the folk of the village having 
 assembled to meet and cheer the triumphant Captain 
 of Internal Improvements. Abe Lincoln went to sup- 
 per and met Mary, who had a cheerful heart and good 
 manners, and a schooled and active intellect, as well 
 as the defects which Harry had mentioned. She and 
 the young statesman had a pleasant visit together, re- 
 calling scenes and events which both remembered from 
 beyond the barrier of a dozen years. On the whole, 
 he was agreeably impressed. The neighbors came in 
 after supper. Mrs. Able kept the comedy moving 
 along by a playful reference to the pseudo engage- 
 ment of the young people. Mr. Lincoln laughed with 
 the others and said that it reminded him a little of 
 the boy who decided to be president and only needed 
 the consent of the United States. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 IN WHICH MR. LINCOLN, SAMSON AND HARRY TAKE A 
 LONG RIDE TOGETHER AND THE LATTER VISIT THE 
 FLOURISHING LITTLE CITY OF CHICAGO, 
 
 MR. LINCOLN had brought the papers which Harry 
 was to take to Bim, and made haste to deliver them. 
 The boy was eager to be off on his mission. The 
 fields were sown. The new buyer was coming to take 
 possession in two weeks. Samson and Harry had fin- 
 ished their work in New Salem. 
 
 "Wait till to-morrow and maybe I'll go with ye,'* 
 said Samson. "I'm anxious to see the country clear 
 up to the lake and take a look at that little mushroom 
 city of Chicago." 
 
 "And buy a few corner lots?" Abe Lincoln asked, 
 with a smile. 
 
 "No; I'll wait till next year. They'll be cheaper 
 then. I believe in Chicago. It's placed right on the 
 waterway to the north and east, with good country 
 on three sides and transportation on the other. It 
 can go into partnership with Steam Power right away 
 and begin to do business. Your grain and pork can go 
 straight from there to Albany and New York and 
 Boston and Baltimore without being rehandled. When 
 
 283 
 
284 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 railroads come if they ever do Steam Power will 
 be shoving grain and meat and passengers into Chi- 
 cago from every point of the compass." 
 
 Abe Lincoln turned to Sarah and said: "This is 
 a growing country. You ought to see the cities 
 springing up there in the Legislature. I was looking 
 with great satisfaction at the crop when Samson came 
 along one day and fell on it. He was like a frost in 
 midsummer." 
 
 "The seed was sown too early," Samson rejoined. 
 "You and I may live to see all the dreams of Van- 
 dalia come true." 
 
 "And all the nightmares, too," said the young 
 statesman. 
 
 "Yes, we're going to wake up and find a cold morn- 
 ing and not much to eat in the house and the wolf at 
 the door, but we'll live through it." 
 
 Then the young statesman proposed: "If you are 
 going with Harry, I'll go along and see what they've 
 done on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Some con- 
 tractors who worked on the Erie Canal will start from 
 Chicago Monday to look the ground over and bid on 
 the construction of the southern end of it. I want to 
 talk with them when they come along down the line." 
 
 "I guess a few days in the saddle would do you 
 good," said Samson. 
 
 "I reckon it would. I've beep cloyed on house air 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 285 
 
 and oratory and future greatness. The prairie wind 
 and your pessimism will straighten me up." 
 
 Harry rode to the village that afternoon to get 
 "Colonel" and Mrs. Lukins to come out to the farm 
 and stay with Sarah while he and Samson were away. 
 Harry found the "Colonel" sitting comfortably in a 
 chair by the door of his cabin, roaring with laughter. 
 He had not lived up to his title and was still generally 
 known as "Bony" Lukins. 
 
 "What are you roaring at?" Harry demanded. 
 
 The "Colonel" was dumb with joy for a moment. 
 Then, with an effort, he straightened his face and 
 managed to say: "Laughin 5 just 'cause I'm alive." 
 The words were followed by a kind of spiritual ex- 
 plosion followed by a silent ague of merriment. It 
 would seem that his brain had discovered in the human 
 comedy some subtle and persuasive jest which had 
 gone over the heads of the crowd. Yet Harry seemed 
 to catch it, for he, too, began to laugh with the for- 
 tunate "Colonel." 
 
 "You see," said the latter, as, with great difficulty, 
 he restrained himself for half a moment, "this is my 
 busy day." 
 
 Again he roared and shook in a fit of ungovernable 
 mirth. In the midst of it Mrs. Lukins arrived. 
 
 "Don't pay no 'tention to him," she said. "The 
 'Colonel' is wearin' himself out restin'. He's kep' his 
 
286 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 head bobbin' all day like a woodpecker's. Jest laughs 
 till he's sick every time he an' ol' John gits together. 
 It's plum ridic'lous." 
 
 The "Colonel" turned serious long enough to give 
 him time to explain in a quivering, joyous tone: "Ol' 
 John, he just sets beside me and says the gol' darndest 
 funniest things !" 
 
 He could get no further. His last words were 
 blown out in a gale of laughter. Mrs. Lukins had 
 sat down with her knitting. 
 
 "Ol' John Barleycorn will leave to-night, an* to-mor- 
 row the 'Colonel' will be the soberest critter in Illi- 
 nois kind o' lonesome like an' blubberin' to himself," 
 she explained. The faithful soul added in a whisper 
 of confidence: "He's a good man. There don't no- 
 body know how deep an' kind o' coralapus like he is." 
 
 She now paused as if to count stitches. For a long 
 time the word "coralapus" had been a prized posses- 
 sion of Mrs. Lukins. Like her feathered bonnet, it 
 was used only on special occasions by way of putting 
 her best foot forward. It was indeed a family orna- 
 ment of the same general character as her husband's 
 title. Just how she came by it nobody could tell, but 
 of its general significance, as it fell from her lips, 
 there could be no doubt whatever in any but the most 
 obtuse intellect. For her it had a large and noble, 
 although a rather indefinite meaning, entirely favorable 
 to the person or the object to which it was applied. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 287 
 
 There was one other word in her lexicon which was in 
 the nature of a jewel to be used only on special oc- 
 casions. It was the word "copasetic." The best 
 society of Salem Hill understood perfectly that it sig- 
 nalized an unusual depth of meaning. 
 
 In half a moment she added : "He's got some grand 
 idees. If they was ever drawed out an' spread on the 
 ground so that folks could see them, I reckon they'd 
 be surprised." 
 
 "I'm sorry to find him in this condition," said 
 Harry. "We wanted you and him to come out and 
 help Mrs. Traylor to look after the place while we 
 are gone to Chicago." 
 
 "You needn't worry about Ol' John," said she. 
 "He'll git lonesome an' toddle off when the 'Colonel* 
 goes to bed an' won't come 'round ag'in till snow flies. 
 That man will be just as steady as an ox all the sum- 
 mer an' fall not a laugh out o' him you see." 
 
 "Can you be there at six in the morning?" 
 
 "We'll be there sure as sunrise an' ready to go 
 to work." 
 
 They were on hand at the hour appointed, the "Col- 
 onel" having acquired, meanwhile, his wonted look of 
 solemnity. 
 
 Josiah, now a sturdy boy of thirteen, stood in the 
 dooryard, holding the two saddle ponies from Ne- 
 braska which Samson had bought of a drover. Betsey, 
 a handsome young miss almost fifteen years old, stood 
 
288 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 beside him. Sambo, a sober old dog with gray hairs 
 in his head, sat near, looking at the horses. Sarah, 
 whose face had begun to show the wear of years full 
 of loneliness and hard work, was packing the saddle- 
 bags, now nearly filled, with extra socks and shirts and 
 doughnuts and bread and butter. As the travelers 
 were saying good-by, Mrs. Lukins handed a package 
 to Samson. 
 
 "I heard Philemon Morris readin' 'bout Chicago in 
 the paper," said she. "I want you to take that money 
 an' buy me some land thar jest as much as ye kin. 
 There's two hundred an' fifty dollars in the foot o' 
 that ol' sock, and most of it shiny gold." 
 
 "I wouldn't risk my savings that way," Samson ad- 
 vised. "It's too much like gambling. You couldn't 
 afford to lose your money." 
 
 "You do as I tell ye," the "Colonel's" wife insisted. 
 "I alwus obey your orders. Now I want you to take 
 one from me." 
 
 "All right," the man answered. "If I see anything 
 that looks good to me, I'll buy it \i I can." 
 
 As the two men were riding toward the village, 
 Samson said : "Kind o' makes my heart ache to leave 
 home even for a little while these days. We've had 
 six long, lonesome years on that farm. Not one of 
 our friends have been out to see us. Sarah was right. 
 Movin' west is a good deal like dyin' and goin' to an- 
 other world. It's a pity we didn't settle further north, 
 but we were tired of travel when we got here. We 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 289 
 
 didn't know which way to turn and felt as if we'd 
 gone far enough. When we settle down again, it'll 
 be where we can take some comfort and see lots o' 
 folks every day." 
 
 "Have you decided where to go?" Harry asked. 
 
 "I think we shall go with Abe to Springfield." 
 
 "That's good. Next year I hope to be admitted to 
 the bar, and I'd like to settle in Springfield." 
 
 For nearly two years Abe Lincoln had been pass- 
 ing the law books that he had read to Harry before 
 they went back to John T. Stuart. 
 
 The gray horses, Colonel and Pete, stood by the 
 fence in the pasture lot and whinnied as the men 
 passed. 
 
 "They know us all right," said Samson. "I guess 
 they feel slighted, but they've had their last journey. 
 They're about worn out. We'll give 'em a vacation 
 this summer. I wouldn't sell 'em. They're a part o' 
 the family. You can lay yer hand on either one and 
 say that no better hoss was ever wrapped in a sur- 
 cingle." 
 
 They met Abe Lincoln at the tavern, where he was 
 waiting on a big horse which he had borrowed for the 
 trip from James Rutledge. Without delay, the three 
 men set out on the north road in perfect weather. From 
 the hill's edge they could look over a wooded plain 
 running far to the east. 
 
 "It's a beautiful place to live up here, but on this 
 side you need a ladder to get to it. The little village 
 
290 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 is going to die too much altitude. It's a horse killer. 
 No team can draw anything but its breath going up 
 that hill. It's all right for a generation of walkers, 
 but the time has come when we must go faster than 
 a walk and carry bigger burdens than a basket or a 
 bundle. Every one will be moving mostly to Peters- 
 burg." 
 
 As they rode on, the young statesman repeated a 
 long passage from one of the sermons of Dr. William 
 Ellery Channing on the Instability of Human Affairs. 
 
 "I wish that I had your memory," Samson re- 
 marked. 
 
 "My memory is like a piece of metal," said the 
 young legislator. "Learning is not easy for me. It's 
 -rather slow work like engraving with a tool. But 
 when a thing is once printed on my memory it seems 
 to stay there. It doesn't rub out. When I run across 
 a great idea, well expressed, I like to put it on the 
 wall of my mind where I can live with it. In this way 
 every man can have his own little art gallery and be in 
 the company of great men." 
 
 They forded a creek in deep water, where a bridge 
 had been washed away. 
 
 As they came out dripping on the farther shore, 
 Lincoln remarked : "The thing to do in- fording a 
 deep stream is to keep watch o' your horse's ears. As 
 long as you can see 'em you're all right." 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln, I'm sorry you got into a hole," said 
 Samson. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 291 
 
 "I don't mind that, but while we're traveling to- 
 gether, please don't call me 'Mr. Lincoln.' I don't think 
 I've done anything to deserve such lack of respect." 
 
 Samson answered: "If you're nice to us, I don't 
 know but we'll call ye 'Abe' again, just for a few 
 days. You can't expect us to go too far with a man 
 who associates with Judges and Generals and Gov- 
 ernors and such trash. If you keep it up, you're bound 
 to lose standing in our community." 
 
 "I know I've changed," said Abe. "I've grown older 
 since Ann died years older but I don't want you 
 fellows to throw me over. I'm on the same level that 
 you are and I intend to stay there. It's a fool notion 
 that men go up some heavenly stairway to another 
 plane when they begin to do things worth while. That's 
 a kind of feudalistic twaddle. The wise man keeps 
 his feet on the ground and lifts his mind as high as 
 possible. The higher he lifts it, the more respect he 
 will have for the common folk. Have either of you 
 seen McNamar since he got back ?" 
 
 "I saw him the day he drove into the village," 
 Harry answered. "He was expecting to find Ann and 
 make good his promise to marry her." 
 
 "Poor fool! It's a sad story all around," said Abe 
 Lincoln. "He's not a bad fellow, 1 reckon, but he 
 broke Ann's heart. Didn't realize what a tender thing 
 it was. I can't forgive him." 
 
 In the middle of the afternoon they came in sight 
 of the home of Henry Brimstead. 
 
292 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "Here's where we stop and feed, and listen to 
 Henry's secrets," said Samson. 
 
 The level fields were cut into squares outlined by 
 wooden stakes. 
 
 Brimstead was mowing the grass in his dooryard. 
 He dropped his scythe and came to welcome the 
 travelers. 
 
 "Say, don't }^ou know that you are standing in the 
 center of a large and promising city?" he said to Sam- 
 son. "You fellers ought to dress up a little when ye 
 come to town." 
 
 "Boys, we've stumbled on to a dream city, paved 
 with gold and arched with rainbows," said Samson. 
 
 "You are standing at the corner of Grand Avenue 
 and Empire Street, in the growing city of El Dorado, 
 near the great water highway of Illinois," Brimstead 
 declaimed. 
 
 "Where's the growin' ?" Samson demanded. 
 
 Brimstead came closer and said in a confidential 
 tone: "If you stand right where you are an' listen, 
 you'll hear it growin'." 
 
 "It sounds a good deal like a turnip growin' in a 
 garden," Samson remarked, thoughtfully. 
 
 "Give it a fair chance," Brimstead went on. "Two 
 cellars have been dug over there in the pasture. One 
 is for the Town Hall and the other for the University 
 which the Methodists are going to build. A railroad 
 has been surveyed and is expected this summer." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 293 
 
 "That same railroad has been expected in a thous- 
 and places since '32," said Samson. 
 
 "I know, it's the most expected thing in the United 
 States but that won't scare it away," Brimstead went 
 on. "Everybody is yellin' for it." 
 
 "You can't call a railroad as you would a dog by 
 whistling," Abe warned him. 
 
 "But it's got beyond Buffalo on its way," said Brim- 
 stead. 
 
 "A team of healthy snails would get here sooner," 
 Samson insisted. 
 
 "El Dorado can make out with a canal to Lake 
 Michigan, carrying its manufactures and the product 
 of the surrounding country straight to the big cities 
 of the East," said Brimstead. "Every corner lot in 
 my city has been sold and paid for, half cash and half 
 notes." 
 
 "The brokers in Chicago got the cash and you got 
 the notes?" 
 
 "You've said it. I've got a drawer full of notes." 
 
 "And you've quit farmin' ?" 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye the land has gone up so it wouldn't 
 pay. Peasley an' I cal'ate that we're goin' to git rich 
 this summer sellin' lots." 
 
 "Wake up, man. You're dreamin'," said Samson. 
 
 Henry came close to Samson and said in a confiden- 
 tial tone: "Say, mebbe the whole state is dreamin' 
 an' yellin' in its sleep 'bout canals an' schools an* fac- 
 
294 '& MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 tories an' mills an' railroads. We're havin' a good 
 time anyway." 
 
 This reminded Abe Lincoln of the story : 
 
 "There was a man in Pope County who came home 
 one evening and sat down in the middle of the barn 
 floor and began to sing. His wife asked him: 
 
 " 'Are you drunk or crazy or a fool ?' 
 
 " 'I don't know what you'd call it, but I know I 
 ain't got a darn bit to spare,' he answered, with a 
 whoop of joy." 
 
 "You're all goin' to roll out o' bed and hit the floor 
 with a bump," said Samson. 
 
 Brimstead declared in his usual tone of confidence: 
 
 "The worst part o' bein' a fool is lonesomeness. I 
 was the only one in Flea Valley. Now I shall be in 
 the company of a Governor an' dozens q' well known 
 statesmen. You'll be the only lonesome man in Illi- 
 nois." 
 
 "I sometimes fear that he will enjoy the loneliness 
 of wisdom," said Honest Abe. 
 
 "In some parts of the state every farmer owns his 
 own private city," Samson declared. "I hope Henry 
 Brimstead does as well raising cities as he did raising 
 grain. He was a very successful farmer." 
 
 "I knew you'd make fun o' me but when you come 
 again you'll see the towers an' steeples," said Brim- 
 stead. "Put up your horses and come into the house 
 and see the first lady of El Dorado." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 295 
 
 Mrs. Brimstead had their dinner cooking before 
 the horses were cared for. Samson went into the 
 house while Henry was showing his El Dorado map 
 to the others. 
 
 "Well, what do you think of Henry's plans?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "I like the farm better." 
 
 "So do I," the woman declared. "But the men 
 around here have gone crazy with dreams of sudden 
 wealth. I kept Henry busy on the farm as long as I 
 could." 
 
 "I've only a word of advice about it If those Chi- 
 cago men sell any more of your land make them take 
 the notes and you take the money. Where is Anna- 
 bel?" 
 
 "Teaching the school at Hopedale." 
 
 "We're going up to Chicago to see the Kelsos," said 
 Samson. 
 
 "Glad you are. Some rich feller up there by the 
 name of Davis has fallen in love with Bim an' he 
 don't give her any peace. He left here last night goin' 
 north. Owns a lot o' land in Tazewell County an' 
 wears a diamond in his shirt as big as your thumb 
 nail. Bim has been teaching school in Chicago this 
 winter. It must be a wonderful place. Every one has 
 loads of money. The stores an' houses are as thick 
 as the hair on a dog's back some of 'em as big as 
 all outdoors." 
 
296 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 She added in a moment as she stirred her pudding : 
 "Something ought to be done for Bim to get her free." 
 
 "We're going to see about that," Samson assured 
 her. 
 
 "Harry had better look out," said Mrs. Brimstead. 
 
 "Abe is going to get a divorce for her an' I guess 
 from now on the grass won't have a chance to grow 
 under Harry's feet. The boy has worried a good 
 deal lately. Wouldn't wonder if he'd heard o' those 
 rich fellers but he hasn't let on about it." 
 
 Abe Lincoln and Harry entered with their host 
 and the travelers sat down to a luncheon of pudding 
 and milk and doughnuts and pie. 
 
 "There's no El Dorado about this," said Samson. 
 "Women have to have something more than hopes 
 to work with." 
 
 "The women in this country have to do all their 
 dreaming at night," said Mrs. Brimstead. 
 
 "El Dorado will not stay long," Samson averred. 
 
 "It wouldn't cost much to shoo it off your land," 
 Abe laughed. 
 
 "You can't either shoo or shoot it," said Brimstead. 
 
 "I look for it just to take the rickets an' die," was 
 the comment of his wife. 
 
 "How far do you call it to the sycamore woods?" 
 Lincoln asked as they rose from the table. 
 
 "About thirty mile," said Brimstead. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 297 
 
 "We must be off if we are to get there before dark," 
 the young statesman declared. 
 
 They saddled their horses and mounted and rode 
 up to the door. After their acknowledgments and 
 farewells Brimstead came close to Samson and said 
 in confidence : "I enjoy bein' a millionaire for a few 
 minutes now an' then. It's as good as goin' to a circus 
 an' cheaper." 
 
 "The feelings of a millionaire are almost as good 
 as the money while they last," said Abe Lincoln with 
 a laugh. 
 
 Brimstead came up to him and whispered : "They're 
 better 'cause if you can keep away from Samson Tray- 
 lor you don't have any fear o' bein' robbed." 
 
 "It reminds me o' the time I used to play I was a 
 horse," said Samson as they rode away. In a moment 
 he added : "Abe, the state is getting in a bad way." 
 
 "It looks as if you were right," said the member 
 from Sangamon County. "It's a bad sign to find men 
 like Peasley and Brimstead going crazy." 
 
 Up the road they passed many farms unsown and 
 staked into streets and avenues. The hand of indus- 
 try had been checked by dreams of wealth. 
 
 "The land that once laughed with fatness now has 
 a lean and solemn look," Abe admitted. "But I reck- 
 on you'll find that kind of thing going on all over the 
 country east and west." 
 
298 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "It reminds me of those fellers that danced on the 
 table an' smashed the dishes at the banquet," said 
 Samson. 
 
 "They had the same kind o' feelin's that Brimstead 
 has," said the legislator. "I wish we had had you in 
 the House." 
 
 "They would have thrown me out of a window." 
 
 "I wouldn't wonder but I reckon the time is near 
 when they would urge you to come in at the door. 
 You've got more good sense than all of us put to- 
 gether. I've heard you accuse me of growing but 
 your own growth has astonished me." 
 
 "No one can stand still in this country especially if 
 he's got a wife like mine," Samson answered. "Even 
 Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lukins want to be movin' on, an' a 
 city is likely to come an' sit down beside ye when ye 
 ain't lookin'." 
 
 "Your wife is a wonderful woman," said Abe. 
 
 "She's been a great help to me," Samson declared. 
 "We read together and talk the matter over. She's 
 got better sense than I have." 
 
 "And yet they say women ought not to vote," said 
 Lincoln. "That's another relic of feudalism. I think 
 that the women you and I know are as well qualified 
 to vete as the men." 
 
 "On the whole better. They are more industrious, 
 thrifty and dependable. Have you ever seen a 
 'Celonel' Lukins or a Bap McNoll in woman's dress?" 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 299 
 
 "Never. Democracy has much ground to win. For 
 my part I believe that the Declaration of Independence 
 is a practical document. My ambition is to see its 
 truth accepted everywhere. As a contribution to hu- 
 man welfare its principles are second only to the law 
 >f Moses. It should be our work to keep the struc- 
 ture of America true to the plan of its architects." 
 
 After a moment of silence Lincoln added: "What 
 is your ambition?" 
 
 "It is very modest," said Samson. "I've been think- 
 ing that I'd like to go into some kind of business and 
 help develop the West." 
 
 "Well some one has got to provide our growing 
 population with food and clothing and tools and trans- 
 portation." 
 
 "And see that they don't get El Doradoed," said 
 Harry. 
 
 At early candlelight they reached the sycamore 
 woods very hungry. It was a beautiful grove-like 
 forest on the shore of a stream. The crossing was a 
 rough bridge of corduroy. A crude log tavern and a 
 cruder store stood on the farther shore of the creek. 
 The tavern was a dirty place with a drunken proprie- 
 tor. Three ragged, shiftless farmers and a half-breed 
 Indian sat in its main room in varying stages of ine- 
 briacy. A well dressed, handsome, young man with 
 a diamond in his shirt-front was leading a horse back 
 and forth in the stable yard. The diamond led Samson 
 
300 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 to suspect that he was the man Davis of whom Mrs. 
 Brimstead had spoken. Our travelers, not liking the 
 look of the place, got some oats and rode on, camping 
 near the farther edge of the woods, where they built 
 a fire, fed and tethered their horses and sat down and 
 ate from the store in their saddle-bags. 
 
 "I was hankering for a hot supper," said Abe as 
 they began eating. "Washington Irving wrote in his 
 journal that if he couldn't get a dinner to suit his 
 taste he endeavored to get a taste to suit his dinner. 
 That is what we must do." 
 
 They made out very well in the undertaking and 
 then with their knives Abe and Samson cut big arm- 
 fuls of grass from the near prairie for the horses and 
 a bed upon which the three men lay down for the 
 night. Harry had dried out their saddle-blankets by 
 the fire and these were their bed clothing. 
 
 '''This hay may have some bugs in it but they won't 
 tickle so bad as those in the tavern," Abe laughed. 
 
 Then Harry remarked : "There was lots of bad 
 company in that tavern. The towel that hung over 
 the washstand was as black as the ground." 
 
 "It reminded me of the tavern down in Pope Coun- 
 ty," Abe yawned. "A traveler found fault with the 
 condition of its one towel and the landlord said: 'Go 
 to h 1, stranger. More than fifty men have used that 
 towl to-day an' you're the first one that's complained 
 of it.' " 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 301 
 
 Samson had that gift of "sleeping with one eye 
 open" which the perils of the wilderness had conferred 
 upon the pioneer. He had lain down on the side of 
 their bed near the horses, which were tethered to 
 trees only a few feet away. He had gone to sleep 
 with his pistol under his right hand. Since the begin- 
 ning of that long journey overland from Vermont 
 Samson had been wont to say that his right hand never 
 slept. Late in the night he was awakened by an un- 
 usual movement among the horses. In the dim light 
 of the fire he could see a man in the act of bridling 
 Abe's horse. 
 
 "Hold up your hands," Samson shouted as he cov- 
 ered the man with his pistol. "If ye stir a foot I'll 
 bore a hole in ye." 
 
 The man threw up his hands and stood still. 
 
 In half a moment Abe Lincoln and Harry had got 
 up and captured the man and the loosed horse. 
 
 This is part of the entry which Samson made in 
 his diary a week or so later : 
 
 "Harry put some wood on the fire while Abe and I 
 led him up into the light. He was one of the dirty 
 white men we had seen at the tavern. 
 
 " Til give ye four hundred dollars for a hoss in good 
 Michigan money,' he said. 
 
 " 'If ye can't steal a horse you're willin' to buy one,' 
 I says. 
 
 " 'No, sir. I only come to buy,' says he. 
 
302 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I flopped him sudden and asked him why he was 
 putting on the bridle. 
 
 "He owned up then. Said a man had hired him to 
 steal the horse. 
 
 ' That man has got to have a hoss/ he said. 'He'll 
 give ye any price ye want to ask. If you'll give me 
 a few dollars I'll take ye to him.' 
 
 'You go and bring him here and I'll talk to him/ 
 I said. 
 
 "I let the feller go. I didn't suppose he'd come back 
 but he did. Came a little before sunrise with that well 
 dressed feller we saw at the tavern. 
 
 " 'Do you want to buy a horse ?' I says. 
 
 " 'Yes, sir, I've got to get to Chicago to-day if pos- 
 sible.' 
 
 "'What's your hurry?' 
 
 " 'I have engagements to-morrow and land to sell.' 
 
 " 'How did ye get here?' 
 
 " 'Came up from Tazewell County to-day on a 
 horse. It died last evening.' 
 
 " 'What's your name ?' I says. 
 
 "He handed me a card on which I read the words 
 'Lionel Davis, Real Estate, Loans and Insurance, 14 
 South Water Street, Chicago, 111/ 
 
 " There's one branch o' your business that isn't 
 mentioned on the card/ I says. 
 
 "'What's that?' says he. 
 
 " 'Horse-thief/ says I. 'You sent that feller here 
 to steal a horse and he got caught/ 
 
 " 'Well I told him if he'd get me a good horse I'd 
 give him five hundred dollars and that I didn't care 
 how he got him. The fact is I'm desperate. I'll give 
 you a thousand dollars for one of your horses/ 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 303 
 
 " 'You couldn't buy one of 'em at any price,' I said, 
 'There's two reasons. I wouldn't do business with a 
 horse-thief and no money would tempt me to sell an 
 animal to be ridden to death.' 
 
 "The two thieves had had enough of us and they 
 got out" 
 
 That night our party camped on the shore of the 
 Kankakee and next day they met the contractors. Lin- 
 coln joined the latter party and Harry and Samson 
 went on alone. Late that afternoon they crossed the 
 nine mile prairie, beyond which they could see the shim- 
 mer of the lake and the sunlit structures of the new 
 city. Pink and white moccasin flowers and primroses 
 were thick in the grass. On the lower ground the 
 hoofs of their horses plashed in wide stretches of 
 shallow water. 
 
 Chicago looked very bare on the high prairie above 
 the lake. It was Mr. William Culien Bryant who 
 said that it had the look of a huckster in his shirt- 
 sleeves. 
 
 "There it is," said Samson. "Four thousand, one 
 hundred and eighty people live there. It looks like 
 a sturdy two-year-old." 
 
 The houses were small and cheaply built and of 
 many colors. Some were unpainted. Near the prairie 
 they stood like people on the outer edge of a crowd, 
 looking over one another's shoulders and pushing in a 
 disordered mass toward the center of interest. Some 
 
304 A' MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 seemed to have straggled away as if they had given 
 up trying to see or hear. So to one nearing it the 
 town had a helter-skelter look. 
 
 Our travelers passed rough boarded houses with 
 grand-looking people in their dooryards and on their 
 small porches men in broadcloth and tall hats and 
 ladies in silk dresses. It was six o'clock and the men 
 had come home to supper. As the horsemen proceeded 
 larger buildings surrounded them, mostly two stories 
 high. There were some stores and houses built of 
 red brick. Beyond the scatter of cheap, wooden struc- 
 tures they came to streets well laid out and crowded 
 and busy and "very soft" to quote a phrase from the 
 diary. Teams were struggling in the mud, drivers 
 shouting and lashing. Agents for hotels and boarding- 
 houses began to solicit the two horsemen from the 
 plank sidewalks. The latter were deeply impressed 
 by a negro in scarlet clothes, riding a horse in scarlet 
 housings. He carried a scarlet banner and was ad- 
 vertising in a loud voice the hour and place of a great 
 land sale that evening. 
 
 A sound of many hammers beating upon boards 
 could be heard above the noises of the street and be- 
 hind all was the constant droning of a big steam saw 
 and the whir of the heavy stones in the new grist mill. 
 It was the beginning of that amazing diapason of in- 
 dustry which accompanied the building of the cities 
 of the West. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 305 
 
 They put out in the livery stable of the City Hotel 
 and at the desk of the latter asked about the price of 
 board. It was three dollars a day and no politeness in 
 the offer. 
 
 "It's purty steep," said Samson. "But I'm too hun- 
 gry for argument or delay and I guess we can stand 
 it to be nabobs for a day or so." 
 
 "I shall have to ask you to pay in advance," the 
 clerk demanded. 
 
 Samson drew out the pig's bladder in which he 
 carried his money and paid for a day's board. 
 
 Samson writes that Harry spent half an hour wash- 
 ing and dressing himself in the clean clothes and fine 
 shoes which he had brought in his saddle-bags and 
 adds : 
 
 "He was a broad-shouldered, handsome chap those 
 days, six feet and an inch high and straight as an 
 arrow with a small blond mustache. His clothes were 
 rumpled up some and he wore a gray felt hat instead 
 of a tall one but there was no likelier looking lad in 
 the new city." 
 
 After supper the office of the hotel was crowded with 
 men in tali hats and tail coats smoking "seegars" and 
 gathered in groups. The earnestness of their talk 
 was signalized by little outbursts of profanity coupled 
 with the name of Jackson. Some denounced the Presi- 
 dent as a traitor. One man stood in the midst of a 
 
3o6 r A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 dozen others delivering a sort of oration, embellished 
 with noble gestures, on the future of Illinois. His 
 teeth were clenched on his "seegar" that tilted out of 
 the corner of his mouth as he spoke. Now and then 
 he would pause and by a deft movement of hi's lips 
 roll the "seegar" to the other corner of his mouth, 
 take a fresh grip on it and resume his oration. 
 Samson wrote in his diary : 
 
 "He said a lot of foolish things that made us laugh." 
 
 Twenty years later he put this note under that en- 
 try: 
 
 "The funny thing about it was really this; they all 
 came true." 
 
 The hotel clerk had a Register of the Residents 
 of the City of Chicago wherein they found the name 
 and address of John Kelso. They went out to find 
 the house. Storekeepers tried to stop them as they 
 passed along the street with offers of land at bargains 
 which would make them millionaires in a week. In 
 proceeding along the plank sidewalks they were often 
 ascending or descending steps to another level. 
 
 They went to a barber shop and got "trimmed and 
 shaved." For change the barber gave them a sort 
 of shinplaster money, each piece of which bore the 
 legend : "Good for one shave or ten cents at the Palace 
 Shaving Parlors, 16 Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 307 
 
 The barber assured them it was as good as coin any- 
 where in the city which they found to be true. The 
 town was flooded with this "red dog money" issued 
 by stores or work-shops and finding general acceptance 
 among its visitors and inhabitants. On the sidewalks 
 were emigrant families the older members of which 
 carried heavy bags and bundles. They were followed 
 by troops of weary, dirty children. 
 
 On La Salle Street they found the home of Jack 
 Kelso. It was a rough boarded small house a story 
 and a half high. It had a little porch and dooryard 
 enclosed by an unpainted picket fence. Bim in a hand- 
 some, blue silk gown came running out to meet them. 
 
 "If you don't mind I'm going to kiss you," she said 
 to Harry. 
 
 "I'd mind if you didn't," said the young man as he 
 embraced her. 
 
 "We must be careful not to get the habit," she 
 laughed. 
 
 "It grows on one." 
 
 "It also grows on two/' she answered. 
 
 "I'd enjoy being careless for once," said Harry. 
 
 "Women can be extravagant with everything but 
 carelessness," she insisted "Do you like this gown?" 
 
 "It is lovely like yourself." 
 
 "Then perhaps you will be willing to take me to the 
 party to-night. My mother will chaperon us." 
 
 "With these clothes that have just been hauled out 
 of a saddle-bag?" said Harry with a look of alarm. 
 
3 o8 2E MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "Even rags could not hide the beauty of him," said 
 Kelso as he came down from the porch to greet them. 
 "And look at her," he went on. "Was there ever a 
 fairer maid in spite of all her troubles? See the red 
 in her cheeks and the diamond glow of youth and 
 health in her eyes. You should see the young men 
 sighing and guitaring around her." 
 
 "You'll hear me tuning up," Harry declared. 
 
 "That is father's way of comforting my widow- 
 hood," said Bim. "He has made a wonderful beauty 
 mask and often he claps it on me and whistles up a 
 band of sighing lovers. As a work of the imagination 
 I am a great success." 
 
 "The look of you sets my heart afire again," the boy 
 exclaimed. 
 
 "Come put up your guitar and take mother and 
 me to the party at Mrs. Kinzie's," said Bim, "A very 
 grand young man was coming to take us in a won- 
 derful carriage but he's half an hour late now. We 
 won't wait for him." 
 
 So the three set out together afoot for Mrs. Kin- 
 zie's, while Samson sat down for a visit with Jack 
 Kelso. 
 
 "Mrs. Kinzie enjoys the distinction of owning a 
 piano," said Bim as they went on. "There are only 
 three pianos in the city and so far we have discovered 
 only two people who can play on them the music 
 teacher and a young gentleman from Baltimore. When 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 309 
 
 they are being- played on people gather around the 
 houses where they are." 
 
 The Kinzies' house was of brick and larger and 
 more pretentious than any in Chicago. Its lawn, ver- 
 anda and parlor were crowded with people in a 
 curious variety of costumes. 
 
 Nearly all the festive company wore diamonds. They 
 scintillated on fingers, some of which were knotted with 
 toil; they glowed on shirt bosoms and morning 1 as 
 well as evening gowns; on necks and ears which 
 should have been spared the emphasis of jewels. They 
 were the accepted badge and token of success. People 
 who wore them not were either new arrivals or those 
 of questionable wealth and taste. So far had this 
 singular vanity progressed that a certain rich man, 
 who had lost a finger in a saw mill, wore an immense 
 solitaire next to the stub, it may be presumed, as a 
 memorial to the departed. 
 
 Colonel Zachary Taylor, who had laterly arrived 
 from Florida and was presently returning with a regi- 
 ment of recruits for the Seminole War, was at Mrs. 
 Kinzie's party. He was then a man of middle age 
 with iron gray hair and close cropped side whiskers. 
 A splendid figure he was in his uniform. He re- 
 membered Harry and took him in hand and intro- 
 duced him to many of his friends as the best scout in 
 the Black Hawk War, and, in spite of his dress, the 
 young man became one of the lions of the evening. 
 
310 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I reckon I could tell you some things about this 
 boy," the Colonel said to Bim. 
 
 "He may not be afraid of guns or Indians but he 
 has always been scared of women," said she. 
 
 "Which shows that he has a just sense of the rela- 
 tive importance of perils," the Colonel answered. "A 
 man of the highest chivalry is ever afraid in the pres- 
 ence of a lovely woman and chiefly for her sake. I 
 once held a beautiful vase in my hands. They said it 
 was worth ten thousand dollars. I was afraid until I 
 had put it down." 
 
 "A great piano player from New York" was intro- 
 duced. She played on Mrs. Kinzie's instrument, after 
 which Bim sang a number of Scottish ballads and 
 "delightfully" if one may believe a chronicler so 
 partial as Harry Needles, the value of whose judg- 
 ment is somewhat affected by the statement in his 
 diary that as she stood by the piano her voice and 
 beauty set his heart thumping in his breast. How- 
 ever of the charm and popularity of this young lady 
 there is ample evidence in copies of The Democrat 
 which are still preserved and in sundry letters and 
 journals of that time. 
 
 The refreshment table was decorated with pyra- 
 mids of quartered oranges in nets of spun sugar and 
 large frosted cakes. There were roasted pigeons and 
 turkeys and chickens and a big ham, served with jelly, 
 and platters of doughnuts and bread and butter and 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 311 
 
 cabbage salad. Every one ate heartily and was served 
 often, for the supper was thought to be the most im- 
 portant feature of a party those days. 
 
 After refreshments the men went outside to smoke 
 and talk some with pipes of canals, railroads and 
 corner lots while the younger people were dancing and 
 being proudly surveyed by their mothers. 
 
 As Harry and the ladies were leaving Colonel Tay- 
 lor came to them and said : 
 
 "Young man, I am the voice of your country. I call 
 you to Florida. Will you go with us next week?" 
 
 Harry looked into Bim's eyes. 
 
 "The campaign will be over in a year and I need 
 you badly,** the Colonel urged. 
 
 "I can not say no to the call of my country," Harry 
 answered. "I will join your regiment at Beardstown 
 on its way down the river." 
 
 That night Harry and Bim stood by the gate talk- 
 ing after Mrs. Kelso had gone into the house. 
 
 "Bim, I love you more than ever," said the boy. 
 "Abe says you can get a divorce. I have brought the 
 papers for you to sign. They will make you free. I 
 have done it for your sake. You will be under no ob- 
 ligation. I want you to be free to marry whom you 
 will. I would be the happiest man in the world if 
 you were to choose me. I haven't the wealth of some 
 of these city men. I can only offer you my love." 
 
 "Be careful and please let go of my hand," she 
 
/ 
 
 312 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 said. "The time has come when it would be possible 
 to spoil our story. I'm not going to say a word of 
 love to you. I am not free yet. We couldn't marry 
 if we wanted to. I wish you to be under no sense of 
 obligation to me. Many things may happen in a year. 
 I am glad you are going to see more of the world be- 
 fore you settle down, Harry. You will stop in New 
 Orleans and see some of its beautiful women. It will 
 help you to be sure to know yourself a little better and 
 to be sure of what you want to do." 
 
 There was a note of sadness in her voice as she 
 spoke these words which he recalled with a sense of 
 comfort on many a lonely day. 
 
 "I think that I know myself fairly well," he an- 
 swered. "There are so many better men who want to 
 marry you! I shall go away with a great fear in me." 
 
 "There are no better men," she answered. "When 
 you get back we shall see what comes of our little 
 romance. Meanwhile I'm going to pray for you." 
 
 "And I for you," he said as he followed her into the 
 house where the older people sat waiting for them. 
 Harry gave the papers to Bim to be signed and at- 
 tested and forwarded to Mr. Stuart in Springfield. 
 
 On their way to the hotel Samson said to Harry ; 
 
 "I don't believe Bim is going to be carried away by 
 any of these high-flyers. She's getting to be a very 
 sensible person. Jack is disgusted by what he calls 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 313 
 
 'the rank commercialism of the place/ I told him 
 about that horse-thief Davis. He was the man who 
 was going- to the party to-night with the ladies. He's 
 in love with Bim. Jack says that the men here are 
 mostly of that type. They seem to have gone crazy 
 in the scramble for riches. Their motto is : 'Get it ; 
 do it honestly if you can, but get* it.' I guess that was 
 exactly the plan of Davis in trying to get a horse. 
 
 "Poor Jack has caught the plague. He has invested 
 in land. Thinks it will make him rich. He's in poor 
 health too kidney trouble and Bim has a baby with 
 all the rest a beautiful boy. I went up-stairs and saw 
 him asleep in his cradle. Looks like her. Hair as 
 yellow as gold, light complexion, blue eyes, handsome 
 as a picture." 
 
 That night in the office of the City Hotel they found 
 Mr. Lionel Davis in the midst of a group of excited 
 speculators. In some way he had got across the prairies 
 and was selling his land and accepting every offer on 
 the plea that he was going into the grain business in 
 St. Louis and had to leave Chicago next day. Samson 
 and Harry watched him while he exercised the arts of 
 the auctioneer in cleaning his slate. Diamonds and gold 
 watches were taken and many thousands of dollars in 
 bank bills and coin came into his hands. He choked 
 the market with bargains. The buyers began to back 
 off. They were like hungry dogs laboring with a 
 
3 i4 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 difficult problem of mastication. Mr. Davis closed his 
 carpet bag and left. 
 
 "It was a kind of horse stealin'," said Samson as 
 they were going to bed. "He got news down there on 
 the main road by pony express on its way to St. Louis. 
 I'll bet there's been a panic in the East. He's awake 
 and the others are still dreamin'." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WHEREIN IS ONE OF THE MANY PRIVATE PANICS WHICH 
 FOLLOWED THE BURSTING OF THE BUBBLE OF SPECU- 
 LATION. 
 
 SAMSON and Harry saw the bursting 1 of the great 
 bubble of '37. Late that night Disaster, loathsome and 
 thousand legged, crept into the little city. It came on 
 a steamer from the East and hastened from home to 
 home, from tavern to tavern. It bit as it traveled. 
 Great banks had suspended payment; New York had 
 suffered a panic ; many large business enterprises in the 
 East had failed ; certain agents for the bonds of Illinois 
 had absconded with the state's money ; in the big cities 
 there had been an ominous closing of doors and turn- 
 ing of locks; a great army of men were out of em- 
 ployment. Those of sound judgment in Chicago knew 
 that all the grand schemes of the statesmen and specu- 
 lators of Illinois were as the visions of an ended 
 dream. The local banks did not open their doors next 
 day. The little city was in a frenzy of excitement. 
 The streets were filled with a shouting, half crazed 
 throng. New fortunes had shrunk to nothing and 
 less than nothing in a night. Lots in the city were 
 
 315 
 
316 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 offered for a tithe of what their market value had 
 been. Davis had known that the storm would arrive 
 with the first steamer and in the slang of business 
 had put on a life-preserver. Samson knew that the 
 time to buy was when every one wanted to sell. He 
 wore a belt with some two thousand dollars of gold 
 coin tucked away in its pockets. He bought two cor- 
 ner lots for himself in the city and two acres for Mrs. 
 Lukins on the prairie half a mile from town. They 
 got their deeds and went to the Kelsos to bid them 
 good-by. 
 
 "Is there anything I can do for you ?" Samson asked. 
 
 "Just give us a friendly thought now and then," 
 said Kelso. 
 
 "You can have my horse or my wallet or the 
 strength of my two hands." 
 
 "I have heard you called a damned Yankee but I 
 can think of no greater blessing than to be damned 
 in a like manner," Kelso answered. "Keep your 
 largess for those who need it more, good friend." 
 
 After these hearty farewells Samson and Harry 
 set out for their home. They were not again to see 
 the gentle face and hear the pleasant talk of Jack Kelso. 
 He had once said, in the presence of the writer, that 
 it is well to remember, always, that things can not go 
 on with us as they are. Changes come slowly and 
 quite according to our calculations or so swiftly and 
 unexpectedly that they fill us with confusion. Learned 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 317 
 
 and wise in the weighty problems of humanity he 
 had little prudence in regulating the affairs of his 
 own family. 
 
 Kelso had put every dollar he had and some that 
 he hoped to have into land. Bim, who had been teach- 
 ing in one of the schools, had invested all her savings 
 in a dream city on the shore of an unconstructed 
 canal. 
 
 Like many who had had no experience with such 
 phenomena they underestimated the seriousness of the 
 panic. They thought that, in a week or so, its effect 
 would pass and that Illinois would then resume its 
 triumphal march toward its high destiny. Not even 
 Samson Traylor had a correct notion of the slowness 
 of Time. 
 
 The effect of the panic paralyzed the city. Men 
 whose "red dog money" was in every one's pocket 
 closed their shops and ran away. The wild adven- 
 turers cleared out. Their character may be judged by 
 the words of one of them reported by the editor of 
 The Democrat. 
 
 "I failed for a hundred thousand dollars and could 
 have failed for a million if Jackson had kept his hands 
 off." 
 
 Hard times hung like a cloud over the city. Its 
 population suffered some diminishment in the next 
 two years in spite of its position on the main highway 
 of trade. Dream cities, canals and railroads built 
 
318 M MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 without hands became a part of the poetry of Ameri- 
 can commerce. Indeed they had come of the prophetic 
 vision and were therefore entitled to respect in spite 
 of the fact that they had been smirched and polluted 
 by speculators. 
 
 That autumn men and women who had come to 
 Mrs. Kinzie's party in jewels and in purple and fine 
 linen had left or turned their hands to hard labor. The 
 Kelsos suffered real distress, the schools being closed 
 and the head of the house having taken to his bed with 
 illness. Bim went to work as a seamstress and with 
 the help of Mrs. Kinzie and Mrs. Hubbard was able 
 to keep the family from want. The nursing and the 
 care of the baby soon broke the health of Mrs. Kelso, 
 never a strong woman. Bim came home from her 
 work one evening and found her mother ill. 
 
 "Cheer up, my daughter," said Jack. "An old 
 friend of ours has returned to the city. He is a rich 
 man an oasis in the desert of poverty. He has 
 loaned me a hundred dollars in good coin." 
 
 "Who has done this?" Bim asked. 
 
 "Mr. Lionel Davis. He has just come from New 
 Orleans. He is a successful speculator in grain." 
 
 "We must not take his money," said Bim. 
 
 "I had a long talk with him," Kelso went on. "He 
 has explained that unfortunate incident of the horse. 
 It was a bit of offhand folly born of an anxious mo- 
 ment" 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 319 
 
 "But the man wants to marry me." 
 
 "He said nothing of such a purpose." 
 
 "He will be in no hurry about that," said Bim. "He 
 is a shrewd operator. Every one hates him. They 
 say that he knew what was coming when he sold out." 
 
 That evening Bim wrote a long letter to Samson 
 Tray lor telling of the evil days which had come to 
 them. This letter, now in the possession of a great 
 grandson of Samson and Sarah Traylor, had a singu- 
 lar history. It reached the man to whom it was ad- 
 dressed in the summer of 1844. It was found with 
 many others that summer in Tazewell County under 
 a barn which its owner was removing. It brought 
 to mind the robbery of the stage from Chicago, south 
 of the sycamore woods, in the autumn of '37, by a 
 man who had ridden with the driver from Chicago and 
 who, it was thought, had been in collusion with him. 
 A curious feature of the robbery had been revealed 
 by the discovery of the mail sack. It was unopened, 
 its contents undisturbed, its rusty padlock still in 
 place. The perpetrator of the crime had not soiled 
 his person with any visible evidence of guilt and so 
 was never apprehended. 
 
 Then for a time Bim entered upon great trials. Jack 
 Kelso weakened. Burning with fever, his mind wan- 
 dered in the pleasant paths he loved and saw in its 
 fancy the deeds of Ajax and Achilles and the topless 
 towers of Illium and came not back again to the vul- 
 
320 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 gar and prosaic details of life. The girl knew not 
 what to do. A funeral was a costly thing. She had 
 no money. The Kinzies had gone on a hunting trip 
 in Wisconsin. Mrs. Hubbard was ill and the Kelsos 
 already much in her debt. Mr. Lionel Davis came. 
 
 He was a good-looking young man of twenty-nine, 
 those days, rather stout and of middle stature with 
 dark hair and eyes. He was dressed in the height of 
 fashion. He used to boast that he had only one vice 
 diamonds. But he had ceased to display them on his 
 shirt-front or his fingers. He carried them in his 
 pockets and showed them by the glittering handful 
 to his friends. They had come to him through trad- 
 ing in land where they were the accepted symbol of 
 success and money was none too plentiful. He had 
 melted their settings and turned them into coin. The 
 stones he kept as a kind of surplus a half hidden evi- 
 dence of wealth and of superiority to the temptation 
 to vulgar display. Mr. Davis was a calculating, mas- 
 terful, keen-minded man, with a rather heavy jaw. 
 In his presence Bim was afraid for her soul that night. 
 He was gentle and sympathetic. He offered to lend 
 her any amount she needed. She made no answer but 
 sat trying to think what she would best do. The Tray- 
 lors had paid no attention to her letter although a 
 month had passed since it was written. 
 
 In a moment she rose and gave him her hand. 
 
 "It is very kind of you," said she. "If you can 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 321 
 
 spare me five hundred dollars for an indefinite time I 
 will take it." 
 
 "Let me lend you a thousand," he urged. "I can 
 do it without a bit of inconvenience." 
 
 "I think that five hundred will be enough," she 
 said. 
 
 It carried her through that trouble and into others 
 of which her woman's heart had found abundant signs 
 in the attitude of Mr. Davis. He gave the most assid- 
 uous attention to the comfort of Bim and her moth- 
 er. He had had a celebrated physician come down 
 from Milwaukee to see Mrs, Kelso and had paid the 
 bill in advance. He bought a new and wonderful 
 swinging crib of burnished steel for the baby. 
 
 "I can not let you be doing these things for us," 
 Bim said one evening when he had called to see them. 
 
 "And I can not help loving you and doing the little 
 I can to express it," he answered. "There is no use 
 in my trying to keep it from you when I find myself 
 lying awake nights planning for your comfort. I 
 would like to make every dollar I have tell you in some 
 way that I love you. That's how I feel and you might 
 as well know it." 
 
 "You have been kind to us," Bim answered. "We 
 feel it very deeply but I can not let you talk to me like 
 that. I am a married woman." 
 
 "We can fix that all right. It will be easy for you 
 to get a divorce." 
 
322 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "But I do not love you, Mr. Davis." 
 
 "Let me try to make you love me," he pleaded. "Is 
 there any reason why I shouldn't?" 
 
 "Yes. If there were no other reason, I love a young 
 soldier who is fighting in the Seminole War in Florida 
 under Colonel Taylor." 
 
 "Well, at least, you can let me take the place of 
 your father and shield you from trouble when I can." 
 
 "You are a most generous and kindly man!" Bim 
 exclaimed with tears in her eyes. 
 
 So he seemed to be, but he was one of those men 
 who weave a spell like that of an able actor. He ex- 
 cited temporary convictions that began to change as 
 soon as the curtain fell. He was in fact a performer. 
 That little midnight scene at the City Hotel had sound- 
 ed the key-note of his character. He was no reckless 
 villain of romance. If he instigated the robbery of 
 the south-bound mail wagon, of which the writer of 
 this little history has no shadow of doubt, he was so 
 careful about it that no evidence which would satisfy 
 a jury has been discovered to this day. 
 
 On account of the continued illness of her mother 
 Bim was unable to resume her work in the academy. 
 She took what sewing she could do at home and 
 earned enough to solve the problems of each day. 
 But the payment coming due on the house in De- 
 cember loomed ahead of them. It was natural, in 
 the circumstances, that Mrs. Kelso should like Mr. 
 Davis and favor his aims. Now and then he came 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 323 
 
 and sat with her of an evening while Bim went out 
 to the shops an act of accommodation which various 
 neighbor women were ever ready to perform. 
 
 Mrs. Kelso's health had improved slowly so that 
 she was able then to spend most of each day in her 
 chair. 
 
 One evening when Davis sat alone with her, she 
 told him the story of Bim and Harry Needles a bit 
 of knowledge he was glad to have. Their talk was 
 interrupted by the return of Bim. She was in a cheer- 
 ful mood. When Mr. Davis had gone she said to her 
 mother : 
 
 "I think our luck has turned. Here's a letter from 
 John T. Stuart. The divorce has been granted." 
 
 "Thank the Lord," Mrs. Kelso exclaimed. "Long 
 ago I knew bad luck was coming; since the day your 
 father carried an axe through the house." 
 
 "Pshaw ! I don't believe in that kind of nonsense." 
 
 "My father would sooner break his leg than carry 
 an edged tool through the house," Mrs. Kelso affirmed. 
 "Three times I have known it to bring sickness. I 
 hope a change has come." 
 
 "No. Bad luck comes when you carry all your 
 money through the house and spend it for land. I 
 am going to write to Harry and tell him to hurry home 
 and marry me if he wants to. Don't say a word about 
 the divorce to our friend Davis. I want to make him 
 keep his distance. It is hard enough now." 
 
 Before she went to bed that night she wrote a long 
 
324 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 letter to Harry and one to Abe Lincoln thanking him 
 for his part in the matter and telling him of her fath- 
 er's death, of the payment coming due and of the hard 
 times they were suffering. Two weeks passed and 
 brought no answer from Mr. Lincoln. 
 
 The day before the payment came due in Decem- 
 ber, a historic letter from Tampa, Fla., was published 
 in The Democrat. It was signed "Robert Deming, 
 private, Tenth Cavalry." It gave many details of the 
 campaign in the Everglades in which the famous scout 
 Harry Needles and seven of his comrades had been 
 surrounded and slain. When Mr. Davis called at the 
 little home in La Salle Street that evening he found 
 Bim in great distress. 
 
 "I throw up my hands," she said. "I can not stand 
 any more. We shall be homeless to-morrow." 
 
 "No, not that so long as I live," he answered. "I 
 have bought the claim. You can pay me when you 
 get ready." 
 
 He was very tender and sympathetic. 
 
 When he had left them Bim said to her mother: 
 "Our old friends do not seem to care what becomes 
 of us. I have no thought now save for you and the 
 baby. I'll do whatever you think best for you two. 
 I don't care for myself. My heart is as dead as 
 Harry's." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 WHICH TELLS OF THE SETTLING OF ABE LINCOLN AND 
 THE TRAYLORS IN THE VILLAGE OF SPRINGFIELD 
 AND OF SAMSON'S SECOND VISIT TO CHICAGO. 
 
 BIM'S judgment of her old friends was ill found- 
 ed. It was a slow time in which she lived. The foot 
 of the horse, traveling and often mired in a rough 
 muddy highway, was its swiftest courier. Letters car- 
 ried by horses or slow steamboats were the only media 
 of communication between people separated by wide 
 distances. The learned wrote letters of astonishing 
 length and literary finish letters which were passed 
 from hand to hand and read aloud in large and small 
 assemblies. They presented the news and the com- 
 ment it inspired. In these old and generous letters, 
 which antedate the railroad and the telegraph, critics 
 have discovered one of the most delicate and inform- 
 ing of the lost arts the epistolary. But to the av- 
 erage hand, wearied by heavy tools, the lightsome 
 goose quill, committing its owner to dubious spelling 
 and clumsy penmanship, and exposing the interior of 
 his intellect, was a dreaded thing. When old Black 
 Hawk signed a treaty he was wont to say that he had 
 "touched it with the goose quill." He made only a 
 little mark whereupon a kind of sanctity was imparted 
 
326 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 to the document. Every man unaccustomed to its use 
 stood in like awe of this implement. When he "took 
 his pen in hand" he had entered upon an adventure 
 so unusual that his letter always mentioned it as if, 
 indeed, it were an item of news not to be overlooked. 
 So it is easy to understand that many who had 
 traveled far were as the dead, in a measure, to the 
 friends they had left behind them and that those 
 separated by only half a hundred miles had to be very 
 enterprising to keep acquainted. 
 
 In March Abe Lincoln had got his license to prac- 
 tise law. On his return from the North he had ridden 
 to Springfield to begin his work as a lawyer in the 
 office of John T. Stuart. His plan was to hire and 
 furnish a room and get his meals at the home of his 
 friend, Mr. William 'Butler. He went to the store of 
 Joshua Speed to buy a bed and some bedding-. He 
 found that they would cost seventeen dollars. 
 
 "The question is whether you would trust a man 
 owing a national debt and without an asset but good 
 intentions and a license to practise law for so much 
 money," said Honest Abe. "I don't know when I 
 could pay you." 
 
 Speed was also a young man of good intentions and 
 a ready sympathy for those who had little else. He 
 had heard of the tall representative from Sangamon 
 County. 
 
 "I have a plan which will give you a bed for noth- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 327 
 
 ing if you would care to share my room above the 
 store and sleep with me," he answered. 
 
 "I'm much obliged but for you it's quite a contract/' 
 
 "You're rather long," Speed laughed. 
 
 "Yes, I could lick salt off the top of your hat. I'm 
 about a man and a half but by long practice I've 
 learned how to keep the half out of the way of other 
 people. They say that when Long John Wentworth 
 got to Chicago he slept with his -feet sticking out of 
 a window and that they had to take down a partition 
 because he couldn't stand the familiarity of the wood- 
 peckers, but he is eight inches taller than I am." 
 
 "I'm sure we shall get along well enough together," 
 said Speed. 
 
 They went up to the room. In a moment Mr. Lin- 
 coln hurried away for his saddle-bags and returned 
 shortly. 
 
 "There are all my earthly possessions," he said as 
 he threw the bags on the floor. 
 
 So his new life began in the village of Springfield. 
 Early in the autumn Samson arrived and bought a 
 small house and two acres of land on the edge of the 
 village and returned to New Salem to move his family 
 and furniture. When they drove along the top of 
 Salem Hill a number of the houses were empty and 
 deserted, their owners having moved away. Two of 
 the stores were closed. Only ten families remained. 
 They stopped at Rutledge's tavern whose entertain- 
 
328 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ment was little sought those days. People from the 
 near houses came to bid them good-by. Dr. John 
 Allen was among them. 
 
 "Sorry to see you going," he said. "With you and 
 Abe and Jack Kelso gone it has become a lonely place. 
 There's not much left for me but the long view from 
 the end of the hill and the singing in the prairie grass." 
 
 Pete and Colonel, invigorated by their long rest, 
 but whitened by age and with drooping heads, drew the 
 wagon. Sambo and the small boy rode between Sarah 
 and Samson. Betsey and Josiah walked ahead of the 
 wagon, the latter leading a cow. That evening they 
 were comfortably settled in their new home. Mov- 
 ing was not such a complicated matter those days. 
 Abe Lincoln was on hand to bid them welcome and 
 help get their goods in place. He had borrowed fire 
 and cut some wood and there was a cheering blaze 
 in the fireplace on the arrival of the newcomers. 
 When the beds were set up and ready for the night 
 Sarah made some tea to go with the cold victuals she 
 had brought. Mr. Lincoln ate with them and told 
 of his new work. 
 
 "So far I've had nothing more important to do than 
 proving damage in cases of assault and battery," he 
 said. "There is many a man who, when he thinks 
 he has been wronged, proceeds to take it out of the 
 hide of the other feller. The hides of Illinois have 
 suffered a good deal in that way. It is very annoying. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 329 
 
 Generally I stand for the hides. The)' need a friend 
 and protector. When people take the law in their 
 hands it gets badly worn and mussed up. In a little 
 while there isn't any law. Next week I begin my first 
 turn on the circuit." 
 
 "It seems good to see folks around us," said Sarah. 
 "I believe we shall enjoy ourselves here." 
 
 "It's a wonderful place," Lincoln declared with en- 
 thusiasm. "There are fine stores and churches and so- 
 ciables and speeches and theater shows." 
 
 "Yes. It's bigger than Vergennes," said Sarah. 
 
 "And you're goin' to have time to enjoy it," Sam- 
 son broke in. "There'll be no farm work and Betsey 
 and Josiah are old enough to be quite a help." 
 
 "How the girl is developing!" Abe exclaimed. "I 
 believe she will look like Bim in a year or two." 
 
 Betsey was growing tall and slim. She had the 
 blonde hair and fair skin of Samson and the dark eyes 
 of her mother. Josiah had grown to be a bronzed, 
 sturdy, good-looking lad, very shy and sensitive. 
 
 "There's a likely boy!" said Samson as he clapped 
 the shoulder of his eldest son. "He's got a good heart 
 in him." 
 
 "You'll spoil him with praise," Sarah protested and 
 then asked as she turned to the young statesman. 
 "Have you heard from Bim or any of the Kelsos?" 
 
 "Not a word. I often think of them." 
 
 "There's been a letter in the candle every night for 
 
330 A' MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 a week or so, but we haven't heard a word from Harry 
 or from them," said Sarah, "I wonder how they're 
 getting along in these hard times." 
 
 "I told Jack to let me know if I could do anything 
 to help," Samson assured them. 
 
 Sarah turned to Abe Lincoln with a smile and said : 
 "As we were coming through the village Mary Owens 
 asked me to tell you that on account of the hard times 
 she was not going to have a public wedding." 
 
 The chairman of the finance committee laughed and 
 answered: "That old joke is still alive. She writes 
 me now and then and tells me what she is doing in 
 the way of preparation. It's really a foolish little farce 
 we have been playing in a kind of courtship to avoid 
 marriage. We have gone too far with it." 
 
 A bit later he wrote a playful letter to Mary and 
 told her that there was so much flourishing about in 
 carriages and the like in Springfield he could not 
 recommend it to a lady of good sense as a place of 
 residence. He said that owing to certain faults in his 
 disposition he could not recommend himself as a hus- 
 band; that he felt sure she could never be happy with 
 him. But he manfully offered to marry her as soon 
 as his circumstances would allow if, after serious con- 
 sideration, she decided that she cared to accept him. 
 It was, on the whole, one of the most generous acts 
 in the history of human affairs. 
 
 There is some evidence that Mary was displeased 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 331 
 
 with these and other lines in the little drama and 
 presently rang down the curtain. Some of the spec- 
 tators were informed by her that Abe Lincoln was 
 crude and awkward and without a word to please 
 a lady of her breeding. But she had achieved the 
 credit, with certain people, of having rejected a young 
 man for whom great honors were thought to be in 
 store. 
 
 Late in November Mr. Lincoln went out on the 
 circuit with the distinguished John T. Stuart who had 
 taken him into partnership. Bim's letter to him bears 
 an endorsement on its envelope as follows : 
 
 "This letter was forwarded from Vandalia the week 
 I went out on the circuit and remained unopened in 
 our office until my return six weeks later. A. Lin- 
 coln." 
 
 The day of his return he went to Sarah and Sam- 
 son with the letter. 
 
 "I'll get a good horse and start for Chicago to- 
 morrow morning," said Samson. "They have had a 
 double blow. Did you read that Harry had been 
 killed?" 
 
 "Harry killed!" Mr. Lincoln exclaimed. "You 
 don't mean to tell me that Harry has been killed ?" 
 
 "The Chicago Democrat says so but we don't be- 
 lieve it," said Samson. "Here's the article copied 
 into The Sangamon Journal. Read it and then I'll 
 tell you why I don't think it's so." 
 
332 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Abe Lincoln read the article. 
 
 "You see it was dated in Tampa, November the 
 fifth," said Samson. "Before we had read that article 
 we had received a letter from Harry dated Novem- 
 ber the seventh. In the letter he says he is all right 
 and I calculate that he ought to know as much about 
 it as any one." 
 
 "Thank God! Then it's a mistake," said Lincoln. 
 "We can't afford to lose Harry. I feel rather poor 
 "with Jack Kelso gone. It will comfort me to do what 
 I can for his wife and daughter. I'll give you every 
 dollar I can spare to take to them." 
 
 A moment of sorrowful silence followed. 
 
 "I'll never forget the kindly soul of Jack or his 
 wit or his sayings, many of which are in my note- 
 book," said Lincoln as <he sat looking sadly into the 
 fire. 
 
 They talked much of the great but humble man 
 who had so loved honor and beauty and whose life 
 had ended in the unholy turmoil of the new city. 
 
 "The country is in great trouble," was a remark 
 of Abe Lincoln inspired by the reflections of the hour. 
 "We tried to allay it in the special session of July. Our 
 efforts have done no good. The ail is too deep seated. 
 We must first minister to a mind diseased and pluck 
 from the heart a rooted sorrow. You were right about 
 it, Samson. We have been dreaming. Some one must 
 invent a new system. Wildcat money will do no good. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 333 
 
 These big financial problems are beyond my knowledge. 
 I don't know how to think in those terms. Next ses- 
 sion I propose to make a clean breast of it. We're 
 all wrong but I fear that not all of us will be brave 
 enough to say so." 
 
 Samson hired horses for the journey and set but 
 early next morning with his son, Josiah, bound for 
 the new city. The boy had begged to go and both 
 Samson and Sarah thought it would be good for him 
 to take a better look at Illinois than his geography 
 afforded. 
 
 "Joe is a good boy," his mother said as she em- 
 braced him. He was, indeed, a gentle-hearted, will- 
 ing-handed, brown-eyed youth who had been a great 
 help to his father. Every winter morning he and 
 Betsey had done the chores and ridden on the back 
 of Colonel to Menton Graham's school where they 
 had made excellent progress. 
 
 Joe and his father set out on a cold clear morning in 
 February. They got to Brimstead's in time for din- 
 ner. 
 
 "How d'y do?" Samson shouted as Henry came to 
 the door. 
 
 "Better!" the latter answered. He put his hand on 
 Samson's pommel and said in a confidential tone: 
 "El Dorado was one of the wickedest cities in his- 
 tory. It was like Tyre and Babylon. It robbed me. 
 Look at that pile of stakes." 
 
334 'A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Samson saw a long cord of stakes along the road 
 in the edge of the meadow. 
 
 "They are the teeth of my city," said Brimstead in 
 a low voice. "I've drawed 'em out. They ain't goin' 
 to bite me no more." 
 
 "They are the towers and steeples of El Dorado," 
 Samson laughed. "Have any of the notes been 
 paid?" 
 
 "Not one and I can't get a word from my broker 
 about the men who drew the notes who they are or 
 where they are." 
 
 "I'm going to Chicago and if you wish I'll try to 
 find him and see what he says." 
 
 "That's just what I wish," said Brimstead. "His 
 name is Lionel Davis. His address is 14 South Water 
 Street. He put the opium in our pipes here in Taze- 
 well County. It was his favorite county. He spent 
 'two days with us here. I sold him all the land I had 
 on the river shore and he gave me his note for it." 
 
 "If you'll let me take the note I'll see what can be 
 done to get the money," Samson answered. 
 
 "Say, I'll tell ye," Brimstead went on. "It's for 
 five thousand dollars and I don't suppose it's worth 
 the paper it was wrote on. You take it and if you 
 find it's no good you lose it just as careful as you can. 
 I don't want to see it again. Come into the house. 
 The woman is making a johnny-cake and fryin' some 
 sausage." 
 
 They had a happy half-hour at the table, Mrs. Brim- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 335 
 
 stead being in better spirits since her husband had 
 got back to his farming. Annabel, her form filling 
 with the grace and charm of womanhood, was there and 
 more comely than ever. 
 
 They had been speaking of Jack Kelso's death. 
 "I heard him say once that when he saw a beautiful 
 young face it reminded him of noble singing and the 
 odor of growing corn," said Samson. 
 
 "I'd rather see the face," Joe remarked, whereupon 
 they all laughed and the boy blushed to the roots of 
 his blond hair. 
 
 "He's become a man of good judgment," said Brim- 
 stead. 
 
 Annabel's sister Jane who had clung to the wagon 
 in No Santa Claus Land was a bright-eyed, merry- 
 hearted girl of twelve. The boy Robert was a shy, 
 good-looking lad a little older than Josiah. 
 "Well, what's the news ?" Samson asked. 
 "Nothin' has happened since we saw you but the fall 
 of El Dorado," Brimstead answered. 
 
 "There was the robbery of the mail stage last sum- 
 mer a few miles north of here," said Mrs. Brimstead. 
 "Every smitch of the mail was stolen. I guess that's 
 the reason we haven't had no letter from Vermont in 
 a year." 
 
 "Maybe that's why we haven't heard from home," 
 Samson echoed. 
 
 "Why don't you leave Joe here while you're gone 
 to Chicago?" Annabel asked. 
 
336 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "It would help his education to rassle around with 
 Robert an' the girls," said Brimstead. 
 
 "Would you like to stay?" Samson asked. 
 
 "I wouldn't mind," said Josiah who, on the lonely 
 prairie, had had few companions of his own age. 
 
 So it happened that Samson went on alone. As he 
 was leaving, Brimstead came close to his side and 
 whispered : 
 
 "Don't you ever let a city move into you and settle 
 down an' make itself to home. If you do you want 
 to keep your eye on its leading citizens." 
 
 "Nobody can tell what'll happen when he's dream- 
 in'/' Samson remarked with a laugh as he rode away, 
 waving his hand to the boy Josiah who stood looking 
 up the road with a growing sense of loneliness. 
 
 Near the sycamore woods Samson came upon a 
 gray-haired man lying by the roadside with a horse 
 tethered near him. The stranger was sick with a 
 fever. Samson got down from his horse. 
 
 "What can I do for you?" he asked. 
 
 "The will of God," the stranger feebly answered. 
 "I prayed for help and you have come. I am Peter 
 Cartwright, the preacher. I was so sick and weak I 
 had to get off my horse and lie down. If you had 
 not come I think that I should have died here." 
 
 Samson gave him some of the medicine for chills 
 and fever which he always carried in his pocket, and 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 337 
 
 water from his canteen. The sun shone warm but 
 the ground was damp and cold and there was a chilly 
 breeze. He wrapped the stricken man in his coat and 
 sat down beside him and rubbed his aching head. 
 
 "Is there any house where I could find 'help and 
 shelter for you?" he asked presently. 
 
 "No, but I feel better glory to God!" said the 
 preacher. "If you can help me to the back of my horse 
 I will try to ride on with you. There is to be a quar- 
 terly meeting ten miles up the road to-night. With 
 the help of God I must get there and tell the people 
 of His goodness and mercy to the children of men. 
 Nothing shall keep me from my duty. I may save a 
 dozen souls from hell who knows ?" 
 
 Samson was astonished at the iron will and holy 
 zeal of this lion-hearted, strong-armed, fighting 
 preacher of the prairies of whom he had heard much. 
 He looked at the rugged head covered with thick, 
 bushy, gray 'hair, at the deep-lined face, smooth- 
 shaven, save for a lock in front of each ear, with its 
 keen, dark eyes and large, firm mouth and jaw. Sam- 
 son lifted the preacher and set him on the back of 
 his horse. 
 
 "God blessed you with great strength," said the 
 latter. "Are you a Christian ?" 
 
 "I am." 
 
 They rode on in silence. Presently Samsort oS- 
 
338 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 served that the preacher was actually asleep and snor- 
 ing in the saddle. They proceeded for an hour or 
 more in this manner. When the horses were wallow- 
 ing through a swale the preacher awoke. 
 
 "Glory be to God!" he shouted. "I am better. I 
 shall be able to preach to-night. A little farther on is 
 the cabin of Brother Cawkins. He has been terribly 
 pecked up by a stiff-necked, rebellious wife. We'll 
 stop there for a cup of tea and if she raises a rumpus 
 you'll see me take her by the horns." 
 
 Mrs. Cawkins was a lean, sallow, stern-eyed wom- 
 an of some forty years with a face like bitter herbs; 
 her husband a mild mannered, shiftless man who, en- 
 couraged by Mr. Cartwright, had taken to riding 
 through the upper counties as a preacher a course 
 of conduct of which his wife heartily disapproved. 
 Solicited by her husband she sullenly made tea for the 
 travelers. When it had been drunk the two preachers 
 knelt in a corner of the room and Mr. Cartwright be- 
 gan to pray in a loud voice. Mrs. Cawkins shoved the 
 table about and tipped over the chairs and dropped 
 the rolling-pin as a counter demonstration. The fam- 
 ous circuit rider, being in no way put out by this, 
 she dashed a dipper of cold water on the head of her 
 husband. The praying stopped. Mr. Cartwright rose 
 from his knees and commanded her to desist. On 
 her declaration that she would not he laid hold of the 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 339 
 
 woman and forced her out of the door and closed and 
 bolted it and resumed his praying. 
 
 Having recorded this remarkable incident in his 
 diary Samson writes: 
 
 "Many of these ignorant people in the lonely, prairie 
 cabins are like children. Cartwright leads them on 
 like a father and sometimes with the strong- hand. If 
 any of them deserve a spanking they get it. He and 
 others like him have helped to keep the cabin people 
 clean and going up hill instead of down. They have 
 established schools and missions and scattered good 
 books and comforted sorrows and kindled good desire 
 in the hearts of the humble." 
 
 As they were leaving Mr. Cawkins told them that 
 the plague had broken out in the settlement on Honey 
 Creek, where the quarterly meeting was to be held, 
 and that the people had been rapidly "dyin' off." Sam- 
 son knew from this that the smallpox a dreaded and 
 terrible scourge of pioneer days had come again. 
 
 "It's dangerous to go there," said Cawkins. 
 
 "Where is sorrow there is my proper place," Cart- 
 wright answered. "Those people need comfort and the 
 help of God." 
 
 "But are you not afraid of the plague?" Samson 
 asked. 
 
 "I fear only the wrath of my Master." 
 
 "I got a letter from a lady there," Cawkins went 
 on. "As nigh as I can make out they need a minister. 
 
340 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 I can read print handy but writin' bothers me. You 
 read it, brother." 
 
 Mr. Cartwright took the letter and read as follows : 
 
 "Dear Sir : Mr. Barman gave me your name. We 
 need a minister to comfort the sick and help bury the 
 dead. It is a good deal to ask of you but if you feel 
 like taking the chance of coming here I am sure you 
 could do a lot of good. We have doctors enough and 
 it seems a pity that the church should fail these people 
 when they need it most. The ministers in Chicago 
 seem to be too busy to come. One of them came out 
 for a funeral and unfortunately took the disease. If 
 you have the courage to come you would win the grati- 
 tude of many people. For a month I have been taking 
 care of the sick and' up to now no harm has come to 
 me. Yours respectfully, 
 
 "Bim Kelso." 
 
 " 'A man's heart deviseth his way but the Lord di- 
 recteth his steps,' " said Cartwright. "For three days 
 I have felt that He was leading me." 
 
 "I begin to think that He has been leading me," 
 Samson declared. "Bim Kelso is the person I seek." 
 
 "I would have gone but my wife took on so I 
 couldn't get away," said Cawkins. 
 
 "I'll come back some day soon and you and I will 
 pry the Devil out of her with the crowbar of God's 
 truth and mercy," Cartwright assured him as he and 
 Samson took the road to the north. 
 
 On their way to the Honey Creek settlement the 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 341 
 
 lion-hearted minister told of swimming through flood- 
 ed rivers, getting lost on the plains and suffering for 
 food and water, of lying down to rest at night in wet 
 clothes with no shelter but the woods, of hand to 
 hand rights with rowdies who endeavored to sell drink 
 or create a disturbance at his meetings. Such was 
 the zeal for righteousness woven by many hands into 
 the fabric of the West. A little before sundown they 
 reached the settlement. 
 
 Samson asked a man in the road if he knew where 
 they could find the nurse Bim Kelso. 
 
 "Do ye mean that angel o' God in a white dress that 
 takes keer o' the sick ?" the man asked. 
 
 "I guess that would be Bim," said Samson. 
 
 "She's over in yon' house," the other answered, 
 pointing with his pipe to a cabin some twenty rods 
 beyond them. "Thar's two children sick thar an' the 
 mammy dead an' buried in the ground." 
 
 "Is the plague getting worse?" Cartwright asked. 
 
 "No, I reckon it's better. Nobody has come down 
 since the day before yestiddy. Thar's the doctor 
 comin'. He kin tell ye." 
 
 A bearded man of middle age was approaching them 
 in the saddle. 
 
 "Gentlemen, you must not stop in this neighbor- 
 hood," he warned them. "There's an epidemic of 
 smallpox here. We are trying to control it and every 
 one must help." 
 
342 f A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I am Peter Cartwright the preacher sent of God 
 to comfort the sick and bury the dead," said Samson's 
 companion. 
 
 "We welcome you, but if you stop here you will 
 have to stay until the epidemic is over." 
 
 "That I am prepared to do." 
 
 "Then I shall take you where you can find enter- 
 tainment, such as it is." 
 
 "First, this man wishes to speak to Miss Kelso, the 
 nurse," said Cartwright. "He is a friend of hers." 
 
 "You can see her but only at a distance," the Doc- 
 tor answered. "I must keep you at least twenty feet 
 away from her. Come with me." 
 
 They proceeded to the stricken house. The Doc- 
 tor entered and presently Bim came out. Her eyes 
 filled with tears and for a moment she could not speak. 
 She wore a white dress and cap and was pale and 
 weary. "But still as I looked at her I thought of the 
 saying of her father that her form and face reminded 
 him of the singing of birds in the springtime, she 
 looked so sweet and graceful," Samson writes in his 
 diary. 
 
 "Why didn't you let me know of your troubles?" 
 he asked. 
 
 "Early last summer I wrote a long letter to you," 
 she answered. 
 
 "It didn't reach me. One day in June the stage 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 343 
 
 was robbed of its mail down in Tazewell County. 
 Your letter was probably on that stage." 
 
 "Harry's death was the last blow. I came out here 
 to get away from my troubles perhaps to die. I 
 didn't care." 
 
 "Harry is not dead," said Samson. 
 
 Her right hand touched her forehead; her lips fell 
 apart ; her eyes took on a look of tragic earneslness. 
 
 "Not dead!" she whispered. 
 
 "He is ah've and well." 
 
 Bim staggered toward him and fell to her knees 
 and lay crouched upon the ground, in the dusky twi- 
 light, shaking and choked with sobs, and with tears 
 streaming from her eyes but she was almost as silent 
 as the shadow of the coming night. She looked like 
 one searching in the dust for something very precious. 
 The strong heart of Samson was touched by the sor- 
 rowful look of her so that he could not speak. 
 
 Soon he was able to say in a low, trembling voice : 
 
 "In every letter he tells of his love for you. That 
 article in the paper was a cruel mistake." 
 
 After a little silence Bim rose from the ground. She 
 stood, for a moment, wiping her eyes. Her form 
 straightened and was presently erect. Her soul re- 
 sented the injustice she had suffered. There was a 
 wonderful and touching dignity in her voice and man- 
 ner when she asked: "Why didn't he write to me?" 
 
344 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "He must have written to you." 
 
 Sadly, calmly, thoughtfully, she spoke as she stood 
 looking off at the fading glow in the west : 
 
 "It is terrible how things can work together to 
 break the heart and will of a woman. Write to Harry 
 and tell him that he must not come to see me again. 
 I have promised to many another man." 
 
 "I hope it isn't Davis," said Samson. 
 
 "It is Davis." 
 
 "I don't like him. I don't think he's honest." 
 
 "But he has been wonderfully kind to us. With- 
 out his help we couldn't have lived. We couldn't even 
 have given my father a decent burial. I suppose he 
 has his faults. I no longer look for perfection in 
 human beings." 
 
 "Has he been out here to see you ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "And he won't corne. That man knows how to keep 
 out of danger. I don't believe you'll marry him." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Because I intend to be a father to you and pay all 
 your debts," said Samson. 
 
 The Doctor called from the door of the cabin. 
 
 Bim said: "God bless you and Harry!" as she 
 turned away to take up her task again. 
 
 That night both of them began, as they say, to 
 put two and two together. While he rode on in the 
 growing dusk the keen intellect of Samson saw a 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 345 
 
 convincing sequence of circumstances the theft of the 
 mail sack, the false account of Harry's death, the 
 failure of his letters to reach their destination, and 
 the fact that Bini had accepted money from Davis in 
 time of need. A strong suspicion of foul play grew 
 upon him and he began to consider what he could do 
 in the matter. 
 
 Having forded a creek he caught the glow of q 
 light in the darkness a little way up the road. It was 
 the lighted window of a cabin, before whose door he 
 stopped his horse and hallooed. 
 
 "I am a belated and hungry traveler on my way 
 to Chicago," he said to the man who presently greeted 
 him from the open doorway. 
 
 "Have you come through Honey Creek settlement?" 
 the latter asked. 
 
 "Left there about an hour ago." 
 
 "Sorry, mister, but I can't let you come into the 
 house. If you'll move off a few feet I'll lay some grub 
 on the choppin' block an* up the road about a half-mile 
 you'll find a barn with some hay in it where you and 
 your horse can spend the night under cover." 
 
 Samson moved away and soon the man brought 
 a package of food and laid it on the block and ran 
 back to the door. 
 
 "I'll lay a piece of silver on the block," Samson 
 called. 
 
 "Not a darned cent," the man answered. "I hate 
 
346 A- MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 like p'ison to turn a feller away in the night, but we're 
 awful skeered here with children in the house. Good- 
 by. You can't miss the barn. It's close ag'in' the 
 road." 
 
 Samson ate his luncheon in the darkness, as he 
 rode, and presently came upon the barn and unsad- 
 dled and hitched and fed his horse in one end of it 
 the beast having drunk his fill at the creek they had 
 lately forded and lay down to rest, for the night, 
 with the saddle blanket beneath him and his coat for a 
 cover. A wind from the north began to wail and 
 whistle through the cracks in the barn and over its 
 roof bringing cold weather. Samson's feet and legs 
 had been wet in the crossing so that he found it diffi- 
 cult to keep warm. He crept to the side of his horse, 
 which had lain down, and found a degree of comfort in 
 the heat of the animal. But it was a bad night, at 
 best, with only a moment, now and then, of a sort 
 of one-eyed sleep in it. 
 
 "I've had many a long, hard night but this is the 
 worst of them," Samson thought. 
 
 There's many a bad night in the history of the pio- 
 neers, its shadows falling on lonely, ill-marked roads 
 cut by rivers, creeks and marshes and strung through 
 unnumbered miles of wild country. Samson was up 
 and off at daylight in a bitter wind and six inches of 
 snow. It was a kind of work he would not have un- 
 dertaken upon any; call less commanding than that of 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 347 
 
 friendship. He reached Chicago at noon having had 
 nothing to eat that day. There was no such eager, 
 noisy crowd in the streets as he had seen before. The 
 fever of speculation had passed. Some of the stores 
 were closed; he counted a score of half-built struc- 
 tures getting weather-stained inside and out. But 
 there were many people on the main thoroughfares, 
 among whom were Europeans who had arrived the 
 autumn before. They were changing but the marks 
 of the yoke were still upon them. In Chicago were the 
 vitals of the West and they were very much alive in 
 spite of the panic. 
 
 Samson bought some new clothes and had a bath 
 and a good dinner at the City Hotel. Then he went 
 to the office of Mr. Lionel Davis. There to his sur- 
 prise he met his old acquaintance, Eli Fredenberg, 
 who greeted him with great warmth and told of hav- 
 ing settled in Chicago. 
 
 A well-dressed young man came out of an inner 
 office and informed the Jew that Mr. Davis could not 
 see him that day. 
 
 "I'd like to see Mr. Davis," said Samson as EH 
 went away. 
 
 "I'm Mr. Davis's secretary," the young man politely 
 informed him. 
 
 "What's a secretary?" Samson asked. 
 
 "It's a man who helps another with his work." 
 
 "I don't need any help myself thank you," said 
 
348 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Samson. "You tell him that I've got some money 
 that belongs to him and that I'm ready to deliver it." 
 
 The young man disappeared through the door of 
 the private office and soon returned and conducted 
 Samson into the presence of Mr. Davis who sat at 
 a handsome desk, smoking, in a room with fine old 
 mahogany furnishings brought up from New Orleans. 
 The two men recognized each other. 
 
 "Well, sir, what is it about?" the young speculator 
 demanded. 
 
 "The daughter of my old friend, Jack Kelso, owes 
 you some money and I want to pay it," said Samson. 
 
 "Oh, that is a matter between Miss Kelso and me." 
 Mr. Davis spoke politely and with a smile. 
 
 "Not exactly since I knew about it," Samson an- 
 swered. 
 
 "I refuse to discuss her affairs with you," Dav^s 
 declared. 
 
 "I suppose you mistrust me," said Samson. "Well, 
 I've offered to pay you and I'm going to make it plain 
 to them that they don't have to worry any more about 
 the money you loaned them." 
 
 "Very well, I bid you good morning." 
 
 "Don't be in a hurry," Samson answered. "I have 
 a note of five thousand dollars against you. It is 
 endorsed to me by Henry Brimstead and I want to 
 collect it" 
 
 "I refuse to pay it," Davis promptly answered. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 349 
 
 "Then I shall have to put it in the hands of a law- 
 yer," said Samson. 
 
 "Put it where you like but don't consume any more 
 of my time." 
 
 "But you'll have to hear me say that I don't think 
 you're honest." 
 
 "I have heard you," Davis answered calmly. 
 
 Samson withdrew and went to the home of Mrs. 
 Kelso. He found her with Bim's boy in her lap 
 a handsome little lad, then a bit over two years old, 
 at the house on La Salle Street. The good woman 
 gave Samson an account of the year filled with tear- 
 ful praise of the part Mr. Davis had played in it. 
 Samson told of the failure of Bim's letter to reach 
 him and of his offer to return the money which Davis 
 had paid for their relief. 
 
 "I don't like the man and I don't want you to be 
 under obligation to him," said Samson. "The story 
 of Harry's death was false and I think that he is re- 
 sponsible for it. He wanted her to marry him right 
 away after that of course. And she went to the 
 plague settlement to avoid marriage. I know her bet- 
 ter than you do. She has read him right. Her soul 
 has looked into his soul and it keeps her away from 
 him." 
 
 But Mrs. Kelso could believe no evil of her benefac- 
 tor, nor would she promise to cease depending on his 
 bounty. 
 
350 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Samson was a little disheartened by the visit. He 
 went to see John Went worth, the editor of The Demo- 
 crat, of whose extreme length Mr. Lincoln had humor- 
 ously spoken in his presence. The young New Eng- 
 lander was seven feet tall. He welcomed the broad- 
 shouldered man from Sangamon County and began at 
 once to question him about Honest Abe and "Steve" 
 Douglas and O. H. 'Browning and E. D. Baker and 
 all the able men of the middle counties. Then he 
 wanted to know of the condition of the people since 
 the collapse of the land boom. The farmer's humorous 
 comment and sane views delighted the young editor. 
 At the first opportunity Samson came to the business 
 of his call the mischievous lie regarding Harry's 
 death which had appeared in The Democrat. Mr. 
 Wentworth went to the proof room and found the 
 manuscript of the article. 
 
 "We kept it because we didn't know and do not 
 now know the writer," said Wentworth. 
 
 Samson told of the evil it had wrought and con- 
 veyed his suspicions to the editor. 
 
 "Davis is rather unscrupulous," said Wentworth. 
 4f We know a lot about him in this office." 
 
 Samson looked at the article and presently said : 
 "Here is note that he gave to a friend of mine. It 
 looks to me as if the note and the article were written 
 by the same hand." 
 
 Mr. Wentworth compared the two and said: "You 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 351 
 
 are right. The same person wrote them. But it was 
 not Davis." 
 
 When Samson left the office of The Democrat he 
 had accomplished little save the confirmation of his 
 suspicions. There was nothing he could do about it. 
 
 He went to Eli Fredenberg. Eli, having sold out 
 at the height of the boom in Springfield, had been 
 back to Germany to visit his friends. 
 
 "I haf money plendy money," said Eli. "In de ol' 
 country I vas rich. I thought maybe I stay dere 
 an' make myself happy. It vas one big job. Mein 
 frients dey hate me becos I haf succeed so much. De 
 odders hate me becos de butcher haf mem fadder 
 been. Dey laugh at my good close. Nobody likes me 
 not. I come avay. Dey don't blame you here becos 
 you vos born." 
 
 "What has Davis done to you?" Samson asked, 
 recalling where he had met Eli that morning. 
 
 Eli explained that he had borrowed money from 
 Davis to tide him over the hard times and was paying 
 twelve per cent, for it. 
 
 "Dis morning I get dot letter from his secretary," 
 he said as he passed a letter to Samson. 
 
 It was a demand for payment in the handwriting of 
 the Brimstead note and had some effect on this little 
 history. It conveyed definite knowledge of the au- 
 thorship of a malicious falsehood. It aroused the an- 
 ger and sympathy of Samson Traylor. In the con- 
 
352 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ditions then prevailing Eli was unable to get the money. 
 He was in danger of losing his business. Samson 
 spent a day investigating the affairs of the merchant. 
 His banker and others spoke well of him. He was 
 said to be a man of character and credit embarrassed 
 by the unexpected scarcity of good money. So it 
 came about that, before he left the new city, Samson 
 bought a fourth interest in the business of Eli Freden- 
 berg. The lots he owned were then worth less than 
 when he had bought them, but his faith in the future 
 of Chicago had not abated. 
 
 He wrote a long letter to Bim recounting the his- 
 tory of his visit and frankly stating the suspicions to 
 which he had been led. He set out on the west road 
 at daylight toward the Riviere des Plaines, having 
 wisely decided to avoid passing the plague settlement. 
 Better weather had come. In the sunlight of a clear 
 sky he fared away over the vast prairies, feeling that 
 it was a long road ahead and a most unpromising visit 
 behind him. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 WHEREIN A REMARKABLE SCHOOL OF POLITICAL 
 SCIENCE BEGINS ITS SESSIONS IN THE REAR OF 
 JOSHUA SPEED'S STORE. ALSO AT SAMSON'S FIRESIDE 
 HONEST ABE TALKS OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE 
 LAW AND THE RIGHT OF REVOLUTION, AND LATER 
 BRINGS A SUIT AGAINST LIONEL DAVIS. 
 
 THE boy Joe had had a golden week at the home of 
 the Brimsteads. The fair Annabel knowing not the 
 power that lay in her beauty had captured his young 
 heart scarcely fifteen years of age. He had no in- 
 terest in her younger sister, Mary. But Annabel with 
 her long skirts and full form and glowing eyes and 
 gentle dignity had stirred him to the depths. When 
 he left he carried a soul heavy with regret and great 
 resolutions. Not that he had mentioned the matter to 
 her or to any one. It was a thing too sacred for 
 speech. To God in his prayers he spoke of it but to 
 no other. 
 
 He asked to be made and to be thought worthy. He 
 would have had the whole world stopped and put to 
 sleep for a term until he was delivered from the bond- 
 age of his tender youth. That being impossible it 
 
 353 
 
354 & MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 .was for him a sad but not a hopeless world. Indeed 
 he rejoiced in his sadness. Annabel was four years 
 older than he. If he could make her to know the 
 depth of his passion perhaps she would wait for him. 
 He sought for self-expression in The Household Book 
 of Poetry a sorrowful and pious volume. He could 
 find no ladder of rhyme with an adequate reach. He 
 endeavored to build one. He wrote melancholy verses 
 and letters, confessing his passion, to Annabel, which 
 she did not encourage but which she always kept and 
 valued for their ingenuous and noble ardor. Some 
 of these Anacreontics are among the treasures inher- 
 ited by her descendants. They were a matter of 
 slight importance, one would say, but they mark the 
 beginning of a great career. Immediately after his 
 return to the new home in Springfield the boy Josiah 
 set out to make himself honored of his ideal. In the 
 effort he made himself honored of many. His eager 
 brain had soon taken the footing of manhood. 
 
 A remarkable school of political science had begun 
 its sessions in that little western village. The world 
 'had never seen the like of it. Abraham Lincoln, 
 Stephen A. Douglas, E. D. Baker, O. H. Browning, 
 Jesse B. Thomas, and Josiah Lamborn a most un- 
 usual array of talent as subsequent history has proved 
 * were wont to gather around the fireplace in the 
 rear of Joshua Speed's store, evenings, to discuss the 
 issues of the time. Samson and his son Joe came often 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 355 
 
 to hear the talk. Douglas looked like a dwarf among 
 those long geared men. He was slight and short, be- 
 ing only about five feet tall, but he had a big, round 
 head covered with thick, straight, dark hair, a bull-dog 
 look and a voice like thunder. The first steamboat 
 had crossed the Atlantic the year before and The 
 Future of Transportation was one of the first themes 
 discussed by this remarkable group of men. Doug- 
 las and Lincoln were in a heated argument over the 
 admission of slavery to the territories the first night 
 "that Samson and Joe sat down with them. 
 
 "We didn't like that little rooster of a man, he had 
 such a high and mighty way with him and so frankly 
 opposed the principles we believe in. He was an 
 out and out pro-slavery man. He would have every 
 state free to regulate its domestic institutions, in its 
 own way, subject only to the Constitution of the 
 United States. Lincoln held that it amounted to say- 
 ing 'that if one man chose to enslave another no third 
 party shall be allowed to object.' ' 
 
 In the course of the argument Douglas alleged 
 that the Whigs were the aristocrats of the country. 
 
 "That reminds me of a night when I was speaking 
 at Havana," said Honest Abe. "A man with a 
 ruffled shirt and a massive gold watch chain got up 
 and charged that the Whigs were aristocrats. Doug- 
 las in his broadcloth and fine linen reminds me of 
 that man. I'm going to answer Douglas as I an- 
 
356 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 swered him. Most of the Whigs I know are my kind 
 of folks. I was a poor boy working on a flat boat 
 at eight dollars a month and had only one pair of 
 breeches and they were buckskin. If you know the 
 nature of buckskin, you know that when it is wet 
 and dried by the sun it will shrink and my breeches 
 kept shrinking and deserting the sock area of my legs 
 until several inches of them were bare above my 
 shoes. Whilst I was growing longer they were grow- 
 ing shorter and so much tighter that they left a blue 
 streak around my legs which can be seen to this day. 
 If you call that aristocracy I know of one Whig that 
 is an aristocrat." 
 
 "But look at the New England type of Whig ex- 
 emplified by the imperious and majestic Webster," 
 said Douglas. 
 
 "Webster was another poor lad," Lincoln answered. 
 "His father's home was a log cabin in a lonely land 
 until about the time Daniel was born when the family 
 moved to a small frame house. His is the majesty of 
 a great intellect." 
 
 There was much talk of this sort until Mr. Lincoln 
 excused himself to walk home with his two friends 
 who had just returned from the North, being eager to 
 learn of Samson's visit. The latter gave him a full 
 account of it and asked him to undertake the collec- 
 tion of Brimstead's note. 
 
 "I'll get after that fellow right away," said Lincoln. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 357 
 
 "I'm glad to get a chance at one of those men who 
 have been skinning the farmers. I suppose he has 
 other creditors in Tazewell County ?" 
 
 "I presume there are many of them." 
 
 "I'll find out about that," said Lincoln. 
 
 They sat down by the fireside in Samson's house. 
 
 "Joe has decided that he wants to be a lawyer/' said 
 Samson. 
 
 "Well, Joe, we'll all do what we can to keep you 
 from being a shot-gun lawyer," Abe Lincoln began. 
 "I've got a good first lesson for you. I found it in a 
 letter which Ruf us Choate had written to Judge Davis. 
 In it he says that we rightly have great respect for the 
 decisions of the majority, but that the law is something 
 vastly greater and more sacred than the verdict of any 
 majority. 'It is a thing,' says he, 'which has stood the 
 test of long experience a body of digested rules and 
 processes bequeathed to us by all the ages of the past. 
 The inspired wisdom of the primeval east, the robust 
 genius of Athens and Rome, the keener modern sense 
 of righteousness are in it. The law comes down to 
 us one mighty and continuous stream of wisdom and 
 experience accumulated, ancestral, widening and 
 deepening and washing itself clearer as it runs on, the 
 agent of civilization, the builder of a thousand cities. 
 To have lived through ages of unceasing trial with the 
 passions, interests, and affairs of men, to have lived 
 through the drums and tramplings of conquest, 
 
358 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 through revolution and reform and all the changing 
 cycles of opinion, to have attended the progress of the 
 race and gathered unto itself the approbation of civil- 
 ized humanity is to have proved that it carries in it 
 some spark of immortal life.' ' 
 
 The face of Lincoln changed as he recited the 
 lines of the learned and distinguished lawyer of Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 "His face glowed like a lighted lantern when he 
 began to say those eloquent words," Samson writes in 
 his diary. "He wrote them down so that Josiah could 
 commit them to memory." 
 
 "That is a wonderful statement," Samson remarked. 
 
 Abe answered : "It suggests to me that the voice of 
 the people in any one generation may or may not be in- 
 spired, but that the voice of the best men of all ages, 
 expressing their sense of justice and of right, in the 
 law, is and must be the voice of God. The spirit and 
 body of its decrees are as indestructible as the throne 
 of Heaven. You can overthrow them but until their 
 power is reestablished as surely it will be, you will live 
 in savagery." 
 
 "You do not deny the right of revolution." 
 
 "No, but I can see no excuse for it in America. It 
 has remained for us to add to the body of the law the 
 idea that men are created free and equal. The lack 
 of that saving principle in the codes of the world has 
 been the great cause of injustice and oppression. The 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 359 
 
 voice of revolution here would be like that of lago in 
 the play and worse. It would be like the unscrupulous 
 lawyer, anxious for a fee, who says to a client, living 
 happily with his wife : 'I know she is handsome and 
 virtuous and intelligent and loving but she has her 
 faults. There are lovelier women. I could easily get 
 a divorce for you.' We would quickly throw such a 
 man out of the door. A man's country is like his wife. 
 If she is virtuous and well-disposed he should permit 
 no meddling, odious person to come between them, 
 or to suggest to him that he put poison into her tea. 
 Least of all should he look for perfection in her, know- 
 ing that it is not to be found in this world of ours." 
 
 Honest Abe rose and walked up and down the room 
 in silence for a moment. Then he added : 
 
 "Choate phrased it well when he said: 'We should 
 beware of awaking the tremendous divinities of 
 change from their long sleep. Let us think of that 
 when we consider what we shall do with the evils 
 that afflict us.' " 
 
 The boy Joe has been deeply interested in this talk. 
 
 "If you'll lend me a book I'd like to begin studying," 
 he said. 
 
 "There's time enough for that," said Lincoln. "First 
 I want you to understand what the law is and what 
 the lawyer should be. You wouldn't want to be a pet- 
 tifogger. Choate is the right model. He has a dig- 
 nity suited to the greatness of his chosen master. They 
 
360 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 say that before a Justice of the Peace in a room no 
 bigger than a shoemaker's shop his work is done 
 with the same dignity and care that he would show in 
 the supreme court of Massachusetts. A newspaper 
 says that in a dog case at Beverly he treated the dog 
 as if he were a lion and the crabbed old squire with 
 the consideration due a chief justice." 
 
 "He knows how to handle the English language," 
 Samson observed. 
 
 "He got that by reading. He is the best read man 
 at the American bar and the best Bible student. There's 
 a lot of work ahead of you, Joe, before you are a 
 lawyer and when you're admitted success comes only 
 of the capacity for work. Brougham wrote the pero- 
 ration of his speech in defense of Queen Caroline 
 nineteen times." 
 
 "I want to be a great orator," the boy exclaimed 
 with engaging frankness. 
 
 "Then you must remember that character is the 
 biggest part of it," Honest Abe declared. "Great 
 thoughts come out of a great character and only out 
 of that. They will come even if you have little learn- 
 ing and none of the graces which attract the eye. But 
 you must have a character that is ever speaking even 
 when your lips are silent. It must show in your life 
 and fill the spaces between your words. It will help 
 you to choose and charge them with the love of great 
 things that carry conviction. 
 
 "I remember when I was a boy over in Gentry- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 361; 
 
 ville a shaggy, plain-dressed man rode up to the door 
 one day. He had a cheerful, kindly face. His char- 
 acter began to speak to us before he -opened his mouth 
 to ask for a drink of water. 
 
 " 'I don't know who you are,' my father said. 'But 
 I'd like it awful well if you'd light an' talk to us.' 
 He did and we didn't know till he had gone that he 
 was the Governor of the state. A good character shines 
 like a candle on a dark night. You can't mistake it 
 A firefly can't hold his light long enough to compete 
 with it. 
 
 "Webster said in the Knapp trial : There is no evil 
 that we can not either face or fly from but the con- 
 sciousness of duty disregarded/ 
 
 "A great truth like that makes wonderful music 
 on the lips of a sincere man. An orator must be a 
 lover and discoverer of such unwritten laws." 
 
 It was nearing midnight when they heard footsteps 
 on the board walk in front of the house. In a mo- 
 ment Harry Needles entered in cavalry uniform with" 
 fine top boots and silver spurs, erect as a young Indian 
 brave and bronzed by tropic suns. 
 
 "Hello !" he said as he took off his belt and clanking; 
 saber. "I hang up my sword. I have had enough of 
 war." 
 
 He had ridden across country from the boat land- 
 ing and arriving so late had left his horse at a livery 
 stable. 
 
 "I'm lucky to find you and Abe an3 Joe all up an'dl 
 
362 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 waiting for me," he said as he shook their hands. 
 "How is mother?" 
 
 "I'm well," Sarah called from the top of the stair- 
 way. "I'll be down in a minute." 
 
 For an hour or more they sat by the fireside while 
 Harry told of his adventures in the great swamps of 
 Southern Florida. 
 
 "I've done my share of the fighting," he said at 
 length. "I'm going north to-morrow to find Bim and 
 her mother." 
 
 "I shall want you to serve a complaint on one Lionel 
 Davis," said Mr. Lincoln. 
 
 "I have one of my own to serve on him," Harry 
 answered. "But I hope that our case can be settled 
 out of court." 
 
 "I think that I'll go with you as far as Tazewell 
 County and draw the papers there," said Lincoln. 
 
 When the latter had left for his lodgings and Joe 
 and his mother had gone to bed, Samson told Harry 
 the details of his visit to Chicago. 
 
 "She may have taken the disease and died with it 
 before now," said the young man. "I'll be on my way 
 to Honey Creek in the morning. If she's sick I'll 
 take care of her. I'm not going to worry about Davis. 
 But when I get there I wouldn't wonder if he'd have 
 to worry a little about me." 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 WHEREIN ABE LINCOLN REVEALS HIS METHOD OF CON- 
 DUCTING A LAWSUIT IN THE CASE OF HENRY BRIM- 
 STEAD ET AL., VS. LIONEL DAVIS. 
 
 THEY found many of Davis's notes in Tazewell 
 County. Abe Lincoln's complaint represented seven 
 clients and a sum exceeding twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 "Now, Harry, you don't like Davis and I can't blame 
 you for it," said Honest Abe before they parted. 
 "Don't spoil our case by trying to take it out of his 
 hide. First we've got to take it out of his pocket. 
 When I get through there may not be any hide on him 
 worth speaking of, but if there is you can have it 
 and welcome." 
 
 With the papers in his pocket Harry went on to 
 the Honey Creek settlement. There he found that the 
 plague had spent itself and that Bim had gone to a 
 detention camp outside the city of Chicago. He rode 
 on to the camp but was not permitted to see her, the 
 regulations having become very strict. In the city 
 he went to the store of Eli Fredenberg. The mer- 
 chant received him with enthusiasm. Chicago had 
 begun to recover from the panic. Trade was lively. 
 
 363 
 
364 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Eli wanted Harry to go to work in the store until he 
 was prepared for the law. 
 
 "You must stay here until you haf got a wife al- 
 ready," said the thoughtful Eli. "It is bat for you and 
 Bim to be not marrit so much." 
 
 The young man favored both the commercial and 
 the sentimental suggestions of Eli. He had long felt 
 the lure of that promising little city on the lake shore. 
 
 "I wish you'd take this complaint and serve it on 
 Davis," he said. "I don't want to see him if I can 
 help it. If you don't mind, you can tell him that I've 
 come to life and am here in the city and that if he 
 kills me again he'd better do it while I'm looking. It 
 would be more decent." 
 
 Eli was delighted with a task which promised a de- 
 gree of discomfort to the man who had endeavored 
 to ruin him. Harry spent the afternoon with Mrs. 
 Kelso and Bim's baby boy. The good woman was 
 much excited by the arrival of the young soldier. 
 
 "We have had a terrible year," she said. "We 
 couldn't have lived through it without the help of a 
 friend. Bim went away to take care of the sick in the 
 smallpox neighborhood. She was rather discouraged. 
 Our friend, Mr. Davis, is in love with her. She prom- 
 ised to marry him. It seemed to be the only way out 
 of our troubles. But she will not even write to him 
 now. I think that she is very unhappy." 
 
 "I shall not try to increase her troubles, but I shall 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 365 
 
 prevent her from marrying Davis if I can," said 
 Harry. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Because I think he is dishonest." 
 
 "He has convinced me that aft the 'reports are! 
 wrong," Mrs. Kelso declared. "I think that he is one 
 of the kindest and best of men." 
 
 "I shall not argue with you as to the character of 
 my rival," Harry answered. "The facts will be on 
 record one of these days and then you can form your 
 own judgment. I hope you won't mind my coming 
 here to see you and the baby now and then." 
 
 "You are always welcome. But Mr. Davis comes 
 often and feeling as you do it might be unpleasant for 
 you to meet him." 
 
 "It would. I'll keep away until the air clears," said 
 Harry. 
 
 He wrote a very tender letter to Bim that day. He 
 told her that he had come to Chicago to live so that 
 he might be near her and ready to help her if she 
 needed help. "The same old love is in my heart that 
 made me want you for my wife long ago, that has 
 filled my letters and sustained me in many an hour 
 of peril," he wrote. "If you really think that you must 
 marry Davis, I ask you at least to wait for the de- 
 velopments of a suit which Abe Lincoln is bringing 
 in behalf of many citizens of Tazewell County. It is 
 likely that we shall know more than we do now be- 
 
3 66 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 fore that case ends. I saw your beautiful little boy. 
 He looks so much like you that I long to steal him and 
 keep him with me." 
 
 In a few days he received this brief reply: 
 
 "Dear Harry : Your letter pleased and pained me. 
 I have been so tossed about that I don't know quite 
 where I stand. My brain is like a bridge that has 
 been washed out by floods. I am picking up the frag- 
 ments and trying to rebuild it. For a long time my 
 life has been nothing but a series of emotions. What 
 Honest Abe may be able to prove I know not, but I 
 am sure that he can not disprove the fact that Mr. 
 Davis has been kind and generous to me. For that I 
 can not ever cease to be grateful. I should have mar- 
 ried him before now but for one singular circumstance. 
 My little boy can not be made to like him. He will 
 have nothing to do with Mr. Davis. He will not be 
 bribed or coerced. Time and kindness do not seem 
 to diminish his dislike. My soul has been drugged 
 with argument and I can not help saying it bribed 
 with favors. But the boy has been steadfast. He has 
 kept his frankness and honesty. I saw in this a 
 prophecy of trouble. I left home and went down into 
 the very shadow of death. It may be that we have 
 been saved for each other by the wisdom of childhood. 
 I must not see you now. No-r shall I see him until 
 I have found my way. Even your call can not make 
 me forget that I am under a solemn promise. I must 
 keep it without much more delay unless something 
 happens to release me. 
 
 "I'm glad you like the boy. He is a wonderful 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 367 
 
 child. I named him Nehemiah for his grandfather. 
 We call him Nim and sometimes 'Mr. Nimble' because 
 he is so lively. I'm homesick to see him and you. I 
 am going to Dixon to teach and earn money for moth- 
 er and the baby. Don't tell any one where I am and 
 above all don't come to see me until in good heart I 
 can ask you to come. 
 
 "God bless you! 
 
 "Bim." 
 
 In a few weeks the suit came on. It was tried in the 
 new brick Court-House in Chicago. Davis's defense, 
 as given in the answer, alleged that the notes were to 
 be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of lots and 
 that in consequence of the collapse of the boom there 
 had been no such proceeds. His claim was supported 
 by the testimony of his secretary and another and by 
 certain letters of his, promising payment as soon as 
 the land was sold, and by letters from the plaintiffs 
 allowing that grace. As to the understanding upon 
 which the notes were drawn, there was a direct issue 
 of veracity for which Abe Lincoln was exceedingly 
 well prepared. He had gained possession of many 
 facts in the history of the young speculator, including 
 the important one that he had been convicted of fraud 
 in New Orleans. Mr. Lincoln's cross-examination 
 was as merciless as sunlight "falling round a helpless 
 thing." It was kindly and polite i'n tone but relent- 
 less in its searching. When it ended, the weight of 
 
368 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Davis's character had been accurately established. In 
 his masterly summing up Mr. Lincoln presented every 
 circumstance in favor of the defendant's position. With 
 remarkable insight he anticipated the arguments of his 
 attorney. He presented them fairly and generously 
 to the court and jury. According to Samson the op- 
 posing lawyers admitted in a private talk that Lin- 
 jcoln had thought of presumptions in favor of Davis 
 which had not occurred to them. Therein lay the char- 
 acteristic of Mr. Lincoln's method in a lawsuit. 
 
 "It was a safe thing for him to do for he never 
 took a case in which justice was not clearly on his 
 side," Samson writes. "If he had been deceived as 
 to the merits of a case he would drop it. With the 
 sword of justice in his hand he was invincible." 
 
 First he put the thing to be weighed on the scale 
 'fully and fairly. Then, one by one, he put the units 
 of gravity on the other side so that the court and jury 
 saw the turning of the balance. 
 
 He covered the point at issue with a few words 
 "every one of which drew blood," to quote a phrase 
 'from the diary. He showed that the validity of such 
 claims rested wholly on the character of the man who 
 made them, especially when they were opposed to the 
 testimony of people whose honesty had been ques- 
 tioned only by that man. 
 
 "Now as to the secretary," said Mr. Lincoln, "I 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 369 
 
 honestly regret that he has disagreed with himself. 
 A young man ought not to disagree with himself as to 
 the truth and especially when he contradicts the oath 
 of witnesses whom we have no reason to discredit. I 
 want to be kind to him on account of his youth. He 
 reminds me of the young man who hired out to a 
 Captain in Gloucester and shipped for the China coast 
 and learned presently that he was on a pirate vessel. 
 He had been a young man of good intentions but he 
 had to turn to and help the business along. When 
 the ship was captured he said : 
 
 " 'I didn't want to be a pirate, but there was only 
 one kind o' politics on that ship and the majority was 
 so large I thought that the vote might as well be 
 unanimous. At first I was in favor of reform but 
 the walkin' was that bad I had to decide between a 
 harp and a cutlass/ 
 
 "This parable serves to illustrate the history of most 
 young men who fall into bad company. The walking 
 becomes more or less bad for them. They get into 
 the bondage of Fear. We know not how it may have 
 influenced the action of Cap'n Davis's First Mate. 
 Probably since the hard times began, the walking has 
 looked bad to him but still there was walking. I am 
 sorry it must be said that there was walking and I 
 hope that he will now make some use of it." 
 
 He did and in time confessed to Samson Traylor 
 that Mr. Lincoln's reproach had been the saving of 
 
370 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 him. A judgment was rendered in favor of the plain- 
 tiffs for the full amount of their claim with costs. The 
 character of Lionel Davis had been sufficiently re- 
 vealed. Even the credulous Mrs. Kelso turned against 
 him. Mr. Lincoln's skill as a lawyer was recognized 
 in the north as well as in the middle counties. From 
 that day forth no man enjoyed a like popularity in 
 Tazewell County. 
 
 When Samson and Harry Needles left the Court- 
 House, there seemed to be no obstacle between the 
 young man and the consummation of his wishes. Un- 
 fortunately, as they were going down the steps Davis, 
 who blamed Samson for his troubles, flung an insult 
 "at the sturdy Vermonter. Samson, who had then ar- 
 rived at years of firm discretion, was little disturbed 
 by the anger of a man so discredited. But Harry, on 
 the sound of the hateful words, had leaped forward 
 and dealt the speculator a savage blow in the face which 
 for a few seconds had deprived him of the power of 
 speech. That evening a friend of Davis called at the 
 City Hall with a challenge. The hot-blooded young 1 
 soldier accepted i't against the urgent counsel of Sam- 
 son Traylor, Mr. Lincoln having left the city. It was 
 a fashion of the time for gentlemen to stand up and 
 shoot at each other after such a quarrel. But Davis, 
 since the trial, had no character to defend and there- 
 fore no right to enter the field of honor with a man 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 371 
 
 of Harry's standing 1 . But the young officer had prom- 
 ised to fight and was not to be dissuaded. 
 
 As to the details of the tragic scene that followed 
 next day, the writer has little knowledge. Samson 
 was not the type of man for such a chronicle. The 
 diary speaks of hi's part in it with shame and sorrow 
 and remorse. His mind seems to have been too much 
 engaged with its own fears and thoughts to take note 
 of the color. We may infer from one remark in it 
 that the sky was clear. We know, too, that it was 
 at day-break when he and Harry rode to a point on 
 the prairie "something more than a mile from the 
 city limits." There he tells us they met Davis and 
 one friend of the latter and two surgeons who had 
 driven to the scene in a box wagon. It is evident, too, 
 that great secrecy had been observed in the plan and 
 its execution and that, until sometime after the last 
 act, Lincoln knew nothing of the later developments 
 in the drama of Davis's downfall. For the rest of the 
 deplorable scene the historian must content himself 
 with the naked details in the diary of a puritan pio- 
 neer. They are, at least, direct and derive a certain 
 vividness from their haste to be done with it as a pro- 
 ceeding of which the less said the better. 
 
 "I went because there was no escape from it and 
 with the shadow of God's wrath in my soul," Sam- 
 son writes. "The sun rose as we halted our horses. 
 
372 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 We paced the field. The two men took their places 
 twenty yards apart. Harry was a little pale but he 
 stood up as straight and steady as a hitching post. The 
 pistols rang out at the command to fire and both men 
 fell. Davis had been hit in the left shoulder. My 
 handsome boy lay on his face. The bullet had bored 
 through his right lung. Before I could reach him he 
 had risen to his feet ready to go on with the battle. 
 Davis lay like one paralyzed by the shock of the bul- 
 let His seconds declared they were satisfied. The 
 surgeons began their work. I saw them take the bul- 
 let out of Harry's back where it had lodged under 
 hi's skin. I helped them put the wounded men into 
 the wagon and rode to the house of one of the doctors 
 near the city wherein were rooms for the accommoda- 
 tion of critical cases, leading Harry's horse and pray- 
 ing for God's help and forgiveness. I took care of 
 the boy until Steve Nuckles came to help me. Bim 
 arrived when Harry was out of his head and didn't 
 know her. She was determined to stay and do the 
 nursing but I wouldn't let her. She did not look 
 strong. I loaned her the money to pay the debt to 
 Davis and persuaded her to go back to her work i'n 
 Dixon. She went and was rather heart-broken about 
 it. 
 
 "As she was leaving she looked into my face and 
 said: 'Don't tell him or any one what has happened 
 to me. I want to tell him.' 
 
 "I promised to keep her secret and did it. Soon I 
 learned that she was down sick of her worries. I sent 
 her mother to her and kept the small boy with me. 
 
 "The surgeon said that Harry would live if lung 
 fever didn't set in. It set in but he pulled through. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 373 
 
 He mended slowly. I had some fear of arrest but 
 the conspiracy of silence kept the facts under cover. 
 It was partly due, I guess, to the friendship of John 
 iWentworth for me and Honest Abe. He kept it out 
 of the papers. There were no complaints and the ru- 
 mors soon fell into silence. I spent about six weeks 
 at Harry's bedside and in the store which has begun 
 to prosper. 
 
 "The boy, 'Mr. Nimble/ is a cunning 1 little man. 
 When he began to get better, Harry loved to play 
 with him and listen to his talk about fairies. The 
 young man was able to leave his bed, by and by, but 
 he didn't get over his weakness and pallor. He had 
 no appetite. I sent him with Nuckles into the Wis- 
 consin woods to live in the open. Then I took the 
 small boy to Dixon with me in the saddle. Bim had 
 just got back to her work. She was distressed by the 
 news of Harry's condition. 
 
 " 'I fear he has got his death-blow/ she said with 
 a sad look in her face. 'I had hoped that we could 
 be married this autumn. But something comes be- 
 tween us always. First it was my folly and now it is 
 his folly. It seems as if we hadn't sense enough to 
 get married when there's nothing in the \vay of it.' 
 
 "She told me that Eliphalet Biggs had been there. 
 He had heard of the boy and wished to see him and 
 demanded to know where he was. For fear that 
 Biggs would try to get possession of 'Mr. Nimble' I 
 took him with me to Springfield in the saddle. 
 
 "I learn that Davis has recovered his health and 
 left the city. ! A ! man can not do business without 
 friends and after the trial Chicago was no place for 
 him." 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 WHICH PRESENTS THE PLEASANT COMEDY OF INDI- 
 VIDUALISM IN THE NEW CAPITAL, AND THE COURT- 
 SHIP OF LINCOLN AND MARY TODD. 
 
 SAMSON, with "Mr. Nimble" on a pad stuffed with 
 straw in front of him, jogged across the prairies and 
 waded the creeks and sloughs on his way to Spring- 
 field. The little lad was in his fourth year that sum- 
 mer. He slept and talked much on the way and kept 
 Samson busy with queries about the sky and the creeks 
 and the great flowery meadows. They camped the 
 first night in a belt of timber and Samson writes that 
 the boy "slept snug against me with his head on my 
 arm. He went to sleep crying for his mother." He 
 adds: 
 
 "It reminded me of the old days of my young 
 fatherhood. 'Mr. Nimble' wanted to pick all the 
 the flowers and splash his bare feet in every stream. 
 In the evening he would talk to the stars as if he 
 were playing with them. To him the whole world is 
 a plaything. He is like some of the grown folks in 
 Chicago. He would sit hanging on to the reins and 
 talk to the horse and to God by the hour. He used 
 to tell me that God was a friend of his and I think he 
 
 374 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 375 
 
 was right. It was good luck to get back to Sarah and 
 the children. They took the little stranger into 
 their hearts. 'Heart room, house room' is the motto 
 of this part of the country." 
 
 It was a new town to which Samson returned. The 
 Governor and the state officers had moved to Spring- 
 field. The new Capitol was nearing completion. The 
 hard times which had followed the downfall of '37 
 had unjustly diminished Mr. Lincoln's confidence in 
 his ability as a legislator. He enjoyed the practice 
 of the law which had begun to turn his interest from 
 the affairs of state. But the pot of political science 
 boiled before the fireplace in the rear of Joshua 
 Speed's store every evening that Lincoln and his as- 
 sociates were in Springfield. The wit and wisdom 
 which bubbled into its vapors and the heat that sur- 
 rounded it were the talk of the town. Many came 
 to witness the process and presently it was moved, for 
 a time, to more accommodating quarters. Before a 
 crowd of people in the Presbyterian Church, Lincoln, 
 Logan, Baker and Browning for the Whigs, and 
 Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn and Thomas for the 
 Democrats, having assiduously prepared for the trial, 
 debated the burning issues of the time. The effort of 
 each filled an evening and Lincoln's speech gave him 
 new hope of himself. Wise men began to have great 
 confidence in his future. He had taken the style of 
 Webster for his model. He no longer used the broad 
 
376 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 humor which had characterized his efforts on the 
 stump. A study of the best speeches of the great New 
 Englander had made him question its value in a public 
 address. Dignity, clear reasoning and impressiveness 
 were the chief aims of his new method, the latter of 
 which is aptly illustrated by this passage from his 
 speech in reply to Douglas in the debate mentioned : 
 
 "If I ever feel the soul within me elevate and ex- 
 pand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its 
 Almighty Architect it is when I contemplate the cause 
 of my country deserted by all the world besides, and 
 I standing up boldly and alone and hurling defiance at 
 her victorious oppressors. Here without contemplat- 
 ing consequences before high heaven and in the face 
 of the world I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, 
 as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty and my 
 love." 
 
 In these perfervid utterances one may find little 
 to admire save a great spirit seeking to express itself 
 and lacking as yet the refinement of taste equal to his 
 undertaking. He was no heaven-born genius "sprung 
 in full panoply from the head of Jove." He was just 
 one of the slow, common folk, with a passion for jus- 
 tice and human rights, slowly feeling his way upward. 
 His spirit was growing. Strong in its love and knowl- 
 edge of common men and of the things necessary tot 
 their welfare, it was beginning to seek and know "the 
 divine power of words." Every moment of leisure he 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 377. 
 
 gave to the study of Webster and Burke and Byron 
 and Shakespeare and Burns. He had begun to study 
 the art of Irving and Walter Scott and of a new writ- 
 er of the name of Dickens. There were four men 
 who slept with him, in the room above Speed's store, 
 and one of them has told how he used to lie sprawled 
 on the floor, with his pillow and candle, reading long 
 after the others had gone to sleep. Samson writes that 
 he never knew a man who understood the art of using 
 minutes as he did. A detached minute was to him a 
 thing to be filled with value. Yet there were few 
 men so deeply in love with fun. He loved to laugh 
 at a story-telling and to match his humor with Thomp- 
 son Campbell a famous raconteur and to play with 
 children. Fun was as necessary to him as sleep. He 
 searched for it in people and in books. 
 
 He came often to Samson's house to play with "Mr. 
 Nimble" and to talk with Joe. Some of his best 
 thoughts came when he was talking with Joe and some 
 of his merriest moments when he was playing with 
 "Mr. Nimble." He confessed that it was the latter that 
 reminded him that he had better be looking for a wife. 
 
 But Lincoln was only one of many remarkable per- 
 sonalities in Springfield who had discovered themselves 
 and were seeking to be discovered. Sundry individuals 
 were lifting their heads above the crowd but not with, 
 the modesty and self-distrust of Honest Abe. "Steve" 
 Douglas, whom Samson had referred to as "that little 
 
378 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 rooster of a man," put on the stilts of a brave and pon- 
 derous vigor. His five-foot stature and his hundred 
 pounds of weight did not fit the part of Achilles. But 
 he would have no other. He blustered much with a 
 spear too heavy for his hands. Lincoln used to call 
 him a kind of popgun. 
 
 This free-for-all joust of individualism one of the 
 first fruits of Freedom in the West gave to the life 
 of the little village a rich flavor of comedy. The great 
 talents of Douglas had not been developed. His char- 
 acter was as yet shifty and shapeless. Some of the 
 leading citizens openly distrusted him. He sought to 
 command respect by assaulting men of full size and 
 was repeatedly and soundly thumped for his presump- 
 tion. He had endeavored publicly to chastise the 
 sturdy Simeon Francis and had been bent over a mar- 
 ket cart and severely wigged by the editor. Lincoln 
 used to call these affairs ''the mistakes of Douglas due 
 wholly to the difference between the size of his body 
 and the size of his feelin's." He never liked this little 
 man, in opposing whom he was to come to the fulness 
 of his power on the platform. It is evident that Lin- 
 coln regarded him as an able advocate of small sin- 
 cerity looking chiefly for personal advancement. 
 
 There is a passage in the diary which illustrates the 
 character of Douglas and Lincoln's knowledge of it. 
 The passage relates to a day in the famous debates of 
 1858. Lincoln had not reached Havana in time to 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 379 
 
 hear the speech of his opponent. A great crowd had 
 come by train and in wagons. Taking advantage of 
 his absence Douglas had called Lincoln "a liar, a 
 coward and a sneak" and declared that he was going 
 to fight him. 
 
 Lincoln heard of this and said in his speech : 
 
 "I shall not fight with Judge Douglas. A fight could 
 prove nothing at issue in this campaign. It might prove 
 that he is a more muscular man than I or that I am a 
 more muscular man than he, but this subject is not men- 
 tioned in either platform. Again he and I are really 
 very good friends and when we are together he would 
 no more think of fighting me than of fighting his wife. 
 Therefore when the Judge talked about fighting he 
 was not giving vent to any ill feeling but was trying 
 to excite well, let us say enthusiasm against me on 
 the part of his audience." 
 
 Justice accomplished her ends now and then with 
 comic displays of violence in the prairie capital. One 
 night Abe Lincoln and certain of his friends captured 
 a shoe-maker who had beaten his wife and held him at 
 the village pump while the aggrieved woman gave him 
 a sound thrashing. So this phase of imperialism was 
 cured in Springfield by "hair off the same dog" as 
 Lincoln put it. 
 
 One evening while E. D. Baker was speaking in the 
 crowded village court room above Lincoln's office and 
 was rudely interrupted and in danger of assault, thr 
 
380 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 long legs of Honest Abe suddenly appeared through 
 a scuttle hole in the ceiling above the platform. He 
 leaped upon it and seizing a stone water pitcher de- 
 fied any one to interfere with the right of free speech 
 in a worthy cause. 
 
 So it will be seen that there were zestful moments 
 in these sundry vindications of the principles of De- 
 mocracy in the prairie capital. 
 
 About this time Miss Mary Todd, the daughter of a 
 Kentucky banker, arrived in Springfield to visit her 
 sister, Mrs. Nini'an W. Edwards. She was a fashion- 
 ably dressed, good-looking girl of blue-gray eyes and 
 dark hair. She had been well educated in the schools 
 of Lexington and could speak French as well as Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 "Well, Mary, haven't you found the fortunate young 
 man yet?" Mr. Edwards playfully asked the day of 
 her coming. 
 
 "You know my husband is going to be President 
 of the United States and I hoped that I would find him 
 in Springfield," Mary answered in a like vein. 
 
 "There's great fishing here," sai'd Mr. Edwards. 
 "I know the very man you are looking for. He has 
 come up from the ranks and is now the most popular 
 member of the Legislature. He can make a stirring 
 speech and they say he is going to be the President 
 of the United States. He's wise and witty and 
 straight as a string but a rough diamond big, awk- 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 381 
 
 ward and homely. You're just the girl to take him irt 
 hand and give him a little polish and push him along. 
 His name is Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 Speed knew the Todds a distinguished Kentucky; 
 family with a Governor of Virginia and other historic^ 
 figures in its record. When he called upon Mary she 
 asked about Mr. Lincoln and said she would like to 
 meet him. 
 
 "She's just the girl for you, Abe," Speed said to 
 him that evening. "She is bright and well educated 
 and her family has influence. She could be a great 
 help to you." 
 
 This interested the member from Sangamon Coun- 
 ty who was indeed eager to get along. The companion- 
 ship of a refined young lady was the very thing he 
 needed. 
 
 "Let's go over and pay our respects to her," Speed 
 suggested. They went, Lincoln being carefully dressed 
 in his first suit of black clothes. Miss Todd was a 
 bright, vivacious girl of middle stature, twenty-two 
 years old. She was fashionably dressed and carried 
 her head proudly a smart-looking, witty, well spoken 
 girl but not especially handsome. She was most agree- 
 able to the young men. Honest Abe was deeply im- 
 pressed by her talk and fine manners and general come- 
 liness. He felt her grace and charm and spoke of it 
 with enthusiasm. But to him and to her there seemed 
 to be an impassable gulf between them. She changed 
 
382 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 her mind about that, however, when she heard him 
 speak and felt the power of his personality and saw 
 his face lighted by the candle of his spirit. It was 
 a handsome face in those moments of high elation. 
 Hardship and malarial poison had lined and sallowed 
 his skin. He used to say that every time the fever 
 and ague walked over him, they left a track on his 
 face. The shadows of loneliness and sorrow were in 
 its sculpturing. But when his eyes glowed with pas- 
 sion one saw not the rough mask which the life of the 
 pioneer had given him. His form lost its awkward- 
 ness; his face took on a noble and impressive beauty. 
 Those times every eye looked longingly upon him be- 
 cause of the great and wonderful things with which 
 he was interfused. To quote his own words to the 
 boy, Josiah Traylor, his character was speaking as 
 well as his lips. Mary had the insight to recognize 
 his power. She felt the strength of his spirit. She 
 agreed with her friends that here was a man of great 
 promise. She felt the need of him. 
 
 To one who loved beauty and respected women as he 
 did the grace and refinement of this young lady had 
 a singular appeal coupled as it was with the urge of 
 his strong, masculine nature. It was a revelation. He 
 was like a young poet going out into the open and see- 
 ing for the first time the mysterious beauty of the 
 mountains or "the exquisite, delicate, thin curve of the 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 383 
 
 new moon in spring." He began to seek and study 
 refinement of thought, of manner, of dress, of expres- 
 sion. He knew that he needed Mary but had the 
 feeling that she was not for him. 
 
 A woman who lived near the Edwards's house had 
 a small, hairy, poodle dog. One day as Abe and Mary 
 were walking along the street, they met this woman 
 who asked if they had seen her dog. 
 
 "I wouldn't wonder if some one down the street had 
 got him tied to the end of a pole and is using 1 him to 
 swab off his windows," said Abe Lincoln with a good- 
 natured laugh. "I'll try to find him for you." 
 
 Mary enjoyed fun and this and like sallies of the 
 young legislator added a certain zest to their friend- 
 ship. Women are like children in their love of humor. 
 
 The diminutive Douglas saw in Miss Todd an asset 
 of much value and his attentions began to be assidu- 
 ous. Mary was indifferent to his lofty manner and 
 sonorous vocalism. Abe Lincoln liked her better for 
 that. 
 
 She encouraged the visits of the latter and invited 
 his confidence. The fact filled him with a great joy. 
 They went about together. In the Edwards parlor he 
 modestly told her of his work and his life plan. She 
 differed with him on certain subjects which were un- 
 fortunately fundamental. He did not love her as he 
 had loved Ann. But her personality pleased and fas- 
 
384 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ciliated the young legislator. One evening under the 
 spell of it he asked her to be his wife. She consented. 
 Then he began to think it over. 
 
 It was like Lincoln in his relations with women to 
 get the cart before the horse so to speak. The points 
 upon which they disagreed came up for consideration. 
 She could not think as he did on the subject of slav- 
 ery and the kindred one of State Rights. His man- 
 ners were not like hers. He was thirty-one years old 
 that summer. It was rather late in life to undertake 
 any great change in his manners. They grew natural- 
 ly out of one's history and character. He could be 
 kind and gentle in his way. But, mainly, his manners 
 would have to be like the rugged limbs of the oak. 
 The grace and elegance of the water-willow and the 
 white birch were not for him. It saddened him to 
 conclude that he would have to be for a long time 
 just what he was crude, awkward, unlearned in the 
 graces and amenities of cultivated people. He rightly 
 judged that his crudeness would be a constant source 
 of irritation to the proud Mary. As their acquaintance 
 progressed the truth of his conviction grew more ap- 
 parent This, however, did not so much concern him 
 as her lack of sympathy with some of his deepest mo- 
 tives. He decided that, after all, he did not love her 
 and that to marry her would be committing a great 
 wrong. 
 
 Some of the unhappiest days of his life followed. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 385 
 
 His conscience gave him no rest. He knew not what 
 to do. He told a friend that if his misery were equally 
 distributed to the whole human race each would have 
 a troublesome burden. He was wont to take long 
 walks into the country with "Mr. Nimble" those days, 
 often carrying 1 the boy on his shoulders. It is likely 
 that the little lad was a great comfort to him. He 
 wrote a letter to Miss Todd in which he reviewed the 
 history of his thinking on the subject of their marriage 
 and frankly but tenderly stated his conviction that it 
 would imperil her happiness to marry him. Before 
 sending it he submitted the letter to his friend Speed. 
 
 The latter read it over and looked very grave. 
 
 "What do you think of it?" Lincoln asked. 
 
 "I would never send a letter like that to a lady," 
 Speed answered. "If you feel as you say go and tell 
 her so, but don't put it in a letter." 
 
 Lincoln went to see her that evening and returned 
 to his friend in a more cheerful mood. 
 
 "Did you tell her?" Speed asked. 
 
 "Yes, I told her." 
 
 "What happened?" 
 
 "She burst out crying and I threw my arms around 
 her and kissed her and that settled it. We are going; 
 to be married." 
 
 What an illustration of the humanity and chivalry 
 of Honest Abe was in the proceeding ! 
 
 'Tin sure you'll get along all right together," said 
 
386 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Speed. "Your spirit is jealous of any one likely to 
 get in its way. But she won't She'll fall in line and 
 do what she can to help you." 
 
 Now a little before this time Henry Brimstead and 
 other creditors of Davis had gone to Chicago in the 
 matter of the satisfaction of their judgment against 
 him. Henry had driven a wagon across the prairies 
 and, returning, had brought Bim and her mother to his 
 home and then to Springfield. It was while they were 
 there that Harry had come down to Chicago out of the 
 woods in a condition of health which had alarmed his 
 physician. The latter had put him on a steamboat and 
 sent him east. He was bound for the mountain country 
 in northern New York. 
 
 Bim and her mother returned to Chicago on the 
 stage, the former to take a place in the store as the 
 representative of Samson's interest. 
 
 Harry was three years in the wilderness trying to 
 regain his health. Success came to him in the last 
 year of his banishment. 
 
 Toward the end of it he received a letter from Mr. 
 Lincoln. It was written soon after that curjous cli- 
 max in the courting of Mary Todd. In this letter he 
 said: 
 
 "I am serving my last term in the Legislature. I 
 learn that you are in better health and I hope that you 
 will have the strength and inclination to return soon 
 and be a candidate for my seat in the house. Samson 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 387 
 
 will not do it, being 1 so busy with large affairs. You 
 are young. You have won distinction in the service 
 of your country. You have studied the problems of 
 the county and the state. Samson and Baker and 
 Logan and Browning agree with me that you are the 
 man for the place. 
 
 "As for myself I am going to be married in a year 
 or so. I shall have to give all my time to the practice 
 of the law. I am now in partnership with Stephen T. 
 Logan and am slowly clearing my conscience of debt. 
 I have done what I could for the state and for Sanga- 
 mon County. It hasn't been much. I want you to 
 take up the burden, if you can, until I get free of my 
 debts at least. By and by I may jump into the ring 
 again." 
 
 Harry was glad to obey the summons. Soon after 
 the arrival of Mr. Lincoln's letter his doctor gave the 
 young man what he called "an honorable discharge." 
 The magic of youth and its courage and of good air 
 had wrought a change of which the able doctor had had 
 little hope in the beginning. 
 
 In his travels through the great forest Harry had 
 met David Parish and Stephen Van Renssalaer at 
 whose homes on the shore of the St. Lawrence he had 
 spent many a happy, summer day. Three years had 
 passed since that fateful morning on the prairie. 
 Through the winters he had lived in a comfortable 
 hunter's camp on the shore of Lake Placid. Summers 
 he had wandered with a guide and canoe through the 
 lakes and rivers of the wilderness hunting and fishing 
 
388 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 and reading the law books which he had borrowed 
 from Judge Fine of Ogdensburg. Each summer he 
 worked down the Oswegatchie to that point for a visit 
 with his new friends. The history of every week 
 had been written to Bim and her letters had reached 
 him at the points where he was wont to rest in his 
 travels. The lovers had not lost their ardor. Theirs 
 was the love "that hopes and endures and is patient." 
 
 On a day in June, 1841, he boarded a steamboat at 
 Ogdensburg on his way to Chicago. He arrived in the 
 evening and found Samson at the home of Bim and her 
 mother a capacious and well-furnished house on 
 Dearborn Street. Bim was then a little over twenty- 
 five years old. A letter from John Wentworth says 
 that she was "an exquisite bit of womanhood learned 
 in the fine arts of speech and dress and manner." He 
 spoke also of her humor and originality and of her 
 gift for business "which amounted to absolute genius." 
 
 The store had doubled in size under her management 
 and with the help of the capital of Samson and Sarah 
 Traylor. Its wholesale and retail business was larger 
 than any north of St. Louis. The epidemic had seized 
 her toward the last of her nursing and left the marks 
 of its scourge upon her. It had marred her beauty 
 but Samson writes, "the girl was still very hand- 
 some. She was well filled out and stood as straight 
 as an arrow and was always dressed as neat as a pin. 
 I fear she was a little extravagant about that, She 
 
A MAN FOR JHE AGES 389 
 
 carried her head like a sleek, well-fed Morgan colt. 
 She was kind of scared to meet Harry for fear of 
 what he'd think of those little marks on her face but 
 'I told her not to worry." 
 
 "You are the smartest and loveliest looking creature 
 that I ever saw in my life," said Harry after he had 
 held her in his arms a moment 
 
 "But see what has happened to me look at my 
 face," she answered. 
 
 "It is more beautiful than ever," he said. "Those 
 marks have doubled my love for you. They are medals 
 of honor better than this one that I wear." 
 
 "Then I think that I'll take you off and marry you 
 before you have a chance to fight another duel or find 
 another war to go to," said Bim. "There is the 
 mustache that I used to long for and which wouldn't 
 come," she added with a smile. 
 
 "Is there anything else that I seem to need?" Harry 
 asked. "I could grow whiskers now." 
 
 "Don't," she answered. "The great need of the 
 West is shears and razors and a law to compel their 
 use. There can be little romance in the midst of so 
 much hair." 
 
 "I shall be careful not to offend you," Harry 
 laughed. "I want to marry you as soon as possible. 
 I've been looking forward to that since I was sixteen." 
 
 "I don't hear of anything but love and marriage," 
 said Samson. "We've been rassling down at our 
 
390 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 house to keep Josiah from running off and getting 
 married. He's engaged already." 
 
 "Engaged ! To whom ?" Harry asked. 
 
 "To Annabel Brimstead. She's a little older than 
 he is. She laughed at him and promised to marry him 
 as soon as he was nominated for President by all his 
 friends. She would now vote for him herself. He has 
 become a good athlete and the best scholar in school. 
 He has every boy and girl in the village working for 
 him evenings and Saturdays." 
 
 "What are they doing?" Harry asked. 
 
 "Making those newfangled things they call lucifers. 
 You can build a fire in a second with 'em. They cut 
 splinters out of soft wood, dip their ends in brimstone 
 which Joe learned how to make and put them in a 
 hot oven until the brimstone is baked. Then a scratch 
 will bring a flame. Joe puts them up in bundles and 
 sells them to the merchants and calls them lucifer 
 matches. He has invented a machine that will cut 
 and dip a thousand splinters an hour. I tell you 
 Annabel is in danger." 
 
 He took a lucifer out of his pocket and scratched it 
 on the bottom of his boot. The party looked with 
 wonder at its flame which quickly consumed the slen- 
 der thread of pine in his fingers. 
 
 "I have always thought that Joe would make a 
 whale of a man," said Harry. 
 
 "We all seem to be threatened with immediate and 
 overwhelming happiness," Bim exclaimed. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 391 
 
 "The only thing 1 in the way of mine is the national 
 debt that I have accumulated," Harry remarked. 
 
 "I knew he'd think of something," said Bim rue- 
 fully. "If I wanted to abolish the noble institution 
 of marriage I'd make him chairman of the ways and 
 means committee." 
 
 "Harry, your credit is still good with me, and I'm 
 prosperous," Samson began. "I want you to know 
 that 'Bim's energy and skill are mostly responsible for 
 my success. I guess we owe more to your sickness 
 than you're aware of. If it hadn't been for that 
 we would be plodding along at the same old pace. We 
 would not have felt the need of speeding up. It was 
 your misfortune that brought Bim into the store. If 
 she wants to retire and marry you I rather think she 
 is entitled to do it. I don't want any more fooling 
 around about this matter. Sarah and I couldn't stand 
 it. She's kept me awake nights talking about it. The 
 thing has worried us plenty. We rebel and demand 
 action before anything else happens. We feel as if 
 we had some rights in this case." 
 
 "I concede them and second your demand," Harry 
 answered. "Bim must name a near day. I only need 
 a week to get some clothes made and to go up to Mil- 
 waukee on a little matter of business." 
 
 "I don't know whether we'll give him a week or 
 not," said Bim playfully. "A great many things may 
 happen to him in a week." 
 
* CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 WHICH DESCRIBES A PLEASANT HOLIDAY AND A PRETTY 
 STRATAGEM. 
 
 Two days later Bim suggested that they should take 
 a day's ride in the open and spend the night at the home 
 of a friend of hers in a settlement known as Plata's 
 End, Harry having expressed a wish to get out on the 
 prairies in the saddle after his long term of travel on 
 a steamboat. 
 
 "Are you sure that you can stand an all day's jour- 
 ney?" Bim asked. 
 
 "I ! I could kill a bear with my hands and carry him 
 home on my back and eat him for dinner," the young 
 man boasted. 
 
 "I've got enough of the wild West in me to like 
 a man who can eat bears if there's nothing better," 
 said Bim. "I didn't know but you'd been spoiled in 
 the homes of those eastern millionaires. If you're 
 willing to take what comes and make the best of it, 
 I'll give you a day that you will remember. You will 
 have to put up with a very simple hospitality but I 
 wouldn't wonder if you'd enjoy it." 
 
 392 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 393 
 
 "I can put up with anything so long- as I have your 
 help," the young man answered. 
 
 "Then I shall send word that we are coming. We 
 will leave here day after to-morrow. Our horses will 
 be at the door at eight o'clock in the morning. We 
 shall take some luncheon and reach our destination 
 late in the afternoon and return next day. It will 
 give us a good long visit with each other and you'll 
 know me better before we get back." 
 
 "I want to know you as well as I love you," he said. 
 "I suppose it will be like studying law one never 
 gets through with it." 
 
 "I've found myself a rather abstruse subject as 
 bad as Coke, of which Abe used to talk so much with 
 my father," she declared. "I shall he glad if it doesn't 
 discourage you." 
 
 "The mystery of woman can not be solved by intel- 
 lectual processes," the young man remarked. "Ob- 
 servation is the only help and mine has been mostly 
 telescopic'. We have managed to keep ourselves sepa- 
 rated by a great distance even when we were near 
 each other. It has been like looking at a star with 
 a very limited parallax. It's a joy to be able to see 
 you with the naked eye." 
 
 "You will have little to look at on this holiday but 
 me and the prairies," said Bim. 
 
 "I think the prairies will be neglected. I shall wear 
 
394 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 my cavalry uniform and try to get a pair of the best 
 horses in Chicago for the trip." 
 
 "Then you would have to get mine. I have a hand- 
 some pair of black young horses from Ohio real 
 high steppers. It is to be my party. You will have 
 to take what comes and make the best of it." 
 
 The day of their journey arrived a warm, bright, 
 cloudless day in September 1841. The long story of 
 those years of separation was told as they rode along. 
 Biggs had been killed in a drunken brawl at Alton. 
 Davis had gone to the far West a thoroughly dis- 
 credited man. Henry Brimstead had got his new plow 
 on the market and was prospering beyond all his 
 hopes. Eli had become a merchant of unusual ability 
 and vision. His square dealing and good sense had 
 done much to break down prejudice against the Jews 
 in the democracy of the West. Agents of the store 
 were traveling in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana sell- 
 ing its goods to country dealers. They carried with 
 them the progressive and enlightened spirit of the city 
 and the news. Everywhere they insisted upon a high 
 standard of honesty in business. A man who had no 
 respect for his contract was struck off the list. They 
 spread the every-day religion of the counting room. 
 They were a welcome, unifying and civilizing force in 
 the middle country. Samson Traylor was getting 
 wealth and a reputation for good sense. He had made 
 the plan on which the business had developed. He 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 395 
 
 had proved himself a wise and far-seeing man. Sarah's 
 friends had been out in Springfield for a visit. They 
 had invested money in the business. Her brother had 
 decided to bring his family West and settle in Sanga- 
 mon County. 
 
 The lovers stopped in a grove at noon and fed their 
 horses and Harry, who had a bundle of Joe's lucifer 
 matches in his pocket a gift from Samson built a 
 fire and made a broach of green sticks on which he 
 broiled beef steak. 
 
 A letter from Harry to Sarah Traylor tells of the 
 beauty of the day of blue bells and scarlet lilies in 
 the meadow grass, of the whistling quail, of pigeons 
 and wild geese flying across the sky and of his great 
 joy in seeing again the vast sunlit reaches of the level, 
 virgin lands. 
 
 "It was my great day of fulfillment, all the dearer 
 because I had come back to health and youth and be- 
 loved scenes out of those years shadowed with loneli- 
 ness and despair," he writes. "The best part of it, I 
 assure you, was the face I loved and that musical 
 voice ringing like a bell in merry laughter and in the 
 songs which had stirred my heart in the days of its 
 tender youth. You the dear and gentle mother of 
 my later boyhood are entitled to know of my happi- 
 ness when I heard that voice tell me in its sweeter tone 
 of the love which has endured through all these years 
 of stern trial. We talked of our plans as we sat 
 among the ferns and mosses in the cool shade sweet- 
 
396 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ened by the incense of burning fagots, over that re- 
 past to which we shall be returning often for refresh- 
 ment in poorer days. We had thought of you and 
 of the man so well beloved of you and us in all these 
 plans. We shall live in Springfield so that we may 
 be near you and him and our friend, Honest Abe." 
 
 It is a long letter presenting minute details in the 
 history of that sentimental journey and allusion to 
 matters which have no part in this record. Its sub- 
 stance being fully in the consciousness of the writer, 
 he tenderly folds it up and returns it to the package 
 yellow and brittle and faded and having that curious 
 fragrance of papers that have lain for scores of years 
 in the gloom and silence of a locked mahogany drawer. 
 So alive are these letters with the passion of youth in 
 long forgotten years that the writer ties the old rib- 
 bon and returns them to their tomb with a feeling of 
 sadness, finding a singular pathos in the contrast of 
 their look and their contents. They are turning to 
 dust but the soul of them has gone into this little his- 
 tory. 
 
 The young man and woman mounted their horses 
 and resumed their journey. It was after two o'clock. 
 The Grand Prairie lay ahead of them. The settlement 
 of Plain's End was twenty-one miles away on its far- 
 ther side. They could just see its tall oak trees in' the 
 dim distance. 
 
 "We must hurry if we get there before dark," said 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 397 
 
 the girl. "Above all we must be careful to keep our 
 direction. It's easy to get lost down in the great 
 prairie." 
 
 They heard a cat-bird singing in a near thicket as 
 they left their camp. It reminded Bim of her favorite 
 ballad and she sang it with the spirit of old: 
 
 "My sweetheart, come along 
 Don't you hear the glad song 
 As the notes of the nightingale flow I* 
 Don't you hear the fond tale of the 
 
 sweet nightingale 
 As she sings in the valleys below? 
 As she sings in the valleys below?" 
 
 They went on shoulder-deep in the tall grass on the 
 lower stretches of the prairie. Here and there it gave 
 Harry the impression that he was swimming his horse 
 in "noisy, vivid green water." They startled a herd of 
 deer and a number of wild horses. When they lost 
 sight of the woods at Plain's End the young man, with 
 his cavalry training, was able to ride standing on his 
 saddle until he had got it located. It reminded him 
 of riding i'n the Everglades and he told of his adven- 
 tures there as they went on, but very modestly. He 
 said not a word of his heroi fight the day that he and 
 sixty of his comrades were cut off and surrounded in 
 the "land of the grassy waters." But Bim had heard 
 the story from other lips. 
 
 Late in the afternoon the woods loomed in front of 
 
398 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 them scarcely a mile off. Near the end of the prairie 
 they came to a road which led them past the door of a 
 lonely cabin. It seemed to be deserted, but its win- 
 dows were clean and a faint column of smoke rose 
 from its chimney. There were hollyhocks and sun- 
 flowers in its small and cleanly dooryard. A morning- 
 glory vine had been trained around the windows. 
 
 "Broad Creek is just beyond," said Bim. "I don't 
 know how the crossing 1 will be." 
 
 They came presently to the creek, unexpectedly 
 swollen. A man stood on the farther shore with some 
 seventy feet of deep and rapid water between him 
 and the travelers. 
 
 "That man looks like Stephen Nuckles," said Harry. 
 
 "It is Stephen Nuckles," Bim answered. 
 
 "Hello, Steve!" the young soldier called. 
 
 "Howdy, boy!" said the old minister. "That ar 
 creek is b'ilin' over. I reckon you'll have to swim the 
 hosses." 
 
 "They're young city horses and not broke to deep 
 water but we'll try them," said Bim. 
 
 They tried but Bim's horse refused to go beyond 
 good footing. 
 
 "You kin light at that ar house an' spend the night 
 but the folks have gone erway," the minister called. 
 
 "I guess you'll have to marry us right here and 
 now," Harry proposed. "Night is coming and that 
 house is our only refuge." 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 399 
 
 "Poor boy ! There seems to be no escape for you !" 
 Bim exclaimed with a sigh. "Do you really and hon- 
 estly want to marry me? If there's any doubt about 
 it I'll leave the horses with you and swim the creek. 
 You could put them in the barn and swim with me or 
 spend the night in the cabin." 
 
 He embraced and kissed her in a way that left no 
 doubt of his wishes. 
 
 "It's a cool evening and the creek is very wet," he 
 answered. "I'm going to take this matter in my own 
 hands." 
 
 He called to the minister : "Steve, this is the luckiest 
 moment of my life and you are just the man of all oth- 
 ers I would have chosen for its most important job. 
 Can you stand right where you are and marry us?" 
 
 "You bet I kin, suh," the minister answered. "I've 
 often said I could marry any one half a mile erway if 
 they would only talk as loud as I kin. I've got the good 
 book right hyah in my pocket, suh. My ol' woman is 
 comin'. She'll be hyah in a minute fer to witness the 
 perceedin's." 
 
 Mrs. Nuckles made her appearance on the river bank 
 in a short time. 
 
 Then the minister shouted : "We'll begin by readin' 
 the nineteenth chapter of Matthew." 
 
 He shouted the chapter and the usual queries, knelt 
 and prayed and pronounced them man and wife. 
 
 The young man and woman walked to the cabin 
 
400 A MAN FOR THE AGES' 
 
 and put their horses in its barn, where they found an 
 abundance of hay and oats. They rapped at the cabin 
 door but got no response. They lifted its latch and 
 entered. 
 
 A table stood in the middle of the room set for two. 
 On its cover of spotless white linen were plates and 
 cups and saucers and a big platter of roasted prairie 
 chickens and a great frosted cake and preserves and 
 jellies and potato salad and a pie and a bottle of cur- 
 rant wine. A clock was ticking on the shelf. There 
 were live embers in the fireplace and wood in the box, 
 and venison hanging in the chimney. 
 
 The young soldier looked about him and smiled. 
 
 "This is wonderful!" he exclaimed. "To whom 
 are we indebted?" 
 
 "You don't think I'd bring you out here on the plains 
 and marry you and not treat you well," Bim laughed. 
 "I warned you that you'd have to take what came and 
 that the hospitality would be simple." 
 
 "It's a noble and benevolent conspiracy that has 
 turned this cabin into a Paradise and brought all this 
 happiness upon me," he said as he kissed her. "I 
 thought it strange that Mr. Nuckles should be on hand 
 at the right moment." 
 
 "The creek was a harder thing to manage," she an- 
 swered with a smile. "I told my messenger to see 
 that the gate of the reservoir was opened at four 
 o'clock. So, you see, you had to marry or swim. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 401 
 
 Now I've made a clean breast of it. I felt sure some- 
 thing would happen before you got back from Mil- 
 waukee. I was plum superstitious about it." 
 
 The young man shook with laughter and said : "You 
 are the new woman born of the democracy of the 
 West." 
 
 "I began to fear that I should be an old woman be- 
 fore I got to be Mrs. Needles." 
 
 "Whose house is this?" he asked in a moment 
 
 "It is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lukins. 
 Their land near Chicago is now used for a cattle yard 
 and slaughter-house and is paying them a good in- 
 come. They moved here some time ago. He looks aft- 
 er the reservoir. Mrs. Lukins i's a famous cook as 
 you will see. We can stay here as long as we want 
 to. We shall find everything we need in the well, 
 the chimney, the butt'ry and the cellar. And here 
 is the wedding supper all ready for us and I as hungry 
 as a bear." 
 
 "In the words of Mrs. Lukins 'it i's very copasetic,' 
 and I begin to feel that I have made some progress in 
 the study of Bim Kelso. Come, let's have our supper." 
 
 "Not until you have broiled a piece of venison. It 
 will take a lot of food to satisfy me. I'll get the cream 
 and butter out of the well and make a pot of coffee. 
 Hurry up, Harry, I'm starving." 
 
 Darkness fell upon the busy lovers and soon the 
 firelight and the glow of many candles filled the homely 
 
402 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 cabin with flickering shadows and a soft beautiful 
 color. 
 
 "Supper is ready," she said, when the venison steak 
 had been deposited on the platter. 
 
 "Bim, I love you not as most men love," he said as 
 they stood a moment by the side of the table. "From 
 the bottom of my heart I do ~espect you for your 
 honor and good faith and when I think of that and of 
 all you have suffered for my sake I bow my head and 
 ask God to make me worthy of such a helper." 
 
 They sat down to this unusual wedding feast and 
 as we leave them the windows of the little cabin fling 
 their light far out upon the level plain; we hear the 
 sound of merry laughter and of the tall grasses 
 rustling and reeling joyously in the breeze. The moon 
 in mid-heaven and the innumerable host around it seem 
 to know what is passing on the edge of the Grand 
 Prairie and to be well pleased. Surely there is nothing 
 that finds a quicker echo in the great heart of the world 
 than human happiness ! 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 BEING A BRIEF MEMOIR BY THE HONORABLE AND VEN- 
 ERABLE MAN KNOWN IN THESE PAGES AS JOSIAH 
 TRAYLOR, WHO SAW THE GREAT PROCESSION OF 
 EVENTS BETWEEN ANDREW JACKSON AND WOOD- 
 ROW WILSON AND ESPECIALLY THE MAKING AND 
 THE END OF LINCOLN. 
 
 Now, as I have done often sitting in the chimney 
 corner at the day's end, I look back at my youth and 
 manhood and tell, with one eye upon the clock, of those 
 years of fulfillment in the progress of our beloved pil- 
 grim. There are four and twenty of them that I shall 
 try to review in as many minutes. At this distance I 
 see only the high places one looming above another 
 like steps in a stairway. 
 
 The years of building and sentiment ended on the 
 fourth of November, 1842, when he and Mary Todd 
 were joined in marriage. Now, like one having taken 
 note of the storm clouds, he strengthens the structure. 
 
 Mary tried to teach him fine manners. It was a 
 difficult undertaking. Often, as might have been ex- 
 pected, she lost her patience. Mary was an excellent 
 girl, but rather kindlesome and pragmatic. Like most 
 
 403 
 
404 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 of the prairie folk, for instance, Abe Lincoln had been 
 accustomed to reach for the butter with his own knife, 
 and to find rest in attitudes extremely indolent and 
 unbecoming. He enjoyed sprawling on the floor in 
 his shirt-sleeves and slippers with a pillow under his 
 head and a book in his hand. He had a liking for ample 
 accommodation not fully satisfied by a bed or a lounge. 
 Mary undertook to turn him into new ways and 
 naturally there was irritation in the house, but I think 
 they got along very well together for all that. Mary 
 grew fond of him and proud of his great talents and 
 was a devoted wife. For years she did the work of the 
 house and bore him children. He milked the cow and 
 took care of the horse when he was at home. 
 
 Annabel and I, having just been married, went with 
 him to Washington on our wedding-tour in 1847. He 
 was taking his seat in Congress that year. We were 
 with him there when he met Webster. Lincoln was 
 deeply impressed by the quiet dignity of the great man. 
 We went together to hear Emerson lecture. It was a 
 motley audience business men, fashionable ladies and 
 gentlemen, statesmen, politicians, women with their 
 knitting, and lion-hunters. The tall, awkward orator 
 ascended the platform, took off his top-coat and drew 
 a manuscript from his pocket. He had a narrow, 
 sloping forehead, a prominent nose, gray eyes and a 
 skin of singular transparency. His voice was rich and 
 mellow but not strong. Lincoln listened with rapt 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 405 
 
 attention to his talk about Democracy. It was a mem- 
 orable night. He spoke of it often. Such contact 
 with the great spirits of that time, of which he studi- 
 ously availed himself in Washington, was of great 
 value to the statesman from Illinois. His experiences 
 on the floor were in no way important to him, but 
 since 1914 I have thought often of what he said there, 
 regarding Folk's invasion of Mexico, unauthorized by 
 Congress as it was : 
 
 "The Provision of the Constitution giving the war- 
 making power to Congress was dictated, as I under- 
 stand it, by the following reasons: kings had always 
 been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, 
 pretending generally that the good of the people was 
 the object. This our convention understood to be the 
 most oppressive of all kingly oppressions and they pro- 
 posed to so frame the constitution that no man should 
 hold the power of bringing this oppression upon wj." 
 
 The next year he stumped Massachusetts for "Zach" 
 Taylor and heard Governor Seward deliver his re- 
 markable speech on Slavery whfch contained this 
 striking utterance : 
 
 "Congress has no power to inhibit any duty com- 
 manded by God on Mount Sinai or by His Son on 
 the Mount of Olives." 
 
 On his return home Lincoln confessed that we had 
 soon to deal with that question. 
 
 I was in his office when Herndon said: 
 
4o6 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 "I tell you that slavery must be rooted out." 
 
 "What makes you think so?" Mr. Lincoln asked. 
 
 "I feel it in my bones," was Herndon's answer. 
 
 After that he used to speak with respect of "Bill 
 Herndon's bone philosophy." 
 
 His term in Congress having 1 ended, he came back 
 to the law in partnership with William H. Herndon a 
 man of character and sound judgment Those days 
 Lincoln wore black trousers, coat and stock, a waistcoat 
 of satin and a Wellington high hat. He was wont to 
 carry his papers in his hat. Mary had wrought a great 
 change in his external appearance. 
 
 They used to call him "a dead square lawyer." I 
 remember that once Herndon had drawn up a fictitious 
 plea founded on a shrewd assumption. Lincoln care- 
 fully examined the papers. 
 
 "Is it founded on fact?" he asked. 
 
 "No," Herndon answered. 
 
 Lincoln scratched his head thoughtfully and asked : 
 
 ""Billy, hadn't we better withdraw that plea? You 
 know it's a sham and generally that's another name 
 for a lie. Don't let it go on record. The cursed thing 
 may come staring us in the face long after this suit 
 has been forgotten." 
 
 On the whole he was not so communicative as he had 
 been in his young manhood. He suffered days of de- 
 pression when he said little. Often, in good company, 
 he seemed to be thinking of things in no way connected 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 407 
 
 with the talk. Many called him a rather "shut-mouthed 
 man." 
 
 Herndon used to say that the only thing he had 
 against Lincoln was his habit of coming in mornings 
 and sprawling on the lounge and reading aloud from 
 the newspaper. 
 
 The people of the town loved him. One day as we 
 were walking along the street together we came upon 
 a girl dressed tip and crying in front of her father's 
 door. 
 
 "What's the matter?" Lincoln asked. 
 
 "I want to take the train and the wagon hasn't come 
 for my trunk," said she. 
 
 Lincoln went in and got the trunk and carried it to 
 the station on his back, with people laughing and 
 throwing jokes at him as he strode along. When I 
 think of him his chivalry and kindness come first to 
 mind. 
 
 He read much, but his days of book study were 
 nearly ended. His learning was now got mostly in the 
 school of experience. Herndon says, and I think it is 
 true, that he never read to the end of a law book those 
 days. The study of authorities was left to the junior 
 partner. His reading was mostly outside the law. His 
 knowledge of science was derived from Chambers's 
 Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. 
 
 He was still afraid of the Abolition Movement in 
 1852 and left town to avoid a convention of its adher- 
 
4o8 M MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 ents. He thought the effort to resist by force the laws 
 of Kansas was criminal and would hurt the cause of 
 freedom. "Let us have peace and revolutionize 
 through the ballot-box," he urged. 
 
 In 1854 a little quarrel in New York began to weave 
 the thread of destiny. Seward, Weed and Greeley had 
 wielded decisive power in the party councils of 
 that state. Seward was a high headed, popu- 
 lar idol. His plans and his triumphant progress 
 absorbed his thought Weed was dazzled by the splen- 
 dor of this great star. Neither gave a thought to their 
 able colleague a poor man struggling to build up a 
 great newspaper. An office, with fair pay, would have 
 been a help to him those days. But he got no recog- 
 nition of his needs and talents and services. Suddenly 
 he wrote a letter to Weed in which he said : 
 
 "The firm of Seward, Weed and Greeley is hereby 
 dissolved by the resignation of its junior member." 
 
 When Greeley had grown in power and wisdom until 
 his name was known and honored from ocean to ocean, 
 they tried to make peace with him, but in vain. 
 
 Then suddenly a new party and a new Lincoln were 
 born on the same day in 1856 at a great meeting in 
 Bloomington, Illinois. There his soul was to come into 
 its stateliest mansion out of its lower vaulted past. For 
 him the fulness of time had arrived. He was prepared 
 for it. His intellect had also reached the fulness of its 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 409 
 
 power. Now his great right hand was ready for the 
 thunderbolts which his spirit had been slowly forging. 
 God called him in the voices of the crowd. He was 
 quick to answer. He went up the steps to the platform. 
 I saw, as he came forward, that he had taken the cross 
 upon him. Oh, it was a memorable thing to see the 
 smothered flame of his spirit leaping into his face. His 
 hands were on his hips. He seemed to grow taller as he 
 advanced. The look of him reminds me now of what 
 the famous bronze founder in Paris said of the death- 
 mask, that it was the most beautiful head and face he 
 had ever seen. What shall I say of his words save that 
 it seemed to me that the voice of God was in them? 
 I never saw an audience so taken up and swept away. 
 The reporters forgot to report. It is a lost speech. 
 There is no record of it. I suppose it was scribbled 
 with a pencil on scraps of paper and on the backs of 
 envelopes at sundry times, agreeably with his habit, and 
 committed to memory. So this great speech, called by 
 some the noblest effort of his life, was never printed. 
 I remember one sentence relating to the Nebraska bill : 
 
 "Let us -use ballots, not bullets, against the \veapons 
 of violence, which are those of kingcraft. Their fruits 
 are the dying bed of the fearless Sumner, the ruins of 
 the Free State Hotel, the smoking timbers of the Her- 
 ald of Freedom, the Governor of Kansas chained to a 
 stake like a horse-thief." 
 
 In June, 1858, he took the longest step of all. The 
 
410 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 Republican State Convention had endorsed him for the 
 United States Senate. It was then that he wrote on 
 envelopes and scraps of paper at odd moments, when 
 his mind was off duty, the speech beginning : 
 
 "A house divided against itself must fall. Our Gov- 
 ernment can not long endure part slave and part 
 free." 
 
 I was among the dozen friends to whom he read 
 that speech in the State House library. One said of 
 those first sentences: "It is a fool utterance." 
 Another: "It is ahead of its time." Another declared 
 that it would drive away the Democrats who had lately 
 joined the party. Herndon and I were the only ones 
 who approved it. 
 
 Lincoln had come to another fork in the road. For 
 a moment I wondered which way he would go. 
 
 Immediately he rose and said with an emphasis that 
 silenced opposition : 
 
 "Friends, this thing has been held back long enough. 
 The time has come when these sentiments should be 
 tittered, and if it is decreed that I shall go down be- 
 cause of this speech, then let me go down linked to 
 the truth." 
 
 His conscience had prevailed. The speech was de- 
 livered. Douglas, the Democratic candidate, came on 
 from Washington to answer it. That led to Lincoln's 
 challenge to a joint debate. I was with him through 
 that long campaign. Douglas was the more finished 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 411 
 
 orator. Lincoln spoke as he split rails. His con- 
 iscience was his beetle. It drove his arguments deep 
 into the souls of his hearers. The great thing about 
 Ihim was his conscience. Unless his theme were big 
 enough to give it play in noble words he could be as 
 commonplace as any one. He was built for a tool of 
 God in tremendous moral issues. He was awkward 
 and diffident in beginning a speech. Often his hands 
 were locked behind him. He gesticulated more with 
 ihis head than his hands. He stood square-toed always. 
 He never walked about on the platform. He scored 
 his points with the long, bony, index finger of his right 
 hand. Sometimes he would hang a hand on the lapel 
 of his coat as if to rest it. Perspiration dripped from 
 his face. His voice, high pitched at first, mellowed 
 into a pleasant sound. 
 
 One sentence in Lincoln's speech at Ottawa thrust 
 "The Little Giant" of Illinois out of his way forever. 
 It was this pregnant query : 
 
 "Can the people of a United States territory in any 
 lawful way and against the wish of any citizen of the 
 United States exclude slavery from its limits prior to 
 the formation of a state constitution ?" 
 
 He knew that Douglas would answer yes and that, 
 doing so, he would alienate the South and destroy his 
 chance to be President two years later. That is ex- 
 actly what came to pass. "The Little Giant's" answer 
 was the famous "Freeport Heresy." He was elected to 
 
412 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 the Senate but was no longer possible as a candidate 
 for the Presidency. 
 
 I come now to the last step in the career of my 
 friend and beloved master. It was the Republican con- 
 vention of 1860 in Chicago. I was a delegate. The 
 New Yorkers came in white beaver hats enthusiastic 
 for Seward, their favorite son. He was the man we 
 dreaded most. Many in the great crowd were wearing 
 his colors. The delegations were in earnest session the 
 night before the balloting began. The hotel corridors 
 were thronged with excited men. My father had be- 
 come a man of wealth and great influence in Illinois. 
 I was with him when he went into the meeting of the 
 Michigan delegates and talked to them. He told how 
 he came West in a wagon and saw the spirit of America 
 in the water floods of Niagara and went on to the 
 cabin village of New Salem and saw again the spirit 
 of America i'n the life of the boy, Abe Lincoln, then 
 flowing toward its manhood. When he sat down the 
 Honorable Dennis Flanagan arose and told of meeting 
 the Traylor party at the Falls when he was driving 
 an ox-team, in a tall beaver hat ; how he had remem- 
 bered their good advice and cookies and jerked venison. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, "I am willing to take the word 
 of a man whose name is hallowed by my dearest recol- 
 lections. And believing what he has said of Abraham 
 Lincoln I am for him on the second ballot." 
 
 The green Irish lad, whom I remember dimly, had 
 
A MAN FORTTHE AGES 413 
 
 become a great political chieftain and his words had 
 much effect. There was a stir among the delegates. I 
 turned and saw the tall form of Horace Greeley enter- 
 ing the door. His big, full face looked rather serious. 
 He wore gold-bowed spectacles. He was smooth- 
 shaven save for the silken, white, throat beard that 
 came out from under his collar. Hi3 head was bald on 
 top with soft, silvered locks over each ear. He was a 
 picturesque and appealing figure. They called on him 
 to speak. He stepped forward and said slowly in a 
 high-pitched drawl : 
 
 "Gentlemen, this is my speech: On your second 
 ballot vote for Abraham Lincoln of Illinois." 
 
 He bowed and left the room and visited many dele- 
 gations, and everywhere expressed hi's convictions in 
 this formula. Backed by his tremendous personality 
 and influence the simple words were impressive. I 
 doubt not they turned scores of men from Seward to 
 the great son of Illinois. 
 
 Then the campaign with its crowds, its enthusiasm, 
 its Vesuvian mutterings. There was a curious touch 
 of humor and history in its banners. Here are three 
 of them : 
 
 "Menard County for the Tall Sucker." 
 
 "We are for old Abe the Giant-Killer." 
 
 "Link on to Lincoln." 
 
 Then those last days in Springfield. 
 
 He came to the office the afternoon before he left 
 
414 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 and threw himself on the lounge and talked of bygone 
 days with Herndon. 
 
 "Billy, how long have we been together?" he asked. 
 
 "Sixteen years." 
 
 "Never a cross word." 
 
 "Never." 
 
 "Keep the old sign hanging. A little thing like the 
 election of a President should make no change in the 
 firm of Lincoln and Herndon, If I live I'm coming 
 back some time and then we'll go right on with the 
 practice of the law as if nothing had happened." 
 
 Then that Monday morning in Springfield when at 
 eight o'clock on the eleventh of February the train bore 
 him toward the great task of his life. Hannah Arm- 
 strong, who had foxed his trousers in New Salem, and 
 the venerable Doctor Allen and the Brimsteads, and 
 Aleck Ferguson, bent with age, and Harry Needles 
 and Bim and their four handsome children, and my 
 father and mother, and Betsey, my maiden sister, and 
 Eli Fredenberg were there in the crowd to bid him 
 good-by. 
 
 A quartet sang. Mr. Lincoln asked his friends and 
 neighbors to pray for his success. He was moved by 
 the sight of them and could not have said much if he 
 had tried. The bell rang. The train started. He 
 waved his hand and was gone. Not many of us who 
 stood trying to see through our tears were again tc 
 look upon him. The years of preparation were ended 
 and those of sacrifice had begun. 
 
A MAN FOR THE AGES 415 
 
 Now, we are at the foot of the last hill. For a long 
 time I had seen it looming in the distance. Those days 
 it filled my heart with a great fear. Now, how beauti- 
 ful, how lonely it seems ! Oh, but what a vineyard on 
 that very fruitful hill ! I speak low when I think of it. 
 Harry Needles and I were on our way to Wash- 
 ington that fateful night of April 14, 1865. We 
 reached there at an early hour in the morning. We 
 made our way through the crowded streets to the little 
 house opposite Ford's Theatre. An officer who knew 
 me cleared a way for us to the door. Reporters, states- 
 men, citizens and their families were massed in the 
 street waiting with tear-stained faces for the end. 
 Some of them were sobbing as we passed. We were 
 admitted without delay. A minister and the doctor 
 sat by the bedside. The latter held an open watch in 
 his hand. I could hear it ticking the last moments in 
 an age of history. What a silence as the great soul of 
 my friend was "breaking camp to go home." Friends 
 of the family and members of the Cabinet were in the 
 room. Through the open door of a room beyond I 
 saw Mrs. Lincoln and the children and others. We 
 looked at our friend lying on the bed. His kindly face 
 was pale and haggard. He breathed faintly and at 
 long intervals. His end was near. 
 
 "Poor Abe!" Harry whispered as he looked down at 
 him. "He has had to die on the cross." 
 
 To most of those others Lincoln was the great states- 
 man. Jo Harry he was still the beloved Abe who had 
 
416 A MAN FOR THE AGES 
 
 shared his fare and his hardships in many a long, weary 
 way. 
 
 The doctor put his ear against the breast of the 
 dying man. There was a moment in which we could 
 hear the voices in the street. The doctor rose and 
 said: "He is gone." 
 
 Secretary Stanton, who more than once had spoken 
 lightly of him, came to the bedside and tenderly closed 
 the eyes of his master, saying : 
 
 "Now, he belongs to the ages." 
 
 We went out of the door. The sound of mourning 
 was in the streets. A dozen bells were tolling. On 
 the corner of Tenth Street a quartet of negroes was 
 singing that wonderful prayer : 
 
 "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me 
 home." 
 
 One of them, whose rich, deep bass thrilled me and 
 all who heard it, was Roger Wentworth, the fugitive, 
 who had come to our house with Bim, in the darkness 
 of the night, long before. 
 
 THE END 
 
A Man for the Ages 
 
 When Abraham Lincoln 
 closed his eyes for the last 
 time, Secretary Stanton, who 
 stood at his bedside, said, "He 
 was a man for the ages. And 
 the years have proved him 
 right. Lincoln today is the 
 greatest and the livest figure 
 in our history. Around him 
 Mr. Bacheller has woven his 
 story, around him he has 
 placed a great cast of charac- 
 ters sturdy pioneers, men 
 and women, young and old, 
 black and white, rough and 
 gentle, wayward and upright 
 among whom Honest Abe 
 walks with lifted head his ap- 
 pointed way slowly, steadily 
 out of obscurity into the great 
 white light that beats about the 
 born leader. Jl Man for the 
 j4ges is a wonderfully beauti- 
 ful and moving story in which 
 we are given a full view of 
 the heart and soul of the great 
 Emancipator. Lincoln is so 
 alive with his own great and 
 beneficent humanity in this tale 
 ambition, wisdom, humor, 
 shrewdness, charity its 
 many characters are so real 
 and convincing that any 
 attempt to epitomize the book 
 is hopeless. 
 
 Jl Man for the j4ges is a piece 
 of literature in which the 
 interest never falters. 
 
Alt +U Tfl++^o W^^o^o -EP GEORGE AGNEW 
 
 All the Jving S rlorses CHAMBERLAIN 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain was until very recently Consul-General of the United States at Maxico 
 City and this novel is based on facts. 
 
 Cloth, 12 mo. PRICE #1.75. 
 
 The Passionate Pilgrim 
 
 Author of the Honey Bee, Henry Is Twenty, etc., etc. 
 
 "Samuel Merwin aims to tell an absorbing story. He does. He gets away with it 
 absolutely." New York Sun. 
 
 Cloth, 12 mo, Illustrated by Stockton Mulford. PRICE #1.75 NET. 
 
 Leave it to Doris HUN 
 
 Author of Prudence of the Parsonage, Prudence Says So, Sunny Slopes, etc. 
 When you say that Ethel Hueston's new story is better than her Prudence of the Parsonage, 
 you have said something. 
 
 Illustrated by W. B. King. #1.50 NET. 
 
 The Ivory Trail 
 
 Author of King of the Khyber Rifles, Winds of the World, etc. 
 
 A thrilling adventure story in the African Jungle of the search for Tippoo Tib's treasure, 
 worth #200,000,000. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo, Illustrated by Joseph Clement Coll. PRICE #1.75 NET. 
 
 Life Can Never Be the Same MAXWELL 
 
 Author of The Devil's Garden, The Mirror and the Lamp, etc. 
 
 Stories of the war at home and in the trenches, told in swift, vivid language and bursting 
 with actuality. Cloth, 12mo. PRICE #1.75 NET. 
 
 Spanish Doubloons ^ CAMILLA 
 
 h for pirate treasure, led by a show-me An 
 ense of humor. 
 Cloth, 12mo, Illustrated by Louis Rogers. PRICE #1.50 NET. 
 
 A 1919 search for pirate treasure, led by a show-me American girl with a rollicking and 
 uncontrollable sense of humor. 
 
 C+^~K+,^r By JULIET WILBOR 
 
 Marling TOMPKINS 
 
 Author of The Seed of the Righteous, A Cjirl Named Mary, etc. 
 
 "One of those tender, human books that keep the hearts of readers warm with human 
 understanding." Philadelphia Press. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo, Illustrated. PRICE #1.50 NET. 
 
 Tlio Rliio Moon ^> DAVID 
 1 ne JDiue ivioon ANDERSON 
 
 A romance of the Wabash flats, crowded with action, mystery and drama. 
 PRICE #1.60 NET.