Abraham Lincoln's Early Days

I have read witU great interest the account of the early days of Mr. Lincoln at Salem. Salem at that (lay could well bfl kivl.'il iareth of Illinois. I was tlieu living in Irish Geone, twenty miles aonii of Springtield, and vè had to go to Salem to mili In the dry season, and to have our wool made into rolls; the womeiithen spun and wove the clothes lor the family. Salem was scttled by Kentuckians, from tlie Green Uiver country, mostly from Harren and QreeD couuties; they were hardshell forty gallon Bapttets. and at that time the most numcrous religious body in the state. They were Opposed to Suuday ¦choola, Iiible sooieties, or the payment of any .-alary to the minister. Tlieir Saturdays were devoted entirely to shooting matches and hone recing, dfversified a littlc with cock and dog lilits, and it was rare indeed that a Saturaay passed that there was no list flgbtl In Salem, :unl. according to the rules of the Salem ring, biting and ouging were not prohibited. The eomimmity was not without men who liad lost hu eye, ear, or Ingerta tlieir Rentucky or Salem encounlers, and it wns said that tlie woinen wonld bel the sjiianing of so mueli yarn on the rosults eE approachnx lights. It was by no nieaiis a rare tliiiiit to see brnlaed 'taces at ehroh on Suiulays. 'THE Cl.AUVS IMIIIVK M A few miles from Salem was ('laiv's t;ro, M'tll.-dby New.lersey Piesliylerian-, a wealtliv aml pnwperoog settlemeut. At Clarjri Grove there was a Presbyterian church and a itroBg temperante so nnd it happened tfaal one of the memben "''tlie Salem Baptist ehureli II ved inClarv's '¦i"v;, ttluj )le jone(i t)le temperanci Clety thfr. , i-.,. uk 11 nr vas rtrraigniHl i liis elmieh, and it (0 happened tliat the (lay that he was tiied bv the church that Deacon Green was also under trial, the one for joining a temperance society, the other for lightin. The tempéranos man was turnea out, and Deaeon (reen was kept in - tlie one oonfeated his fault, the other did not. , Tliis is the society in which Mr. Lincoln pent several years of bis Hfe, and jnst at a time whi-n lil'e's eharaetei is tbrmed, and I tliink t issafe tosay tiiat wbat Mr. Lincoln learned of human nature duriiiir that time contiibuted largely to MgTand character tliroiifíli lite. While he was nut mie ot lhc-e rough people, they wore his Menda, without guile or deceiti LhrOttgh life tliey wcre hi?, frienils without the hope ut reward, himply becaose lie ni humane, honest, truthfiil, and just. xii n air. uiucotu a ariër ure e liever lost sight of th; diSereiio between the friendthlp of the tyrannical, telfUh, tradlag, and IrcHclieroiis "society" and the bonett, toiling, rouj:li uiaaaeg who love honesty and hate roguery. Hu was of the people. In is:-j Mr. r.in.-.i.. .fiuuuiwi ,1 ¦ roiiipany u theBlackhawk war, and dnrlng the campaign made the acquaintance of iiianv cltlzensof thecounty belongingto the comniand. In 1834 he was a CANDIDATK FOR THE LEÜISLATI BZ. At that time Sangamon county embraced most of what tonow Can eoanty, all tí Masón, Menard, Logan, Chrtotun. and most, if not all, of Dewitt. The county was then entltled to four niembers in the lowcr house. Mr. Lincoln wag then probably not wortli $100 in the world, had never made a public speech, and iio was not able to muke a canvass of that gret county and made none, but that personal magnetism that attached him to all honest men found frlends all over the county who had cither met him during the Blaokhawk campaign or at his Salem home, who atleiided the election precineU as active supporters. Theelectlon was on the lirst Mon day in August and Mr. Lincoln's majoiity was souie 700 votes above any other candi date, while outside of üie Salem precinct not onv voter out of fifty had ever Been him. I rode foarteen miles to tbe Lake Fork piicinct. near the present town of Lincoln, and got to the precinct before the polls were opened, and Ulied up every ticket that was voted except three, and got Mr. Imcoln's name qu -y ""¦ mail tilled up jrivi-a ¦¦muIuh votes at the pre,.,,. Vifat was before the day that "Canada I'o'k" and Douglas had inauguratcd the caucus system ra the state. NOMINATED FOB SKNATOU. Twenty-eight years later the repablteaa state convention nominatcd Mr. Lineóla for United States senator, the first and last nomination of United Mates senator by a state conventlotl ot' a man not then In the MMiatr, and tliis was done when the statewas full of other great men, pets of the republiran party. Douglas was then in Washington. He had there a halfbrothcr - Judge Granger- in the interior departinent. Judge Charles Masón, of Iowa, was then commissioner of patents. Mason said to Dranger that the selection of Lincoln for the senate by the state convention would niake the race easy for Douglas, as it would doubUesi oflend other republii Üranger said, "No, Douglas does not ttiiuk so; he would farrather fightthe field than Linciiln. "and no man knew Lincoln's power li the people better than did Douglas. Doogtal Ml at OOOe for Illinois witli ampie meani to make the fight, and no contest In tbe Dniled Stotes ever equaled that of 1868 batween Lincoln and Dougla, in uie aWl iiy it tbe speaker and excitement on the pari o! the people. Whenevi-r citlier of tlicm spoko the whole popalatkm, men. imiii m, nml children tuined out to hear them and at the joint debate, the peopU froni the adjoining states flocked to hcar thein by car and by stcanihoats. No other such man has livêd in tbia generation as Abraham Lincoln. 1I pusses.sed fcrmow than the ordlnary human nature