y during the campaign he had a long talk with Major John T.
Stuart. Major Stuart had been Abe's commander in the Black Hawk War. He
was now a lawyer in Springfield, a larger town twenty miles away.

"Why don't you study law?" he asked.

Abe pursed his lips. "I'd sure like to," he drawled; then added with a
grin: "But I don't know if I have enough sense."

Major Stuart paid no attention to this last remark. "You have been
reading law for pleasure," he went on. "Now go at it in earnest. I'll
lend you the books you need."

This was a chance that Abe could not afford to miss. Every few days he
walked or rode on horseback to Springfield to borrow another volume.
Sometimes he read forty pages on the way home. He was twenty-five years
old, and there was no time to waste.

Meanwhile he was making many speeches. He asked the voters in his part
of Illinois to elect him to the legislature which made the laws for the
state. They felt that "Honest Abe" was a man to be trusted and he was
elected.

Late in November Abe boarded the stagecoach for the ride to Vandalia,
then the capital of the state. He looked very dignified in a new suit
and high plug hat. In the crowd that gathered to tell him good-by, he
could see many of his friends. There stood Coleman Smoot who had lent
him money to buy his new clothes. Farther back he could see Mr. Rutledge
and Ann, Hannah and Jack Armstrong, Mentor Graham, and others who had
encouraged and helped him. And now he was on his way to represent them
in the legislature. There was a chorus of "Good-by, Abe."

Then, like an echo, the words came again in Ann's high, sweet voice:
"Good-by, Abe!" He leaned far out the window and waved.

He was thinking of Ann as the coach rolled over the rough road. He was
thinking also of Sarah. If only she could see him now, he thought, as he
glanced at the new hat resting on his knee.

[Illustration]

14

[Illustration]

The Legislature met for several weeks at a time. Between sessions, Abe
worked at various jobs in New Salem and read his law books. Most of his
studying was done early in the morning and late at night. He still found
time to see a great deal of Ann Rutledge, and something of her gentle
sweetness was to live on forever in his heart. After Ann died, he tried
to forget his grief by studying harder than ever.

The year that he was twenty-eight he took his examination, and was
granted a lawyer's license. He decided to move to Springfiel