d, which had
recently been made the capital of the state.

It was a cold March day when he rode into this thriving little town. He
hitched his horse to the hitching rack in the public square and entered
one of the stores. Joshua Speed, the owner, a young man about Abe's age,
looked up with a friendly smile.

"Howdy, Abe," he said. "So you are going to be one of us?"

"I reckon so," Abe answered. "Say, Speed, I just bought myself a
bedstead. How much would it cost me for a mattress and some pillows and
blankets?"

Joshua took a pencil from behind his ear. He did some figuring on a
piece of paper. "I can fix you up for about seventeen dollars."

Abe felt the money in his pocket. He had only seven dollars. His horse
was borrowed, and he was still a thousand dollars in debt. Joshua saw
that he was disappointed. He had heard Abe make speeches, and Abe was
called one of the most promising young men in the legislature. Joshua
liked him and wanted to know him better.

"Why don't you stay with me, until you can do better?" he suggested. "I
have a room over the store and a bed big enough for two."

A grin broke over Abe's homely features. "Good!" he said. "Where is it?"

"You'll find some stairs over there behind that pile of barrels. Go on
up and make yourself at home."

Abe enjoyed living with Joshua Speed, and he enjoyed living in
Springfield. He soon became as popular as he had once been in Pigeon
Creek and in New Salem. As the months and years went by, more and more
people came to him whenever they needed a lawyer to advise them. For a
long time he was poor, but little by little he paid off his debts. With
his first big fee he bought a quarter section of land for his stepmother
who had been so good to him.

The part of his work that Abe liked best was "riding the circuit." In
the spring and again in the fall, he saddled Old Buck, his horse, and
set out with a judge and several other lawyers to visit some of the
towns close by. These towns "on the circuit" were too small to have law
courts of their own. In each town the lawyers argued the cases and the
judge settled the disputes that had come up during the past six months.

After supper they liked to gather at the inn to listen to Abe tell funny
stories. "I laughed until I shook my ribs loose," said one dignified
judge.

The other lawyers often teased Abe. "You ought to charge your clients
more money," they said, "or you will always be as poor as Job's turkey."