e Lincoln's friend
after this, and remained so to the end of his life.

His scrupulous honesty won for him in the New Salem community the title
of "Honest Abe," a title which is still affectionately applied to him.
On one occasion, having by mistake overcharged a customer six and a
quarter cents, he walked three miles after the store was closed in
order to restore the customer's money. At another time, in weighing tea
for a woman, he used a quarter-pound instead of a half-pound weight.
When he went to use the scales again, he discovered his mistake, and
promptly walked a long distance to deliver the remainder of the tea.

Lincoln's determination to improve himself continued to be the leading
object of his life. He said once to his fellow-clerk in the store, "I
have talked with great men, and I do not see how they differ from
others." His observation had taught him that the great difference in
men's positions was not due so much to one having more talents or being
more highly gifted than another, but rather to the way in which one
cultivated his talent or talents and another neglected his.

Up to this time he had not made a study of grammar, but he realized
that if he were to speak in public he must learn to speak
grammatically. He had no grammar, and did not know where to get one. In
this dilemma he consulted the schoolmaster of New Salem, who told him
where and from whom he could borrow a copy of Kirkham's Grammar. The
place named was six miles from New Salem. But that was nothing to a
youth so hungry for an education as Lincoln. He immediately started for
the residence of the fortunate people who owned a copy of Kirkham's
Grammar. The book was loaned to him without hesitation. In a short time
its contents were mastered, the student studying at night by the light
of shavings burned in the village cooper's shop. "Well," said Lincoln
to Greene, his fellow-clerk, when he had turned over the last page of
the grammar, "if that's what they call a science, I think I'll go at
another." The conquering of one thing after another, the thorough
mastery of whatever he undertook to do, made the next thing easier of
accomplishment than it would otherwise have been. In order to practice
debating he used to walk seven or eight miles to debating clubs. No
labor or trouble seemed too great to him if by it he could increase his
knowledge or add to his acquirements. No matter how hard or exhausting
his work, whether it was rail splitting