ent home money saved from his salary to be
applied on these obligations. All the notes, with interest at the high
rates then prevailing, were at last paid.

With a single exception Lincoln's creditors seem to have been lenient.
One of the notes given by him came into the hands of a Mr. Van Bergen,
who, when it fell due, brought suit. The amount of the judgment was
more than Lincoln could pay, and his personal effects were levied
upon. These consisted of his horse, saddle and bridle, and surveying
instruments. James Short, a well-to-do farmer living on Sand Ridge a
few miles north of New Salem, heard of the trouble which had befallen
his young friend. Without advising Lincoln of his plans he attended
the sale, bought in the horse and surveying instruments for one
hundred and twenty dollars, and turned them over to their former
owner.

[Illustration: STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.

Lincoln's first meeting with Douglas occurred at the State capital,
Vandalia, in the winter of 1834-35, when Lincoln was serving his first
term in the legislature, and Douglas was an applicant for the office
of State attorney for the first judicial district of Illinois.]

Lincoln never forgot a benefactor. He not only repaid the money with
interest, but nearly thirty years later remembered the kindness in a
most substantial way. After Lincoln left New Salem financial reverses
came to James Short, and he removed to the far West to seek his
fortune anew. Early in Lincoln's presidential term he heard that
"Uncle Jimmy" was living in California. One day Mr. Short received a
letter from Washington, D.C. Tearing it open, he read the gratifying
announcement that he had been commissioned an Indian agent.

THE KINDNESS SHOWN LINCOLN IN NEW SALEM.

The kindness of Mr. Short was not exceptional in Lincoln's New
Salem career. When the store had "winked out," as he put it, and the
post-office had been left without headquarters, one of his neighbors,
Samuel Hill, invited the homeless postmaster into his store. There was
hardly a man or woman in the community who would not have been glad
to do as much. It was a simple recognition on their part of Lincoln's
friendliness to them. He was what they called "obliging"--a man who
instinctively did the thing which he saw would help another, no matter
how trivial or homely it was. In the home of Rowan Herndon, where he
had boarded when he first came to the town, he had made himself loved
by his care of the children. "He