y and its speakers in a most ludicrous
position in respect to the question being considered, and gave him a
most favorable hearing for the arguments he later made in support of
the measures he was sustaining."

[Illustration: JOSHUA F. SPEED AND WIFE.

From a painting by Healy, owned by Mrs, Joshua F. Speed of Louisville,
Kentucky, and reproduced here by permission. Joshua F. Speed was a
Kentuckian. At the time Lincoln went to Springfield he was one of the
leading merchants of the town, and it was he who befriended the young
lawyer on his arrival (see MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE for March). Towards
the end of 1840 Mr. Speed sold his store, and soon after returned to
Louisville. At his urgent invitation Lincoln visited him in the
summer of 1841. He seems not to have gone back with Speed, as many
biographers have stated, for in a letter of June 19, 1841, to Speed,
Lincoln says: "I stick to my promise to come to Louisville." He seems,
too, to have stayed a much shorter time than has frequently been
stated, for he wrote back to Speed's sister, on September 27th, of his
safe arrival in Springfield. The letters quoted from in this article
were given by Speed himself to Mr. Herndon to publish in his "Life of
Lincoln." Mr. Herndon turned them over to Lamon, who used them in his
volume published in 1872. Joshua Speed and Lincoln remained intimate
friends through life. Although they differed radically in 1855 on the
policy to be pursued in regard to slavery, Lincoln, in writing Speed
a long letter explaining his views, closes: "And yet let me say I am
your friend forever."]

LINCOLN'S ENGAGEMENT TO MISS TODD.

Lincoln had been busy with politics and law in the years since he left
New Salem, but he had by no means neglected the social side of life.
Indeed, he had gone so far as to become engaged to be married to
one of the favorite young women of Springfield, Miss Mary Todd, the
sister-in-law of one of his political friends, a member of the "Long
Nine" and a prominent citizen, Ninian W. Edwards.

[Illustration: MARY TODD LINCOLN.

From a carbon enlargement, by Sherman and McHugh of New York, of
a photograph by Brady. Mary Todd was born in Lexington, Kentucky,
December 13, 1818. Her mother died when she was young, and she
was educated at one of the best-known schools of the State--Madame
Mantelli's. She remained there some four years, and as the school was
conducted entirely in French, she spoke the language fluently. She was
afte