n refusing legal aid to a cause he disapproved.
Coming into court he discovered suddenly some fact about his case which
was new to him but which would probably not have justified an English
barrister in throwing up his brief. The case was called; he was
absent; the judge sent to his hotel and got back a message: "Tell the
judge I'm washing my hands." One client received advice much to this
effect: "I can win your case; I can get you $600. I can also make an
honest family miserable. But I shall not take your case, and I shall
not take your fee. One piece of advice I will give you gratis: Go home
and think seriously whether you cannot make $600 in some honest way."
And this habit of mind was beyond his control. Colleagues whom he was
engaged to assist in cases agreed that if a case lost his sympathy he
became helpless and useless in it. This, of course, was not the way to
make money; but he got along and won a considerable local position at
the bar, for his perfect honesty in argument and in statement of fact
was known to have won the confidence of the judges, and a difficult
case which he thought was right elicited the full and curious powers of
his mind. His invective upon occasion was by all accounts terrific.
An advocate glanced at Lincoln's notes for his speech, when he was
appearing against a very heartless swindler and saw that they concluded
with the ominous words, "Skin Defendant." The vitriolic outburst which
occurred at the point thus indicated seems to have been long remembered
by the Illinois bar. To a young man who wished to be a lawyer yet
shrunk from the profession lest it should necessarily involve some
dishonesty Lincoln wrote earnestly and wisely, showing him how false
his impression of the law was, but concluding with earnest entreaty
that he would not enter the profession if he still had any fear of
being led by it to become a knave.

One of his cases is interesting for its own sake, not for his part in
it. He defended without fee the son of his old foe and friend Jack
Armstrong, and of Hannah, who mended his breeches, on a charge of
murder. Six witnesses swore that they had seen him do the deed about
11 P.M. on such and such a night. Cross-examined: They saw it all
quite clearly; they saw it so clearly because of the moonlight. The
only evidence for the defence was an almanac. There had been no moon
that night. Another case is interesting for his sake. Two young men
set up in a farm