leisure for study. Offut, his former employer, had failed and cleared
out. The young giant regarded thoughtfully the scanty opportunities of
the village. He could hurl his great strength into the ax-head and make
a good living but he had learned that such a use of it gave him a better
appetite for sleep than study.

John McNeil, who for a short time had shared his military adventures, had
become a partner of Samuel Hill in a store larger and better stocked than
any the village had known. But Hill and McNeil had no need of a clerk.
Rowan Herndon and William Berry--he of the morning-glory shirt--had
opened a general store. Mr. Herndon offered to sell his interest to Abe
and take notes for his pay. It was not a proposition that promised
anything but loss. The community was small and there were three other
stores and there was no other "Bill" Berry, who was given to drink and
dreams as Abe knew. He was never offensive. Drink begat in Bill Berry a
benevolent form of intemperance. It imparted to him a feeling of pity for
the human race and a deep sense of obligation to it. In his cups he
acquired a notable generosity and politeness. In the words of Jack Kelso
he was then "as placid as a mill pond and as full of reflection." He had
many friends and no one had questioned his honesty.

Abe Lincoln had not been trained to weigh the consequences of a business
enterprise. The store would give him leisure for study and New Salem
could offer him nothing else save consuming toil with the axe or the saw.
He could not think of leaving the little cabin village. There were Ann
Rutledge and Jack Kelso and Samson Traylor and Harry Needles. Every
ladder climber in the village and on the plain around it was his friend.

Upon these people who knew and respected him Abe Lincoln based his hopes.
Among them he had found his vision and failure had not diminished or
dimmed it. He would try again for a place in which he could serve them
and if he could learn to serve Sangamon County he could learn to serve
the state and, possibly, even the Republic. With this thought and a
rather poor regard for his own interest his name fell into bad company
on the sign board of Berry and Lincoln. Before he took his place in the
store he walked to Springfield and borrowed a law book from his friend
Major Stuart.

The career of the firm began on a hot day late in August with Bill Berry
smoking his pipe in a chair on the little veranda of the store and Abe
Linco