the stairway. The latter entered the room of the sick girl. The woman
closed the door. Ann Rutledge was alone with her lover. There were none
who knew what happened in that solemn hour save the two--one of whom was
on the edge of eternity, and the other was never to speak of it. The only
record of that hour is to be found in the face and spirit of a great man.

Years later Samson wrote in a letter.

* * * * *

"I saw Abe when he came out of the tavern that day. He was not the Abe we
had all known. He was different. There were new lines in his face. It was
sorrowful. His steps were slow. He had passed out of his young manhood.
When I spoke to him, he answered with that gentle dignity now so familiar
to all who know him. From that hour he was Abraham Lincoln."

* * * * *

Ann passed away before the month ended and became, like many of her kind,
an imperishable memory. In her presence the spirit of the young man had
received such a baptism that henceforward, taking thought of her, he was
to love purity and all cleanness, and no Mary who came to his feet with
tears and ointment was ever to be turned away.

CHAPTER XVI

WHEREIN YOUNG MR. LINCOLN SAFELY PASSES TWO GREAT DANGER POINTS AND TURNS
INTO THE HIGHWAY OF HIS MANHOOD.

For days thereafter the people of New Salem were sorely troubled. Abe
Lincoln, the ready helper in time of need, the wise counselor, the friend
of all--"old and young, dogs and horses," as Samson was wont to say--the
pride and hope of the little cabin village, was breaking down under his
grief. He seemed to care no more for work or study or friendship. He
wandered out in the woods and upon the prairies alone. Many feared that
he would lose his reason.

There was a wise and merry-hearted man who lived a mile or so from the
village. His name was Bowlin Green. Every one on Salem Hill and in the
country round about it laid claim to the friendship of this remarkable
man. Those days when one of middle age had established himself in the
affections of a community, its members had a way of adopting him. So
Mr. Green had been adopted into many families from Beardstown to
Springfield. He was everybody's "Uncle Bowlin." He had a most unusual
circumference and the strength to carry it. He was indeed a man of
extended boundaries, embracing noble gifts, the best of which was good
nature. His jests, his loud laughter and his quaking circum