ixon with me in the saddle. Bim had just got back to
her work. She was distressed by the news of Harry's condition.

"'I fear he has got his death-blow,' she said with a sad look in her
face. 'I had hoped that we could be married this autumn. But something
comes between us always. First it was my folly and now it is his folly.
It seems as if we hadn't sense enough to get married when there's nothing
in the way of it.'

"She told me that Eliphalet Biggs had been there. He had heard of the boy
and wished to see him and demanded to know where he was. For fear that
Biggs would try to get possession of 'Mr. Nimble' I took him with me to
Springfield in the saddle.

"I learn that Davis has recovered his health and left the city. A man can
not do business without friends and after the trial Chicago was no place
for him."

CHAPTER XXIII

WHICH PRESENTS THE PLEASANT COMEDY OF INDIVIDUALISM IN THE NEW CAPITAL,
AND THE COURTSHIP OF LINCOLN AND MARY TODD.

Samson, with "Mr. Nimble" on a pad stuffed with straw in front of him,
jogged across the prairies and waded the creeks and sloughs on his way to
Springfield. The little lad was in his fourth year that summer. He slept
and talked much on the way and kept Samson busy with queries about the
sky and the creeks and the great flowery meadows. They camped the first
night in a belt of timber and Samson writes that the boy "slept snug
against me with his head on my arm. He went to sleep crying for his
mother." He adds:

* * * * *

"It reminded me of the old days of my young fatherhood. 'Mr. Nimble'
wanted to pick all the the flowers and splash his bare feet in every
stream. In the evening he would talk to the stars as if he were playing
with them. To him the whole world is a plaything. He is like some of the
grown folks in Chicago. He would sit hanging on to the reins and talk to
the horse and to God by the hour. He used to tell me that God was a
friend of his and I think he was right. It was good luck to get back to
Sarah and the children. They took the little stranger into their hearts.
'Heart room, house room' is the motto of this part of the country."

* * * * *

It was a new town to which Samson returned. The Governor and the state
officers had moved to Springfield. The new Capitol was nearing
completion. The hard times which had followed the downfall of '37
had unjustly diminished Mr. Lincoln's confiden