political machine. Mr. Seward had brought his machine
from New York,--a legion prepared to fill the Wigwam with their bodies,
and to drown with their cries all names save that of their master.

Stephen indeed had his eyes opened. Through the kindness of Judge
Whipple he heard many quiet talks between that gentleman and delegates
from other states--Pennsylvania and Illinois and Indiana and elsewhere.
He perceived that the Judge was no nonentity in this new party.
Mr. Whipple sat in his own room, and the delegates came and ranged
themselves along the bed. Late one night, when the delegates were gone,
Stephen ventured to speak what was in his mind.

"Mr. Lincoln did not strike me as the kind of man, sir; who would permit
a bargain."

"Mr. Lincoln's at home playing barn-ball," said the Judge, curtly. "He
doesn't expect the nomination."

"Then," said Stephen, rather hotly, "I think you are unfair to him."

You are expecting the Judge to thunder. Sometimes he liked this kind of
speech.

"Stephen, I hope that politics may be a little cleaner when you become
a delegate," he answered, with just the suspicion of a smile. "Supposing
you are convinced that Abraham Lincoln is the only man who can save the
Union, and supposing that the one way to get him nominated is to meet
Seward's gang with their own methods, what would you do, sir? I want
a practical proposition, sir," said Mr. Whipple, "one that we can use
to-night. It is now one 'clock."

As Stephen was silent, the Judge advised him to go to bed. And the next
morning, while Mr. Seward's henchmen, confident and uproarious, were
parading the streets of Chicago with their bands and their bunting, the
vast Wigwam was quietly filling up with bony Westerners whose ally was
none other than the state of Pennsylvania. These gentlemen possessed
wind which they had not wasted in processions. And the Lord delivered
Seward and all that was his into their hands.

How the light of Mr. Seward's hope went out after the first ballot,
and how some of the gentlemen attached to his person wept; and how the
voices shook the Wigwam, and the thunder of the guns rolled over the
tossing water of the lake, many now living remember. That day a name was
delivered to the world through the mouths political schemers which was
destined to enter history that of the saviour of the Nation.

Down in little Springfield, on a vacant lot near the station, a tall
man in his shirt sleeves was playing barn-ba