he could not sit
upon it--flax and tow linen pantaloons, and a straw hat. I think he wore
a vest, but do not remember how it looked. He wore pot metal (top)
boots.

"His maiden effort on the stump was a speech on the occasion of a public
sale at Pappyville, a village eleven miles from Springfield. After the
sale was over and speechmaking had begun, a fight--a 'general fight' as
one of the bystanders relates--ensued, and Lincoln, noticing one of his
friends about to succumb to the attack of an infuriated ruffian,
interposed to prevent it. He did so most effectually. Hastily descending
from the rude platform, he edged his way through the crowd, and seizing
the bully by the neck and the seat of his trousers, threw him by means
of his great strength and long arms, as one witness stoutly insists,
'twelve feet away.' Returning to the stand, and throwing aside his hat,
he inaugurated his campaign with the following brief and juicy
declaration:

"'Fellow-Citizens: I presume you all know who I am. I am humble Abraham
Lincoln. I have been solicited by many friends to become a candidate
for the Legislature. My politics are "short and sweet" like the old
woman's dance. I am in favor of national bank. I am in favor of the
internal improvement system, and a high protective tariff. These are my
sentiments and political principles. If elected, I shall be thankful; if
not, it will be all the same.'"

The only requirement for a candidate for the Illinois Legislature in
1832 was that he should announce his "sentiments." This Lincoln did,
according to custom, in a circular of about two thousand words,
rehearsing his experiences on the Sangamon River and in the community of
New Salem. For a youth who had just turned twenty-three, who had never
been to school a year in his life, who had no political training, and
had never made a political speech, it was a bold and dignified document,
closing as follows:

"Considering the great degree of modesty which should always attend
youth, it is probable I have already been presuming more than becomes
me. However, upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as
I have thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them, but,
holding it a sound maxim that it is better only sometimes to be right
than at all times to be wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be
erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them.

"Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether this is true