he was by unjust debts and unreasonable creditors,
Postmaster and Surveyor Lincoln gained an honorable reputation
throughout the county, so that when he ran for the State Legislature,
in 1834, he was elected by a creditable majority.

CHAPTER XIII

THE YOUNG LEGISLATOR IN LOVE

SMOOT'S RESPONSIBILITY

Paying his debts had kept Lincoln so poor that, though he had been
elected to the Legislature, he was not properly clothed or equipped to
make himself presentable as the people's representative at the State
capital, then located at Vandalia. One day he went with a friend to call
on an older acquaintance, named Smoot, who was almost as dry a joker as
himself, but Smoot had more of this world's goods than the young
legislator-elect. Lincoln began at once to chaff his friend.

"Smoot," said he, "did you vote for me?"

"I did that very thing," answered Smoot.

"Well," said Lincoln with a wink, "that makes you responsible. You must
lend me the money to buy suitable clothing, for I want to make a decent
appearance in the Legislature."

"How much do you want?" asked Smoot.

"About two hundred dollars, I reckon."

For friendship's sake and for the honor of Sangamon County the young
representative received the money at once.

ANN RUTLEDGE--"LOVED AND LOST"

Abe Lincoln's new suit of clothes made him look still more handsome in
the eyes of Ann, the daughter of the proprietor of Rutledge's Tavern,
where Abe was boarding at that time. She was a beautiful girl who had
been betrothed to a young man named McNamar, who was said to have
returned to New York State to care for his dying father and look after
the family estate. It began to leak out that this young man was going
about under an assumed name and certain suspicious circumstances came to
light. But Ann, though she loved the young legislator, still clung to
her promise and the man who had proved false to her. As time went on,
though she was supposed to be betrothed to Mr. Lincoln, the treatment
she had received from the recreant lover preyed upon her mind so that
she fell into a decline in the summer of 1835, about a year after her
true lover's election to the Legislature.

William O. Stoddard, one of the President's private secretaries, has
best told the story of the young lover's despair over the loss of his
first love:

"It is not known precisely when Ann Rutledge told her suitor that her
heart was his, but early in 1835 it was publicly known that the