ratic side, made some
charge which Mr. N.W. Edwards, one of the candidates on the Whig side,
deemed untrue. Edwards climbed on a table, so as to be seen by Early and
by everyone in the house, and at the top of his voice told Early that
the charge was false. The excitement that followed was intense--so much
so that fighting men thought a duel must settle the difficulty. Lincoln,
by the programme, followed Early. He took up the subject in dispute and
handled it fairly and with such ability that everyone was astonished
and pleased. So that difficulty ended there. Then for the first time,
aroused by the excitement of the occasion, he spoke in that tenor
intonation of voice that ultimately settled down into that clear, shrill
monotone style that afterwards characterized his public speaking, and
enabled his audience, however large, to hear distinctly the lowest sound
of his voice." Mr. Arnold says that Lincoln's reply to Dr. Early was
"often spoken of as exhibiting wonderful ability, and a crushing power
of sarcasm and ridicule. When he began he was embarrassed, spoke slowly
and with some hesitation and difficulty. But becoming excited by his
subject, he forgot himself entirely, and went on with argument and wit,
anecdote and ridicule, until his opponent was completely crushed. Old
settlers of Sangamon County who heard this reply speak of his personal
transformation as wonderful. When Lincoln began, they say, he seemed
awkward, homely, unprepossessing. As he went on, and became excited, his
figure rose to its full height and became commanding and majestic. His
plain face was illuminated and glowed with expression. His dreamy eye
flashed with inspiration, and his whole person, his voice, his gestures,
were full of the magnetism of powerful feeling, of conscious strength
and true eloquence."

The inflexible honesty and fine sense of honor which lay at the
foundation of Lincoln's character are nobly exhibited in the following
letter to a former friend but now political opponent, Col. Robert Allen:

DEAR COLONEL:--I am told that during my absence last week, you
passed through this place, and stated publicly that you were in
possession of a fact or facts which, if known to the public, would
entirely destroy the prospects of N.W. Edwards and myself at the
ensuing election, but that through favor to us you would forbear to
divulge them. No one has needed favors more than I, and generally
few have