ut in the greater part of the State, and
throughout the Union, the series of brilliant victories successively won
by an obscure man over an orator of such wide experience and renown was
received with exclamations of astonishment alike by listeners and
readers."

Caleb Cushing, the distinguished Massachusetts lawyer, was one of those
acute minds whose attention was attracted to Lincoln by his debates
with Douglas. Mr. Cushing said that these debates showed Lincoln to be
the superior of Douglas "in every vital element of power"; and added
that "the world does not yet know how much of a man Lincoln really is."
It was soon to know him much more clearly. In less than two years after
the great debate this lately obscure Illinois lawyer was elected
President of the United States.

CHAPTER XII

A Year of Waiting and Trial--Again Defeated for the
Senate--Depression and Neglect--Lincoln Enlarging His
Boundaries--On the Stump in Ohio--A Speech to Kentuckians--Second
Visit to Cincinnati--A Short Trip to Kansas--Lincoln in New York
City--The Famous Cooper Institute Speech--A Strong and Favorable
Impression--Visits New England--Secret of Lincoln's Success as an
Orator--Back to Springfield--Disposing of a Campaign
Slander--Lincoln's Account of His Visit to a Five Points Sunday
School.

On the 2d of November, 1858, the State election was held in Illinois.
The chief significance of this election was due to the fact that the
Legislature then chosen would decide whether Douglas or Lincoln should
be sent to the Senate at Washington. The result showed that Lincoln had,
by his hard efforts, won a victory for his cause and for his party, but
not for himself. The Republican State ticket was elected by a majority
of about 4,000 votes; but in the Legislature a number of members held
over from the election of two years before, and the Republican gains,
though considerable, were not quite sufficient to overcome this adverse
element. When the Legislature met, Douglas was re-elected to the Senate
by a small majority. It is said that Lincoln was deeply grieved by his
defeat. When some one inquired of him how he felt over the result, he
answered that he felt "like the boy that stubbed his toe,--'it hurt too
bad to laugh, and he was too big to cry!'"

A few days after his return to Springfield, there was pressed on the
attention of the defeated candidate a matter which must have been
peculiarl