eat that it was decided to hold a public
reception at the Town Hall that evening at seven o'clock; until then
Lincoln wished to be left with relatives and friends. At the Town Hall
large numbers of people from the town and surrounding country,
irrespective of party, called to see him. His reception by his old
acquaintances was very gratifying to him."

A characteristic anecdote showing Lincoln's friendship and love of old
associations is told among those relating to his last days at
Springfield. When he was about to leave for Washington he went to the
dingy little law office, sat down on the couch, and said to his
law-partner, Herndon, "Billy, you and I have been together nearly twenty
years, and have never 'passed a word.' Will you let my name stay on the
old sign till I come back from Washington?" The tears started to Mr.
Herndon's eyes. He put out his hand. "Mr. Lincoln," said he, "I will
never have any other partner while you live"; and to the day of the
assassination all the doings of the firm were in the name of "Lincoln &
Herndon."

Governor Bross, of Illinois, relates that he was with Lincoln at
Springfield on the day before he left for Washington. "We were walking
slowly to his home from some place where we had met, and the condition
and prospects of the country, and his vast responsibility in assuming
the position of President, were the subjects of his thoughts. These were
discussed with a breadth and anxiety full of that pathos peculiar to Mr.
Lincoln in his thoughtful moods. He seemed to have a thorough prescience
of the dangers through which his administration was to pass. No
President, he said, had ever had before him such vast and far-reaching
responsibilities. He regarded war--long, bitter, and dreadful--as almost
sure to come. He distinctly and reverently placed his hopes for the
result in the strength and guidance of Him on whom Washington relied in
the darkest hours of the Revolution. He would take the place to which
Providence and his countrymen had called him, and do the best he could
for the integrity and the welfare of the Republic. For himself, he
scarcely expected ever to see Illinois again."

On the morning of the 11th of February, 1861, Lincoln left his home in
Springfield for the scene where he was to spend the most anxious,
toilsome, and painful years of his life. An elaborate programme had been
prepared for his journey to Washington, which was to conduct him through
the principal cities