ction, and I desired to have another
vote. A vote was accordingly taken, and I was again nominated,
and by a larger vote then in the first instance; whereupon the older
men gave in, and I was duly elected, receiving thirty-nine votes
to twenty-nine cast for the Democratic candidate.

I think I made more friends, in the conduct of the office of Speaker
during that term, than I ever did afterwards; and in subsequent
campaigns I was frequently gratified to find men, some of them
Democrats, who had been in the Legislature with me at that time,
working for me with a stronger zeal and earnestness because of the
associations and intimate relations there formed and cemented.
All classes, Republicans and Democrats alike, took occasion to
manifest their satisfaction, and some who became my friends then
continued so as long as they lived. I think, of all that Legislature,
I am the only one left.

A little incident occurred at a reception given by Mr. Lincoln
after he was elected President, but before he left his home to come
to Washington, that vitally affected my life. In speaking to the
President, I expressed a desire to visit Washington while he was
President of the United States. He replied heartily: "Mr. Speaker,
come on." And that was about the origin of my thinking seriously
that I would like to come to Washington as a member of Congress.

The more I thought of the idea, the more interested I became, and
I so shaped matters during that session of the Legislature as to
secure a district in which some Republican could hope to be elected.
In the apportionment under the census of 1860, I had our Congressional
district elongated to the north and south rather than to the east
and west, and let it be known that I would be a candidate.

But when the time came for a nomination the Hon. Leonard Swett,
who was then a prominent lawyer and politician, also took the field
to secure the Republican nomination. He visited Springfield, and
persuaded some of his friends there that he ought to be the nominee,
and they determined to try their hands toward securing my withdrawal,
if possible by persuasion. They sent for me to come to the library,
where they were proposing to hold a meeting. I went over, and
found that their project was to get me to withdraw in favor of
Swett, and I declined. But I said I would "draw straws," or assent
to any other fair means that could be found by which it was to be
settled who was to be the nomin