realized that no other man lived who comprehended so thoroughly the great character whose life I was trying to solve, who had dug so deeply and laid bare the springs of action, the motives that animated that clear head, brave heart, and strong right arm. It was plain that Herndon with implicit faith and fanatical devotion clung to Lincoln, and it therefore requires but little evidence to convince us that the latter, throughout the memorable and tempestuous times that made him great, bared his heart and soul to "Billy" Herndon.

In due time Herndon confided to me his plans. He had decided to relinquish the practice of law and move to the country. Once there, it was his purpose to write a number of articles for publication in a newspaper or magazine describing the youth and early manhood of Lincoln. Being somewhat infirm, as well as without experience in the art of narrative composition, he proposed that I should assist him and thus, by our joint efforts, we might produce a contribution to history the world would accept. After some reflection I decided to collaborate with him, but, later, when he had revealed to me the bountiful store of information he had accumulated, the project in my judgment began to broaden both in scope and importance. With the material already at hand and more of a like nature almost as accessible, I felt warranted in believing that a more interesting and pretentious work than a few columns of the regulation newspaper or magazine compilations of that period would be welcomed by the public, and I so insisted to Herndon. I was therefore not a little gratified a few days later when he announced that, after due deliberation, he had come around to my way of thinking.

DISMANTLING THE LAW OFFICE

7

Having determined to retire to the country he then asked me to help him classify and rearrange his papers, remove books, furniture, and other belongings in short, dismantle the office generally. Although only preliminary to the details of research, verification, and composition, which were to engross our attention for the ensuing three or four years, I was soon made to realize that our joint labors had just begun. It only remains to add that, eventually, after a severe test of our zeal, vigor, and endurance, the time came when we were privileged to toss into the lap of an anxious and indulgent world three small volumes, depicting the life and achievements of Abraham Lincoln, under the significant if not euphonious title: "The True Story of a Great Life, by William H. Herndon." It may not be out of place to state here that prior to this, Ward H. Lamon had begun a "Life of Lincoln" obtaining from Herndon copies of numerous letters and papers which he was allowed to use. In the preparation of his manuscript Lamon was greatly aided by Chauncey F. Black, of Pennsylvania; in fact, as related by Herndon, Black really performed the better part of the work.

Elsewhere, in enumerating the contents of the Lincoln and Herndon law office, I have mentioned the bookcase standing against the wall on the north side of the room. It really surmounted a desk or table in which there were two small drawers, the whole being about eight feet high. There were five shelves; books occupied the lower three and those above were filled with a profusion of pamphlets, letters, and legal documents. Judging by the accumulation of dust which had settled on them Herndon's observation that the majority dated back to Lincoln's time was

an unnecessary deduction. On the floor near by stood a wooden box into which Herndon explained he had been placing papers of his own as well as matter concerning Lincoln which he had gathered since the latter's death. On the top of the bookcase I noticed a pasteboard box. It was eighteen or twenty inches square and was minus a lid. At the suggestion of Herndon I mounted a chair, lifted the box from the place where it had evidently reposed for many years and passed it down to him. After removing the layer of dust which effectually covered it, he proceeded to explore its contents, remarking that it was a box Lincoln had used. It was filled with letters and papers tied in bundles. One package he withdrew and untied. Beneath the string was a paper label about five inches long containing these words in Lincoln's unmistakable and legible handwriting: "When you can't find it anywhere else look into this." It was a collection of miscellaneous material set aside by Lincoln. Among other things it contained numerous letters written to Lincoln during the campaigns of 1856 and 1858, some of which Herndon read and commented on for my benefit; but the item which awakened his deepest interest was a couple of printed sermons, opposing the extension of slavery, delivered by Theodore Parker of Boston in the summer of 1858. Herndon told me that these pamphlets were sent to him by Parker and that he was so deeply impressed by them that he turned them over to Lincoln. The latter folded and carried them in his pocket to read. "That he did read them," said Herndon after he had opened the package, "is shown by the fact that he endorsed them by marking several paragraphs with his pen." He then called my attention to two para

THE DOUGLAS NOTEBOOK

graphs around which Lincoln had drawn his pen.

9

In one

of them Parker said: "Democracy is direct self-government, over all the people, for all the people, by all the people." In another place which Lincoln had underscored he said, "Slavery is in flagrant violation of the institutions of America - direct government, over all the people, by all the people, for all the people." Herndon insisted it was from this source that Lincoln drew the inspiration for the closing paragraph of his famous Gettysburg Address.

The limitations of time and space forbid a more extended description of the Lincoln-Herndon office, but I can hardly omit mention of another reminder which Herndon uncovered. When he was nearing the bottom of the box containing the array of miscellaneous matter just referred to, he withdrew from its depths a small leathercovered book about six by four inches in size, the two lids being fastened together with a brass clasp in front. After glancing through it for a few moments he gave it to me, saying as he placed it in my hands: "Here is the most important item in this entire collection. It reminds me more vividly of Lincoln than anything else we have thus far encountered. I am going to turn this over to you and I trust you will appreciate and preserve it, for, in its pages, you will find carefully stored all the ammunition Mr. Lincoln saw fit to gather in preparation for his battle with Stephen A. Douglas." He then explained that seeing the contest of 1858 approaching, Mr. Lincoln took this book, originally a blank book which had been used by himself and his partner to keep track of matters which concerned their business in the Supreme Court, and proceeded to paste on its pages newspaper clippings, tables of statistics,

extracts from Judge Douglas's speeches, and other data bearing on the great and absorbing questions of the day. "When this little storehouse of political information was filled," observed Herndon, "Mr. Lincoln fastened the clasp, placed the book in his coat-pocket there to repose during the campaign and to be drawn upon whenever the exigencies of debate required it."

The book contained in the neighborhood of one hundred and eighty-five clippings, and the paste or mucilage used by Lincoln which had permeated the paper was so dark that it, in some cases, made the printed portions opaque and almost illegible. Among other things, Herndon called my attention to the order or arrangement of the material, contending that it was not only significant, but also decidedly Lincolnian. The first item, which was pasted on the inside of the front cover, was the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence beginning with that immortal pronunciamento: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Lower down on the same page was this paragraph from a speech by Lincoln's great political exemplar, Henry Clay: "I repeat it, Sir, I never can, and never will, and no earthly power will make me vote, directly or indirectly, to spread slavery over territory where it does not exist. Never while reason holds her seat in my brain never while my heart sends the vital fluid through my veins NEVER."

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