down."]

Lincoln himself felt keenly the parting from his friends, and he
certainly never forgot his years in the Hoosier State. One of the most
touching experiences he relates in all his published letters is his
emotion at visiting his old Indiana home fourteen years after he had
left it. So strongly was he moved by the scenes of his first conscious
sorrows, efforts, joys, ambitions, that he put into verse the feelings
they awakened.[A]

[Footnote A: Letter to ---- Johnston, April 18, 1846. "Abraham
Lincoln. Complete Works." Edited by John G. Nicolay and John Hay.
Volume I., pages 86, 87. The Century Co.]

[Illustration: JOHN E. ROLL.

Born in Green Village, New Jersey, June 4, 1814. He went to Illinois
in 1830, the same year that Mr. Lincoln went, settling in Sangamon
town, where he had relatives. It was here he met Lincoln, and made the
"pins" for the flatboat. Later Mr. Roll went to Springfield, where he
bought large quantities of land and built many houses. A quarter of
the city is now known as "Roll's addition." Mr. Roll was well
acquainted with Lincoln, and when the President left Springfield he
gave Mr. Roll his dog, Fido. Mr. Roll knew Stephen A. Douglas well,
and carries a watch which once belonged to the "Little Giant."]

While he never attempted to conceal the poverty and hardship of these
days, and would speak humorously of the "pretty pinching times" he
saw, he never regarded his life at this time as mean or pitiable.