three ordinary men, and "My, how he would chop!" says Dennis Hanks.
"His axe would flash and bite into a sugar-tree or sycamore, and down
it would come. If you heard him fellin' trees in a clearin', you would
say there was three men at work by the way the trees fell." Standing
six feet four, he could out-lift, out-work, and out-wrestle any man he
came in contact with. Friends and employers were proud of his
strength, and boasted of it, never failing to pit him against any hero
whose strength they heard vaunted. He himself was proud of it, and
throughout his life was fond of comparing himself with tall and strong
men. When the committee called on him in Springfield, in 1860, to
notify him of his nomination as President, Governor Morgan of New York
was of the number, a man of great height and brawn. "Pray, Governor,
how tall may you be?" was Mr. Lincoln's first question. There is a
story told of a poor man seeking a favor from him once at the White
House. He was overpowered by the idea that he was in the presence of
the President, and, his errand done, was edging shyly out, when Mr.
Lincoln stopped him, insisting that he _measure_ with him. The man was
the taller, as Mr. Lincoln had thought; and he went away evidently
more abashed at the idea that he dared be taller than the President of
the United States than that he had dared to venture into his presence.

[Illustration: NEW SALEM.

From a painting in the State Capitol, Springfield, Illinois. New
Salem, which is described in the body of this article, was founded by
James Rutledge and John Cameron in 1829. In that year they built a dam
across the Sangamon River, and erected a mill. Under date of October
23, 1829, Reuben Harrison, surveyor, certifies that "at the request of
John Cameron one of the proprietors I did survey the town of New
Salem." The town within two years contained a dozen or fifteen houses,