Mr. Lamar was one of the "small boys" of Spencer County when Lincoln
left Indiana, but old enough to have seen much of him and to have
known his characteristics and his reputation in the county. He is
still living near his old home, and gave our representative in Indiana
interesting reminiscences which are incorporated into the present
article.]

[Illustration: LINCOLN IN 1860.

From an ambrotype in the possession of Mr. Marcus L. Ward of Newark,
New Jersey. This portrait of Mr. Lincoln was made in Springfield,
Illinois, on May 20, 1860, for the late Hon. Marcus L. Ward, Governor
of New Jersey. Mr. Ward had gone down to Springfield to see Mr.
Lincoln, and while there asked him for his picture. The
President-elect replied that he had no picture which was satisfactory,
but would gladly sit for one. The two gentlemen went out immediately,
and in Mr. Ward's presence Mr. Lincoln had the above picture taken.]

One man was impressed by the character of the sentences he had given
him for a copy. "It was considered at that time," said he, "that Abe
was the best penman in the neighborhood. One day, while he was on a
visit at my mother's, I asked him to write some copies for me. He very
willingly consented. He wrote several of them, but one of them I have
never forgotten, although a boy at that time. It was this:

"'Good boys who to their books apply
Will all be great men by and by.'"

All of his comrades remembered his stories and his clearness in
argument. "When he appeared in company," says Nat Grigsby, "the boys