opportunity and applied the proceeds to the payment of the debts of
the firm. When Mr. Bishop bought the store building, he removed it to
Petersburg. It is said that the removal was made in part by Lincoln
himself; that the job was first undertaken by one of the Bales, but
that, encountering some difficulty, he called upon Lincoln to assist
him, which Lincoln did. The structure was first set up adjacent to Mr.
Bishop's house, and converted into a gun-shop. Later it was removed to
a place on the public square; and soon after the breaking out of the
late war, Mr. Bishop, erecting a new building, pushed Lincoln's
store into the back-yard, and there it still stands. Soon after the
assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the front door was presented to some
one in Springfield, and has long since been lost sight of. It is
remembered by Mr. Bishop that in this door there was an opening for
the reception of letters--a circumstance of importance as tending to
establish the genuineness of the building, when it is remembered that
Lincoln was postmaster while he kept the store. The structure, as it
stands to-day, is about eighteen feet long, twelve feet in width, and
ten feet in height. The back room, however, has disappeared, so
that the building as it stood when occupied by Berry and Lincoln
was somewhat longer. Of the original building there only remain the
frame-work, the black-walnut weather-boarding on the front end and
the ceiling of sycamore boards. One entire side has been torn away by
relic-hunters. In recent years the building has been used as a sort
of store-room. Just after a big fire in Petersburg some time ago,
the city council condemned the Lincoln store building and ordered it
demolished. Under this order a portion of one side was torn down, when
Mr. Bishop persuaded the city authorities to desist, upon giving
a guarantee that if Lincoln's store ever caught fire he would be
responsible for any loss which might ensue.--_J. McCan Davis._]