Wherever he saw a crowd of men he joined them, and he never failed
to adapt himself to their point of view in asking for votes. If the
degree of physical strength was their test for a candidate, he was
ready to lift a weight or wrestle with the country-side champion; if
the amount of grain a man could cradle would recommend him, he seized
the cradle and showed the swath he could cut. The campaign was well
conducted, for in August he was elected one of the four assemblymen
from Sangamon. The vote at this election stood: Dawson, 1390; Lincoln,
1376; Carpenter, 1170; Stuart, 1164.[3]

[Illustration: MAJOR JOHN T. STUART, THE MAN WHO INDUCED LINCOLN TO
STUDY LAW.

Born in Kentucky in 1807. At twenty-one, on being admitted to the bar,
he removed to Springfield, Illinois, and was soon prominent in his
profession. He was a member of the legislature from 1832 to 1836.
In 1838 he defeated Stephen A. Douglas for Congress, and served
two terms--as a Whig. In 1863 and 1864 he served a third term--as a
Democrat. He served also in the State Senate, and was a major in the
Black Hawk War. He died in 1885.]


HE FINALLY DECIDES ON A LEGAL CAREER.

The best thing which Lincoln did in the canvass of 1834 was not
winning votes; it was coming to a determination to read law, not for
pleasure but as a business. In his autobiographical notes he says:
"During the canvass, in a private conversation Major John T. Stuart
(one of his fellow-candidates) encouraged Abraham to study law. After
the election he borrowed books of Stuart, took them home with him, and