[Illustration: STUART AND LINCOLN'S LAW OFFICE.

From a photograph loaned by Jesse W. Weik. The law office of Stuart
and Lincoln was in the second story of the building occupied at the
time the photograph was made by "Tom Dupleaux's Furniture Store."
Hoffman's Row, as this group of buildings was called, was used as a
court-house at that date, 1837. The court-room was in the lower story
of the two central buildings.]

If Lincoln did not support measures which he considered doubtful, he
did, now and then, "tack a provision" on a bill to please a friend, as
the following letter, hitherto unpublished, shows:[3]

"SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, _August 5, 1837_.

"DEAR SIR:

"Mr. Edwards tells me you wish to know whether the act to
which your town incorporation provision was attached passed
into a law. It did. You can organize under the general
incorporation law as soon as you choose.

"I also tacked a provision on to a fellow's bill, to authorize
the relocation of the road from Salem down to your town, but
I am not certain whether or not the bill passed. Neither do I
suppose I can ascertain before the law will be published--if
it is a law. Bowling Green, Bennett Abell, and yourself are
appointed to make the change.