"The office," says that same law student, "was on the second floor of a
brick building on the public square opposite the courthouse. You went
up a flight of stairs and then passed along a hallway to the rear office
which was a medium sized room. There was one long table in the center of
the room, and a shorter one running in the opposite direction forming a
T and both were covered with green baize. There were two windows which
looked into the back yard. In one corner was an old-fashioned secretary
with pigeonholes and a drawer; and here Mr. Lincoln and his partner kept
their law papers. There was also a bookcase containing about two hundred
volumes of law and miscellaneous books." The same authority adds, "There
was no order in the office at all." Lincoln left all the money matters
to Herndon. "He never entered an item on the account book. If a fee was
paid to him and Herndon was not there, he would divide the money,
wrap up one part in paper and place it in his partner's desk with the
inscription, 'Case of Roe versus Doe, Herndon's half.' He had an odd
habit of reading aloud much to his partner's annoyance. He talked
incessantly; a whole forenoon would sometimes go by while Lincoln
occupied the whole time telling stories."(4)

On the circuit, his story-telling was an institution. Two other men,
long since forgotten, vied with him as rival artists in humorous
narrative. These three used to hold veritable tournaments. Herndon has
seen "the little country tavern where these three were wont to meet
after an adjournment of court, crowded almost to suffocation, with
an audience of men who had gathered to witness the contest among the
members of the strange triumvirate. The physicians of the town, all the
lawyers, and not infrequently a preacher, could be found in the crowd
that filled the doors and windows. The yarns they spun and the stories
they told would not bear repetition here, but many of them had morals
which, while exposing the weakness of mankind, stung like a whiplash.