"He's the best man with an axe and a saw in this part of the country. He
clerks for Mr. Offut. Abe Lincoln is one of the best fellows that ever
lived--a rough diamond just out of the great mine of the West, that only
needs to be cut and polished."

Denton Offut's store was a small log structure about twenty by twenty
which stood near the brow of the hill east of Rutledge's Tavern. When
they entered it Abe lay at full length on the counter, his head resting
on a bolt of blue denim as he studied a book in his hand. He wore the
same shirt and one suspender and linsey trousers which he had worn in the
dooryard of the tavern, but his feet were covered only by his blue yarn
socks.

It was a general store full of exotic flavors, chiefly those of tea,
coffee, whisky, tobacco, muscovado sugar and molasses. There was a
counter on each side. Bolts of cloth, mostly calico, were piled on the
far end of the right counter as one entered and the near end held a show
case containing a display of cutlery, pewter spoons, jewelry and fishing
tackle. There were double windows on either side of the rough board door
with its wooden latch. The left counter held a case filled with threads,
buttons, combs, colored ribbons, and belts and jew's-harps. A balance
stood in the middle of this counter. A chest of tea, a big brown jug,
a box of candles, a keg and a large wooden pail occupied its farther end.
The shelving on its side walls was filled by straw hats, plug tobacco,
bolts of cloth, pills and patent medicines and paste-board boxes
containing shirts, handkerchiefs and underwear. A suit of blue jeans,
scythes and snaths, hoes, wooden hand rakes and a brass warming-pan hung
from the rafters. At the rear end of the store was a large fireplace.
There were two chairs near the fireplace, both of which were occupied by
a man who sat in one while his feet lay on the other. He was sleeping