he held for about three years--until New Salem grew too small to
have a post-office of its own, and the mail was sent to a
neighboring town. The office was so insignificant that according
to popular fable it had no fixed abiding-place, Lincoln being
supposed to carry it about with him in his hat! It was, however,
large enough to bring him a certain amount of consideration, and,
what pleased him still better, plenty of newspapers to read--
newspapers that just then were full of the exciting debates of
Clay and Webster, and other great men in Congress.

The rate of postage on letters was still twenty-five cents, and
small as the earnings of the office undoubtedly were, a little
change found its way now and then into his hands. In the scarcity
of money on the frontier, this had an importance hard for us to
realize. A portion of this money, of course, belonged to the
government. That he used only what was rightfully his own we
could be very sure, even if a sequel to this post office
experience were not known which shows his scrupulous honesty
where government funds were concerned. Years later, after he had
become a practising lawyer in Springfield, an agent of the
Post-office Department called upon him in his office one day to
collect a balance due from the New Salem post-office, amounting
to about seventeen dollars. A shade of perplexity passed over his
face, and a friend, sitting by, offered to lend him the money if
he did not at the moment have it with him. Without answering,
Lincoln rose, and going to a little trunk that stood by the wall,
opened it and took out the exact sum, carefully done up in a
small package. "I never use any man's money but my own, he
quietly remarked, after the agent had gone.