been received. In all his emergencies of need he had never touched this
small fund which he held in trust. To him it was sacred. He was still
"honest Abe."

In the early thirties, when the state of Illinois was being settled
with great rapidity, the demand for surveyors was greater than the
supply. John Calhoun, surveyor for the government, was in urgent need
of a deputy, and Lincoln was named as a man likely to be able to fit
himself for the duties on short notice. He was appointed. He borrowed
the necessary book and went to work in dead earnest to learn the
science. Day and night he studied until his friends, noticing the
wearing effect on his health, became alarmed. But by the end of six
weeks, an almost incredibly brief period of time, he was ready for
work.

It is certain that his outfit was of the simplest description, and
there is a tradition that at first, instead of a surveyor's chain he
used a long, straight, wild-grape vine. Those who understand the
conditions and requirements of surveying in early days say that this is
not improbable. A more important fact is that Lincoln's surveys have
never been called in question, which is something that can be said of
few frontier surveyors. Though he learned the science in so short a
time, yet here, as always, he was thorough.

It was said in the earlier part of this chapter that to the holders of
Lincoln's notes who consented to await his ability to pay, there was
one exception. One man, when his note fell due, seized horse and
instruments, and put a temporary stop to his surveying. But a neighbor
bought these in and returned them to Lincoln. He never forgot the
kindness of this man, James Short by name, and thirty years later