CHAPTER VII.

ENTERING POLITICS.


Lincoln's duties at New Salem, as clerk, storekeeper, and postmaster,
had resulted in an intimate acquaintance with the people of that
general locality. His duties as surveyor took him into the outlying
districts. His social instincts won for him friends wherever he was
known, while his sterling character gave him an influence unusual, both
in kind and in measure, for a young man of his years. He had always
possessed an interest in public, even national, questions, and his
fondness for debate and speech-making increased this interest. Moreover
he had lived month by month going from one job to another, and had not
yet found his permanent calling.

When this combination of facts is recalled, it is a foregone conclusion
that he would sooner or later enter politics. This he did at the age of
twenty-three, in 1832.

According to the custom of the day he announced in the spring his
candidacy. After this was done the Black Hawk war called him off the
ground and he did not get back until about ten days before the
election, so that he had almost no time to attend to the canvass. One
incident of this campaign is preserved which is interesting, partly
because it concerns the first known speech Lincoln ever made in his own
behalf, and chiefly because it was an exhibition of his character.

He was speaking at a place called Cappsville when two men in the