were busy with their crops, my customers were few and far between. The
more I read, the more intensely interested I became. Never in my whole
life was my mind so thoroughly absorbed. I read until I devoured them."

All this may have been fatal to the prosperity of the leading store in
that hamlet of fifteen log cabins, but it led to something better than
the success of the most magnificent store in New York.

It was in 1834 that Lincoln was first elected to the legislature.
During the canvass he was brought into the company of Major John T.
Stuart, whom he had met in the Black Hawk war. Stuart advised him to
enter definitely on the study of the law. He decided to do this. This
proved to be quite the most important thing that occurred to him that
year.

Stuart further offered to lend him the necessary books. This offer was
gladly accepted, and having no means of travel, he walked to and from
Springfield, a distance of twenty miles, to get the books and return
them. During this tramp he was able to read forty pages of the volume.
Thus he read, and we may venture to say mastered, Chitty, Greenleaf,
and Story, in addition to Blackstone before mentioned. It was the best
foundation that could have been laid for a great lawyer.

During this reading he was getting his bread and butter by the other
employments--store-keeping, postmaster, and surveyor. These may not
have interfered greatly with the study of the law, but the study of the
law certainly interfered with the first of these. He read much out of
doors. He would lie on his back in the shade of some tree, with his
feet resting part way up the tree, then follow the shadow around from
west to east, grinding around with the progress of the sun. When in the