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Abraham Lincoln: a History — Volume 01 by John George Nicolay;John Hay
page 107 of 416 (25%)
We know he thought seriously at this time of learning the trade of a
blacksmith, and using in that honest way the sinew and brawn which
nature had given him. But an opening for another kind of business
occurred, which prevented his entering upon any merely mechanical
occupation. Two of his most intimate friends were the brothers
Herndon, called, according to the fashion of the time, which held it
unfriendly to give a man his proper name, and arrogant for him to
claim it, "Row" and "Jim." They kept one of those grocery stores in
which everything salable on the frontier was sold, and which seem to
have changed their occupants as rapidly as sentry-boxes. "Jim" sold
his share to an idle and dissolute man named Berry, and "Row" soon
transferred his interest to Lincoln. It was easy enough to buy, as
nothing was ever given in payment but a promissory note. A short time
afterwards, one Reuben Radford, who kept another shop of the same
kind, happened one evening to attract the dangerous attention of the
Clary's Grove boys, who, with their usual prompt and practical
facetiousness, without a touch of malice in it, broke his windows and
wrecked his store. The next morning, while Radford was ruefully
contemplating the ruin, and doubtless concluding that he had had
enough of a country where the local idea of neighborly humor found
such eccentric expression, he hailed a passer-by named Greene, and
challenged him to buy his establishment for four hundred dollars. This
sort of trade was always irresistible to these Western speculators,
and Greene at once gave his note for the amount. It next occurred to
him to try to find out what the property was worth, and doubting his
own skill, he engaged Lincoln to make an invoice of it. The young
merchant, whose appetite for speculation had just been whetted by his
own investment, undertook the task, and, finding the stock of goods
rather tempting, offered Greene $250 for his bargain, which was at
once accepted. Not a cent of money changed hands in all these
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