commerce could be found in New Salem. There was clearly not enough to
satisfy the volatile mind of Mr. Offutt, for he soon bought Cameron's
mill at the historic dam, and made Abraham superintendent also of that
branch of the business.

It is to be surmised that Offutt never inspired his neighbors and
customers with any deep regard for his solidity of character. One of
them says of him with injurious pleonasm, that he "talked too much
with his mouth." A natural consequence of his excessive fluency was
soon to be made disagreeably evident to his clerk. He admired Abraham
beyond measure, and praised him beyond prudence. He said that Abe knew
more than any man in the United States; and he was certainly not
warranted in making such an assertion, as his own knowledge of the
actual state of science in America could not have been exhaustive. He
also said that Abe could beat any man in the county running, jumping,
or "wrastling." This proposition, being less abstract in its nature,
was more readily grasped by the local mind, and was not likely to pass
unchallenged.

[Illustration: MAP OF NEW SALEM AND VICINITY]

Public opinion at New Salem was formed by a crowd of ruffianly young
fellows who were called the "Clary's Grove Boys." Once or twice a week
they descended upon the village and passed the day in drinking,
fighting, and brutal horse-play. If a stranger appeared in the place,
he was likely to suffer a rude initiation into the social life of New
Salem at the hands of these jovial savages. Sometimes he was nailed up
in a hogshead and rolled down hill; sometimes he was insulted into a
fight and then mauled black and blue; for despite their pretensions to
chivalry they had no scruples about fair play or any such