especially offensive one day, when women were present, by loud
profanity, Lincoln requested him to be silent. This was of course a
cause of war, and the young clerk was forced to follow the incensed
ruffian into the street, where the combat was of short duration.
Lincoln threw him at once to the ground, and gathering a handful of
the dog fennel with which the roadside was plentifully bordered, he
rubbed the ruffian's face and eyes with it until he howled for mercy.
He did not howl in vain, for the placable giant, when his discipline
was finished, brought water to bathe the culprit's smarting face, and
doubtless improved the occasion with quaint admonition.

A few passages at arms of this sort gave Abraham a redoubtable
reputation in the neighborhood. But the principal use he made of his
strength and his prestige was in the capacity of peacemaker, an office
which soon devolved upon him by general consent. Whenever old feuds
blossomed into fights by Offutt's door, or the chivalry of Clary's
Grove attempted in its energetic way to take the conceit out of some
stranger, or a canine duel spread contagion of battle among the
masters of the beasts, Lincoln usually appeared upon the scene, and
with a judicious mixture of force and reason and invincible good-
nature restored peace.

While working with Offutt his mind was turned in the direction of
English grammar. From what he had heard of it he thought it a matter
within his grasp, if he could once fall in with the requisite
machinery. Consulting with Menton [Footnote: This name has always been
written in Illinois "Minter," but a letter from Mr. Graham's daughter,
Mrs. Bell, says that her father's name is as given in the text.]
Graham, the schoolmaster, in regard to it, and learning the
whereabouts of a vagrant "Kirkham's Grammar," he set off at once and