He was nearly twenty-five years old.  But, with all his industry, he could hardly earn money enough to pay for his board and clothing.

He had learned a little about surveying while living in Indiana.  He now took up the study again, and was soon appointed deputy surveyor of Sangamon county.

He was very skilful as a surveyor.  Although his chain was only a grape-vine, he was very accurate and never made mistakes.

The next year he was again a candidate for the legislature.  This time the people were ready to vote for him, and he was elected.  It was no small thing for so young a man to be chosen to help make the laws of his state.

No man ever had fewer advantages than Abraham Lincoln.  As a boy, he was the poorest of the poor.  No rich friend held out a helping hand.  But see what he had already accomplished by pluck, perseverance, and honesty!

He had not had access to many books, but he knew books better than most men of his age.  He knew the Bible by heart; he was familiar with Shakespeare; he could repeat nearly all the poems of Burns; he knew much about physics and mechanics; he had mastered the elements of law.

He was very awkward and far from handsome, but he was so modest, so unselfish and kind, that every one who knew him liked him.  He was a true gentleman—­a gentleman at heart, if not in outside polish.

And so, as I have already said, Abraham Lincoln, at the age of twenty-five, was elected to the state legislature.  He served the people so well that when his term closed, two years later, they sent him back for another term.

The capital of Illinois had, up to this time, been at Vandalia.  Mr. Lincoln and his friends now succeeded in having a law passed to remove it to Springfield.  Springfield was nearer to the centre of the state; it was more convenient to everybody, and had other advantages which Vandalia did not have.

The people of Springfield were so delighted that they urged Mr. Lincoln to come there and practice law.  An older lawyer, whose name was John T. Stuart, and who had a good practice, offered to take him in partnership with him.

And so, in 1837, Abraham Lincoln left New Salem and removed to Springfield.  He did not have much to move.  All the goods that he had in the world were a few clothes, which he carried in a pair of saddle-bags, and two or three law books.  He had no money, and he rode into Springfield on a borrowed horse.

He was then twenty-eight years old.

From that time on, Springfield was his home.

* * * * *

X.—­POLITICS AND MARRIAGE.

The next year after his removal to Springfield, Mr. Lincoln was elected to the legislature for the third time.

There were then, in this country, two great political parties, the Democrats and the Whigs.  Mr. Lincoln was a Whig, and he soon became the leader of his party in the state.  But the Whigs were not so strong as the Democrats.