Hon. E.M.  Haines, who was a member of the Legislature of 1858-9, and a supporter of Lincoln for the Senate, states that Lincoln seemed greatly depressed by his defeat, and that his friends were also somewhat disheartened regarding his future prospects, and neglected him to some extent.  “Some time after the Senatorial election,” says Mr. Haines, “Governor Bissell gave a reception at his house, which I attended with my wife.  After we had paid our respects to the Governor and Mrs. Bissell, we passed on to an adjoining room, where there was quite a throng of people engaged in conversation.  Mr. Lincoln was standing near the centre of the room, entirely alone, with his usual sad countenance, and apparently unnoticed by anyone.  I said to my wife, ’Here is Mr. Lincoln; he looks as if he had lost all his friends; come and have an introduction to him, and cheer him up.’  Mr. Lincoln received us very cordially, and we entered into a general conversation, apparently unnoticed, and attracting no attention from others as they passed and repassed around us.  Dancing was going on in the adjacent rooms, and Mr. Lincoln invited my wife to join him in the dancing, which she did, and he apparently took much pleasure in the recreation.  My wife afterwards related to me much that Mr. Lincoln said in their conversation during the evening.  His despondency became much dispelled after they became engaged in conversation; indeed, she said that he seemed to be putting forth an effort to get out of the gloomy condition which had come upon him from the result of his Senatorial canvass.  He had occasion during their conversation to refer to his age, remarking incidentally that he was almost fifty years old; whereupon, as if suddenly reflecting that his age was a good part of a man’s life, and as if unwilling to relinquish his hold upon the future, he suddenly braced himself up, and said, ’But, Mrs. Haines, I feel that I am good for another fifty years yet.’”

During the winter following the Senatorial debate Lincoln was occupied with his private affairs.  The love of public speaking had become so strong with him that he prepared a lecture and delivered it to the public at several places during the winter.  It was somewhat humorous in character, but was not much of a success, and he soon declined further invitations to deliver it.  To one correspondent he wrote, in March, 1859:  “Your note, inviting me to deliver a lecture in Galesburg, is received.  I regret to say that I cannot do so now.  I must stick to the courts for awhile.  I read a sort of a lecture to three different audiences during the last month and this; but I did so under circumstances which made it a waste of time, of no value whatever.”

The following autumn (1859) Senator Douglas visited Ohio and made speeches for the Democratic party there.  From the Republican ranks there arose a cry for Lincoln, whose superiority to Douglas in the great debate of the preceding year was still fresh in the public mind.  He promptly answered it, and spoke in that State with marked effect.  At Cincinnati he addressed himself especially to Kentuckians, and said, in a strain which is now seen to be prophetic: