Mr. G.W.  Harris, whose first meeting with Lincoln in a log school-house has been previously described in these pages, subsequently became a clerk in Lincoln’s law-office at Springfield, and furnishes some excellent reminiscences of that interesting period.  “A crack-brained attorney who lived in Springfield, supported mainly by the other lawyers of the place, became indebted, in the sum of two dollars and fifty cents, to a wealthy citizen of the county, a recent comer.  The creditor, failing after repeated efforts to collect the amount due him, came to Mr. Lincoln and asked him to bring suit.  Lincoln explained the man’s condition and circumstances, and advised his client to let the matter rest; but the creditor’s temper was up, and he insisted on having suit brought.  Again Lincoln urged him to let the matter drop, adding, ’You can make nothing out of him, and it will cost you a good deal more than the debt to bring suit.’  The creditor was still determined to have his way, and threatened to seek some other attorney who would be more willing to take charge of the matter than Lincoln appeared to be.  Lincoln then said, ’Well, if you are determined that suit shall be brought, I will bring it; but my charge will be ten dollars.’  The money was paid him, and peremptory orders were given that the suit be brought that day.  After the client’s departure, Lincoln went out of the office, returning in about an hour with an amused look on his face.  I asked what pleased him, and he replied, ’I brought suit against ——­, and then hunted him up, told him what I had done, handed him half of the ten dollars, and we went over to the squire’s office.  He confessed judgment and paid the bill.’  Lincoln added that he didn’t see any other way to make things satisfactory for his client as well as the rest of the parties.

“Mr. Lincoln had a heart that was more a woman’s than a man’s—­filled to overflowing with sympathy for those in trouble, and ever ready to relieve them by any means in his power.  He was ever thoughtful of others’ comforts, even to the forgetting of himself.  In those early days his face wore a sad look when at rest—­a look that made you feel that you would like to take from him a part of his burden.  One who knew him then and had known his career since would be inclined to think that he already felt premonitions of the heavy burdens that his broad shoulders were to bear, and the sorrows that his kind heart would have to endure.

“Mr. Lincoln was fond of playing chess and checkers, and usually acted cautiously upon the defensive until the game had reached a stage where aggressive movements were clearly justified.  He was also somewhat fond of ten-pins, and occasionally indulged in a game.  Whatever may have been his tastes in his younger days, at this period of his life he took no interest in fishing-rod or gun.  He was indifferent to dress, careless almost to a fault of his personal appearance.  The same indifference extended to money.  So long