And, to cap the whole, I then for the first time began to suspect that I was really a little in love with her.  But let it all go!  I’ll try and outlive it.  Others have been made fools of by the girls, but this can never with truth be said of me.  I most emphatically, in this instance, made a fool of myself.  I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying; and for this reason—­I can never be satisfied with any one who would be blockhead enough to have me.”

LINCOLN’S POSITION IN SPRINGFIELD.

It was not long before Lincoln became a favorite figure in Springfield.  The skill, the courage, and the good-will he had shown in his management of the bill for the removal of the capital gave him at once, of course, special prominence.  The entire “Long Nine,” indeed, were regarded by the county as its benefactors, and throughout the summer there were barbecues and fireworks, dinners and speeches in their honor.  “The service rendered Old Sangamon by the present delegation” was a continually recurring toast at every gathering.  At one “sumptuous dinner” the internal improvement scheme in all its phases was toasted again and again by the banqueters, “‘The Long Nine’ of Old Sangamon—­well done, good and faithful servants,” drew forth long applause.  Among those who offered volunteer toasts at this dinner were “A.  Lincoln, Esq.,” and “S.A.  Douglas, Esq.”

At a dinner at Athens, given to the delegation, eight formal toasts and twenty-five volunteers are quoted in the report of the affair in the “Sangamo Journal.”  Among them were the following: 

    A. Lincoln.  He has fulfilled the expectations of his friends
    and disappointed the hopes of his enemies.

    A. Lincoln.  One of nature’s noblemen.

    By A. Lincoln.  Sangamon County will ever be true to her best
    interests, and never more so than in reciprocating the good
    feelings of the citizens of Athens and neighborhood.

Lincoln had not been long in Springfield before he soon was able to support himself, a result due, no doubt, very largely to his personal qualities and to his reputation as a shrewd politician.  Not that he made money.  The fee-book of Lincoln and Stuart shows that the returns were modest enough, and that sometimes they even “traded out” their account.  Nevertheless it was a satisfaction to earn a livelihood so soon.  Of his peculiar methods as a lawyer at this date we know very little.  Most of his cases are utterly uninteresting.  The very first year he was in Springfield, however, he had one case which created a great sensation, and which, so far as we know, has been overlooked entirely by his biographers.  It is an admirable example of the way Lincoln could combine business and politics as well as of his merciless persistency in pursuing a man whom he believed unjust.