This speech has never been forgotten in Springfield, and on my visits there I have repeatedly had the site of the house on which this particular lightning-rod was placed pointed out, and one or another of the many versions which the story has been given, related to me.

It was the practice at that date in Illinois for two rival candidates to travel over the district together.  The custom led to much good-natured raillery between them; and in such contests Lincoln was rarely, if ever, worsted.  He could even turn the generosity of his rival to account by his whimsical treatment, as the following shows:  He had driven out from Springfield in company with a political opponent to engage in joint debate.  The carriage, it seems, belonged to his opponent.  In addressing the gathering of farmers that met them, Lincoln was lavish in praise of the generosity of his friend.  “I am too poor to own a carriage,” he said, “but my friend has generously invited me to ride with him.  I want you to vote for me if you will; but if not, then vote for my opponent, for he is a fine man.”  His extravagant and persistent praise of his opponent appealed to the sense of humor in his farmer audience, to whom Lincoln’s inability to own a carriage was by no means a disqualification.[1]

The election came off in August, and resulted in the choice of a delegation from Sangamon County famous in the annals of Illinois.  The nine successful candidates were Abraham Lincoln, John Dawson, Daniel Stone, Ninian W. Edwards, William F. Elkins, R.L.  Wilson, Andrew McCormick, Job Fletcher, and Arthur Herndon.  Each one of these men was over six feet in height, their combined stature being, it is said, fifty-five feet.  The “Long Nine” was the name Sangamon County gave them.

[Illustration:  Ebenezer Peck.

Ebenezer Peck, who was chiefly instrumental in introducing the convention system into Illinois politics, was born in Portland, Maine, May 22, 1805.  He lived for some time in Peacham, Vermont, where he was educated.  While yet a boy, removed with his parents to Canada.  He studied law at Montreal, and practised there; became King’s Counsel for Canada East, and was finally elected to the provincial parliament on the Reform ticket.  In the summer of 1835 he removed to Chicago, and there, as a lawyer and a politician, he at once made his mark.  He was a delegate to the first Democratic State convention in Illinois, held at Vandalia, December 7, 1835, and was the chief advocate of the general adoption of the convention system—­a system which was at first opposed and ridiculed by the Whigs, but which very soon they were forced to adopt.  In 1837 Mr. Peck was made one of the Internal Improvement Commissioners.  In 1838 he was elected to the State Senate, and in 1840 to the House.  He was clerk of the Supreme Court from 1841 to 1848, and reporter of that court from 1849 to 1863.  His anti-slavery sentiments led him to abandon the Democratic party in 1853, and in 1856 he helped establish the Republican party in the State.  He was again elected to the legislature in 1858.  In 1863 President Lincoln appointed him a judge of the Court of Claims, and he held this position until 1875.  He died May 25, 1881.—­J.  McCan Davis.]