“‘You’ll never get thar without startin’,’ said his neighbor.

“‘But I’m powerful skeered fer fear I’d never git back,’ said Samuel.  ‘There’s a big passel o’ folks that gits killed in the city.’

“‘You always was a selfish cuss.  You ought to think o’ yer neighbors,’ said the other man.

“So I’ve concluded that if I don’t start I’ll never get there, and if I die on the way it will be a good thing for my neighbors,” Abe added.

The toast was drunk, and by some in water, after which Abe said: 

“If you have the patience to listen to it, I’d like to read my declaration to the voters of Sangamon County.”

Samson’s diary briefly describes this appeal as follows: 

* * * * *

“He said that he wanted to win the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.  This he hoped to accomplish by doing something which would make him worthy of it.  He had been thinking of the county.  A railroad would do more for it than anything else, but a railroad would be too costly.  The improvement of the Sangamon River was the next best thing.  Its channel could be straightened and cleared of driftwood and made navigable for small vessels under thirty tons’ burden.  He favored a usury law and said, in view of the talk he had just heard, he was going to favor the improvement and building of schools, so that every one could learn how to read, at least, and learn for himself what is in the Bible and other great books.  It was a modest statement and we all liked it.”

* * * * *

“Whatever happens to the Sangamon, one statement in that platform couldn’t be improved,” said Kelso.

“What is that?” Abe asked.

“It’s the one that says you wish to win the regard of your fellows by serving them.”

“It’s a lot better than saying that he wishes to serve Abe,” said Dr. Allen, a remark which referred to a former conversation with Abe, in which Kelso had had a part.

“You can trust Abe to take the right turn at every fork in the road,” Kelso went on.  “If you stick to that, my boy, and continue to study, you’ll get there and away beyond any goal you may now see.  A passion for service is more than half the battle.  Since the other night at the tavern I’ve been thinking about Abe and the life we live here.  I’ve concluded that we’re all very lucky, if we are a bit lonesome.”

“I’d like to know about that,” said Sarah.  “I’m a little in need of encouragement.”

“Well, you may have observed that Abe has a good memory,” he continued.  “While I try to be modest about it, my own memory is a fairly faithful servant.  It is due to the fact that since I left the university I have lived, mostly, in lonely places.  It is a great thing to be where the register of your mind is not overburdened by the flow of facts.  Abe’s candidacy is the only thing that has happened here since Samson’s raising, except the arrival and departure of Eliphalet Biggs.  Our memories are not weakened by overwork.  They have time for big undertakings—­like Burns and Shakespeare and Blackstone.”