He was thinking of Ann as the coach rolled over the rough road.  He was thinking also of Sarah.  If only she could see him now, he thought, as he glanced at the new hat resting on his knee.

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14

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The Legislature met for several weeks at a time.  Between sessions, Abe worked at various jobs in New Salem and read his law books.  Most of his studying was done early in the morning and late at night.  He still found time to see a great deal of Ann Rutledge, and something of her gentle sweetness was to live on forever in his heart.  After Ann died, he tried to forget his grief by studying harder than ever.

The year that he was twenty-eight he took his examination, and was granted a lawyer’s license.  He decided to move to Springfield, which had recently been made the capital of the state.

It was a cold March day when he rode into this thriving little town.  He hitched his horse to the hitching rack in the public square and entered one of the stores.  Joshua Speed, the owner, a young man about Abe’s age, looked up with a friendly smile.

“Howdy, Abe,” he said.  “So you are going to be one of us?”

“I reckon so,” Abe answered.  “Say, Speed, I just bought myself a bedstead.  How much would it cost me for a mattress and some pillows and blankets?”

Joshua took a pencil from behind his ear.  He did some figuring on a piece of paper.  “I can fix you up for about seventeen dollars.”

Abe felt the money in his pocket.  He had only seven dollars.  His horse was borrowed, and he was still a thousand dollars in debt.  Joshua saw that he was disappointed.  He had heard Abe make speeches, and Abe was called one of the most promising young men in the legislature.  Joshua liked him and wanted to know him better.

“Why don’t you stay with me, until you can do better?” he suggested.  “I have a room over the store and a bed big enough for two.”

A grin broke over Abe’s homely features.  “Good!” he said.  “Where is it?”

“You’ll find some stairs over there behind that pile of barrels.  Go on up and make yourself at home.”

Abe enjoyed living with Joshua Speed, and he enjoyed living in Springfield.  He soon became as popular as he had once been in Pigeon Creek and in New Salem.  As the months and years went by, more and more people came to him whenever they needed a lawyer to advise them.  For a long time he was poor, but little by little he paid off his debts.  With his first big fee he bought a quarter section of land for his stepmother who had been so good to him.

The part of his work that Abe liked best was “riding the circuit.”  In the spring and again in the fall, he saddled Old Buck, his horse, and set out with a judge and several other lawyers to visit some of the towns close by.  These towns “on the circuit” were too small to have law courts of their own.  In each town the lawyers argued the cases and the judge settled the disputes that had come up during the past six months.