PRACTISE BEFORE AND BEHIND "THE BAR."
The debate between Douglas and Lincoln, while marked by speeches severe and stately, was interspersed with repartees and innuendoes as might be awaited from former friends and become, by double rivalry, fierce enemies.
The senator did not disdain to stoop to casting back at Lincoln's humble beginning, and taunted him with having kept store and waited behind the bar before waiting before the bar judicial for his turn to practise law. His adversary rose amid the laughter, and rejoined:
"What the jedge (Judge Douglas) has said, gentlemen, is true enough. I did keep a grocery, and sometimes I did sell whisky; but I remember that in those days Mr. Douglas was one of my best customers for the same. But the difference between us now is that I do not practise behind the bar at present, while Mr. Douglas keeps right on before it."