At one time a certain Major Hill charged Lincoln with making defamatory remarks regarding Mrs. Hill.
Hill was insulting in his language to Lincoln, who never lost his temper.
When he saw his chance to edge a word in, Lincoln denied emphatically using the language or anything like that attributed to him.
He entertained, he insisted, a high regard for Mrs. Hill, and the only thing he knew to her discredit was the fact that she was Major Hill's wife.
HE "BROKE" TO WIN
A lawyer, who was a stranger to Mr. Lincoln, once expressed to General Linder the opinion that Mr. Lincoln's practice of telling stories to the jury was a waste of time.
"Don't lay that flattering unction to your soul," Linder answered; "Lincoln is like Tansey's horse, he 'breaks to win.'"
"BAP." McNABB'S ROOSTER
It is true that Lincoln did not drink, never swore, was a stranger to smoking and lived a moral life generally, but he did like horse-racing and chicken fighting. New Salem, Illinois, where Lincoln was "clerking," was known the neighborhood around as a "fast" town, and the average young man made no very desperate resistance when tempted to join in the drinking and gambling bouts.