Addressing the men who had been called to prove the ages of the defendants, he asked:—
“Where is that prairie team now?”
“On the farm of the Snow boys,” was his answer.
“Have you seen any one breaking prairie with it, lately?”
“Yes, the Snow boys were breaking up with it, last week.”
“How old are the boys now?”
“One is a little over twenty-one, and the other near twenty-three.”
“That is all,” said Lincoln.
Arising slowly, when the time came for his closing argument, and standing in an awkward, half-erect attitude, he began:—
“Gentlemen of the jury, are you willing to allow these boys to begin life with this shame and disgrace attached to their character? If you are, I am not. The best judge of human character that ever wrote, has left these immortal words for all of us to ponder: