EIGHT: ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND
Photo by E. C. Hall
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S HOUSE, SPRINGFIELD, ILL.
LXXXIV
THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN HOUSE, SPRINGFIELD,
ILLINOIS
FROM WHICH PRESIDENT-ELECT LINCOLN WENT TO
WASHINGTON IN 1861
When Abraham Lincoln entered Springfield, in 1837, he did not own a house; in fact he did not own much of anything. Joshua Speed is quoted by Ida Tarbell thus:
"He had ridden into town on a borrowed horse, with no earthly property save a pair of saddle-bags containing a few clothes.... Lincoln came into the store with his saddle-bags on his arm. He said he wanted to buy the furniture for a single bed. The mattress, blankets, sheets, coverlid, and pillow ... would cost seventeen dollars. He said that perhaps was cheap enough; but small as the price was, he was unable to pay it. But if I would credit him till Christmas, and his experiment as a lawyer was a success, he would pay then, saying in the saddest tone, 'If I fail in this I do not know that I can ever pay you.'"