J. G. Holland wrote, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," of the young man's progress during his first year in New Salem:
"The year that Lincoln was in Denton Offutt's store was one of great advance. He had made new and valuable acquaintances, read many books, won multitudes of friends, and become ready for a step further in advance. Those who could appreciate brains respected him, and those whose ideas of a man related to his muscles were devoted to him. It was while he was performing the work of the store that he acquired the nickname, 'Honest Abe'—a characterization that he never dishonored, an abbreviation that he never outgrew. He was everybody's friend, the best-natured, the most sensible, the best-informed, the most modest and unassuming, the kindest, gentlest, roughest, strongest, best fellow in all New Salem and the region round about."
CHAPTER XI
Politics, War, Storekeeping and Studying Law
STUDYING GRAMMAR FIRST
By "a step still further in advance" Dr. Holland must have meant the young clerk's going into politics. He had made many friends in New Salem, and they reflected back his good-will by urging him to run for the State Legislature. Before doing this he consulted Mentor Graham, the village schoolmaster, with whom he had worked as election clerk when he first came to the place. Abe could read, write and cipher, but he felt that if he should succeed in politics, he would disgrace his office and himself by not speaking and writing English correctly.
The schoolmaster advised: "If you expect to go before the public in any capacity, I think the best thing you can do is to study English grammar."
"If I had a grammar I would commence now," sighed Abe.
Mr. Graham thought one could be found at Vaner's, only six miles away. So Abe got up and started for it as fast as he could stride. In an incredibly short time he returned with a copy of Kirkham's Grammar, and set to work upon it at once. Sometimes he would steal away into the woods, where he could study "out loud" if he desired. He kept up his old habit of sitting up nights to read, and as lights were expensive, the village cooper allowed him to stay in his shop, where he burned the shavings and studied by the blaze as he had done in Indiana, after every one else had gone to bed. So it was not long before young Lincoln, with the aid of Schoolmaster Graham, had mastered the principles of English grammar, and felt himself better equipped to enter politics and public life. Some of his rivals, however, did not trouble themselves about speaking and writing correctly.