STUART & LINCOLN
Attorneys-at-Law
"I NEVER USE ANYONE'S MONEY BUT MY OWN"
After a while Lincoln left Speed's friendly loft and slept on a lounge in the law office, keeping his few effects in the little old-fashioned trunk pushed out of sight under his couch.
One day an agent of the Post Office Department came in and asked if Abraham Lincoln could be found there. Abe arose and, reaching out his hand, said that was his name. The agent then stated his business; he had come to collect a balance due the Post Office Department since the closing of the post office at New Salem.
The young ex-postmaster looked puzzled for a moment, and a friend, who happened to be present, hastened to his rescue with, "Lincoln, if you are in need of money, let us help you."
Abe made no reply, but, pulling out his little old trunk, he asked the agent how much he owed. The man stated the amount, and he, opening the trunk, took out an old cotton cloth containing coins, which he handed to the official without counting, and it proved to be the exact sum required, over seventeen dollars, evidently the very pieces of money Abe had received while acting as postmaster years before!
After the department agent had receipted for the money and had gone out, Mr. Lincoln quietly remarked:
"I never use anyone's money but my own."
DROPS THROUGH THE CEILING TO DEMAND FREE SPEECH
Stuart & Lincoln's office was, for a time, over a court room, which was used evenings as a hall. There was a square opening in the ceiling of the court room, covered by a trap door in the room overhead where Lincoln slept. One night there was a promiscuous crowd in the hall, and Lincoln's friend, E. D. Baker, was delivering a political harangue. Becoming somewhat excited Baker made an accusation against a well-known newspaper in Springfield, and the remark was resented by several in the audience.