for the moment to be discouraged. There was so much at stake, however not only young Armstrong's life, but his widowed mother's happiness also that Lincoln, after the court adjourned for the day, kept thinking and worrying over it. All at once he thought, "Suppose I can prove that the moon was not shining that night, and that therefore this man's evidence is false!" So he hunted up the almanac, and before he went to bed that night he felt sure he would succeed in freeing his old friend's unfortunate boy.

Next day when he opened his address for the defense he laid especial stress upon the testimony of this one man, and pointed out that his was the only direct evidence against the prisoner.

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After making it plain to the jury that without this man's moonlight story there was nothing upon which to convict his client, he said: Now, gentlemen of the jury, I propose to prove to you that this evidence is absolutely false. I hold in my hand the proof that upon the night of the supposed murder there was no moon in the sky, but that it had set several hours before the time the fight occurred."

He then handed the almanac, which he had brought with him, to the jury, and the sensation created by Lincoln's discovery was plainly shown in the faces of the men.

The advantage he had thus gained he followed

up with an eloquent appeal in favor of Armstrong. He reminded them that old Hannah Armstrong, the friend of his youth, had begged him to defend her boy; that he had no other interest in the trial than securing justice for the prisoner. He was not working for a fee, but for the cause of right.

He told the jury of his once being a poor, friendless boy himself; that Armstrong's parents took him to their house, fed, and clothed him, and gave him a home. As he went on with his personal narrative his eyes filled with tears, his voice choked, and his tall form quivered with the powerful emotions that swept over him as he thought of his own early struggles in life.

The story, so pathetically told, moved the jury to tears also, and they forgot the supposed guilt of the prisoner in their admiration and sympathy for his advocate.

On the morning of the trial, Lincoln had told the mother, "Your son will be free before sundown," which proved true, for the jury brought in a verdict of "Not guilty."

The defendant's mother, Hannah Armstrong, speaking of it afterward, said: "Lincoln had said to me, Hannah, your son will be cleared before sundown.' I left the court-room, and they came and told me that my son was cleared and a free I went up to the court-house. The jury

man.

shook hands with me; so did the judge and Lincoln. Tears streamed down Lincoln's cheeks. I asked him after the trial what his fee would be. 'Why, Hannah,' he said, 'I sha'n't charge you a cent, and anything else I can do for you I will do it willingly without charge.'

SIXTH PERIOD: THE STATESMAN

(1855-1860)

CHAPTER X

Lincoln again enters the field of politics-Chosen to answer Douglas-Assists in organizing the Republican party-An audience of two-Challenges "the Little Giant"-The great speech on the Declaration of Independence-The question which defeated him for the Senate-"The bulwark of liberty" speech-Nominated and elected President-Prophetic soliloquy-He leaves Springfield-The plot to assassinate him at Baltimore.

THE outrages in the States of Kansas and Missouri in 1855, following the passage of the Kansas and Nebraska bill, which originated with Stephen A. Douglas and admitted slavery into those States, aroused Lincoln from his long silence; and when Douglas returned to Illinois as the lion of the day, and opened the campaign in Springfield with a speech in defense of his bill, which had been passed by Congress, Lincoln was chosen by his party to answer him. This he did with such great success that the Springfield Journal said:

"The anti-Nebraska speech of Mr. Lincoln was the profoundest, in our opinion, that he has made in his whole life. He felt upon his soul the truths burn which he uttered, and all present felt that he was true to his own soul. His feelings once or twice swelled within, and came near stifling utterance. He quivered with emotion. The whole house was still as death. He was most successful, and the house approved the glorious triumph of truth by loud and continued huzzas."

At the instigation of his friends, he followed Senator Douglas and made speeches either immediately after him in the same town, or by arrangement with him upon the same platform. Douglas, however, soon tired of his agreement, and begged Lincoln's consent to give up the mutual debates.

Lincoln was elected to the Legislature during this campaign, but resigned, intending to run for the United States Senate. This he did, but was defeated by Lyman Trumbull.

While Lincoln was always against slavery, he did not sanction the methods of the abolitionists. He declared, "Let there be peace. Revolutionize through the ballot-box, and restore the Government once more to the affections and hearts of men by making it express, as it was intended to do, the highest spirit of justice and liberty."