Page:Abraham Lincoln, A Story and a Play.djvu/39

 how he should manage to pay his way for the first few months.

With a brave heart, however, he decided to try his fortune in Springfield. He travelled there on horseback, carrying his few clothes in two saddle bags. As soon as he reached the city he went to the store of Mr. Speed, one of his friends, and asked him the cost of a bedstead and its furnishings.

"Seventeen dollars," was the answer.

Lincoln replied that though the price might be cheap, he did not have money enough to buy one.

"If you will trust me till Christmas time," he said, "I will pay you then." "That is," he added, "if I succeed as a lawyer."

"But suppose you do not succeed?" Mr. Speed answered.

Lincoln's face became very sad. "If I fail, I don't know when I can pay you." As he spoke his voice was as sorrowful as his face.

"But there is a way out of having any debt at all, " [sic]his friend now suggested. "I have a large room up stairs with two beds in it. You are welcome to share the room with me."

A moment afterwards Lincoln, armed with his