Page:Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, v1.djvu/78

48 "Temperance," which was published in a weekly paper.

A village lyceum was one of the institutions of the little hamlet of Gentryville. The sessions were held in Jones's store, where the auditors and disputants sat on the counter, on inverted nail kegs, or lolled upon barrels or bags, while the wordy contest raged. The questions selected for discussion were not concrete. At one time there would be a debate upon the relative forces of wind and water; at another, upon the comparative wrongs of the Indian and the negro; the relative merits of the ant and the bee; also of water and fire. Then, as later, Lincoln would enforce his views largely by comparison and by illustrations, by sallies of wit and homely anecdotes. It was always understood that fun was ahead when "Abe Linkern" took the floor.

Upon one occasion Abraham walked to Booneville, fifteen miles, to attend a session of the circuit court. One Breckenridge, a lawyer with merely a local fame, made a speech in a murder case which captivated the youthful aspirant; and as he walked home after dark, his vivid fancy wrought like scenes of forensic glory for himself.