Lincoln, the unknown

98• LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNfrequently than ever; and they were more prolonged and moreprofound.One night he was sharing a bed with another lawyer in acountry tavern. His companion awoke at dawn and found Lincolnsittingin his nightshirt on the edge of the bed, brooding,dejected, mumbling to himself, lost in unseeing abstraction.When at last he spoke, the first words were:"I tell you this nation cannot endure permanently half slaveand half free."Shortly after this a colored woman in Springfield came toLincoln with a pitiful story. Her son had gone to St.Louis andtaken a job on a Mississippi steamboat. When he arrived inNew Orleans he was thrown into jail. He had been born free,but he had no papers to prove it. So he was kept in prisonuntil his boat left. Now he was going to be sold as a slave to paythe prison expenses.Lincoln took the case to the Governor of Illinois. The governorreplied that he had no right or power to interfere. In responseto a letter, the Governor of Louisiana replied that hecouldn't do anything, either. So Lincoln went back to see theGovernor of Illinois a second time, urging him to act, but thegovernor shook his head.Lincoln rose from his chair, exclaiming with unusual emphasis:"By God, Governor, you may not have the legal powerto secure the release of this poor boy, but I intend to make theground in this country too hot for the foot of a slave-owner."The next year Lincoln was forty-six,and he confided to hisfriend Whitney that he "kinder needed" glasses; so he stoppedat a jewelry store and bought his first pair—for thirty-sevenand a half cents.