Lincoln, the unknown

24W.hen the war began, in 1861, a shabby and disappointedman was sitting on a packing-case in a leather store in Galena,Illinois, smoking a clay pipe. His job, so far as he had one, wasthat of bookkeeper and buyer of hogs and hides from farmers.His two younger brothers who owned the store didn't wanthim around at any price, but for months he had tramped thestreets of St. Louis, looking in vain for some kind of position,until his wife and four children were destitute. Finally, in despair,he had borrowed a few dollars for a railway ticket andgone to see his father in Kentucky, begging for assistance. Theold man had considerable cash, but, being loath to part withany of it, he sat down and wrote his two younger sons inGalena, instructing them to give their elder brother a job.So they put him on the pay-roll at once, more as a matter offamily politics and family charity than anything else.Two dollars a day—that was his wage—and it was probablymore than he was worth, for he had no more business abilitythan a jack-rabbit; he was lazy and slovenly, he loved cornwhisky,and he was eternally in debt. He was always borrowingsmall sums of money; so when his friends saw him coming, theyused to look the other way and cross the street to avoid meetinghim.Everything he had undertaken in life, so far, had ended infailure and frustration.So far.176