Lincoln, the unknown

LINCOLN THE UNKNOWN•79later, his associate, Ward Lamon, came to divide their fee oftwo hundred and fifty dollars. Lincoln rebuked him sternly.Lamon protested that the fee had been settled in advance, thatthe girl's brother was entirely satisfied to pay it."That may be," Lincoln retorted, "but I am not satisfied.That money comes out of the pocket of a poor, demented girl;and I would rather starve than swindle her in this manner. Youreturn half this money at least, or I'll not take a cent of it asmy share."In another instance, a pension agent had charged the widowof a Revolutionary soldier half the four hundred dollars towhich her pension amounted, for getting her claim allowed. Theold woman was bent with age, and in poverty. Lincoln had hersue the pension agent, won the case for her, and charged hernothing. Besides, he paid her hotel bill and gave her money tobuy a ticket home.One day the Widow Armstrong came to Lincoln in greattrouble. Her son Duff was charged with having murdered aman in a drunken brawl, and she pleaded with Abe to comeand save the boy. Lincoln had known the Armstrongs back inNew Salem. In fact, he had rocked Duff to sleep when he wasa baby in the cradle. The Armstrongs had been a wild, roughlot; but Lincoln liked them. Jack Armstrong, Duff's father, hadbeen the leader of the Clary's Grove Boys, and the renownedathlete whom Lincoln vanquished in a wrestling-match that hasgone down in history.Old Jack was dead now. Lincoln gladly went before the juryand made one of the most moving and appealing addresses ofhis career, and saved the boy from the gallows.All the widowed mother had in the world was forty acres ofland, which she offered to turn over to Lincoln."Aunt Hannah," he said, "you took me in years ago whenI was poor and homeless, and you fed me and mended myclothes, and I shan't charge you a cent now."Sometimes he urged his clients to settle out of court, andcharged them nothing whatever for his advice. In one instance,he refused to take a judgment against a man, saying, "I amreally sorry for him — poor and a cripple as he is."Such kindness and consideration, beautiful though it was,didn't bring in cash; so Mary Lincoln scolded and fretted. Herhusband wasn't getting on in the world, while other lawyerswere growing wealthy with their fees and investments. Judge