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Lyman Trumbull, who was conveniently at hand, made the speech for him, telling the crowd that they must excuse Mr. Lincoln as he was under engagement to address the people at a later date, March 4th, from the eastern portico of the Capitol of Washington."

CHAPTER XIX

Lincoln the candidate for President - Meeting the expenses of the campaign -Judge Logan's plan- - The ten friends of Lincoln who contributed - John W. Bunn's story of the fund - John G. Nicolay selected as Lincoln's secretary - Lincoln's attention to the details of the campaign - Meets with local committee Recommends John Hay as assistant secretary - Interesting reminiscence of John W. Bunn - How Lincoln bore himself throughout the campaign - The election - Lincoln going to the polls - Assigned quarters for his office in the State House - His habits as President elect - Goes to Chicago to meet Hannibal Hamlin - Returns to Springfield - Visitors at his office and incidents of his stay there-Journeys to Charleston to see his stepmotherAccount of his visit and interesting reminiscence by James A. ConnollyReturns to Springfield and begins preparations for the journey to Washington -Last visit to his law office - Final interview with Herndon.

INASMUCH as Abraham Lincoln was the first candidate for President that the city of Springfield had ever sheltered there were, therefore, no precedents, indicating the requirements of the occasion, to guide him or his friends. In a worldly sense Lincoln was of limited means, his accumulations after a quarter of a century at the bar never having exceeded ten thousand dollars. He was therefore ill constituted to bear, unaided, the burdensome expenses which a campaign for the presidential office necessarily entailed. That being the case I venture in this connection to give space to a reminiscence of Lincoln I heard in Springfield. It is so illuminative and affords such an insight into Lincoln's personal connection with the campaign of 1860, it cannot well be omitted. It is a recollection of the late John W. Bunn, who was a close friend of Lincoln and one of his political lieutenants in Springfield. The statement written and delivered to me by Mr. Bunn is as follows:

Shortly after Mr. Lincoln's nomination for President in May,

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1860, Judge Stephen T. Logan, a warm friend and former law partner of Mr. Lincoln and one who had been active in his poKitical interest, came to me at my brother Jacob Bunn's store, where I was then employed, and reminded me that Mr. Lincoln would necessarily receive a large amount of correspondence which should be attended to promptly and which would require clerical assistance; that prominent Republicans all over the country would be coming to Springfield to visit him; that the entertainment of these gentlemen would be an item of some consequence and that there would be various other expenses incident to the Springfield end of the campaign, all of which Mr. Lincoln, being a man of limited means, could ill afford to bear. Judge Logan then suggested that a fund for that purpose should be provided by Mr. Lincoln's personal friends in Springfield, at the same time handing me his check for five hundred dollars accompanied by a list of nine other friends of Mr. Lincoln including such men as Colonel John Williams, my brother Jacob Bunn, O. M. Hatch, Thomas Condell, and Robert Irwin, each one of whom, he was sure, would be glad to contribute five hundred dollars for a fund for this general purpose. He directed me to act as treasurer of the fund and I at once called on the gentlemen named, obtaining, as predicted, five hundred dollars from each one, thus accumulating the fund of five thousand dollars for the purposes indicated by Judge Logan.

Shortly after this John G. Nicolay, then a clerk in the office of O. M. Hatch, agreed, without compensation, to give such time as he could to attend to Mr. Lincoln's political correspondence. Mr. Hatch was then Secretary of State, and he and the clerks in his office arranged their duties so that Mr. Nicolay might have considerable time at his disposal in connection with Mr. Lincoln's correspondence. In the early part of August a great Republican rally, said to have been attended by seventy-five thousand people, was held at the State Fair Grounds in Springfield. The expenses attendant upon that mammoth gathering of the people consumed the unexpended portion of the five thousand dollars that had been raised. After the rally a meeting of the committee of gentlemen who had contributed the fund was held and each of the original subscribers put in an additional five hundred dollars. Meanwhile Mr. Lincoln's correspondence had so materially in