"I reckon he was," said Speed."He kept them roaring till morning.Judge Peck told me he allowed Mr.Van Buren would be stiff for a month with laughing at Abe's tales.It's curious that a man who don't use tobacco or whisky should be such mighty good company.""I wish Abe'd keep it up," said another."Most of the time now he goes about like a sick dog.What's come to him, Joe?"Mr.Speed hushed his voice."He's got his own troubles....He's a deep-feeling man, and can't forget easily like you and me....But things is better with him, and I kind of hope to see him wed by Thanks.
giving Day....Look at him with that churn.He's that inquisitive he can't keep his hands off no new thing."But the long man had finished his inquiry and rejoined the group by the stove.
"I thought you were a lawyer, Mr.Lincoln," said Stanton, "but you seem to have the tastes of a mechanic."The other grinned."I've a fancy for any kind of instrument, for I was a surveyor in this county before I took to law.""George Washington also was a surveyor."
"Also, but not LIKEWISE.I don't consider I was much of a hand with the compass and chains.""It is the fashion in Illinois, I gather, for the law to be the last in a series of many pursuits--the pool where the driftwood from many streams comes to rest." Mr.Stanton spoke with the superior air of one who took his profession seriously and had been trained for it in the orthodox fashion.
"It was so in my case.I've kept a post-office, and I've had a store, and I've had a tavern, and I kept them so darned bad that I'm still paying off the debts I made in them." The long man made the confession with a comic simplicity.
"There's a deal to be said for the habit,'t said Speed."Having followed other trades teaches a lawyer something about human nature.I reckon Abe wouldn't be the man he is if he had studied his books all his days.""There is another side to that," said Mr.Stanton and his precise accents and well-modulated voice seemed foreign in that homely place."You are also a politician, Mr.Lincoln?"The other nodded."Of a kind.I'm a strong Henry Clay man.""Well, there I oppose you.I'm no Whig or lover of Whigs.But I'm a lover of the Constitution and the law of the country, and that Constitution and that country are approaching perilous times.There's explosive stuff about which is going to endanger the stability of the noble heritage we have received from our fathers, and if that heritage is to be saved it can only be by those who hold fast to its eternal principles.This land can only be saved by its lawyers, sir.But they must be lawyers profoundly read in the history and philosophy of their profession, and no catchpennny advocates with a glib tongue and an elastic conscience.The true lawyer must approach his task with reverence and high preparation; for as his calling is the noblest of human activities, so it is the most exacting."The POINT-DEVICE young man spoke with a touch of the schoolmaster, but his audience, who had an inborn passion for fine words, were impressed.Lincoln sat squatted on his heels on a bit of sacking, staring into the open door of the stove.
"There's truth in that," he said slowly.His voice had not the mellow tones of the other's, being inclined to shrillness, but it gave the impression of great power waiting on release somewhere in his massive chest."But Ireckon it's only half the truth, for truth's like a dollar-piece, it's got two sides, and both are wanted to make it good currency.The law and the constitution are like a child's pants.They've got to be made wider and longer as the child grows so as to fit him.If they're kept too tight, he'll burst them; and if you're in a hurry and make them too big all at once, they'll trip him up.""Agreed," said Stanton, "but the fashion and the fabric should be kept of the same good American pattern."The long man ran a hand through his thatch of hair.
"There's only one fashion in pants--to make them comfortable.And some day that boy is going to grow so big you won't be able to make the old ones do and he'll have to get a new pair.If he's living on a farm he'll want the same kind of good working pants, but for all that they'll have to be new made."Stanton laughed with some irritation "I hate arguing in parables, for in the nature of things they can't be exact.That's a mistake you westerners make.The law must change in detail with changing conditions, but its principles cannot alter, and the respect for these principles is our only safeguard against relapse into savagery.
Take slavery.There are fools in the east who would abolish it by act of Congress.For myself I do not love the system, but I love anarchy and injustice less, and if you abolish slavery you abolish also every-right of legal property, and that means chaos and barbarism.A free people such as ours cannot thus put the knife to their throat.If we were the serfs of a monarchy, accustomed to bow before the bidding of a king, it might be different, but a republic cannot do injustice to one section of its citizens without destroying itself."Lincoln had not taken his eyes from the stove.He seemed to be seeing things in the fire, for he smiled to himself.
"Well," he drawled, "I reckon that some day we may have to find some sort of a king.The new pants have got to be made."Mr.Stanton shrugged his shoulders, and the other, quick to detect annoyance, scrambled to his feet and stood looking down from his great height at his dapper antagonist.A kindly quizzical smile lit his homely face."We'll quit arguing, Mr.Stanton, for I admit I'm afraid of you.
