In either place, he who
impressed, entertained, and amused them most was the hero of the hour.
They did not discriminate very carefully between the eloquence of the
forum and the eloquence of the hustings. Human nature ruled in both
alike, and he who was the most effective speaker in a political harangue
was often retained as most likely to win in a cause to be tried or
argued. And I have no doubt in this way many retainers came to Lincoln.
Fees, money in any form, had no charms for him--in his eager pursuit of
fame he could not afford to make money. He was ambitious to distinguish
himself by some great service to mankind, and this ambition for fame and
real public service left no room for avarice in his composition. However
much he earned, he seems to have ended every year hardly richer than he
began it, and yet, as the years passed, fees came to him freely. One of
L 1,000 is recorded--a very large professional fee at that time, even in
any part of America, the paradise of lawyers. I lay great stress on
Lincoln's career as a lawyer--much more than his biographers do because
in America a state of things exists wholly different from that which
prevails in Great Britain.
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