CHAPTER III.
Lincoln's Beginning as a Lawyer--His Early Taste for Politics--Lincoln and the Lightning-Rod Man--Not an Aristocrat--Reply to Dr.Early--A Manly Letter--Again in the Illinois Legislature--The "Long Nine"-- Lincoln on His Way to the Capital--His Ambition in 1836--First Meeting with Douglas--Removal of the Illinois Capital--One of Lincoln's Early Speeches--Pro-Slavery Sentiment in Illinois--Lincoln's Opposition to Slavery--Contest with General Ewing--Lincoln Lays out a Town--The Title "Honest Abe." Abraham Lincoln's career as a lawyer covered a period of a quarter of a century, beginning about 1834 or '35, and ending with his election to the Presidency, in November, 1860.

When he began his professional life he was an obscure and unpromising youth of twenty-five, with but little learning and fewer accomplishments, and without advantages of social influence or wealthy friends.

Step by step, with patient industry and unflinching determination, he climbed the ladder of professional advancement until he stood among the foremost lawyers of the West.

He had, indeed, won a national reputation; and when he laid aside his law books, a mature man of fifty, it was to enter upon the great honors and responsibilities of the Presidency of the American Republic.
Lincoln was devoted to his profession, and his success in it was earned by hard and constant application.

But his natural taste for politics led him to take a full share in the activities of political life.