CHAPTER VII.
Lincoln again in Springfield--Back to the Circuit--His Personal Manners and Appearance--Glimpses of Home-Life--His Family--His Absent-Mindedness--A Painful Subject--Lincoln a Man of Sorrows--Familiar Appearance on the Streets of Springfield--Scenes in the Law-Office--Forebodings of a "Great or Miserable End "-- An Evening with Lincoln in Chicago--Lincoln's Tenderness to His Relatives--Death of His Father--A Sensible Adviser--Care of His Step-Mother--Tribute from Her.
Retiring, somewhat reluctantly, from Washington life, which he seems to have liked very much, Lincoln returned to Springfield in 1849 and resumed the practice of the law.

He declined an advantageous offer of a law-partnership at Chicago, made him by Judge Goodrich, giving as a reason that if he went to Chicago he would have to sit down and study hard, and this would kill him; that he would rather go around the circuit in the country than to sit down and die in a big city.

So he settled down once more in the rather uneventful and fairly prosperous life of a country lawyer.
A gentleman who knew Lincoln intimately in Springfield, in his maturity, has given the following capital description of him.

"He stands six feet four inches high in his stockings.

His frame is not muscular, but gaunt and wiry; his arms are long, but not disproportionately so for a person of his height; his lower limbs are not disproportioned to his body.