agreed to take them, and for the first time contracted a debt deliberately.

I have told the story of my arrest, which I supposed was applicable to all debts.

During May and early June I paid most of the amount, and on the evening of July 3d, I went to my father's house with more than enough to pay the balance due Mr. Moore. My father, who saw the amount of money I had, and which "the boys" were counting with great satisfaction, said, "Go to-morrow and pay Mr. Moore, and then you will be a free man, but now you are a servant." On the next day, accompanied by my brother Roy, I went to Upper Alton, on foot, paid Mr. Moore, and had money left; went on to Lower Alton, spent freely (twenty-five cents) on cake and spruce beer (of the old kind), and reached my father's house about sun-down, a proud and happy boy.

In 1869, after I was inaugurated governor, I reminded Mr. Moore of the fact that he had sold me the clothes on credit, and reappointed him secretary of the governor, ex officio fund commissioner, which he had held before, to which office a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year was attached.

In August, 1836, I was living in the south part of Macoupin county and attended house raisings, and other amusements of like kind, and witnessed and had opportunities for familiarizing myself with the habits of the people, which were to me always interesting and amusing.

The elections were then held on the first Monday in August, and although a voter, I attended an election held at the house of a Mr. Wood, south of where Woodburn now is.

There were three judges and two clerks of election, and the method of voting was viva voce. One of the qualifications required of a voter was residence in the state for six months previous to an election. I remember that a man named Hoskins, whom I had not seen be

fore, offered to vote, and when asked how long he had lived in the state, said he came here in the month of April previous,

The senior judge, after telling him he had not been in the state long enough, hesitated a moment, then asked if he had "had the chills." He answered, "Yes; I had one yesterday, and feel one coming on me now." The judge said, "put him down, and let him go home, the chills is as good as a six month's residence!" His vote was re

corded.

It may be well enough to say, by way of apology for the judges, that there was a large bottle of whisky on the table, of which they had partaken liberally. Accepting the rule adopted by the judges, I supposed for several years that "having the chills" was equivalent to a six month's residence in the state.

In September, I returned to Upper Alton, where I spent most of the winter in school, working in payment of my board, in the family of the Rev. Ebenezer Rodgers, a Baptist preacher who had lately come into the state from Missouri.

Mr. Rodgers was an Englishman by birth, and the father of my friend Colonel Andrew Fuller Rodgers, formerly of the 80th Illinois Infantry.

CHAPTER III.

Engaged in selling clocks-Mob in Griggsville-First meeting with Stephen A. Douglas and John T. Stuart-Journey to St. LouisArrival at Carlinville.

In May, 1837, I formed the acquaintance of Mr. C. N. Henderson of New Hartford, Conn., who was largely engaged in the business of selling clocks, and had arrangements for showing them easily. Four men who during the winter before boarded in the house I did were engaged in the practical business of peddling the clocks. The methods of the business were that a license would be taken out by him in some one county for the term of three months, which cost him fifty dollars, and then he put as many men and teams into the county as were sufficient to visit and canvass all parts of the county for the sale of brass and wooden clocks.

After engaging with Mr. Henderson, I with three other employes and all of the wagons left Upper Alton by way of Waverly and Springfield, passed Petersburg and Ross' ferry (now Havana) and reached Lewistown in Fulton county, where we operated for three months. It is difficult to imagine a more delightful life than I led while engaged in this business.

The country was new and sparcely settled, the people were immigrants into the state, they were simple in their habits and hospitable to a degree that cannot be imagined by the people of the present day.

Business was reasonably good, and everything indicated life and thrift in all the counties we visited. My first three months were spent in Fulton county, from that to Pike, where I made some valuable friends; thence to Greene, and after that to Hancock, I was at Griggsville, Pike county, in October, 1837. One day when I was absent from the town, I came into my board

ing house after dark. Soon after a number of persons came into the public room, and I learned that during the evening a stranger had lectured upon the subject of slavery and had asked his audience to sign a petition to congress to prohibit the slave trade between the states and to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia.

I would probably have signed the petition if I had been present at the meeting, but as it was I listened to a very sharp discussion between James A. McDougall, afterwards attorney-general of the State of Illinois and senator from California, and a lawyer named John P. Jordan, both of whom lived in Griggsville; one of them had come into the state from New York and the other from Virginia.

Mr. McDougall insisted upon the right of every citizen to petition congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and to prohibit the interstate slave trade, while Jordan argued that as congress had no right to do either, no citizen had a right to petition that either should be done. I went to bed leaving them in the midst of the dispute; I slept late, but when I came from my room I saw that the street in front of the hotel was crowded with people, and across the street a number of persons were kicking at and striking a man by the name. of Trumbull, and was then told that several men had followed the stranger who had lectured the night before, pulled him off his horse and had taken his petition from him, and were then pursuing every man who had signed it to compel him to take his name off the paper.

I left the town soon after in pursuit of my business, returned in the afternoon about four o'clock, found the streets full of people, and learned that they had driven Mr. Ozias M. Hatch, afterwards secretary of the State of Illinois, into the belfry of the Baptist Church, in which he took refuge to avoid the mob, and that they were still in pursuit of others who had signed the petition. I was on the street but a short time when a man named Pollock came running pursued by a mob; I

hated mobs then as I do now, but at the time I only insisted that Pollock should have what was then called a "fair fight." I had in my pocket a steel-barrel rifled pistol, I offered it to him, but to the honor of the crowd my idea of a "fair fight," "man to man, was accepted, and the affair ended for the moment, to be revived upon the appearance of some other obnoxious person.

The town was under the control of the mob several days. Lovejoy was killed on November 7th following, which greatly added to the excitement. The local authorities were, as usual, overawed by the mob spirit, and did nothing to preserve the public peace.

In Hancock county, I met for the first time Stephen A. Douglas. One night, after Mr. Sands N. Breed, who was employed with me, and I had retired (we occupied separate beds in the same room), the landlord, Mr. Swope, came to our room, accompanied by two gentlemen, who were introduced to us as "Mr. Stuart and Mr. Douglas, opposing candidates for Congress." The landlord called us by name, and informed us that we would have to occupy the same bed. Douglas then asked our politics, and Mr. Breed told him that he was a Whig, and that I was a Democrat. Douglas replied, "I will sleep with the Democrat, and Stuart may sleep with the Whig." The arrangement suited all parties. I heard Douglas speak next day, and though not quite twenty-one years old voted for him on the first Monday in August following. He had no more devoted adherent than myself until we separated in 1854 over the Nebraska bill.

From Hancock we went to Knox county, and remained there until Mr. Henderson closed out his business in Illinois, and returned to Connecticut

We made our headquarters in Fulton county, and about December 1, 1838, I took a school for three months, which closed about March 1, 1839, when I determined to visit my father, who lived in Madison county, and my eldest brother, who was married and lived in Car