Abe (very quietly),—Now, Larkins, if you don't keep still, I'll throw you into that water.
(Larkins gets red in the face and slinks out of the store.)
Abe turns to one of his friends and speaks in a low voice. I'm going to cut work and go over to the county seat again to-morrow, for court is going on there. I'm bound to be a lawyer, Ben, and a great one. After that, who knows what will happen?
(His friend smiles.)
Lincoln,—It seems funny, does it? Abe Lincoln, the rail splitter, one of the big men of this country! Well, watch and see, old man.
(He taps his friend on the shoulder and goes out.)
Years have passed by; the backwoods boy
Has grown to manhood, now, forsooth,
No longer poor, with fame unearned,
But Lincoln the lawyer, great and learned,
Wise in his craft, given honor and praise,
Yet never forgetting the friends of old days.
Scene Three
Time,—1858.
Place,—A court room in Beardstown, Illinois.
