A Fruitful Speech
At the age of twenty, Lincoln was studying law in off hours, and used to walk over to Boonville, ten or twelve miles, the county court center, to watch how law proceedings were conducted. He was interested in one murder case, ably defended by John Breckenridge; in fact, Lincoln hanging around the court-room doors to see the lawyers come out, was impelled by his ingenuous admiration to hail him, and say:
“That was the best speech I ever heard.” The advocate was naturally surprised at this frank outburst of the simple country lad. Years afterward, Breckenridge,1 belonging to Texas, and having been an active Confederate, was in the position to implore the executive’s clemency. It was granted him, while the donor reminded him of the far-off incident—which he still insisted included “the best speech I ever heard!” The beneficiary might have retorted that the plea for his own pardon was, in his mind, more effective in sparing a life.
Notes
1 Not the ex-vice-president and Confederate Cabinet officer of that name.