On the contrary, they were much
enjoyed. The story he told on this occasion was much liked by the vast
assembly that surrounded the temporary platform from which he spoke,
and was received with loud bursts of laughter and applause. It served
to place the opposing party and its speakers in a most ludicrous
position in respect to the question being considered, and gave him a
most favorable hearing for the arguments he later made in support of
the measures he was sustaining."
[Illustration: JOSHUA F. SPEED AND WIFE.
From a painting by Healy, owned by Mrs, Joshua F. Speed of Louisville,
Kentucky, and reproduced here by permission. Joshua F. Speed was a
Kentuckian. At the time Lincoln went to Springfield he was one of the
leading merchants of the town, and it was he who befriended the young
lawyer on his arrival (see MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE for March). Towards
the end of 1840 Mr. Speed sold his store, and soon after returned to
Louisville. At his urgent invitation Lincoln visited him in the
summer of 1841. He seems not to have gone back with Speed, as many
biographers have stated, for in a letter of June 19, 1841, to Speed,
Lincoln says: "I stick to my promise to come to Louisville." He seems,
too, to have stayed a much shorter time than has frequently been
stated, for he wrote back to Speed's sister, on September 27th, of his
safe arrival in Springfield.
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