This William Armstrong, whom Lincoln saved from the gallows, enlisted in the Union army, in response to Abraham Lincoln’s first call for seventy-five thousand volunteers. Two years later his mother wrote to President Lincoln that she wanted her boy. She did not speak of any disability, only said that she wanted him. But that was enough for Mr. Lincoln, who had not yet fully paid his old debt of gratitude to his early benefactress, as he thought. He ordered the discharge of her son, and wrote the following brief epistle to her with his own hand:—

“September 1863.

“Mrs. Hannah Armstrong,—I have just ordered the discharge of your boy William, as you say, now at Louisville, Ky.”

A lawyer was associated with Lincoln in this case, Mr. Walker, and he says of his plea:—

“At first he spoke slowly, and carefully reviewed the whole testimony,—picked it all to pieces, and showed that the man had not received his wounds at the place or time named by the witnesses, but afterwards, and at the hands of some one else. … He skilfully untied here and there a knot, and loosened here and there a peg, until, fairly getting warmed up, he raised himself in his full power, and shook the arguments of his opponents from him as if they were cobwebs. … The last fifteen minutes of his speech was as eloquent as I ever heard; and such the power and earnestness with which he spoke to that jury that all sat as if entranced, and when he was through found relief in a gush of tears.” Even one of the prosecutors said, “He took the jury by storm. There were tears in Mr. Lincoln’s eyes while he spoke, but they were genuine. His sympathies were fully enlisted for the young man, and his terrible sincerity could not help but arouse the same passion in the jury. I have said a hundred times that it was Lincoln’s speech that saved Armstrong from the gallows.”

By this time old Mrs. Armstrong must have realized the full, deep significance of the Divine promise, “Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.”

In his circuit practice Lincoln devoted himself to self-improvement, by taking books with him—reading- books, his grammar, arithmetic, and Shakespeare. He read and studied much when riding. The finest passages of Shakespeare were committed in these travels; and he would sometimes stop by the way, and recite them to strangers whom he met. Out of court, during his absence on circuit business, he found considerable time to pore over his books, so that little of his time was lost.

Soon after he began the practice of law he commenced to remit money to his poor parents. There was a mortgage of two hundred dollars on his father’s little farm, and he paid it. His foster-brother, John Johnston, was poor and needy, and he assisted him also. John was shiftless and lazy, and Lincoln once wrote to him, “I now promise you that, for every dollar you will, between this and the first of next May, get for your own labour, either in money or as your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other dollar. By this, if you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your work.” He visited his parents, also, as often as was consistent with his growing business and many cares.

In his early law practice he received five hundred dollars for conducting a criminal case successfully. A legal friend called upon him the next morning, and found him counting his money.

“Look here, judge,” he said; “more money out of this case than I ever had in my life. If I had two hundred and fifty dollars more, I would go directly and purchase a quarter-section of land, and settle it upon my old stepmother.”

“I will loan you the required amount,” answered the judge.

“Agreed,” rejoined Mr. Lincoln, and proceeded to write a note at once.