Unduly hopeful, they
accepted the offer, and also bought out, on credit, two other
merchants who were anxious to sell. It is clear that the
flattering vote Lincoln had received at the recent election, and
the confidence New Salem felt in his personal character, alone
made these transactions possible, since not a dollar of actual
money changed hands during all this shifting of ownership. In the
long run the people's faith in him was fully justified; but
meantime he suffered years of worry and harassing debt. Berry
proved a worthless partner; the business a sorry failure. Seeing
this, Lincoln and Berry sold out, again on credit, to the Trent
brothers, who soon broke up the store and ran away. Berry also
departed and died; and in the end all the notes came back upon
Lincoln for payment. Of course he had not the money to meet these
obligations. He did the next best thing: he promised to pay as
soon as he could, and remaining where he was, worked hard at
whatever he found to do. Most of his creditors, knowing him to be
a man of his word, patiently bided their time, until, in the
course of long years, he paid, with interest, every cent of what
he used to call, in rueful satire upon his own folly, his
"National Debt."
III. LAWYER LINCOLN
Unlucky as Lincoln's attempt at storekeeping had been, it served
one good purpose. Indeed, in a way it may be said to have
determined his whole future career.
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