In  the  campaign  of  1836  Lincoln  was
attacked  at  Springfield  by  an  old  citizen,
one  Forquer,  who  had  quitted  the  Whigs
and  had  been  appointed  Land  Office  reg-
istrar as  if  in  recognition  of  his  apostacy.
i3  lincolnics

Mr.  Forquer  had  just  completed  a  new
house  and  had  placed  on  it  what  was  then
a  great  novelty — a  lightning-rod.  In  his
speech,  Forquer  undertook  "  to  take  the
young  man  down."  The  young  aspirant
arose  and  replied  as  follows:

"  Mr.  Forquer  commenced  his  speech
by  announcing  that  '  the  young  man  was
to  be  taken  down.'  It  is  for  you,  fellow-
citizens,  not  me,  to  say  whether  I  am

up    or   down I    desire   to   live,

and  I  desire  place  and  distinction,  but
I  would  rather  die  now  than,  like  this
gentleman,  live  to  see  the  day  when  I
would  change  my  politics  for  an  office
worth  three  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and
then  feel  obliged  to  erect  a  lightning-
rod  over  my  house  to  protect  a  guilty
conscience  from  an  offended  God !  "

The  Rough  Diamond  Cuts  the
Polished  One.
As  has  been  frequently  noted,  men
without  personal  attractions,  like  Mira-


Zincolnfcs  19

beau,  George  Wilkes,  and  others,  have
succeeded  in  winning  their  way  by  cul-
tivating the  purely  conversational  or
oratorical  graces.  This  is  of  great  ad-
vantage in  those  electioneering  campaigns
where  the  voters  are  canvassed  man  by
man.  In  one  of  these  conflicts  Lincoln
and  his  Democratic  opponent,  L.  D.
