McClures Magazine, Volume VI, No. 3. February 1896 | Page 6

height. The back room, however, has disappeared,
so that the building as it stood when occupied by Berry and Lincoln
was somewhat longer. Of the original building there only remain the
frame-work, the black-walnut weather-boarding on the front end and
the ceiling of sycamore boards. One entire side has been torn away by
relic-hunters. In recent years the building has been used as a sort of
store-room. Just after a big fire in Petersburg some time ago, the city
council condemned the Lincoln store building and ordered it
demolished. Under this order a portion of one side was torn down,
when Mr. Bishop persuaded the city authorities to desist, upon giving a
guarantee that if Lincoln's store ever caught fire he would be
responsible for any loss which might ensue.--_J. McCan Davis._]
HE BEGINS TO STUDY LAW.
It was not only Burns and Shakespeare that interfered with the
grocery-keeping: Lincoln had begun seriously to read law. His first
acquaintance with the subject had been made when he was a mere lad
in Indiana, and a copy of the "Revised Statutes of Indiana" had fallen
into his hands. The very copy he used is still in existence and,
fortunately, in hands where it is safe. The book was owned by Mr.
David Turnham, of Gentryville, and was given in 1865 by him to Mr.
Herndon, who placed it in the Lincoln Memorial collection of Chicago.
In December, 1894, this collection was sold in Philadelphia, and the
"Statutes of Indiana" was bought by Mr. William Hoffman Winters,

Librarian of the New York Law Institute, and through his courtesy I
have been allowed to examine it. The book is worn, the title page is
gone and a few leaves from the end are missing. The title page of a
duplicate volume which Mr. Winters kindly showed me reads: "The
Revised Laws of Indiana adopted and enacted by the General Assembly
at their eighth session. To which are prefixed the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of
the State of Indiana, and sundry other documents connected with the
Political History of the Territory and State of Indiana. Arranged and
published by authority of the General Assembly. Corydon, Printed by
Carpenter and Douglass, 1824."
[Illustration: DANIEL GREEN BURNER, BERRY AND LINCOLN'S
CLERK.
From a recent photograph. Mr. Burner was Berry and Lincoln's clerk.
He lived at New Salem from 1829 to 1834. Lincoln for many months
lodged with his father, Isaac Burner, and he and Lincoln slept in the
same bed. He now lives on a farm near Galesburg, Illinois, past eighty.]
[Illustration: THE REV. JOHN M. CAMERON.
From a photograph in the possession of the Hon. W.J. Orendorff, of
Canton, Illinois. John M. Cameron, a Cumberland Presbyterian
minister, and a devout, sincere, and courageous man, was held in the
highest esteem by his neighbors. Yet, according to Daniel Green
Burner, Berry and Lincoln's clerk--and the fact is mentioned merely as
illustrating a universal custom among the pioneers--"John Cameron
always kept a barrel of whiskey in the house." He was a powerful man
physically, and a typical frontiersman. He was born in Kentucky in
1791, and, with his wife, moved to Illinois in 1815. He settled in
Sangamon County in 1818, and in 1829 took up his abode in a cabin on
a hill overlooking the Sangamon River, and, with James Rutledge,
founded the town of New Salem.
According to tradition, Lincoln, for a time, lived with the Camerons. In
the early thirties they moved to Fulton County, Illinois; then, in 1841 or
1842, to Iowa; and finally, in 1849, to California. In California they
lived to a ripe old age--Mrs. Cameron dying in 1875, and her husband
following her three years later. They had twelve children, eleven of
whom were girls. In 1886 there were living nine of these children, fifty
grandchildren, and one hundred and one great-grandchildren. Mr.

Cameron is said to have officiated at the funeral of Ann Rutledge in
1835.--_J. McCan Davis._]
[Illustration: JAMES SHORT, WHO SAVED LINCOLN'S HORSE
AND SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS FROM A CREDIT
OR.
From a photograph taken at Jacksonville, Illinois, about thirty years ago.
James Short lived on Sand Ridge, a few miles north of New Salem, and
Lincoln was a frequent visitor at his house. When Lincoln's horse and
surveying instruments were levied upon by a creditor and sold, Mr.
Short bought them in, and made Lincoln a present of them. Lincoln,
when President, made his old friend an Indian agent in California. Mr.
Short, in the course of his life, was happily married five times. He died
in Iowa many years ago. His acquaintance with Lincoln began in rather
an interesting way. His sister, who lived in New Salem, had made
Lincoln a pair of jeans trousers. The material supplied by Lincoln was