Looking around, he saw behind him an old lady known as “Granny Hutchinson,” standing looking longingly at the feast. “Here Granny” said Lincoln springing from his seat, “you have my place.” And the kind hearted orator sat back upon the root of a tree and finished his turkey leg and biscuit, while “Granny” enjoyed a bountiful dinner. Thus the man’s kindness of heart showed itself everywhere. In his speech, he began by asking if Douglas had made his point on that; and having found what arguments the senator had used, he proceeded to answer them in his clear, logical manner. Douglas used oft times to abuse Lincoln’s character, accusing him of having kept a saloon. To such personalities as this, Lincoln seldom deigned to reply. It was in one of his speeches made here that he said: “Douglas has accused me of having kept a saloon. But I have never before mentioned that during that time, he was my best customer. While I served on one side of the counter, he served on the other.” On Sept. 6, 1858, Lincoln spoke at Montville. One writing from that place says: “About 10 o’clock, hearing that the delegation from Champaign County was approaching town, a company of thirty-two young men on horse-back, with flags in their hands, under the best of martial regulations, galloped out to meet the Champaignese, whom they found in strong numbers making a procession nearly a mile long, headed by two bands of music.” Our people took a great interest in Lincoln’s political career. It was at Bloomington that a resolution was passed, previous to the senatorial conflict, that we want a _big_ man, with a _big_ heart and a _big_ intellect to represent this our _big_ state. At our own county convention in June ’58, the following resolution was adopted: “That the Hon. Abraham Lincoln is our first, last and only choice to fill the vacancy to occur in the U.S. Senate on the fourth of March next: that we are jealous of his honor and rights; and that we repudiate all influence whether coming from home or abroad to thwart us in this cherished and unalienable purpose of the Republican party of this state.” Then the thought came that Abraham Lincoln might be our president. “We had the pleasure,” says the editor of the “Central Illinois Gazette”, published at the time in Champaign, “of introducing to the hospitalities of our sanctum, a few days since, the Hon. Abraham Lincoln. Few men can make an hour pass away more agreeably. We do not pretend to know, whether Mr. Lincoln will ever condescend to occupy the White House or not: but if he should, it is a comfort to know that he has established for himself a character and reputation of sufficient strength and purity to withstand the disreputable influences of even _that_ locality.”