When Abraham started out for himself, he had almost nothing, not even a nice suit of clothes, and the very first work he did was to split four hundred rails for enough money to buy him a pair of brown jeans pants. He had no trade or influence; but he was strong and good natured. He could out-lift and out-wrestle and out-work any man he came across. His friends used to boast of his strength a great deal. One time when he was president, a man came to him, who was shy on account of being before the president. After his errand was done, Mr. Lincoln asked him to measure with him, and the man proved to be even taller, and went away seeming to think there was something wrong in his being taller than the president of the United States. While his strength made him popular with the hard working men, his good nature, wit, stories, and ability to make a good speech made him popular with everybody! The people liked to have him around, so he could always get work in the various kinds of labor necessary on the farm about there. He remained in Macon county a year, and made for one man alone, three thousand rails. He continued at this time to read all the books he could get, and also to make stump speeches, often doing it alone in the woods. A man came along making political speeches. John Banks told Abraham that he could do better. Abraham tried it, and the man after hearing his speech took him aside and asked him how he learned so much and how he could do so well. Abraham told him that he read a great deal and the man encouraged him to continue. A Mr. Benton Offut wanted to send some produce to New Orleans. Abraham had had some experience on a trip you will remember before, and so Mr. Offut hired him at the rate of fifty cents a day to take a flat boat of goods to New Orleans and sell them. When they were building this boat at Sangamon, a town that is now gone, Lincoln used to tell stories particularly in the evening when work was done. They would sit along a log, and when they came to a funny part, they would laugh so hard that the men would roll off the log. It is said they did this so often that it polished the log. They called this "Abraham's log," and many years afterward, even when Mr. Lincoln was noted, this log was pointed out to strangers as "Abraham's log."