White Haven was built in 1808 by Captain John Long, who had won his title during the Revolution. Later the house and three hundred acres of the original farm were sold to Frederick Dent, who, at one period, had ninety slaves in the slave quarters still to be seen at the rear of the house. Through Mrs. Grant the entire property came into the possession of General Grant. At the time of the failure of Grant & Ward, the farm was pledged to William H. Vanderbilt, who sold it to Captain Fuller H. Conn of St. Louis. Captain Conn disposed of it in a number of parcels. One of these, containing fifteen acres and the old homestead, was purchased by Albert Wenzlick, who makes his summer home in the house where Ulysses S. Grant met Julia Dent. EIGHT: ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND _In verdurous tumult far away The prairie billows gleam, Upon their crests in blessing rests The noontide's gracious beam. Low quivering vapors steaming dim The level splendors break Where languid lilies deck the rim Of some land-circled lake._ _Far in the east like low-hung clouds The waving woodlands lie; Far in the west the glowing plain Melts warmly in the sky. No accent wounds the reverent air, No footprint dints the sod,-- Lone in the light the prairie lies, Wrapt in a dream of God._ JOHN HAY. EIGHT: ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND [Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S HOUSE, SPRINGFIELD, ILL. _Photo by E. C. Hall_ See page 369] LXXXIV THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN HOUSE, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS FROM WHICH PRESIDENT-ELECT LINCOLN WENT TO WASHINGTON IN 1861 When Abraham Lincoln entered Springfield, in 1837, he did not own a house; in fact he did not own much of anything. Joshua Speed is quoted by Ida Tarbell thus: "He had ridden into town on a borrowed horse, with no earthly property save a pair of saddle-bags containing a few clothes.... Lincoln came into the store with his saddle-bags on his arm. He said he wanted to buy the furniture for a single bed. The mattress, blankets, sheets, coverlid, and pillow ... would cost seventeen dollars. He said that perhaps was cheap enough; but small as the price was, he was unable to pay it. But if I would credit him till Christmas, and his experiment as a lawyer was a success, he would pay then, saying in the saddest tone, 'If I fail in this I do not know that I can ever pay you.'" The storekeeper thereupon proposed that the young lawyer should share his own room above the store. Lincoln promptly accepted, went upstairs, and in a moment was down again. With dry humor he said: "Well, Speed, I am moved."