Lincoln's fairness for all men, even when they were his opponents and the enemies of his cause, may be seen in his defense of Colonel Baker. There was a bitter political campaign in progress, and Colonel Baker was making a speech to a rough crowd in the courthouse. This building had been built to be a storehouse and directly over the speaker was a loft with a stairway near the speaker's stand. Lincoln was sitting on the platform above as a more convenient place to hear the speaker than from the crowded floor below. The speaker began to say things that annoyed the crowd. Suddenly the yell was raised to take him off the stand and put him out. The crowd surged forward when Lincoln's long legs were seen to swing over the edge of the opening at the head of the stairs as if he had no time to use the steps. He alighted on his feet by the speaker's side. "Gentlemen," cried Lincoln as he raised his hand to stop the oncoming rioters, "let us not disgrace the age and country in which we live. This is a land where the freedom of speech is guaranteed. Mr. Baker has a right to speak, and ought to be permitted to do so. I am here to protect him, and no man shall take him from this stand if I can prevent it." The sudden appearance of this champion of human rights dropping down from above so unexpectedly, his perfect calmness and fairness and the well-known fact that he was no idle boaster, quieted the outbreak, and Colonel Baker finished his address in peace. Joshua Speed tells how Lincoln rode into Springfield on a borrowed horse to attend his first session of the legislature with all his earthly possessions packed into his saddle bags. Lincoln came into the store owned by Speed and asked the price of a bedstead with its equipment of bedding. The price was named, Lincoln said that was no doubt cheap enough but that he could not buy it unless the storekeeper could wait for part of the pay until the money was earned. Speed was greatly impressed with the earnest young man. He offered to share with him the room which he used over the store. He pointed to the stairway leading up to the room. Lincoln went up the stairs and in a moment appeared at the stairway with beaming face. "Well, Speed," he said, "I am moved." Thus he made friends of all persons at once and they were not fairweather friends, but lifetime friends. The homely old copybook text so familiar to our grandmothers, "Beauty is as beauty does," applies well to the appearance of Lincoln, and to the first impressions received by those who saw him. Paraphrasing the poet, "none knew him but to love him, none knew him but to praise." He was like one transformed in the animation and zeal of expressing his profound sentiments of freedom, humanity and truth. One who knew Lincoln well says, "He was one of the homeliest men ever seen when walking around, but while he was making a speech he was one of the handsomest men I have ever known." III. THE WIT-MAKERS AND THEIR WIT