The heavy debts of the store hung over him.
The long distances he had to travel in his new employment had made it
necessary to buy a horse, and for it he had gone into debt.
"My father," says Thomas Watkins of Petersburg, who remembers the
circumstances well, "sold Lincoln the horse, and my recollection is
that Lincoln agreed to pay him fifty dollars for it. Lincoln was a
little slow in making the payments, and after he had paid all but ten
dollars, my father, who was a high-strung man, became impatient, and
sued him for the balance. Lincoln, of course, did not deny the debt,
and raised the money and paid it. I do not often tell this," Mr.
Watkins adds, "because I have always thought there never was such a
man as Lincoln, and I have always been sorry father sued him."
BUSINESS REVERSES.
Between his duties as deputy surveyor and postmaster, Lincoln had
little leisure for the store, and its management had passed into the
hands of Berry. The stock of groceries was on the wane. The numerous
obligations of the firm were maturing, with no money to meet them.
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