His removal, in April, 1837, from a village of twenty houses to a "city"
of about two thousand inhabitants placed him in striking new relations
and necessities as to dress, manners, and society, as well as politics;
yet here again, as in the case of his removal from his father's cabin to
New Salem six years before, peculiar conditions rendered the transition
less abrupt than would at first appear. Springfield, notwithstanding its
greater population and prospective dignity as the capital, was in many
respects no great improvement on New Salem. It had no public buildings,
its streets and sidewalks were unpaved, its stores, in spite of all
their flourish of advertisements, were staggering under the hard times
of 1837-39, and stagnation of business imposed a rigid economy on all
classes. If we may credit tradition, this was one of the most serious
crises of Lincoln's life. His intimate friend, William Butler, related
to the writer that, having attended a session of the legislature at
Vandalia, he and Lincoln returned together at its close to Springfield
by the usual mode of horseback travel. At one of their stopping-places
over night Lincoln, in one of his gloomy moods, told Butler the story of
the almost hopeless prospects which lay immediately before him--that the
session was over, his salary all drawn, and his money all spent; that he
had no resources and no work; that he did not know where to turn to earn
even a week's board.
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