When twenty years old he graduated at the
neighbouring Brown University, where his fellow-students valued his skill
as a writer. Then he studied for the Bar, and he was called to the Bar
three years later, at Springfield, Illinois.
At Springfield, Abraham Lincoln practised as a barrister. Shrewd,
lively, earnest, honest, he grudged help to a rogue. In a criminal case,
when evidence threw unexpected light upon a client's character, Abraham
Lincoln said suddenly to his junior, "Swett, the man is guilty; you
defend him, I can't." In another case, when a piece of rascality in his
client came out, Abraham Lincoln left his junior in possession of the
case and went to his hotel. To the judge, who sent for him, he replied
that he had found his hands were very dirty, and had gone away to get
them clean. Almost immediately after John Hay's call to the Bar at
Springfield he was chosen by Abraham Lincoln, newly made President, to go
with him to Washington. At Washington, Hay acted as Assistant-Secretary,
and was also, in the Civil War, aide-de-camp to President Lincoln.
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