Life and Letters of General W. H. L. Wallace

II. Goes to Ottawa, Illinois. Studies Law.

CHAPTER II. GOES TO OTTAWA, ILUNOIS. STUDIES LAW. P ROFESSOR D. J. PINCKNEY, the principal of the Rock River Seminary for many years, was a "truly great man as a teacher and seemed to possess preeminent power to interest young men and attach them to him." As one of his students in after years said of him, "His life was a poem in itself." When young Wallace left school and home to make his own way in the world this friend and teacher gave him the following letter of introduction , which is both complimentary and prophetic: "ROCK RIVER SEMINARY, December 7, 1844. "This may certify that the bearer, Wm H. L. Wallace, has been for more than three years a student and instructor in the R. R. Sem'y, more than two years of which time I have had the pleasure of being personally and intimately acquainted with him. From an intimate and, as I think, thorough knowledge of his talents, attainments, character and habits, I am fully prepared, and embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity now offered, to recommend him to the friendship and kind attention of those with whom his lot may hereafter be cast. I have no hesitancy in predicting that his success i·n life, if at all comparable to his merits will be preeminent; and, hoping that his course may be as much onward and upward , his reputation as unsullied, his friends as firm and faithful, as they have hitherto been, I remain ever "His quandom instructor and faithful friend as also the humble servant of all "Who may befriend him. "DANL J. PINCKNEY, "Principal of the Seminary." But Professor Pinckney, desiring his pupil's best welfare, could be also Mentor as well as earnest friend, as is shown in an extract from a letter written by him to Wallace the 26th of the same month-"If you do not look to your [8] LIFE AND LETTERS OF GENERAL W. H. L. WALLACE grammar, as the schoolmaster would say when you write letters, you'll be scolded hard. Carelessness in little things is productive of much evil to public men. This is impertinent , Will, I know, but you must excuse it because of the Intention. In writing, a man must be careful to form correct habits, or, when crowded with business, he will mourn the want of habitual correctness. For three or four years be most scrupulously exact in all your business, incidentaloff -hand writing after that you may go on swimmingly and carelessly because habitual. Neither scowl nor fret at this homily as needless or inapropos in a friendly letter. You know these things, I acknowledge; but you will be prone to neglect them in common writing, and soon all your writing will be common. But here I resign the office of Afentor, which ill suits me, and talk to you as I was wont to talk in days of yore. Oh! 'tis ever so, the past, the past!how much of the mind it fills, how much of our joy and sorrow it engrosses! What a kind of vacuum is mind without it." In the winter of 1844, after some preliminary legal study, Mr. Wallace went with his stepmother's brother, the Hon. Samuel Hitt, a member of the Legislature, to Springfield, intending to study law with Logan and Lincoln. In the long stage journey they fell in with the Hon. T. Lyle Dickey, of Ottawa. Arrived at Springfield, Mr. Dickey and Mr. Wallace took a suite of rooms together and Wallace assisted Mr. Dickey in preparing his cases for the Supreme Court then in session there. The result of this intimacy was that young vVallace arranged to go to Ottawa-his home henceforth, and entered the law office of T. Lyle Dickey instead of that of Logan and Lincoln. Mr. Dickey was especially proud of his eldest little girl, Ann, and when in Springfield had received a letter from her, then a little girl of twelve years, which he read out loud to a little circle of friends. Among the number was the grave young man of twenty-three, Mr. Wallace. The thought flashed through his brain-"What if that bright, winning little girl should some day be my wife-time will show." Mr. Wallace studied for a year when he was admitted to [9] LIFE AND LETTERS OF GENERAL W. H. L. WALLACE the bar, being duly examined by...