One spring day, four lawyers rode on horseback along a muddy country road to attend court in the next town. As they passed through a grove, they heard frantic fluttering overhead and feeble chirping from the wet grass.
"What's the matter?" asked the first lawyer, Mr. Speed.
"Just some robins," replied Mr. Hardin. "The storm blew two chicks from their nest. They're too young to fly, and the mother is distressed."
"What a pity! They'll die," said the third lawyer.
"They're only birds. Why bother?" said Mr. Hardin. Mr. Speed agreed.
The three men glanced at the struggling chicks and the anxious mother bird, then rode on, soon forgetting the scene.
But the fourth lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, stopped. He dismounted and gently gathered the chicks in his large, warm hands. They chirped softly, unafraid.
"Never mind, little fellows," said Lincoln. "I'll return you to your cozy bed."
He found the nest high above, out of reach. Remembering his childhood skill, he climbed the thorny tree and carefully placed each chick back into the warm nest with its siblings.
Ahead, the other lawyers stopped at a spring. "Where is Lincoln?" one asked.
"He probably stopped for those birds," Mr. Speed guessed.
Soon, Lincoln rejoined them, his shoes muddy and coat torn.
"Where have you been, Abraham?" asked Mr. Hardin.
"I stopped to return the birds to their mother," Lincoln answered.
"We always thought you were a hero. Now we know it," said Mr. Speed. The three laughed heartily, thinking it foolish for a strong man to trouble himself over "worthless" birds.
"Gentlemen," said Mr. Lincoln, "I could not have slept tonight if I had left those helpless robins to perish in the wet grass."
Abraham Lincoln later became a renowned lawyer, statesman, and President of the United States, remembered as one of America's greatest leaders.