THE
LIFE OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
5
CHAPTER
I.
THE BABE OF
THE LOG CABIN AND HIS
KIN.
NEAR five scores of years have gone by
since a poor, plain babe was born in a log hut on the
banks of a small stream known as the " Big South Fork"
of No-lin's Creek. This was in Ken-tuc-ky and in what is
now La-rue Coun-ty.
It was
Sun-day, Feb. 12,
1809, when this
child came to bless the
world.
The hut, not much more than a cow-shed,
held the fa-ther and moth-er, whose names were Thom-as
and Nan-cy, and their girl child, Sa-rah. These three
were the first who saw the strange, sad face of the boy,
who, when he grew to be a man, was so great and good and
did such grand deeds that all the world gave most high
praise to him.
6 THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
The folks
from whom the fa-ther came were first known in
A-mer-i-ca in 1618. They came from Eng‑land at that
time, and made a home at
Hing-ham,
Mass.
They bore a
good name, went straight to work, had health, strength,
thrift, and soon tracts of land for their
own.
All the long
line of men from whom this babe came bore Bi-ble names.
The first in this land was Sam-u-el. Then came two
Mor-de-cais. Next was John, then A-bra-ham, then Tho-mas
who was the fa-ther of that Ken-tuc-ky
boy.
Though there
was room for hosts of men in Mas-sa-chu-setts, yet
scores left that state and took up land in New Jer-sey.
Mor-de-cai Lin-coln, with his son John, went to
Free-hold, New Jer-sey. They made strong friends there
and had a good home. When more land was want-ed,
Mor-de-cai left his son in New Jer-sey for a while, and
went to the Val-ley of the Schuyl-kill in
Penn-syl-va-ni-a, where he took up a large tract of
land. John Lin-coln, the son, joined his fa-ther
lat-er.
Near their
farm was that of George Boone who had come from Eng-land
with e-lev-en chil-dren. One son of George had great
love for the woods, the song of the
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
7
birds and
camp life. He was Dan-iel Boone, the great
hun-ter.
The men on
Penn-syl-va-ni-a farms, thought it best to buy land on
the oth-er side of the Po-to-mac, so the
Lin-colns went in-to the val-ley of the Shen-an-do-ah
and took up tracts on lands which had been sur-veyed by
George Wash-ing-ton. The Boones went to North
Car-o-li-na.
When John
Lin-coln's first born son, A-bra-ham, born in
Penn-syl-va-ni-a, came of age, he left his Vir-gin-ia
home and went to see the Boones in North
Car-o-li-na.
Here he met
the sweet Ma-ry Ship-ley whom he wed. Dan-iel Boone told
them that there was a fine land be-yond the moun-tains.
Boone and three more men had found a gate-way in the
moun-tains in 1748. They named it Cum-ber-land Gap, in
hon-or of the Duke of Cum-ber-land, Prime-min-is-ter to
King George. They
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
8
found rich
soil on that oth-er side of the moun-tains, and the
haunts of the buf-fa-lo and deer.
Boone got up
a band of two
score and ten men
in 1775 and made a settle‑ment at a spot to which he
gave the name of Boons‑bor-ough, in what is now
Ken-tuc-ky.
When the war
of the Rev-o-lu-tion came, the In-di-ans had arms and
shot which had been giv-en to them by the Brit-ish. The
red men fought hard for the lands where they were wont
to hunt. The white men had to build forts and watch the
foe at all points when they went forth to clear or till
the ground.
Still, more
and more folks went to Ken-tuc-ky. Of these, in 1778,
were A-bra-ham Lin-coln and his wife, Ma-ry Ship-ley
Lin-coln. With them were their three boys, Mor-de-cai,
Jo-si-ah and Thom-as, the last a babe in the arms of his
moth-er.
From their
North Car-o-li-na home, on the banks of the Yad-kin,
this group made a trip of 500 miles. The end of their
route was near Bear-grass Fort, which was not far from
what is now the cit-y of Lou-is-ville,
Ken-tuc-ky.
A sad thing
came to the Lin-colns in 1784. Abra-ham with his three
sons went out to clear the land on
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
9
their farm.
A squad of In-di-ans was near. At the first shot from
the brush the good fa-ther fell to the earth to breathe
no more. The two old-er boys got a-way, but Thom-as, the
third son, was caught up by a sav-age, and would have
been tak-en off had not a quick flash come from the
eld-est boy's gun as he fired from the fort, tak-ing aim
at a white or-na-ment on the In-di-an's breast, and
kill-ing him at once.
It was the
way of those days that the first born son should have
what his fa-ther left. So all went to Mor-de-cai.
Jo-si-ah and Thom-as had to make their own way in the
world.
10
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
Young
Thom-as, at ten years of age was at work on land for
small pay. As he grew in strength he took up tools, put
by his coin, and, at
last, could buy some land of his own. When he was a man
grown he wed Nan-cy Hanks, who made a good and true wife
for him.
He built a
hut for her near E-liz-a-beth-town. In a year's time,
the first child, Sa-rah, was born.
Two years
went by, and as there was but small gain and scarce food
for three there, the Lincolns went to Big
South Fork, put up a poor shack, a rude hut of one room.
The floor was not laid, there was no glass for the
win-dow and no boards for the
door.
In this poor
place A-bra-ham Lincoln, II, first
saw the light.
The moth-er,
Nan-cy Hanks, when she came to be the wife of Thom-as
Lin-coln, was a score and three years old. She was tall,
had dark hair, good looks, much grace, and a kind heart.
It is said that at times she had a far off look in her
eyes as if she could see what oth-ers did not see.
She had been
at school in her Vir-ginia home, could read and write,
and had great love for books. She knew much of the
Bi-ble by heart, and it made her glad to tell her dear
ones of it. The brave young wife did all she could to
help in that poor home.
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
11
The love she
had for her babes kept joy in her
heart.
Her boy was
ver-y close to her. As she looked in-to his deep eyes,
she seemed to know that child was born for grand
deeds.
As he
learned to talk, his moth-er hid his say-ings in her
heart, tell-ing but few friends who were near her, how
she felt a-bout that son.
But she had
too much to do to dream long. As Thom-as was much from
home the young wife had to leave her babes on a bed of
leaves, take the gun, go out and bring down a deer or a
bear, dress the flesh, and cook it at the fire. She used
skins for clothes, shoes, and caps. All the time it was
toil, toil, but love kept the work less
hard.
As the boy,
A-bra-ham, grew in strength and health, his eyes turned
to his moth-er for all that made life dear. In af-ter
years he oft-en said, " All that I am I owe to my
moth-er."
There was no
door to the Lin-coln hut, so the moth-er hung up a bear
skin as a shield from the cold, and pressed her babe to
her breast as the chill winds swept in be-tween the
logs.
At the fire
on the hearth the corn-cake was baked and the ba-con
fried Game was hung up in front of
the
12
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
fire, and
turned from time to time, that it might all be brown and
crisp. When free , from toil the moth-er taught her lad
and lass, and the " gude-man," too, that it might make
him more than he was to her, to him-self, and to
oth-ers. The truths the moth-er gave out sank deep in
the heart of her boy, and in due time they put forth
shoots which grew to a great size, and were of use to
the world.
Four years
went by, and then the Lin-colns took a bet-ter farm at
Knob Creek, built a cab-in, dug a well, and cleared some
land. The new home was but a short way from the patch on
the side of that hill on No-lin's Creek, but a good farm
might have been made there if Thom-as Lin-coln had been
a man who would stay in one place, and work the soil
year in and year out. He had not the pluck to keep a
farm up to the mark.
When
A-bra-ham was five years old he oft-en went with his
folks three miles from home to a place called " Lit-tle
Mound." A log-house had been built there, and a man
found whose name was Rev. Da-vid El-kins, and who was
glad to come a long way through the woods to preach from
the Word of God.
The small
boy soon had a great love for that
good
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
13
man. The
ways of the child drew the preach-er to him and they
were soon fast friends.
Ere long one
came by who said he could teach all the folks to spell
and read. A class was made up, and, strange to say, the
five-year-old A-bra-ham stood at
the
head of it !
His moth-er had taught him.
She, al-so,
had told him to be kind and good to all. There were
sol-diers on the road from time to time, go-ing home
from the war of 1812. One day the young child saw one
near him when he held in his hand a string of fish he
had just caught. He gave all his fish to the
sol-dier.
CHAPTER
II.
THE NEW HOME
AND THE FIRST
GRIEF WHEN
A-bra-ham
was sev-en years old, his fa-ther Thom-as Lin-coln,
found his farm too much for him.
What he
liked best was change. He said it would suit him to move
to the West, where rich soil and more game could be
found.
He thought
he would take what he could of
their
14
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
poor goods,
set off and hunt up a home. So he built a frail craft,
put his wares on it, but soon got on the snags and lost
most of what he had. He swam to the shore. In a few days
the wa-ters, which had come up as high as the banks,
went down, and folks a-long shore helped him get up a
few of his goods from the bot-tom of the river. These
goods he put in-to a new boat, which he said he would
pay for as soon as he could, and then float-ed down the
O-hi-o to Thomp-son's Land-ing.
Here he put
what he had brought with him in-to a store-house, and
went off a score of miles through the woods to Pig-eon
Creek. He found the soil all he thought it would be. He
chose a tract of land, and then made a long trip to "
en-ter his claim " at Vin-cennes. The next thing to do
was to go back to Ken-tuc-ky.
The cool
days of No-vem-ber had come ere wife and chil-dren, with
two hor-ses which a .friend had loaned, and what goods
were left, set out for the far off land of In-di-an-a.
When night came they slept on the ground on beds made of
leaves and pine twigs. They ate the game the rifles
brought down, cooking it by the camp fire. From time to
time they had to ford or swim streams. They were glad
that no rain fell in all their long
route.
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
15
ON THE WAY
TO INDIANA.
Sa-rah and
A-bra-ham thought it was nice to spend weeks in the
free, wild life of the woods. A-corns and wal-nuts they
found, and fish came up when they put
a
16
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
a fat worm
on their hooks. They could wade and swim in the cool
brooks and gather huge piles of dried leaves for their
sound sleep at night.
But at last
they came to the banks of one stream from which they
could look far off to the land where they were to make
their new home. All was still there save the sound of
the birds and small game. Right in-to the heart of the
dense woods they went on a piece of tim-ber-land a mile
and a half east of what is now Gen-try-ville, Spen-cer
Co. This was A-bra-ham Lin-coln's third
home.
Here his
fa-ther built a log " half-face," half a score and four
feet square. It had no win-dow and no chim-ney. For more
than twelve months the Lin-colns staid in this camp.
They got a
bit of corn from a patch, and ground it in-to meal at a
hand grist-mill, sev-en miles off, and this was their
chief food. There was, of course, game, fish, and wild
fruits. Their beds were still heaps of dry leaves. The
lad slept in a small loft at one end of the cab-in to
which he went up by means of pegs in the wall. A-bra-ham
was then in his eighth year, tall for his age, and clad
in a home-spun garb or part skins of beasts. The cap was
made of the skin of a coon with the tail on. The
child
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
17
did much
work. He knew the use of the axe, the wedge, and the
maul, and with these he found out how to split rails
from logs drawn out of the woods. To clear the land so
that they could plant corn to feed the fam-i-ly, and hew
tim-ber to build the new house was work that gave
fa-ther and son much to do.
At last
Sa-rah and A-bra-ham felt that they had a house to be
proud of, though it was not much bet-ter than the one
they had left. Its floor had not been laid, and there
were no boards of which to make the door when they moved
in.
Some friends
had come to see them, and as there would be more room
for them in the new house they went to live there. It
was a glad day when Thom-as Spar-row, whose wife was Mr.
Lin-coln's sis-ter, and Den-nis Hanks, her nephew,
came.
The brief
joy of the Lin-colns was soon lost in a great grief. An
ill-ness came to that place and man-y folks died. Mrs.
Lin-coln fell sick. She knew that
she
must leave
her dear ones. Her work was at an
end.
As her son
stood at her bed side she said, " A-bra-ham, I am going
a-way from you. I shall not come back. I know that you
will be a good boy, that you will be kind to Sa-rah and
to your fa-ther. I want you to live as
I
18
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
have taught
you, and to lover your Heav-en-ly
Fa-ther."
The grief
that came then to A-bra-ham Lin-coln made its mark on
him, a stamp that went with him through life. When that
moth-er died, that dear moth-er, to whom he gave so much
love, the boy felt that he did not want to live an-y
long-er. He thought his heart would break. He staid days
by his moth-er's grave. He could not eat. He could not
sleep. Soon Mr. and Mrs. Spar-row, the guests,
died.
The strange ill-ness come to
them.
It came,
also, even to the beasts of the fields in that land.
Those were sad days.
Nan-cy Hanks
Lin-coln was 33 years old when she died. Her hus-band,
Thom-as, made a cof-fin for her of green lum-ber cut
with a whip-saw, and she, with oth-ers, was bur-ied in a
small " clear-ing " made in the
woods.
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
19
There were
no pray-ers or hymns. It was great grief to young
A-bra-ham that the good man of God who spoke in the old
home was not there to say some words at that time. It
was then that the ten-year old child wrote his first
let-ter. It was hard work, for he had had small chance
to learn that art. But his love for his moth-er led his
hand so that he put down the words on pa-per, and a
friend took them five scores of miles
off.
Good Par-son
Elkins took the poor note sent from the boy he loved,
and, with his heart full of pit-y for the great grief
which had come to his old friends, and be-cause of his
deep re-gard for the no-ble wom-an who had gone to her
rest, he made the long jour-ney, though weeks passed ere
he could stand by that grave and say the words A-bra-ham
longed to hear.
20
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
CHAPTER
III.
READING BY THE FIRELIGHT; THE NEW
MOTHER ; THE FIRST DOLLAR
With moth-er
gone, Sa-rah Lin-coln must keep the house, do the work,
sew and cook for fa-ther and broth-er. She was 11 years
old. The boy did his part but though he kept a bright
fire on the hearth, it was still a sad home when moth-er
was not there.
Books came
to give a bit of cheer. An a-rith-me-tic was found in
some way and also a co-py of Aesop's Fa-bles. For a
slate a shov-el was used. For a pen-cil a charred stick
did the work.
A year went
by, and one day Thom-as Lin-coln left home. He soon came
back and brought a new wife with him. She was Sa-rah
Bush John-ston, an old friend of E-liz-a-beth-town days.
She had three chil-dren —John, Sa-rah and Ma-til-da. A
kind man took them and their goods in a four-horse cart
way to In-di-an-a. A great change then came to the
Lin-coln house.
There were
three bright girls and three boys who made a deal of
noise. A door was hung, a floor laid, a
win-dow
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
21
put in.
There were new chairs, a bu-reau, feath-er-beds, new
clothes, neat ways, good food, lov-ing care, and much to
show A-bra-ham that there was still some hope in the
world.
The new
moth-er was a kind wom-an, and at once took the sad boy
to her heart. All his life from that time, he gave
praise to this friend in need.
A chance
came then for a brief time at school, and this was "
made the most of." Folks said the boy " grew like a
weed." When he was twelve it was said one could al-most
see him grow." At half a score and five years old he was
six feet and four in-ches high . He was well, strong,
and kind. He had to work hard. He did most of the work
his fa-ther should have done. But in the midst of it all
he found time to read
He kept a
scrap-book, too, and put in it verse, prose, bits from
his-to-ry, " sums," and all print and writ-ing he
wished
to keep. At
night he would lie flat on the floor and read and "
figure" by fire light.
One day some
one told A-bra-ham that Mr. Craw-ford, a man whose home
was miles off, had a book he ought to read. This was a
great book in those days.
It was
Weems' " Life of Wash-ing-ton." The youth
set
22
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
off through
the woods to ask the loan of it.
He got the
book and read it with joy.
At night he put it in what he thought was a safe
place be-tween the logs, but rain came in and wet it, so
he went straight to Craw-ford, told the tale, and worked
three days at "pull-ing fod-der" to pay for the harm
which had come to the book. It was the way
Score and
one years old for his fa-ther. This young Lin-coln did,
work-ing out where he would build fires, chop wood, "
tote " water, tend ba-bies, do all sorts of chores, mow,
reap, sow, plough, split rails, and then give what he
earned to his fa-ther.
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
23
Though work
filled the days, much of the nights were giv-en to
books. In rough garb, deer skin shoes, with a blaze of
pine knots on the hearth, A-bra-ham read, read, fill-ing
his mind with things that were a help to him all his
life. He knew how to talk and tell tales, and folks
liked to hear him. He led in all out of door
sports.
He was kind
to those not so strong as he was. All were his
friends.
The first
mon-ey that he thought he might call his own he earned
with a boat he had made. It seems that one day as he
stood look-ing at it and think-ing if he could do an-y
thing to im-prove it, two men drove down to the shore
with trunks. They took a glance at some boats they found
there, chose Lin-coln's boat, and asked him if he would
take men and trunks out to the steam-er. He said he
would. So he got the trunks on the flat boat, the men
sat down on them, and he sculled out to the
steam-er.
The men got
on board the steam-er, and their young boat-man lift-ed
the hea-vy trunks to her deck. Steam was put on, and in
an in-stant the craft would be gone. Then the youth sang
out that his pas-sen-gers had not yet paid
him.
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
24
Each man
then took from his pock-et a sil-ver half dol-lar and
threw it on the floor of the flat-boat. Great was the
sur-prise of young Lin-coln to think so much mon-ey was
his for so lit-tle work. He had thought "two or three
bits" would be a-bout right. The coin which came to him
then, when off du-ty from his fa-ther's toil, the youth
thought might be his own. It
made him
feel like a man, and the world then was more bright for
him.
A man who
kept a store thought he would send. a "car-go load,"
ba-con, corn meal, and oth-er goods, down to New
Or-leans in a large flat-boat. As A-bra-ham was at all
times safe and sure, the own-er, Mr. Gen-try, asked him
to-go with his son and help a-long.
They had to
trade on the " su-gar-coast," and one night sev-en black
men tried to kill and rob them. Though the young
sai-lors got some blows, they at last drove off the
ne-groes, " cut cable," " weighed anchor," and left.
They went past Nat-chez, an old town set-tled by the
French when they took the tract which is now
Lou-is-i-an-a.
The hou-ses
were of a strange form to the boat-men. The words they
heard were in tongue they did not know. They passed
large plan-ta-tions, and saw
groups
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
25
of huts
built for the slaves.
At New
Or-leans, in the old part of the town where they staid,
all things were so odd that it seemed as if they were in
a land be-yond the great sea. When they had left their
car-go in its right place, they went back to In-di-an-a,
and Mr. Gen-try thought they had done
well.
A-bra-ham
had more to think of when he came home. He had seen so
much on his trip that the world was not quite the same
to him. Scores of flat boats were moored at lev-ees,
steam-boats went and came, big
ships
26
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
were at
an-chor in the riv-er. Men were there who sailed far
o-ver the seas in search of gold, rich goods, sights of
places, tribes and climes to which Lin-coln had not
giv-en much thought. If oth-er men went out in-to the
world, why might he not go ? Why stay in this dull place
and toil for naught ? He had come to an age in which
there was un-rest. His fa-ther's wish was that he should
push a plane and use a saw all his days. This sort of
work did not suit him. Why not strike out ? Then the
thought came to him that his time was not yet his own.
His moth-er's words spoke to him as they did when he was
a small boy at her bed-side for the last time ; " Be
kind to your fa-ther."
So A-bra-ham
went back to Pig-eon Creek to work and bide his
time.
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
27
CHAPTER IV.
THE SLAVE SALE. LINCOLN AS
SOLDIER,
POSTMASTER,
SURVEYOR,
AND
LAWYER.
ONE day a
let-ter came to Thom-as Lin-coln. It bore the post-mark
of De-ca-tur, Ill. It said that Il-li-nois was a grand
state : " The soil is rich and there are trees of oak,
gum, elm, and more sorts, while creeks and riv‑ers are
plen-ty." It al-so told that " scores of men had come
there from Ken-tuc-ky and oth-er states, and that they
would all soon get rich there."
To Thom-as
Lin-coln this was good news. He was glad of a chance to
make an oth-er home. He knew, too, that the same
sick-ness which took his first wife from him had come
back, and that he must make a quick move if he would
save those who were left. This was in March, 1830, when
A-bra-ham was a score and one years old. He made up his
mind to see his folks to their new home since go they
would.
Then came an
auc-tion, or, as they call-ed it, a "van-doo." The corn
was sold ; the farm, hogs, house goods, all went to
those folks who would give the most for
them.
28
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
Four ox-en
drew a big cart which held half a score and three
per-sons, the Hanks, the Halls, and
Lin-colns.
They had to
push on through mud, and cross streams high from
fresh-ets. A-bra-ham held the " gad " and kept the
beasts at their task. With him the young man took a
small stock of thread, pins, and small wares which he
sold on the way. When half a score and five days had
gone by the trip .came to an end. The spot for a home
was found when all were safe in Il-li-nois and it was on
the north fork of the San-ga-mon Riv-er, ten miles west
of the town of De-ca-tur.
The young
men went to work and made clear half a score and five
a-cres of land and split the rails with which to fence
it. There was no one who could swing an axe like
A-bra-ham, not one in the whole West. He could now "
have his own time" for his 21 years of work for his
fa-ther were at an end. The law said he was free. Though
he need not now give all that he won by toil to his
folks, still he did not let them want. To the end of his
life he gave help to his kin, though he was far from
rich.
When Spring
had gone by, and the warm days of 1830 had come,
A-bra-ham Lin-coln left home and
set
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
29
off to get a
job in that new land. He saw new farms with no
fen-ces.
He was sure
that his axe could cut up logs and fell trees. He was in
need of clothes. So he split 400 rails for each yard of
" blue jeans " to make him a pair of trou-sers. The name
of "rail-split-ter," came to him. He knew that he could
do this work well.
All he met
would at once like him. It was the same way in the new
state as it had been in the last. There was a man whose
name was Of-futt. He saw what young Lin-coln was. He
knew he could trust him to do all things. Mr. Of-futt
said he must help sail a flat-boat down the
Mis-sis-sip-pi riv-er to New Or-leans. He said he would
give the new hand fif-ty cents a day. Poor Abra-ham
thought this a large sum. Of-futt said too, that he
would give a third share in six-ty dol-lars to each of
his three boat-men at the end of the trip. At a saw-mill
near San-ga-mon-town the flat-boat was built. Young
Lin-coln worked on the boat, and was cook too, for the
men.
At last they
were off with their load of pork, live hogs, and corn.
When the flat-boat ran a-ground at New Sa-lem, and there
was great risk that it would be a wreck, Lin-coln found
a way to get it off. Folks
30
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
stood on the
banks and cheered at the wise plan of the of the bright
boat-man. When first in New Or-leans, though Lin-coln
had seen slaves, he had not known what a slave sale was
like. This time he saw one and it made him
sick.
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
31
Tears stood
in his eyes. He turned from it and said to those with
him, " Come a-way, boys ! If I ev-er get a chance, some
day, to hit that thing," (here he flung his long arms
to-ward that block), " I'll hit it hard !
"
The boat-men
made their way home, while Of-futt staid in St. Lou-is
to buy goods for a new store that he was to start in New
Sa-lem. First A-bra-ham went to see his fa-ther and help
him put up a house of hewn logs, the best he had ev-er
had.
When
Of-futt's goods came A-bra-ham Lin-coln took his place
as clerk. The folks who came to buy soon found out that
there was one in that store who would not cheat. The
coins at that time were Eng-lish or Span-ish. The clerk
was ex-act in fig-ures, but if a chance frac-tion went
wrong he would ride miles to make it
right.
There were
rough men and boys near that store. Lin-coln would not
let them say or do things that were low and bad. The
time came when he had to whip some of them. He taught
them a lesson. His great strength was his own and his
friends' pride.
Days there
were when small trade came to the stole. Then the young
clerk read. One thing he felt he
32
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
must have.
That was a gram-mar. He had made up his mind that since
he could talk he would learn to use the right words. He
took a walk of some miles to get a loan of " Kirk-ham's
Gram-mar." He had no one to
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
33
teach him,
but he gave his mind to the work and did well. Each book
of which he heard in New Sa-lem, he asked that he might
have for a short time. He found out all that the books
taught. Once, deep down in a box of trash, he found two
old law books. He was glad then, and said he would not
leave them till he got the "juice" from them. Folks in
the store thought it strange that the young clerk could
like those " dry lines." They soon said that A-bra-ham
Lin-coln had long legs, long arms, and a long head, too.
They felt that he knew more than " an-y ten men in the
set-tlement," and that he had " ground it out
a-lone." He read the news-pa-pers a-loud to scores of
folks who had a wish to know what went on in the land
and could not read for them-selves. He read and spoke on
the themes of the day, and at last, his friends said
that he ought to help make the state laws, since he knew
so much, and they felt that he would be sure to plan so
that the poor as well as the rich should have a chance.
So in March, 1832, it was known that A-bra-ham's name
was brought up as a " can-di-date " for a post in the
Il-li-nois State Leg-is-la-ture. Ere the time for
e-lection came, that part of the land found men
must be sent
34
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
to fight the
In-di-ans who were on the war-path. The great chief,
Black Hawk, sought to keep the red men's lands from the
white folks, but at last he had to give up, though he
did all he could to help his own
blood.
He was brave
and true to his own, Young men of San-ga-mon went out to
fight, with A-bra-ham Lin-coln as cap-tain. They were
not much more than an armed mob, poor at drill, and with
not much will to mind or-ders or live up to camp rules.
Their cap-tain had hard work to gov-ern them, for when
he gave a com-mand they were as apt to jeer at it as to
mind it. But in time they learned that he meant what he
said, and that while it was not his way to be too strict
a-bout small things, he would not let them do a grave
wrong.
One day a
poor old In-di-an strayed in-to the camp, He had a pass
from Gen-er-al Cass which said that he was a friend of
the whites, but the men had come out to kill red-skins,
and not hav-ing yet had a chance to do so, thought they
must seize this one. They said the pass was forged, and
that the old man was a spy, and should be put to
death.
But Cap-tain
Lin-coln heard the noise, and came
to
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN.
35
the aid of
the old man just in time.
He put
him-self be-tween his men and their vic-tim, and told
them they must not do this thing. They were so full of
wrath that
Lin-coln's own life was at risk for a while, but his
brave look and firm words at length brought them to
terms, and the old sav-age was let go without harm. The
time for which the men had en-list-ed was
soon
36
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
at an end,
and all but two of them went home. Lin-coln was one of
those who took a place as a pri-vate in an-oth-er
com-pa-ny, and he did not leave till the end of the
war.
A-bra-ham
Lin-coln, when he had got home from the war, sent out
word that he would speak where there was need of him as
" Whig," for he was a " Clay man through and through."
He made his first " po-lit-i-cal “ speech at a small
place a few miles west of Spring-field. It was a short
one. While what he said was to the point and no fault
could be found with it, still, his strange looks and
queer clothes made those who were not on his side laugh
and make fun of his long legs and arms, and say he would
not be the choice of the most for an-y post. Still, he
made more friends than foes, and though he did not, at
that time, get a chance to go to the Leg-is-la-ture, he
had but to wait a while when bet-ter luck came to
him.
In the mean
time Mr. Lin-coln knew that he must find work of some
kind, for he had no funds on which he could live. He
then kept a store with a man, but the. gain was small
and at last they had to give up. There was a large debt
and the part-ner would not help
THE
LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
37
pay it, so
Lin-coln took it all on him-self, though long years went
by ere it was all paid.
Law came to
him as the next best move, and once more the young man
gave his mind to it all his time, days as well as most
of • the nights. But coin could not come
from
that source
for quite a while yet, and, in the mean-time, there must
be food and clothes.
The new
lands, just there, had not been sur-veyed. There was
need of a man to do this. Lin-coln heard of a book which
would tell him how to work with chain and rule. He spent
six weeks with that book in his hand most of the time.
Then he set off to start work, and as he was too poor to
buy a chain, he found a strong grape vine to take its
place.
He
was
38
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
right glad
of the sums which came to him then fol. do-ing this
work.
The
pres-i-dent of the U. S. at that time was An-drew
Jack-son. He was a strong friend of A-bra-ham Lin-coln
and made him Post-mas-ter of New Sa-lem in 1883. As
folks did not write much in those days, the post of-fice
took but a small part of Mr. Lin-coln's time. The
news-pa-pers which came by post were read, and passed
from one to an-oth-er, and the post-mas-ter oft-en told
the news as he went to the hou-ses where let-ters were
to be left. The hat took the place of a mail bag. The
grape vine chain and the tools with which the length and
breadth of the land were found went a-long, too, as the
good man took up his job at sur-vey-ing. Law books must
have their share of time and that had to come then,
most-ly from sleep hours.
There were scores of
folks who asked the post-mas-ter to help them. This he
did with great good will. He now knew some law and could
set them right. All had trust in him. It was not long,
then, ere he was at the Bar.
END OF CHAPTER
IV
=========================================================================
