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LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN was born on the 12th of February, 1809, in Hardin county, Kentucky. His early life, like that of most of the great men whom our country has produced, was spent in poverty and in toil. At seven years of age he was sent to school to a Mr. Hazel, carrying with him an old copy of Dilworth's Spelling Book, one of the three books that formed the family library. His father keenly felt the disadvantages arising from his own lack of education, and determined, in spite of difficulties almost inconceivable, to give his son better facilities for study than he had himself enjoyed. His mother was a Christian woman, and desired earnestly that he should learn to read the Bible..

Thomas Lincoln, his father, finding a life in a Slave State a most unsatisfactory one for himself, and presenting only the prospect of a hopeless struggle in the future for his children, determined upon removal, and when Abraham was in the eighth year of his age, the plan was carried into execution. The old home was sold, their small stock of valuables placed upon a raft, and the little family took its way to a new home in the wilds of Indiana, where free labor would have no competition with slave labor, and the poor white man

might hope that in time his children could take an honorable position, won by industry and careful economy. The place of their destination was Spencer county, Indiana. For the last few miles they were obliged to cut their road as they went on. "With the resolution of veteran pioneers they toiled, sometimes being able to pick their way for a long distance without chopping, and then coming to a standstill in consequence of dense forests. Suffice it to say, that they were obliged to cut a road so much of the way that several days were employed in going eighteen miles. It was a difficult, wearisome, trying journey, and Mr. Lincoln often said, that he never passed through a harder experience than he did in going from Thompson's Ferry to Spencer county, Indiana."

Thus, before he was eight years old, Abraham Lincoln began the serious business of life. Their cabin was built of logs, and even the aid of such a mere child was of account in the wilderness where they now found themselves, after seven days of weary travel. Their neighbors, none of whom lived nearer than two or three miles, welcomed the strangers, and lent a hand towards building the rude dwelling in which the future President lay down, after fatiguing but healthful toil, to dream the dreams of childhood, undisturbed by thoughts of the future.

In this log-house, consisting of a room below and a room above, furnished by Thomas Lincoln and his son's own hands, Abraham passed the next twelve years of his life. So long as his mother lived, she assisted him in learning to read, and before her death, which occurred when he was ten years of age, she had

the satisfaction of seeing him read that Book which he has never since neglected.

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After a while he learned to write. accomplishment which some of the friendly neighbors thought unnecessary, but his father quietly persisted, and the boy was set down as a prodigy when he wrote to an old friend of his mother's, a travelling preacher, and begged him to come and preach a sermon over his mother's grave. Three months after, Parson Elkins came, and friends assembled, a year after her death, to pay a last tribute of respect to one universally beloved and respected. Her son's share in securing the pres ence of the clergyman was not unmentioned, and Abraham soon found himself called upon to write letters for his neighbors.

His father married a second time a Mrs. Sally Johnston, who proved an excellent mother to her step-son, and who now survives to take her share of the credit to which she is entitled for her faithful care. In the course of a year or two a Mr. Crawford, one of the settlers, opened a school in his own cabin, and Abraham's father embraced the opportunity to send him, in order that he might add some knowledge of arithmetic to his reading and writing. With buckskin clothes, a raccoon skin cap, and an old arithmetic which had been somewhere found for him, he commenced his studies in the "higher branches." His progress was rapid, and his perseverance and faithfulness won the interest and esteem of his teacher.

In that thinly settled country a book was a great rarity, but whenever Mr. Lincoln heard of one he endeavored to procure it for Abraham's perusal. In this

way he became acquainted with Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Esop's Fables, a Life of Henry Clay, and Weems's Life of Washington. The "hatchet" story of Washington, which has done more to make boys truthful than a hundred solemn exhortations, made a strong impression upon Abraham, and was one of those unseen, gentle influences, which helped to form his character for integrity and honesty. Its effect may be traced in the following story, which bids fair to become as never-failing an accompaniment to a Life of Lincoln as the hatchet case to that of Washington.

Mr. Crawford had lent him a copy of Ramsay's Life of Washington. During a severe storm Abraham improved his leisure by reading his book. One night he laid it down carefully, as he thought, and the next morning he found it soaked through! The wind had changed, the storm had beaten in through a crack in the logs, and the appearance of the book was ruined. How could he face the owner under such circumstances? He had no money to offer as a return, but he took the book, went directly to Mr. Crawford, showed him the irreparable injury, and frankly and honestly offered to work for him until he should be satisfied. Mr. Crawford accepted the offer and gave Abraham the book for his own, in return for three days' steady labor in "pulling fodder." His manliness and straightforwardness won the esteem of the Crawfords, and indeed of all the neighborhood.

At nineteen years of age he made a trip to NewOrleans, in company with a son of the owner of a flatboat, who intrusted a valuable cargo to their care.

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On

way they were attacked by seven negroes, and their

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