was a long, hard trip. They said good bye to their old home and friends and with their goods on a wagon drawn by oxen, slowly moved along. There were no such roads as we have; often there was

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and mother would card, spin and weave it. They used needles from the pine trees and buttons were made by sewing a bit of cloth on a piece of bone. The one table they had in the one room, was made by cutting a rough slab of wood, boring holes in the corners and making rough legs. The chairs were made much the same way. They did not have any bed-steads; but made a frame by putting holes in the logs of the house and fastening side pieces to a pole driven down into the ground, then they covered it with skin, dry leaves and some rough cloth. Little Abraham slept in the loft. He had a corner there filled with dry leaves, to which he had to climb by means of pegs driven into the logs. Their food was of the plainest kind as far as bread went, corn dodger being the most common. Wheat bread, which they called cake, they sometimes had for Sunday. Once in a while they would have potatoes for a meal; but most of

d come to him was the death of his mother. Mother does more for us than any one else; when we are helpless she cares for us, and waits on us, and teaches us and does more for us than we can ever do for her. When a boy or girl loses his mother, he loses the one who will always do the most for him. It was not strange then that this little ten year old boy should feel so sad, when he knew he never could

ad the ones he had over and over again, and became very familiar with them. Edward Eggelston, the author of the famous book "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," was one time confined by a storm in a house where the only books they had were the Bible and a dictionary. He said he learned more in those three days than in any other three days of his life. There has been no statesman who quoted the Bible so well as Mr. Lincoln, and the reason is, that he studied the Bible thoroughly when a small boy. Hardly any of his speeches but have many quotations from the Bible. His step-mother urged him all she could to study. In reading the life of Washington, he came to think he might make something out of himself. At this time, they were poor, and there were few opportunities, and the chances for becoming a great and prominent man seemed very small; yet young Abraham thought if he would study hard, he might make something out of himself, and so he did. The school was very small, and as he had to work a great deal of the time on the farm, he could not attend it very much; but at night, he would often, after working hard all day, lie in front of th

en read aloud to the men who gathered there, and make comments. He was so bright in this that there would always be a great crowd around to listen to him. Abraham was a great story teller, and would give them many a hearty laugh with the stories he could tell. Special subjects were also much discussed. About this time, a few people began to claim that negro slavery was a bad thing, and there was general discussion over it. Slavery was universally common in the South. One question of debate was, which was the most to be complained of, the Indian or the Negro. Soon Mr. Lincoln's habit of making comments grew into speech making, and he sometimes gave sort of stump speeches to the crowd in which he would recite passages that he had committed from the speeches of some of the great orators. He used to get up on the stump of an old tree to deliver these speeches. This is why they were called stump speeches. His father did not like this because it took his attention away from the farm work. Once in a while, Abraham used to go to Booneville, the county seat to hear law suits. He also wrote an essay on temperance, and a preacher thought it was so good, he sent it to Ohio and it was published in a paper. He heard one of the celebrated Breckenridges make a very fine speech in a law suit. Although he was a rough country boy, when Mr. Breckenridge, after the speech, came by where he sat

books apply, will all be

never gave me a cross word or look, and never refused in fact or appearance anything I requested. I never gave him a cr

and bow and be as careful and polite as he could. Although Abraham was very tall and awkward, he was said to be very gentlemanly in his manners, and the lady for whom he worked, said he always lifted

fe and her three children, Abraham and some of the other relatives, thirteen in all. They sold their land, cattle and grain in March, 1830 and started on their trip. Their goods were packed in a big wagon, the first one Thomas Lincoln ever owned. It was drawn by four oxen. The people around Gentryville were very sorry to see them go, for the neighbors in those days were almost like relatives, and those of them that still live there, remember the leaving of the Lincoln's as quite an event. The Lincoln family spent the last night with Mr. Gentry, the man for whom Ge

inting press. They landed in Macon county, where John Hanks, their relative had already cut logs for a new cabin. Many years afterward, when Decatur, the county seat, had become a large city and Mr. Lincoln a great man, he walked out a few feet in front of the court house with a friend, stood looking up at the building and

rails for the fence, and many years afterwards, men carried some of them into a state convention at Decatur, where Mr. Lincoln wa