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Selected American history
The Life of Abraham Lincoln
By Henry Ketcham
CHAPTER IV.
IN INDIANA.
The death of his wife had left Thomas Lincoln with the care of three
young children: namely, Sarah, about eleven years old, Abe, ten years
old, and the foster brother, Dennis (Friend) Hanks, a year or two
younger. The father was not able to do woman's work as well as his wife
had been able to do man's work, and the condition of the home was
pitiable indeed. To the three motherless children and the bereaved
father it was a long and dreary winter. When spring came they had the
benefits of life in the woods and fields, and so lived through the
season until the edge of the following winter. It is not to be wondered
at that the father was unwilling to repeat the loneliness of the
preceding year.
Early in December, 1819, he returned to Elizabethtown, Ky., and
proposed marriage to a widow, Mrs. Sally Bush Johnston. The proposal
must have been direct, with few preliminaries or none, for the couple
were married next morning. The new wife brought him a fortune, in
addition to three children of various ages, of sundry articles of
household furniture. Parents, children, and goods were shortly after
loaded into a wagon drawn by a four-horse team, and in all the style of
this frontier four-in-hand, were driven over indescribable roads,
through woods and fields, to their Indiana home.
The accession of Sally Bush's furniture made an important improvement
in the home. What was more important, she had her husband finish the
log cabin by providing window, door, and floor. What was most important
of all, she brought the sweet spirit of an almost ideal motherhood into
the home, giving to all the children alike a generous portion of
mother-love.
The children now numbered six, and not only were they company for one
another, but the craving for womanly affection, which is the most
persistent hunger of the heart of child or man, was beautifully met.
She did not humor them to the point of idleness, but wisely ruled with
strictness without imperiousness. She kept them from bad habits and
retained their affection to the last. The influence upon the growing
lad of two such women as Nancy Hanks and Sally Bush was worth more than
that of the best appointed college in all the land.
The boy grew into youth, and he grew very fast. While still in his
teens he reached the full stature of his manhood, six feet and four
inches. His strength was astonishing, and many stories were told of
this and subsequent periods to illustrate his physical prowess, such
as: he once lifted up a hencoop weighing six hundred pounds and carried
it off bodily; he could lift a full barrel of cider to his mouth and
drink from the bung-hole; he could sink an ax-halve deeper into a log
than any man in the country.
During the period of his growth into youth he spent much of his time in
reading, talking, and, after a fashion, making speeches. He also wrote
some. His political writings won great admiration from his neighbors.
He occasionally wrote satires which, while not refined, were very
stinging. This would not be worth mentioning were it not for the fact
that it shows that from boyhood he knew the force of this formidable
weapon which later he used with so much skill. The country store
furnished the frontier substitute for the club, and there the men were
wont to congregate. It is needless to say that young Lincoln was the
life of the gatherings, being an expert in the telling of a humorous
story and having always a plentiful supply. His speech-making proved so
attractive that his father was forced to forbid him to practise it
during working hours because the men would always leave their work to
listen to him.
During these years he had no regular employment, but did odd jobs
wherever he got a chance. At one time, for example, he worked on a
ferryboat for the munificent wages of thirty-seven and one half cents a
day.
When sixteen years old, Lincoln had his first lesson in oratory. He
attended court at Boonville, county seat of Warwick County and heard a
case in which one of the aristocratic Breckenridges of Kentucky was
attorney for the defense. The power of his oratory was a revelation to
the lad. At its conclusion the awkward, ill-dressed, bashful but
enthusiastic young Lincoln pressed forward to offer his congratulations
and thanks to the eloquent lawyer, who haughtily brushed by him without
accepting the proffered hand. In later years the men met again, this
time in Washington City, in the white house. The president reminded
Breckenridge of the incident which the latter had no desire to recall.
When about nineteen years old, he made his first voyage down the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers. Two incidents are worth recording of this trip.
The purpose was to find, in New Orleans, a market for produce, which
was simply floated down stream on a flat-boat. There was, of course, a
row-boat for tender. The crew consisted of himself and young Gentry,
son of his employer.
Near Baton Rouge they had tied up for the night in accordance with the
custom of flat-boat navigation. During the night they were awakened by
a gang of seven ruffian negroes who had come aboard to loot the stuff.
Lincoln shouted "Who's there?" Receiving no reply he seized a handspike
and knocked over the first, second, third, and fourth in turn, when the
remaining three took to the woods. The two northerners pursued them a
short distance, then returned, loosed their craft and floated safely to
their destination.
It was on this trip that Lincoln earned his first dollar, as he in
after years related to William H. Seward:
"... A steamer was going down the river. We have, you know, no wharves
on the western streams, and the custom was, if passengers were at any
of the landings, they were to go out in a boat, the steamer stopping
and taking them on board.... Two men with trunks came down to the shore
in carriages, and looking at the different boats, singled out mine, and
asked, 'Who owns this?' I modestly answered, 'I do.' 'Will you take us
and our trunks out to the steamer?' 'Certainly.'... The trunks were put
in my boat, the passengers seated themselves on them, and I sculled
them out to the steamer. They got on board, and I lifted the trunks and
put them on the deck. The steamer was about to put on steam again, when
I called out: 'You have forgotten to pay me.' Each of them took from
his pocket a silver half dollar and threw it on the bottom of my boat.
I could scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up the money. You may
think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like
a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could
scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a
day; that by honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful
and thoughtful boy from that time."
The goods were sold profitably at New Orleans and the return trip was
made by steamboat. This was about twenty years after Fulton's first
voyage from New York to Albany, which required seven days. Steamboats
had been put on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, but these crafts were
of primitive construction--awkward as to shape and slow as to speed.
The frequency of boiler explosions was proverbial for many years. The
lads, Gentry and Lincoln, returned home duly and the employer was well
satisfied with the results of the expedition.
In 1830 the epidemic "milk sick" reappeared in Indiana, and Thomas
Lincoln had a pardonable desire to get out of the country. Illinois was
at that time settling up rapidly and there were glowing accounts of its
desirableness. Thomas Lincoln's decision to move on to the new land of
promise was reasonable. He sold out and started with his family and
household goods to his new destination. The time of year was March,
just when the frost is coming out of the ground so that the mud is
apparently bottomless. The author will not attempt to describe it, for
he has in boyhood seen it many times and knows it to be indescribable.
It was Abe's duty to drive the four yoke of oxen, a task which must
have strained even his patience.
They settled in Macon County, near Decatur. There the son faithfully
worked with his father until the family was fairly settled, then
started out in life for himself. For he had now reached the age of
twenty-one. As he had passed through the periods of childhood and
youth, and was on the threshold of manhood, it is right and fitting to
receive at this point the testimony of Sally Bush, his stepmother:
"Abe was a good boy, and I can say what scarcely one woman--a mother--
can say in a thousand: Abe never gave me a cross word or look, and
never refused, in fact or appearance, to do anything I requested him. I
never gave him a cross word in all my life.... He was a dutiful son to
me always. I think he loved me truly. I had a son John who was raised
with Abe. Both were good boys; but I must say, both being now dead,
that Abe was the best boy I ever saw, or expect to see."
These words of praise redound to the honor of the speaker equally with
that of her illustrious stepson.
Lincoln came into the estate of manhood morally clean. He had formed no
habits that would cause years of struggle to overcome, he had committed
no deed that would bring the blush of shame to his cheek, he was as
free from vice as from crime. He was not profane, he had never tasted
liquor, he was no brawler, he never gambled, he was honest and
truthful. On the other hand, he had a genius for making friends, he was
the center of every social circle, he was a good talker and a close
reasoner. Without a thought of the great responsibilities awaiting him,
he had thus far fitted himself well by his faithfulness in such duties
as fell to him.
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