Back to the pathless forest,

Before the peep of day!

Grave men there are by broad Santee,
Grave men with hoary hairs;
Their hearts are all with Marion,
For Marion are their prayers.
And lovely ladies greet our band
With kindliest welcoming,

With smiles like those of summer,
And tears like those of spring.

For them we wear these trusty arms,
And lay them down no more

Till we have driven the Briton,
Forever, from our shore.

1. In this poem, who is supposed to be speaking? What was Marion's method of warfare?

2. What and where is the "broad Santee"? What is meant by "Our fortress is the good greenwood"? "Its safe and silent islands"? 3. Words: cy'press; mô-råss'; bärb; spoil; hōary. Use each in a sentence of your own.

4. Who is the author of this? What other poets do you know something about?

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BY JAMES BALDWIN

HEN Abraham Lincoln was a boy, there were

very few books in the cabins of the backwoods settlement where he lived. There was no schoolhouse in the neighborhood; but it was not long before the 5 people made up their minds that they must have one. So one day after harvest, the men met together, chopped down trees, and built a small, low-roofed log cabin to serve as a schoolhouse for their children.

If you could see that cabin, you would think it a 10 very queer kind of schoolhouse. There was no floor except the trodden earth. One small window admitted light through strips of greased paper, which the early settlers often used in place of glass. There were no desks, and rough benches, made of logs split in halves, 15 were used as seats. In one end of the room, opposite

the low doorway, was a huge fireplace, where great logs crackled and blazed in the wintertime.

The term of school was short, for the settlers could not afford to pay very much for a teacher. It was in midwinter, for then there was no work for the older s boys to do on the newly cleared farms.

The big boys as well as the girls and the smaller boys, for miles around, came to school to learn what they could. Most of the children studied only spelling, but some of the larger ones learned reading and 10 writing and arithmetic.

There were not very many pupils, for the houses in that new settlement were few and far apart. The school began at an early hour in the morning, and did not close until the sun was down.

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Such was Abraham Lincoln's first school. After a few weeks the term came to a close; and the lad was again as busy as ever about his father's farm. After that he attended school only two or three short terms. If all his school days were put together, they would 20 not make a twelvemonth.

But he kept on reading and studying at home. His stepmother said of him: "He read everything he could lay his hands on. When he came to a passage that pleased him, he would write it down on the wooden 25 shovel or on boards, if he had no paper. Then he would copy it, commit it to memory, and repeat it again and again."

ΤΟ

Lincoln's father was too poor to furnish lamps or even candles for his family to burn at night. However, they had a big fireplace at one end of the log house. There was wood in plenty, and Lincoln brought in spiles of dry logs for the fire.

The bright blaze shed a strong light over all the room, and the boy, lying flat on the floor with his books in front of him, spent his long evenings in reading and study. In this way he read the Bible, "Pilgrim's Progress," and Æsop's Fables many times over.

One day Lincoln walked a long distance to borrow a book of a farmer. This book was a life of Washington. He read as much of it as he could while walking home. By that time it was dark, and so he sat down Is by the chimney and read by firelight until bedtime. Then he took the book with him to his bed in the loft, and read by the light of a tallow candle. In an hour the candle burned out.

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He laid the book in a crevice between two of the logs of the cabin, so that he might begin reading again as soon as it was daylight. But in the night a storm came up. The rain was blown in, and the book was wet through and through. In the morning, when Abraham awoke, he saw what had happened. He 25 dried the leaves as well as he could, and then finished reading the remaining chapters.

As soon as he had eaten his breakfast, he hurried to carry the book to its owner. He explained how the

accident had happened, and then he said: "I wish to pay you for the book. I have no money; but if you will let me, I will work for you until I have earned enough to pay for it." It was then agreed that the lad should help the farmer gather corn for three days, s and thus Abraham became the owner of the delightful book.

He read the story of Washington many times over. He carried the book with him to the field, and read it while he was following the plow. From that time, 10 Washington was the one great hero whom he admired. Why could not he model his own life after that of Washington?

One day a neighbor, riding along the road with his little boy, passed young Lincoln sitting on the top of 15 an old rail fence. The lad was reading so intently that he did not notice the approach of the wagon. "Mark what I say," said the father, "that boy will make a smart man of himself some day. If you live, you will find that my words will come true."

And come true they did.

1. Where was Abraham Lincoln born? Where did he live during most of his boyhood? How did he get his education? What books did he read? Have you read any of these?

2. Why is Lincoln regarded as one of our greatest patriots? When do we celebrate Lincoln's birthday?

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