At about seven years of age. Abraham Lincoln was sent to a school, of which the above is, no doubt, a fair description. The only aid in his studies was an old copy of Dilworth's spelling book. He went two or three months to that teacher, and within that year went about three months to another teacher. With the instruction he received from these two teachers, Zachariah Riney and Jacob Hazel, and the aid of his mother, he learned to read and write legibly. The instruction the boy received from his mother was, no doubt more valuable to him than the schools. Later in life, Lincoln, speaking of his education, said: "If a straggler, supposed to understand Latin, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard."

That part of the country in which Abraham Lincoln was born has since been separated from Hardin and erected into a new county, called Larue, with Hodginsville as the county seat. Hodginsville is about fifty miles south by east of Louisville, thirtyfive miles northeast of the Mammoth Cave, and eight or ten miles east of the Louisville and Nashville railroad, either from Glendale or Nolensville stations. The nearest point from Hodginsville to the Ohio river is thirty-five miles northwest, through Elizabethtown, the county seat of Hardin county, to West Point, at the mouth of Salt River.

The cabin in which he was born was situated about one and a-half miles from Hodginsville, on Nolen's Creek. The family remained there a year or two after his birth, and then removed to a cabin on Knob Creek, on the road from Bardstown, Kentucky, to Nashville, Tennessee, at a point three and a-half miles south or southwest of Atherton's Ferry, on the Rolling Fork of Salt river, and six miles east or northeast of Hodginsville. As the family of Thomas Lincoln increased, he became dissatisfied with his situation. The land where he lived was much of it broken, poor

and stony, and besides these disadvantages, Kentucky was exceedingly unfortunate in its early settlement on account of the insecurity of its land titles. From this combination of causes, he determined to sell his small estate and emigrate west of the Ohio river. The price he asked for his home was $300. In the year 1816 he found a purchaser, by taking his pay principally in whisky and a small amount of money. As soon as his sale was effected he built a small flat boat, launched it on the waters of the Rolling Fork, loaded it with his whisky and heavier household goods and farming utensils, and commenced his journey alone. He floated safely down the Rolling Fork into Salt river and entered the Ohio. Here he met with the misfortune of having his boat upset, by which he lost about two-thirds of his load. Obtaining assistance, his boat was righted and he continued his voyage until he landed at Thompson's Ferry, now the town of Rockport, Spencer county, Indiana. He at once procured conveyance for his goods and took them about eighteen miles north, to a point near the present town of Gentryville, in the same county. He left his goods in the care of a settler, and returned to the river, and after crossing it, proceeded on foot to his Kentucky home, taking as near a straight course as possible. He at once commenced preparations for removal. The bedding and clothing for the family was packed upon three horses, and all set out overland for their new home. They occupied seven days in making the journey, and at the end of that time met with neighborly assistance in erecting a dwelling, and were soon ready to begin life in the wilderness.

The first journey, including the river voyage and land travel, must have been at least two hundred miles; although, on a straight line, the points of departure and destination were less than one hundred miles apart. He had moved about seventy-five miles west and fifty north and exchanged a slave for a free

age.

State. The removal took place in the autumn of 1816 when Abraham Lincoln was in the eigth year of his About two years after their settlement in Indiana his mother sickened and died, in the fall of 1818, leaving her husband, son and daughter to mourn her loss. The ability of Abraham to write was now for the first time found to be an acquisition of real utility. In their affliction, both father and son thought of their old friend Parson Elkin, and it was finally decided that Abraham should write to him imforming him of the death of Mrs. Lincoln, and ask the parson to come and preach the funeral. The preacher wrote them in reply, that he would be there on a certain Sunday and comply with their wishes. Notice was given of the time set for the funeral, and about two hundred persons were collected from an area of nearly twenty miles in diameter. The minister was there at the appointed time, and taking his stand at the foot of the grave, with his congregation seated on logs and stumps, preached a sermon suitable to the occasion. The memory of his mother was always held sacred by Abraham Lincoln. After he had acquired great fame, while in conversation with a friend he said, with tears in his eyes, "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." It has been said that the foregoing remark was made concerning his step-mother, but that is not very probable, as she was living at the time the remark was made. That he was strongly attached to her there can be no doubt.

A gentleman who resided at Charleston, Coles Co., Ill., was present when Abraham Lincoln visited his step-mother soon after he was elected President, in the fall of 1860, and gave to the writer a description of the parting scene, which, if truly portrayed, would secure fame to the artist who should execute it. He said that when Mr. Lincoln was about to take leave of the aged, white-haired matron who had so faithfully supplied the place of a mother, she approached him with

tottering steps, surrounded by her humble neighbors, and leaning upon his breast, in faltering tones sobbed out the words, "Abram, I feel that I shall never see you again." As Mr. Lincoln stood, his tall form towering above hers, his left arm around her neck, his right hand raised and pointed towards Heaven, he uttered the single word, "Mother." He could say no more, and after standing a few moments in silence, with his head slightly inclined forward, they slowly separated to meet no more on earth.

CHAPTER II.

When he was about twelve years of age, one of the neighbors, named Andrew Crawford, commenced teaching a school in his own cabin, and Abraham made diligent use of this opportunity to improve his mind. The same obstacle presented itself here that existed in Kentucky, with reference to books, but such as found their way into the new settlement, were secured for the boy to read. Some of the books read about that time, made a lasting impression on his mind. Among them were the Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan; the life of Washington, both by Weems and Ramsey; the life of Henry Clay; Esop's Fables, and other books of like value.

In the latter part of 1819, a little more than a year after the death of his wife, Thomas Lincoln returned to Kentucky, and married Mrs. Sally Johnston, of Elizabethtown, a widow lady with three children. She proved to be a kind step-mother, and the two families grew up in harmony.

In 1822, Sarah Lincoln was married to a young man named Aaron Grigsby. She died about a year after her marriage, and thus Abraham was motherless and without a brother or sister.

In the year 1828, when Abraham was nineteen years of age, a neighbor applied to him to take charge of a flatboat and its cargo, and, in company with his own son, run it down the Mississippi river and sell it at the sugar plantations near New Orleans. The business was placed entirely in his hands. They started from the town of Rockport, Spencer county,