LOSING LINCOLN

by

Jeff G.

LOSING LINCOLN

A MODERN DAY MARTYR

3/20/2013

J.J. Grant & D.W.GREATHOUSE

Copyright 2013

Full Integrity Publishing

DEDICATION

Based in great part on  Wikipedia and their Project Gutenberg for their vast collection of public domain materials, including, in no small part of the 1914 book

“Abraham Lincoln-A Story and A Play”.

This book is directed toward and dedicated to more youthful readers and the adults who teach those students. Lincoln’s story is a great model for honesty, integrity, thrift , hard work and determination. Abraham Lincoln obviously owed his success to setting goals for himself and following through. This story of his life exemplifies all the best qualities we, a vast majority of those hear from, wish for ourselves and our children. Without Going into detail about the brilliant political and government policy details of his career, this book details the exciting and ad venturous life Lincoln lead from his childhood and up to the time of his assassination.

The greatest value of this book will be to show youthful readers how important the moral qualities already mentioned, are to any one who aspires to succeed in life .

Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural Bible

Modern Day Martyr

THE STORY BEGINS

The story begins as Abe Lincoln’s parents are newly married and starting a family. In the new home where she went to live with her husband, the young wife and future mother of yet unborn Abraham Lincoln, did not have the comforts to which we are accustomed. There were no carpets to spread over the rough, unpainted floor and only a few pieces of homemade furniture. The cooking was done before a big fireplace from which the burning logs gave the only light after the sun had set. After Abraham’s sister was born, the family moved to a different place, called Rock Spring Farm. The country around was quite beautiful, and near the cabin, half hidden by a clump of trees and bushes, was a deep spring of clear water. On this farm the little Abraham first saw the light of birth, and here he lived until he was seven years old.

In the woods nearby he could watch the squirrels and rabbits at play. There was the spring close at hand with its song of gladness; there were berries to pick and nuts to gather. Yet the little boy must often have been lonely, since he had few playfellows. Then, when night came, there was no cozy, cheerful home with its bright light to welcome him—only a small, dark cabin with its bare walls and floor, and a hard bed under the roof, through whose cracks the rain could beat down on the child’s face below.

Abraham could not have been happy in those days. Afterwards, when he became a man, he seldom spoke of them, even to his dearest friends. There was a small school- house not far from the farm, and here Abraham and his sister learned their a-b-c’s. Afterwards, they went for a short time to another school four miles away.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right — stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong. Lincoln

Peace at last

9th New York Infantry Regiment attacking at Antietam.

President Lincoln meets with General George B. McLelland in the general’s tent at Antietam, Maryland at the site of that decisive battle.

Abraham’s father was “easy going” as people say. He liked talking with his friends and dreaming dreams better than hard work. Stories came to him of a richer country in Indiana where he might have a better farm.

“I will go there and look the country over," he said to his wife. It was a long ways off, but as he was a good carpenter he decided to make a flat boat on which he could float down Knob Creek, which was only a short way from his home. Then, moving from one river to another, he would at last reach Indiana.

The boat was soon made and Mr. Lincoln started out on his journey. When he reached the new country he was much pleased, and there, in the midst of a forest, he decided upon the place for a home. He would return at once for his family.

He could not float his flatboat up stream, however. So sold it to a settler nearby, and started on foot for Kentucky.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds…

At this time Abraham was seven years old and his sister Sarah was nine. Like all other children, they were probably pleased when their father got back and told of the new home which they were to seek in Indiana. They could not walk all the way, because the country was too rough and wild. But the father got two horses on which the children and their mother rode during the first part of the journey.

Towards the end they traveled in a farm wagon which Mr. Lincoln hired from one of the settlers along the way. At last they reached a stretch of thick forest, and there in its midst they made ready to settle. Winter was near and shelter must be put up at once. Abraham’s father set to work and built what is called a half- faced camp. That is, the house had only three sides. The fourth was left open.

There was no floor, neither were there windows or chimney, and the wind and rain were free to beat their way inside. For about a year this was the only home that the family had.

Abraham was tall and strong for his age, and he worked hard, helping his father clear the land for a farm. From morning till night his long arms were busy felling the trees or plowing the ground for a garden. When his mother needed meal for making bread, the boy would fill some bags with corn, and then carry it on horseback to the mill seven miles away, to have it ground.

By the end of the year the boy had helped his father make a better home than the poor half- faced camp, but even now there were neither windows nor door nor floor. Soon afterwards Abraham’s mother, who had borne so many hardships, suddenly became very ill.

There was no doctor at hand to save her, and she died, leaving her two children with their father to get along as best they could. How deeply Abraham had loved this tender mother, who had already done so much for him! He never forgot her, and whenever he spoke of her afterwards his voice grew soft and tender. He called her his “angel mother.”

Address to congratulatory crowd two days after Lincoln’s second election to the presidency.

Portrait of Dred Scott. Lincoln denounced the Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford as part of a conspiracy to extend slavery.

After she died, Abraham’s sister Sarah, who was then only eleven years old, became the housekeeper. She cooked and sewed for her father and brother as best she could. It must have been hard work for the poor child, and she was probably glad when the next year her father went back to Kentucky, to marry a widow whom he had known in her girlhood.

School Days

The new stepmother brought a large wagonload of furniture and clothing to her Indiana home. One of the pieces was a bureau which had cost fifty dollars. It must have seemed very wonderful to Abraham and Sarah, who had been used to rough homemade furniture all their lives.

When Mrs. Lincoln looked around her new home she said she would not be satisfied until a floor had been laid. The house must also have windows and a door. When these had been attended to, and the furniture set in place, Abraham was more comfortable than he had ever been in his life.

The stepmother had a loving heart, and though she had three children of her own, she treated Abraham and Sarah very kindly and d id all she could to make them happy.

“Even if we live in these backwoods, they must have book learning,” she declared. “They shall not grow up ignorant.”

There was a small schoolhouse not far away, and soon after the stepmother had taken charge of the family, the children began to go to school. There they studied “reading’, writing’ and ciphering’.”

There were few books in the school, and neither paper nor ink, as it was nearly impossible for people living in the midst of the forest to get such things. The school- house itself was small and dark. When the door was closed the only light came through squares of greased paper, which were used instead o f glass for windows.

The benches where the children sat were logs split in halves and set up on legs. Yet Abraham was so glad to get a chance to learn, that he was happy during the short time he was able to go to this school. He loved his studies so much, that after working hard on the farm all day, he used every spare minute of the evening reading the few books he was able to borrow from his neighbors, or doing “sums” with bits of charcoal on the wooden fire shovel.

Lincoln drafting the “Declaration of Freedom”

On saving the Union:

The President said the primary goal of his actions as president (he used the first person pronoun and explicitly refers to his "official duty") was preserving the Union:[182] My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union .I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.[183]

There were no lamps nor candles in the house. The boy, however, would stretch out on the floor before the fireplace, and by the light of the burnings logs, he managed to do his sums and his reading. Abraham’s stepmother soon discovered that he had a bright mind and she encouraged him to study. She loved him dearly, for he was as thoughtful and kind hearted and truthful as he was eager to learn.

“Abe never gave me a cross word or look. I must say Abe was the best boy I ever saw or expect to see,” she said afterwards. When Abraham was fourteen years old he went for a short time to another school, and again when he was nearly seventeen. This last was four or five miles away, but it was better than any of the others. Here, the boy had a chance to use pen and ink, and was given a copy-book in which to write.

The teacher had been “out in the world.” So, with the other studies, he taught these backwoods pupils what he called “manners.” He showed them how to enter a room filled with people. He trained the boys in taking off their hats and bowing politely to the girls when they met them.

“How much our teacher knows!” thought the pupils, and though they were awkward, they tried their best to follow the master’s directions. When Abraham afterwards left his country home and went to live in a city, he was probably very glad of the “manners” he learned that winter.

There were other things which he enjoyed greatly in this last school. One of them was the Friday “speaking,” when the boys and girls took their turns in standing up before the class and recited the “pieces” they had learned. Then there were compositions. At one time Abraham wrote on “Cruelty to Animals.” His tender heart could not bear to have dumb creatures suffer. Still another of his compositions was on “Temperance.” One of the neighbors admired this so much that he had it printed in a newspaper.

Abraham never had another chance to attend school. Altogether he spent less than one year in a school-room, yet “between times” he taught himself as best he could, borrowing every neighbor’s book he could get.

This borrowing once got him into sad trouble. Abraham was working for a rich man named Crawford. During the day he split rails, ploughed and took care of the cattle. He sometimes helped in the house, too, and even tended the baby for Mrs. Crawford, who was very kind to him and loaned him books, which he read after he went to bed at night.

Lincoln’s second cabinet

One evening when Abraham had finished reading, he tucked the book away between the logs in the wall beside his bed, as he usually did when he was ready for sleep. Before morning a storm arose, and he woke up to find the book drenched through from the rain which had made its way through the chinks of the wall.

When he took it back, Mr. Crawford said, “I won’t accept such a book. You may keep it, but you must pay for it by pulling fodder.” Abraham felt quite bitter that a wealthy man like Mr. Crawford should be so hard upon him, a poor boy. But he set to work, and in three days he earned his first book. It was Weem’s “Life of Washington.”

For weeks afterwards Abraham spent all his spare time in reading and rereading his precious book. Over and over again he followed Washington through the brave adventures of his youth and the battles in which he dared so much.

While Abraham was poring over the life of the “Father of his Country,” the boy little dreamed that he himself would become the wise, “Big Brother." Yes, it would be through his love and foresight that America would be saved, and her people kept together in one great family.

“Robinson Crusoe,” “Aesop’s Fables,” “Pilgrim’s Progress” and a “History of the United States” were also great favorites with Abraham. He came to know them almost by heart. Then, of course, there was the Bible, which he had learned to love when a tiny, little fellow. His own mother had often read it to him before he was old enough to study it for himself.

Much as Abraham liked to read, he was also fond of sports. He ran races, he took part in wrestling matches, and when there was a husking- bee or a house-raising, there he was to be found, the merriest, happiest one of the whole company. He was such a big, strong fellow, six feet four inches tall before he was twenty years old, that he could outstrip his fellows in everything he tried.

No one around could chop wood or split rail so fast as Abraham Lincoln. No other man could lift so big a weight as he, or equal him in wrestling. But he was not satisfied with doing these things. He was just as eager to be a fine story teller, to be a clear writer, and to argue so well that everyone who listened would be forced to agree with him. He soon became the wonder of the whole countryside, and people would gather about him whenever they had a chance to listen to his stories and speeches.

Though he went to school for such a short time, and though there were so few books that he could get hold of, yet Abraham was constantly learning in other ways. People from other places passed through the country from time to time, and the boy listened eagerly to their stories.

He would often repeat these stories to himself when he was alone. Then, between his father and his men friends there were talks to which Abraham gave close attention, hoping to learn something he did not already know. Most exciting of all was what he heard at the court-house in the town fifteen miles away. He did not consider the long walk through the woods a deterrent, and whenever it was possible for him to leave his work for the day, he would set out for the town with long, swinging strides.

When he arrived at the courthouse he was sure to be rewarded. Men and women were tried there for wrongdoing, and they were often defended by great lawyers who had come from the cities far away. Abraham listened carefully to the speeches which he stored away in his mind. At such times the log house in the backwoods, the hum-drum ploughing and wood chopping were forgotten, for the young fellow was living in thought in the big, outside world. After such days in court, Abraham could often be seen standing in the middle of the field, when he should have been at work, repeating the speeches he had heard to a crowd of neighbors. So well did he speak, that they, too, forgot the work in hand, and were carried far away from their backwoods home.

Now, in the books Abraham read, and in the talks and speeches he heard, there were words whose meaning he did not know, and expressions that were not clear. Then he was much troubled. He would spend a long time thinking over the matter and trying to understand.

Freeport, Ill. Taylor Park. “Lincoln The Debater” Statue

At such times he would say to himself something like this, “Whenever I speak to others, no matter what the subject may be, it shall be said so clearly and simply, that everyone will understand me.”

He kept his word. In the great speeches he afterwards made— speeches which stirred the hearts of all who heard them and which will live forever, his words were so clear and simple that everyone could understand.

OUT IN THE WORLD

As Abraham grew up, more and more people came to his part of the country to settle. A village called Gentryville grew up a mile or so from the Lincoln ho me. In the general store there, Abraham was clerk for a whole winter. Every evening and Saturday afternoons, this store was a gathering-place for all the men of the country side.  They talked politics, told stories, and read aloud from the weekly newspapers, so the young clerk learned much at this time about what was going on in the world outside.

Mr. Gentry, the owner of the store, took a great liking to his young clerk, and gave him a chance to see something of that outside world.  He loaded a flat boat with corn, flour, bacon and other things raised in the country nearby, and gave it into the charge of Abraham and Mr. Gentry’s son Allen.  They were to go down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and sell the goods to the owners of the plantations where sugar and cotton were raised by Negro slaves. He promised Abraham eight dollars a month, besides paying his fare home on a steamboat.

This seemed a large sum of money to the young man; besides, he was glad of the chance to travel and to see new sights. While Abraham and his friend Allen were away, they had an exciting adventure.  One dark night, after they had drawn the flat boat up to the shore to rest till morning, seven men made a sudden attack. They meant to kill the young men, and then steal the cargo of goods.

But Abraham and Allen managed to defend themselves, though they were both hurt before they were able to drive off the attackers and get the boat safely out into the middle of the stream.

The money which Abraham earned at this time seemed a large sum to him. But it could not have been as precious as what came to him the year before when he was running a ferry at Anderson’s Creek.  One day two men came hurrying down to the landing and engaged Abraham to carry them and their trunks out into the river to meet a passing steamer.

When the work was done and the men were about to step on board the steamer, each one handed him a half-dollar. He could hardly believe his eyes.  He was, for the first time, the owner of a whole dollar, and for a small task which had taken less than half a day! It seemed too good to be true.

A NEW HOME

When Abraham was twenty-one years old, his father decided to move once more. He learned that farther west in Illino is; there was rich prairie land where it would be easy to make a comfortable home. Two other families decided to go with the Lincolns. Heavy ox-carts were loaded with furniture and supplies, and the party started out with hearts full of hop e.

Abraham carried with him thirty dollars’ worth of “notions,” which he sold for such good prices to the settlers along the way, that by the end of the journey he had gained thirty dollars by his sales.

As they traveled along, a small thing happened which showed Abraham’s tender heart even for dumb creatures. The party had to cross an icy stream, and when they reached the other side they found that a dog had been left behind. It stood on the shore crying pitifully. Should it be allowed to stay there and starve?

“Indeed not,” declared Abraham. He hurriedly drew off his shoes, waded across the stream, and was soon on his way back with the do g under his arm. The poor little creature was now so happy that Lincoln said afterwards he was more than paid for his trouble.

After Abraham helped the family get settled in the new home, he went on to the village of New Salem, where he became the clerk of a man named Offutt.  He was so kind and merry and told such good stories, that people liked to come to the store for the sake of talking with him, just as the folks of Gentryville, had do ne. Besides this, they found he was so honest, that they could trust him in the smallest matters.

Now it happened, that one night after Abraham had closed the store, he counted up the money he had received, and found he had six cents too much. He was troubled, and thought about it for a long time. At last he remembered how it must have come about. He had given the wrong change to a certain woman.

He hastened to lock up the store, and started at once for the woman’s house three miles away. As soon as he arrived there, he handed her the six cents, telling her he had made a mistake. Then, happy once more, he went home, caring little for the long walk, since he had done what was right. It is not strange that such things as this soon won for him the name of “Honest Abe.”

While Abraham was working for Mr. Offutt, he was sent on another flat-boat expedition down the Mississippi.  He carried bacon, flour and other things rose on the farms nearby, and traded them off to the plantations along the river, just as he had done before. This time, however, he traveled as far as New Orleans, where he saw something that seemed very terrible. It was an auction of slaves.  Little children were taken from their mothers’ arms and sold as so many pieces of furniture.  Women were parted from their husbands. The young man was deeply troubled at the sad sight. He said to himself, “In this great and beautiful country of America, it is dreadful that there should be such a thing as slavery.”

Captain Abraham Lincoln

Two years after Abraham went to live in New Salem a war broke out.  It was between the white men and their red neighbors. A great chief named Black Hawk entered Illino is with his braves and led them in several terrible massacres against the white people. The settlers fled from their homes in fright, and an army was raised to

Rout the Indians.

By this time young Lincoln had become a great favorite in his part of the country, and he was chosen captain of a company of soldiers who had enlisted in the war.  He was delighted at the honor, because it showed how much he was liked.  He said afterwards that it gave him more pleasure than anything which befell him in later life.

Now it happened that the war came to an end before Lincoln’s company was called upon to do any fighting, but the men were in camp for several months, where they were drilled daily and stood ready to fight if called upon. They had much spare time, however, in which they ran races, had jumping and wrestling matches and other sports, and Abraham enjoyed the good-natured companionship of so many young men.

Though they had not gone to the front, and had taken part in no fighting with the red men, they often talked together about the fearful massacres of which they heard. More and more they hated the Indians and felt a longing to destroy them.

One day, as some of them were talking together about this very matter, an old Indian, poor and feeble, came walking into the camp.

“A spy!” the soldiers shouted, and they rushed upon him.

They felt such hate for all Indians that now, when one of these savages stood in their midst, they were eager to kill him without giving him a chance to speak for himself.

Their frightened prisoner drew out a bit of paper and held it up.  It was a pass from General Cass saying the Indian was honest, and a friend of the white men.

“Perhaps General Cass did not write the pass,” said one of the soldiers.

They hated the Indians so much; they did not wish to lose the chance of killing one of them now that they had him in their power, so they were quite ready to believe that the pass was not a true one.

“Shoot him!" cried one after another.

Several guns were aimed at the shivering old creature, and in another instant he would have been killed, when suddenly Captain Lincoln stood in front of his men, with stern face and flashing eyes. Rushing between them and the Indian, he cried out:

“Hold on! I command you not to fire.” At the same moment he knocked up the guns that were pointed at the bod y of the red man. The men were so angry, however, that they were not willing to obey the order of their captain.

“Are you soldiers, and yet willing to kill a poor old man who cannot defend himself? You would bring disgrace upon your country by such a cowardly deed!” cried Lincoln, in ringing tones.  His eyes were fairly blazing as he spoke.

“He’s a spy!” answered one of the men.

“If it be true,” said Lincoln, “he must die. But till it is proved, anyone who attempts to kill him must settle with me. I am ready to fight it out with each one of you.  In the meantime, disband.”

The men, with deep scowls, lowered their guns and turned away. Lincoln was left alone with the Indian. He examined the pass and saw that it was a true one.

“You are free,” he said to the old man. Too grateful to answer in words, the Indian knelt down and kissed the feet of the young captain.

After the War

When the Black Hawk War came to an end, Lincoln went back to New Salem, reaching his home just ten days before the time to elect men for the state legislature.

He was, as we know, a great favorite in the town. “Why not let the people use my name for representative?” he thought. “I shall lose nothing if I fail to be elected.”

His many friends were pleased, and when the Election Day came, all the men in New Salem except three voted for “Abe.” The rest of the district, however, favored another man more strongly, and Lincoln lost the election.  What should he do now? He had no money and no work.  Mr. Offutt, who had been a true friend, had failed and given up his business.

“Shall I become a blacksmith or a lawyer?” thought Lincoln. His long, strong arms were well fitted for a blacksmith’s trade. But then there was the bright, quick mind which must be kept busy.

“I will be a lawyer,” Lincoln finally decided.

Yet he did not know enough to practice law. Lie must study a great deal before he could carry out his wish, but after much thinking he planned how to bring it about.

“I will keep a store,” he said to himself. “There I will have enough spare time to study law.  When I have learned enough, I can be a lawyer.”

He got another man named Berry for a partner, and they started out with great hopes. Lincoln had the time he wished for study, and every spare moment was spent poring over some law books he had found in the bottom of a barrel of rubbish, which another man who needed the money had sold him for a half-dollar.

He kept these books close at hand, so that the instant a customer left the store, he could go back to his studies, if only for five or ten minutes.  To most people these books would seem very tiresome, but to Lincoln they were wonderfully interesting.

In the meantime the town of New Salem was growing smaller every day, and there were fewer arts fewer people to trade at the store.  Besides, Mr. Berry showed himself of little worth. In a short time the business failed, and Lincoln found himself with a large debt which it took years to pay. He afterwards laughingly called it his “National Debt.”

When the store was given up, Lincoln did any kind of work he could get. Yet he still kept up his study of the law, carrying a book with him wherever he went, reading as he walked along the street, or whenever he could rest a moment from rail-splitting or farming.

At this time he took great pleasure in reading the plays of William Shakespeare, as well as his law books.  One day he received some good news.  He had been made a surveyor of lands.  It was the very work that George Washington had done so well when a young man. Lincoln was delighted.  He was to be paid three dollars a day, and this seemed a large sum.

But he knew little about surveying.  What did that matter? He would set to work and learn the business at once.  So he went to the schoolmaster, who gave him all the help he needed during the next few weeks to make him a good surveyor. A short time after this he was made postmaster, but the town was so small and there were so few letters, that Lincoln often carried them about in his hat.

Lincoln the Lawyer

Mr. Lincoln was now twenty- five years old.  He had been farm hand, rail-splitter, carpenter, clerk, ferryman, soldier, storekeeper, surveyor, and postmaster.  Still, down deep in his heart was the longing to be a lawyer, which had been there ever since he was a boy.

He was very poor, and his debt must be paid; yet he would not give up the idea of becoming a lawyer, and a great one, too.  And now something happened which was of great help in carrying out his wish. He gained the place in the legislature he had failed to win two years before. It was because not only the people of New Salem, but of all that part of the country, now had faith in "Honest old Abe.”

This was the beginning of a new life to the backwoods man. As he took his place in the state house with other law- makers, no one noticed him particularly.  He was homely and awkward, with a sad face and a quiet manner. But his mind was full of fire and his heart beat with a steady love of the right. In a little while people would discover that this was no common man, and that a hero was moving among them.

Mr. Lincoln stayed in the legislature for eight years. During that time he finished his study of the law and started out in business for himself. He was still very poor, and as people were often slow in seeking help from a new lawyer, he wondered how he should manage to pay his way for the first few months.

With a brave heart, however, he decided to try his fortune in Springfield. He traveled there on horseback, carrying his few clothes in two saddle bags. As soon as he reached the city he went to the store of Mr. Speed, one of his friends, and asked him the cost of a bedstead and its furnishings.

“Seventeen dollars,” was the answer.

Lincoln replied that though the price might be cheap, he did not have money enough to buy one.

“If you will trust me till Christmas time,” he said, “I will pay you then.”

“That is,” he added, “if I succeed as a lawyer.”

“But suppose you do not succeed?” Mr. Speed answered.

Lincoln’s face became very sad. “If I fail, I don’t know when I can pay you.” As he spoke his voice was as sorrowful as his face.

“But there is a way out of having any debt at all, “his friend now suggested.

“ I have a large room upstairs with two bedsit it. You are welcome to share the room with me.”

A moment afterwards Lincoln, armed with his saddle bags, was on his way up the stairs, as joyful as he had been sad before. Leaving them in the middle of the floor, he ran down again, crying out:

“Well, Speed, I’m moved.”

Another friend offered to give him his board free, so he managed to get along until he could earn his own living.  It was not long before the people began to praise the wise and clever speeches of the new lawyer. Besides, they honored him for his honesty and kindness. He was unlike many lawyers.

He was not willing to work for a man if he thought him in the wrong. But if he believed that man had been treated unjustly, he did not count the time and thought spent in winning the case.  Moreover, he worked just as willingly for a person who was too poor to pay him, as he did for the rich man who could give him a large sum of money.  Always and everywhere it was the right that interested Abraham Lincoln.

In those days lawyers went about the country to attend court in different places.  They usually traveled on horseback, for there were few railroads.  On one of these trips Lincoln went with a party of other lawyers. As they entered a narrow lane they were obliged to go two by two. Lincoln and his friend, Mr. Hardin, happened to be the last ones.  Suddenly Lincoln stopped.  He had spied two baby birds beside the road. The wind had blown the helpless little creatures out of their nest in some tree top.

In another moment Lincoln had sprung from his horse and was busy hunting about for the nest. Mr. Hardin went on, and catching up with the rest of the party, he told them what his friend was doing.  When Lincoln afterwards joined them, they laughed at him, but this did not trouble him in the least.

He only said, “I could not have slept if I had not restored those little birds to their mother.”

Though his mind was now busy with hard law problems, his heart was as tender as ever for all helpless creatures, no matter how unimportant they might seem to others.

Children were always very dear to Mr. Lincoln. No matter how busy he might be, he could always take time to help a child who was in trouble.  One day he was on the way to his office, when he noticed a little girl standing on the sidewalk in front of her home.  She was crying bitterly. He stopped to ask what the matter was.

“I shall miss the train,” she sobbed. “The express man hasn’t come for my trunk.”

“That is too bad,” Lincoln answered, at the same time gently patting her head.

“Tell me, my child, where you were going.”

“To visit my aunt. And a little friend of mine was to go with me, and I have never been on the cars in my life, —and O dear, my friend is probably at the station waiting for me now.”

At this thought she began to cry afresh. Mr. Lincoln’s tender heart was touched.

“How big is the trunk?” he asked.

“If it isn’t too big, there is time enough.”

As he spoke he made his way up to the door of the house, where the child’s mother was standing. She led the way inside and pointed out the trunk. It was a small one. Lincoln lifted it easily to his strong shoulders, at the same time bidding the little girl to wipe her eyes.

“Come, quick, and I guess we can catch the train,” he said cheerily.

With the child by his side, he strode down the street. They were still some distance from the station when they heard the train coming.

“Take my hand, little one, we’ll get there yet,” Lincoln told the child.  With the trunk still on his shoulder, and the girl’s tiny hand clasped tightly in his own big, strong one, the station was reached before the train pulled out.

As the young lawyer put his little charge on board, he kissed her good-bye, saying, “Now have a real good time.”

Lincoln had not practiced law very long before the best people of Springfield began to invite him to their homes.  He was still “poor as a church mouse,” but he was so bright and clever, and such a good story teller, that no gathering seemed a success without him.

And so Honest Abe, the backwoods rail-splitter, was now often the manager of a dance, or the chief speaker at a dinner party.

At this time he became acquainted with a Miss Mary Todd, a handsome and witty young girl, who had come from Kentucky to visit her married sister.  She chose Mr. Lincoln out of the many young men in Springfield who admired her, and the two were married when Lincoln was thirty-three years old.

He was still so poor that he could not afford to set up house- keeping, so he and his young wife went to board for a while at a cheap tavern, where their food and room together cost only four dollars a week.

The fame of the young lawyer was now growing fast, and more people sought his services every year.  The time came when a man was willing to pay five thousand dollars for his help in a single case.  How different this was from those first days in Springfield, when Lincoln was satisfied to receive a fee of five dollars.

No matter how large a sum was offered, however, he was never willing to help anyone who seemed to be in the wrong. Nor was he ever too busy to aid those who had been his friends in his early days of sadness and struggle.

In this time of success, he was able to repay the kindness of the Armstrong family who had been good to him when he was a poor clerk in New Salem.  Many a time Mrs. Armstrong had been as tender as a mother when he was poor and homeless.  And now her son Jack was accused of murder,

and the trouble was breaking her heart, Lincoln used his bright mind to defend the fellow.  When the trial came, he spoke with such feeling that the hearts of all who listened were deeply touched. More than this, —his wise words proved that young Armstrong was innocent and he was set free.

During the years in which Mr. Lincoln was practicing law, he heard much about slavery. Some of the states believed it to be right, and others declared it was wrong. Lincoln still felt as he did when as a young man he had seen a slave auction in New Orleans. He thought often of the words in the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal.” And yet he would say to himself, “Americans hold slaves.”

Whenever he spoke of slavery in public he gave such good reasons against it, that all who heard him were moved.  Now there was a certain senator of the United States, whom Lincoln had known when he first started out in Springfield as a lawyer.  This man, Stephen A. Douglas, had become famous throughout the country, and had won for himself the name of “The Little Giant.”

Mr. Douglas believed so strongly that slavery was just that he succeeded in winning the right to own slaves for two states where they had not been held before.  Just after he had done this he came back to his old ho me in Springfield, and made a great speech there defending slavery. Lincoln answered this speech so well, that he won great praise... After this Mr. Douglas made other speeches, but every speech was followed by a still greater one from Lincoln.  It seemed almost laughable when people thought about it; here was this backwoodsman, a man of only a few months’ schooling, holding his own against the polished gentleman of fine education. The rail-splitter standing up against the “Little Giant.  A more wonderful thing was yet to happen. The time soon came for Douglas to run again for the United States Senate. And Abraham Lincoln was chosen to run against him! Then it was that Lincoln’s friends made plans for a debate between the two men.  Seven meetings were taken up with this debate.  So nobly did Lincoln speak, so grandly did he stand for right and justice, the whole country now rang with his praise? He had suddenly become a leader and master of men.

As it happened, however, he was not made senator, but Douglas was again elected. If Lincoln had worked in a certain way, this would not have happened, but he had begun to look ahead. He wished to be chosen President of the United States 1 to do this; he thought it would be wisest to let Douglas win the election for senator.

He planned rightly, for two years afterwards, in the year 1860, his dream came true.

A sketch of candidate A. Lincoln around 1835 as he was elected to the Illino is state legislature

Presidential photo

1915 oil painting by George Henry Storey

Arial view of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D. C.

The rail-splitter, Abraham Lincoln, who had spent less than one year in a school-room, was chosen by the people of the United States to be their next President. The child, born in a rough log cabin, who had lived in his early days in a two- faced camp, had by his own will reached the highest place his country could give him.

Henceforth it was for him to guide, not one small body of men, not one state, but the whole United States. When the news came to Mr. Lincoln, he said quietly, “There’s a little woman who would like to hear this.  I will go and tell her.”

With these words he left his friends and went home to let his wife hear what had happened.  Many, many years ago,— when her husband was poor and little known, she had declared that some day he would be President. The people who heard her then must have smiled at the idea.

Lincoln the President

Before Mr. Lincoln left his quiet home for Washington, he went to visit his old stepmother, whom he had always loved dearly. She cried as she bid him farewell.

“I fear that enemies will take your life,” she told him.

She seemed to feel that she would never see this dear stepson again, and Mr. Lincoln himself was overcome with sadness. He could not shake it off for some time.

The White House, the beautiful home for presidents at Washington, was waiting for the Lincoln family, and here they settled themselves after the thundering of cannon and the cheers of the people told the world that Abraham Lincoln was now at the head of the government.

Four baby boys had been born to the Lincolns in Springfield. One of them had died there, but there were still three little sons to enjoy the new life of the big city, and President Lincoln was never as happy as when he could frolic with his boys in the White House gardens. Heavy cares, however, began to press upon him and kept him very busy. There was great trouble in the land.  Clouds of war were fast spreading over the blue sky of peace.  The question Lincoln had asked himself when a young man must now be settled.

Should America stand for slavery or against slavery? It seemed a simple question. Yet some of the states said “No,” and others said “Yes,” declaring that each state should have the right to decide for itself.

Lincoln had scarcely time to get used to his new duties before the war burst forth,—a terrible war. Then it was that the new President showed how great he was, —how wise and strong, how loving towards all, whether they believed as he did or not.

No other man in the whole country could have filled his place, for no other had such a great heart and farseeing mind. Night and day he was busy planning how the war might be ended and the country saved. Yet, with the great load o f care, he was ever willing to stop and listen to the stories of those who were in trouble.

More than one unhappy woman came to beg for the life of her husband or son who had been sentenced to die. They were never turned away.

“Let the man live and have one more chance," the President would say in one case after another.

“His heart is too tender,” people sometimes declared. But they did not know him.  When firmness was needed, no one could be more fearless than he. He seemed then to forget everything else in doing his duty.

How he grieved for the soldiers dying in battle, and for the loved ones at home who were left to grieve for them. His great heart would have been broken over the sorrows of others if his strong will had not turned his thoughts at times to other things.

Because of this he was still able to see the fun in whatever was happening around him. He might be discussing a most serious question with the men who made up his cabinet. Suddenly he would think of a funny story which he would repeat so cleverly, that all were set laughing.  Moreover, this very story might make them understand the question which had troubled them better than if they should spend hours in talking seriously about it.

Whenever he could spare the time, President Lincoln would ride out to the hospitals near Washington to visit the sick and wounded soldiers. He had kind and tender words for each, and the sight of his sorrowful face, so full of love for all, gave courage to many a suffering man.

While Lincoln was feeling so strongly for others, a great sorrow came into his own home. His favorite son Willie, a bright, lovable boy, was taken ill and died.  It seemed as though the father’s heart would break.  New lines of sadness came into his face and he never seemed quite the same afterwards.

After Willie’s death President Lincoln tried to comfort himself with his youngest son "Tad,” a merry little fellow. No matter how busy his father might be, Tad was allowed to run in and out of the office whenever he wished. Many a time the little boy spent the whole evening there, curling him up upon the floor when he was tired out, and dropping off to sleep. Then his father would lift the child tenderly in his strong arms and carry him off to bed.

Tad probably had more freedom in the White House than any President’s child since. The little boy was very fond of a tame goat and once when he was away with his mother, Mr. Lincoln wrote his wife: "Tell dear Tad that poor Nanny Goat is lost, and Mrs. Cuthbert and I are in distress about it.  The day you left, Nanny was found resting herself and chewing her little cud on the middle of Tad’s bed, but now she is gone. The gardener kept complaining that she destroyed the flowers till it was concluded to bring her down to the White House. This was done, and the second day she disappeared and has not been heard of since. This is the last we know of poor Nanny.”

We can thus see that even in the midst of terrible care and worry over his country; President Lincoln found time to interest himself in what was dear to his little boy.  The older son Robert was away at this time in college, but after he graduated he came home to take part in the war.

On the first day of January, 1863, President Lincoln signed his name to a very important paper about which he had been thinking for a long time. By this paper all the slaves in the United States were set free.  When the news spread that this had been done, the whole country was greatly excited.

Many of President Lincoln’s best friends thought he was unwise. They said: “It is too early to set the slaves free.”

Afterwards, however, people came to see that it was the best thing possible, and that Lincoln had chosen the right time.

The war raged on and news kept coming to Washington of one terrible battle after another.  Sometimes it seemed as though one side would win, and sometimes the other. Then came the hard fight at Gettysburg, when the turning-point was reached.

The end of the war was now in sight. After that battle it was decided that the field where it had taken place should be made into a great cemetery.  Soldiers, who fell in the war, no matter on what side they had fought, should be buried there.

A day was chosen on which the field of Gettysburg should be dedicated. Thousands of people from different parts of the country gathered there.  William Everett, a great orator, was the chief speaker.  For two hours the immense gathering before him listened in wonder. The grace of the man, the charm of his voice, the beauty of his words, all moved his listeners deeply, and when the speech came to an end, the applause was tremendous.

At last the people became quiet, and another speaker rose before them.  It was President Lincoln, tall, thin, homely, ungraceful. Many of those present had never seen their President before. They were almost shocked at the difference between him and the elegant, polished William Everett. And now Lincoln began to speak.

His manner was awkward, but the first sentence was scarcely finished when there came a change. The eyes of the speaker began to burn with the fire of deep feeling. His voice became deep and powerful. His manner was no longer lacking in grace.  He had forgotten himself in his message.

And his listeners? The words of the speaker were so simple, yet so strong, that they longed to do the bidding of this man who seemed to-day as one sent from God. Yes, their country must have a new birth of freedom and it should be through their unselfish devotion.

It was not strange, therefore, that when the speech came to an end there was no sound in that great gathering. The feeling was too deep.  The silence spoke more strongly than the loudest applause could have do ne.

To-day the world looks upon the Gettysburg Address as one of the greatest speeches ever made. The boys and girls of America take delight in reciting it, and as they do so they think of Abraham Lincoln, the hero, the lover and savior of his country.

On the fourth of March, 1865, Lincoln was again made President, and on that day he made another wonderful speech which will be long remembered.  He pled for good will towards all men, whether they had fought for or against their country, for more tender love toward the sick and sorrowing,—everything, in fact, that might bring about, “a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all Nations.”

The clouds of war were now fast scattering and the President had reason to be happy. Through his love and patience and wisdom the country would be saved.

“Take better care of you,” his friends kept saying to him.

“The times are full of danger. Bad men are everywhere about us, and May work you harm unless you are protected.”

But Lincoln would not heed them.  With his great kind heart, he would not let thoughts of enemies enter his mind.

He went in and out of the White House and through the streets of the city as simply as a common workman might have do ne. Every day hundreds of people sought him, and he received them freely, whether they were friends or strangers.

“If I were to guard against all danger, I should have to shut myself up in an iron box,” he said with a laugh. “And then I could not do my duty as President.”

So, though his friends finally insisted on having a guard to watch daily about the White House, and a squad of mounted soldiers to follow his carriage whenever he went out to drive, he was still careless about protecting himself in many ways.

The 14th of April was at hand.  It was Good Friday, and in the churches that day there were many grateful prayers because of the news of coming peace which had reached the people. President Lincoln was very happy.

In the morning he talked with the men in his cabinet. He said that all anger must be put aside. He himself would take no part in hanging those who had fought against the Union, for the one thought now should be peace.

Robert Lincoln had just come back from the war and his father was able to spend a pleasant hour talking with him about what he had seen. Then came a delightful afternoon when the President took a long drive with his wife. He talked of the quiet, happy life they would have together when his work in Washington should be over. He spoke, too, of his gratitude to the good God who had brought such blessings to the country.

Never had he seemed fuller of love towards all men than he did that Good Friday afternoon. Then came the evening, when with his wife and two friends the President went to the theater. The play had already begun when they entered the box but the band immediately began, “Hail to the Chief,” and the audience stood up and cheered.

After that the play went on. Lincoln, cheerful and happy, sat back to enjoy it. He little dreamed that a man, a noted actor, was already drawing near to carry out a deadly plot. The heart of this man was full of hatred for his country and that country’s chief. His mind was crazed by liquor.  It was almost ten o’clock when, suddenly, a shot was heard in the box where Lincoln was sitting.

A cry rang out through the theater, “He has shot the President,” as the great leader’s head fell forward and his eyes closed. Those eyes would never look again upon this world, and with the dawn of a new day, the last breath had been drawn by the greatest of all Americans. His work had been done and his country saved. R, the white man and the black, could be heard the sobs of women and children. Even strong men were not ashamed to  weep. The friend of all creatures, whom God had given to this country in its greatest need,  had been suddenly taken away. The booming of the cannons and the tolling of bells could tell but little how great was the loss. The humble rail- splitter, the youth to whom a dollar had once seemed a fortune, had climbed alone, step by step, from the lowland of poverty and ignorance to the very summit of the mountain of progress. He had become a savior and a martyr. He might not live to enjoy with his people the peace which he had prayed for so earnestly. He had entered forever into a greater peace where war and hate could have no place. Great was the sorrow in the land. In the homes of rich and poor, for losing Honest Abe Lincoln was a greater tragedy than any could ever calculate.

THE END

Shown at Ford’s Theatre, Presidential booth, from left to right, Henry Rat bone, Clara Harris, Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, and his assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

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