248. What Lincoln could do at seventeen; what he was at nineteen;
his strength.--By the time the lad was seventeen he could write a
good hand, do hard examples in long division, and spell better than
any one else in the county. Once in a while he wrote a little piece
of his own about something which interested him; when the neighbors
heard it read, they would say, "The world can't beat it."
At nineteen Abraham Lincoln had reached his full height. He stood
nearly six feet four inches, barefooted. He was a kind of
good-natured giant. No one in the neighborhood could strike an axe
as deep into a tree as he could, and few, if any, were equal to him
in strength. It takes a powerful man to put a barrel of flour into
a wagon without help, and there is not one in a hundred who can lift
a barrel of cider off the ground; but it is said that young Lincoln
could stoop down, lift a barrel on to his knees, and drink from the
bung-hole.
249. Young Lincoln makes a voyage to New Orleans; how he handled the
robbers.--At this time a neighbor hired Abraham to go with his son
to New Orleans. The two young men were to take a flat-boat loaded
with corn and other produce down the Ohio and the Mississippi. It
was called a voyage of about eighteen hundred miles, and it would
take between three and four weeks.
[Illustration: LINCOLN ON THE FLAT-BOAT GOING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI
RIVER.]
Young Lincoln was greatly pleased with the thought of making such
a trip. He had never been away any distance from home, and, as he
told his father, he felt that he wanted to see something more of the
world. His father made no objection, but, as he bade his son good
by, he said, Take care that in trying to see the world you don't see
the bottom of the Mississippi.
The two young men managed to get the boat through safely. But one
night a gang of negroes came on board, intending to rob them of part
of their cargo. Lincoln soon showed the robbers he could handle a
club as vigorously as he could an axe, and the rascals, bruised and
bleeding, were glad to get off with their lives.
250. The Lincolns move to Illinois; what Abraham did; hunting
frolics; how Abraham chopped; how he bought his clothes.--Not long
after young Lincoln's return, his father moved to Illinois.[5] It
was a two weeks' journey through the woods with ox-teams. Abraham
helped his father build a comfortable log cabin; then he and a man
named John Hanks split walnut rails, and fenced in fifteen acres of
land for a cornfield.
[Illustration: THE LOG CABIN IN ILLINOIS WHICH LINCOLN HELPED HIS
FATHER BUILD.]
That part of the country had but few settlers, and it was still full
of wild beasts. When the men got tired of work and wanted a frolic,
they had a grand wolf-hunt. First, a tall pole was set up in a
clearing;[6] next, the hunters in the woods formed a great circle
of perhaps ten miles in extent. Then they began to move nearer and
nearer together, beating the bushes and yelling with all their might.
The frightened wolves, deer, and other wild creatures inside of the
circle of hunters were driven to the pole in the clearing; there they
were shot down in heaps.
Young Lincoln was not much of a hunter, but he always tried to do
his part. Yet, after all, he liked the axe better than he did the
rifle. He would start off before light in the morning and walk to
his work in the woods, five or six miles away. There he would chop
steadily all day. The neighbors knew, when they hired him, that he
wouldn't sit down on the first log he came to and fall asleep. Once
when he needed a new pair of trousers, he made a bargain for them
with a Mrs. Nancy Miller. She agreed to make him a certain number
of yards of tow cloth,[7] and dye it brown with walnut bark. For every
yard she made, Lincoln bound himself to split four hundred good
fence-rails for her. In this way he made his axe pay for all his
clothes.
[Illustration: LINCOLN SPLITTING LOGS FOR RAILS.]
[Footnote 5: Illinois: he moved to a farm on the North Fork (or
branch) of the Sangamon River, Macon County, Illinois. Springfield,
the capital of the state, is in the next county west.]
[Footnote 6: Clearing: an open space made in a forest.]
[Footnote 7: Tow cloth: a kind of coarse, cheap, but very strong cloth,
made of flax or hemp.]
251. Lincoln hires out to tend store; the gang of ruffians in New
Salem; Jack Armstrong and "Tall Abe."--The year after young Lincoln
came of age he hired out to tend a grocery and variety store in New
Salem, Illinois.[8] There was a gang of young ruffians in that
neighborhood who made it a point to pick a fight with every stranger.
Sometimes they mauled him black and blue; sometimes they amused
themselves with nailing him up in a hogshead and rolling him down
a hill. The leader of this gang was a fellow named Jack Armstrong.
He made up his mind that he would try his hand on "Tall Abe," as
Lincoln was called. He attacked Lincoln, and he was so astonished
at what happened to him that he never wanted to try it again. From
that time Abraham Lincoln had no better friends than young Armstrong
and the Armstrong family. Later on we shall see what he was able to
do for them.
[Footnote 8: New Salem is on the Sangamon River, in Menard County,
about twenty miles northwest of Springfield, the capital of
Illinois.]
252. Lincoln's faithfulness in little things; the six cents; "Honest
Abe."--In his work in the store Lincoln soon won everybody's respect
and confidence. He was faithful in little things, and in that way
he made himself able to deal with great ones.
Once a woman made a mistake in paying for something she had bought,
and gave the young man six cents too much. He did not notice it at
the time, but after his customer had gone he saw that she had overpaid
him. That night, after the store was closed, Lincoln walked to the
woman's house, some five or six miles out of the village, and paid
her back the six cents. It was such things as this that first made
the people give him the name of "Honest Abe."
253. The Black Hawk War; the Indian's handful of dry leaves; what
Lincoln did in the war.--The next year Lincoln went to fight the
Indians in what was called the Black Hawk War. The people in that
part of the country had been expecting the war; for, some time before,
an Indian had walked up to a settler's cabin and said, "Too much white
man." He then threw a handful of dry leaves into the air, to show
how he and his warriors were coming to scatter the white men. He never
came, but a noted chief named Black Hawk, who had been a friend of
Tecumseh's,[9] made an attempt to drive out the settlers, and get
back the lands which certain Indians had sold them.
Lincoln said that the only battles he fought in this war were with
the mosquitoes. He never killed a single Indian, but he saved the
life of one old savage. He seems to have felt just as well satisfied
with himself for doing that as though he had shot him through the
head.
[Footnote 9: Tecumseh: See paragraph 202.]
254. Lincoln becomes postmaster and surveyor; how he studied law;
what the people thought of him as a lawyer.--After Lincoln returned
from the war he was made postmaster of New Salem. He also found time
to do some surveying and to begin the study of law. On hot summer
mornings he might be seen lying on his back, on the grass, under a
big tree, reading a law-book; as the shade moved round, Lincoln would
move with it, so that by sundown he had travelled nearly round the
tree.
[Illustration: LINCOLN READING LAW.]
When he began to practise law, everybody who knew him had confidence
in him. Other men might be admired because they were smart, but
Lincoln was respected because he was honest. When he said a thing,
people knew that it was because he believed it, and they knew, too,
that he could not be hired to say what he did not believe. That gave
him immense influence.
255. The Armstrong murder trial; how Lincoln saved young Armstrong
from being hanged.--But Lincoln was as keen as he was truthful and
honest. A man was killed in a fight near where Lincoln had lived,
and one of Jack Armstrong's[10] brothers was arrested for the murder.
Everybody thought that he was guilty, and felt sure that he would
be hanged. Lincoln made some inquiry about the case, and made up his
mind that the prisoner did not kill the man.
Mrs. Armstrong was too poor to hire a lawyer to defend her son, but
Lincoln wrote to her that he would gladly do it for nothing.
When the day of the trial came, the chief witness was sure that he
saw young Armstrong strike the man dead. Lincoln questioned him
closely. He asked him when it was that he saw the murder committed.
The witness said that it was in the evening, at a certain hour, and
that he saw it all clearly because there was a bright moon. Are you
sure? asked Lincoln. Yes, replied the witness. Do you swear to it?
I do, answered the witness. Then Lincoln took an almanac out of his
pocket, turned to the day of the month on which the murder had been
committed, and said to the court: The almanac shows that there was
no moon shining at the time at which the witness says he saw the
murder.[11] The jury was convinced that the witness had not spoken
the truth; they declared the prisoner "Not guilty," and he was at
once set free.
Lincoln was a man who always paid his debts. Mrs. Armstrong had been
very kind to him when he was poor and friendless. Now he had paid
that debt.
[Footnote 10: See Jack Armstrong, in paragraph 251.]
[Footnote 11: The almanac usually gives the time when the moon rises;
and so by looking at any particular day of the month, one can tell
whether there was a moon on that evening.]
256. Lincoln and the pig.--Some men have hearts big enough to be kind
to their fellow-men when they are in trouble, but not to a dumb animal.
Lincoln's heart was big enough for both.
One morning just after he had bought a new suit of clothes he started
to drive to the court-house, a number of miles distant. On the way
he saw a pig that was making desperate efforts to climb out of a deep
mud-hole. The creature would get part way up the slippery bank, and
then slide back again over his head in mire and water. Lincoln said
to himself: I suppose that I ought to get out and help that pig; for
if he's left there, he'll smother in the mud. Then he gave a look
at his glossy new clothes. He felt that he really couldn't afford
to spoil them for the sake of any pig, so he whipped up his horse
and drove on. But the pig was in his mind, and he could think of
nothing else. After he had gone about two miles, he said to himself,
I've no right to leave that poor creature there to die in the mud,
and what is more, I won't leave him. Turning his horse, he drove back
to the spot. He got out and carried half a dozen fence-rails to the
edge of the hole, and placed them so that he could get to it without
falling in himself. Then, kneeling down, he bent over, seized the
pig firmly by the fore legs and drew him up on to the solid ground,
where he was safe. The pig grunted out his best thanks, and Lincoln,
plastered with mud, but with a light heart, drove on to the
court-house.
[Illustration: LINCOLN AND THE PIG.]
257. Lincoln is elected to the state legislature; he goes to
Springfield to live; he is elected to Congress.--Many people in
Illinois thought that they would like to see such a man in the state
legislature[12] helping to make their laws. They elected him; and
as he was too poor at that time to pay so much horse-hire, he walked
from New Salem, a distance of over a hundred miles, to Vandalia,[13]
which was then the capital of the state.
Lincoln was elected to the legislature many times; later, he moved
to Springfield, Illinois, and made that place his home for the rest
of his life.
The next time the people elected him to office, they sent him to
Congress to help make laws, not for his state only, but for the whole
country. He had got a long way up since the time when he worked with
John Hanks[14] fencing the cornfield round his father's cabin; but
he was going higher still,--he was going to the top.
[Footnote 12: Legislature: persons chosen by the people of a state
or country to make its laws.]
[Footnote 13: Vandalia (Van-da'li-a).]
[Footnote 14: John Hanks: see paragraph 250.]
258. The meeting for choosing a candidate[15] for President of the
United States; the two fence-rails; the Chicago meeting; Abraham
Lincoln elected President of the United States.--In the spring of
1860 a great convention, or meeting, was held in one of the towns
of Illinois. Lincoln was present at that convention. The object of
the people who had gathered there was to choose a candidate that they
would like to see elected President of the United States. A number
of speeches had been made, when a member of the convention rose and
said that a person asked the privilege of making the meeting a present.
It was voted to receive it. Then John Hanks and one of his neighbors
brought in two old fence-rails and a banner with these words painted
on it:--
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
THE RAIL CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY
IN 1860.
TWO RAILS FROM A LOT OF 3000
MADE IN 1830
BY JOHN HANKS AND ABE LINCOLN.
The rails were received with cheer after cheer, and Lincoln was
chosen candidate. About a week after that a much greater meeting was
held in Chicago, and he was chosen there in the same way. The next
November Abraham Lincoln, "the Illinois rail-splitter," was elected
President of the United States. He had reached the top. There he was
to die.
[Footnote 15: Candidate (can'di-date): a person who seeks some
office, such as that of governor or president, or a person who is
recommended by a party for such an office. The people in favor of
the candidate vote for him; and if he gets a sufficient number of
votes, he is elected.]
259. The great war between the North and the South; why a large part
of the people of the South wished to leave the Union.--In less than
six weeks after Lincoln actually became President, in the spring of
1861, a terrible war broke out between the North and the South. The
people of South Carolina fired the first gun in that war. They,
together with a great part of the people of ten other southern states,
resolved to leave the Union.[16] They set up an independent
government called the Confederate States of America, and made
Jefferson Davis its president.
The main reason why so many of the people of the South wished to
withdraw from the United States was that little by little the North
and the South had become like two different countries.
At the time of the Revolution, when we broke away from the rule of
England, every one of the states held negro slaves; but in the course
of eighty years a great change had taken place. The negroes at the
North had become free, but those of the South still remained slaves.
Now this difference in the way of doing work made it impossible for
the North and the South to agree about many things.
They had come to be like two boys in a boat who want to go in opposite
directions. One pulls one way with his oars, the other pulls another
way, and so the boat does not get ahead.
At the South most of the people thought that slavery was right, and
that it helped the whole country; at the North the greater part of
the people were convinced that it was wrong, and that it did harm
to the whole country.
But this was not all. The people who held slaves at the South wanted
to add to the number. They hoped to get more of the new country west
of the Mississippi River for slave states, so that there might always
be at least as many slave states in the Union as there were free states.
But Abraham Lincoln like most of the people at the North believed
that slavery did no good to any one. He and his party were fully
determined that no slaves whatever should be taken into the
territories west of the Mississippi River, and that every new state
which should be added should be entirely free.
For this reason it happened that when Lincoln became President most
of the slave states resolved to leave the Union, and, if necessary,
to make war rather than be compelled to stay in it.
[Footnote 16: Union: several years after the close of the
Revolutionary War, by which we gained our independence of Great
Britain, the people of the thirteen states formed a new government.
That new government bound all the states together more strongly than
before, thus making, as was then said, "a more _perfect union_."
In 1861 eleven of the southern states endeavored to withdraw from
the Union; this attempt brought on the war.]
260. The North and the South in the war; President Lincoln frees the
slaves; General Grant and General Lee; peace is made.--The North had
the most men and the most money to fight with, but the people of the
South had the advantage of being able to stay at home and fight on
their own ground.
The war lasted four years (1861-1865). Many terrible battles were
fought; thousands of brave men were killed on both sides. During the
war President Lincoln gave the slaves their freedom in all the states
which were fighting against the Union, and those in the other slave
states got their freedom later. After a time General Grant obtained
the command of all the armies of the North, and General Lee became
the chief defender of the South.
[Illustration: STATUE OF LINCOLN WRITING THE EMANCIPATION
PROCLAMATION WHICH GAVE THE SLAVES THEIR FREEDOM, IN FAIRMOUNT PARK,
PHILADELPHIA.]
[Illustration: MONUMENT TO GENERAL GRANT IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO.]
[Illustration: MONUMENT TO GENERAL LEE, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.]
The last battles were fought around Richmond, Virginia, between
these two great generals. When the Southern soldiers saw that it was
useless to attempt to fight longer, they laid down their arms, and
peace was made--a peace honorable to both sides.
261. The success of the North preserves the Union and makes all slaves
free; the North and the South shake hands; murder of President
Lincoln.--The success of the North in the war preserved the Union,
and as all negro laborers were now free, there was no longer any
dispute about slavery. The North and the South could shake hands and
be friends, for both were now ready to pull in the same direction.
The saddest thing at the close of the war was the murder of President
Lincoln by a madman named Booth. Not only the people of the North
but many of those at the South shed tears at his death, because they
felt that they had an equal place in his great heart. He loved both,
as a true American must ever love his whole country.
[Illustration: MONUMENT OVER THE GRAVE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, AT
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.]
262. Summary.--Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, became President of the
United States in 1861. He was elected by a party in the North that
was determined that slaves should not be taken into free states or
territories, and that no more slave states should be made. On this
account most of the slave-holding states of the South resolved to
withdraw from the Union. A great war followed, and President Lincoln
gave the slaves their freedom. The North succeeded in the war, and
the Union was made stronger than ever, because the North and the South
could no longer have any dispute over slavery. Both sides now shook
hands and became friends.
Who was the tall man in Congress from Illinois? What did the people
of his state like to call him? When was Abraham Lincoln born? Where
was he born? To what state did his father move? Tell about "Abe's"
new home. Tell about the new cabin and its furniture. Tell about
"Abe's" bed. What is said about the boy's mother? What did "Abe" do?
What did he say after he became a man? What did Thomas Lincoln's new
wife say about "Abe"? Tell about "Abe's" going to school; about his
new teacher; about his books. What did he use to write on? What is
said of Abraham Lincoln at seventeen? What about him when he was
nineteen? Tell about his voyage to New Orleans.
Tell about his moving to Illinois. What did Abraham Lincoln and John
Hanks do? Tell about the hunting frolics. Tell how Lincoln chopped
in the woods. What kind of a bargain did he make for a new pair of
trousers? What did Abraham Lincoln hire out to do in New Salem? Tell
about the gang of ruffians. What is said of Jack Armstrong? Why did
Lincoln get the name of "Honest Abe"? Tell about the Black Hawk War.
What did Lincoln do in that war.
After he returned from the Black Hawk War, what did Lincoln do? Tell
how he used to read law. What did people think of him after he began
to practise law? Tell about the Armstrong murder trial. Tell about
Lincoln and the pig. To what did the people of Illinois elect Lincoln?
Did they ever elect him to the state legislature again? Then where
did they send him? Was he going any higher?
Tell about the great meeting in one of the towns of Illinois in 1860.
Can any one in the class repeat what was on the banner? What happened
at Chicago? What the next November? What happened in the spring of
1861? Who fired the first gun in the war? What was done then?
Tell why so many people in the South wished to leave the Union? What
is said about negro slaves at the time of the Revolution? What
happened in the course of eighty years? What had the North and the
South come to be like? How did most of the people at the South feel
about slavery? How did most of the people at the North feel about
it? What did the people who held slaves at the South want to do? What
did most of the people at the North think about this? What is said
about Abraham Lincoln and his party? How did most of the people of
the slave states feel when Lincoln became President?
What is said about the North and the South in the war? How long did
the war last? What is said about it? What did President Lincoln do
for the slaves? After a time what general got the command of all the
armies of the North? Who became the chief defender of the South? Where
were the last battles fought? What did the South do at last? What
happened then? What did the success of the North do? What is said
about slavery? What could the North and the South do? What was the
saddest thing which happened at the close of the war? How did the
North and the South feel about President Lincoln?