As a student (if such a term could be applied to Lincoln), one who did
not know him might have called him indolent. He would pick up a book and
run rapidly over the pages, pausing here and there.
At the end of an hour--never more than two or three hours--he would
close the book, stretch himself out on the office lounge, and then, with
hands under his head and eyes shut, would digest the mental food he had
just taken.
“ABE’S” YANKEE INGENUITY.
War Governor Richard Yates (he was elected Governor of Illinois in
1860, when Lincoln was first elected President) told a good story at
Springfield (Ill.) about Lincoln.
One day the latter was in the Sangamon River with his trousers rolled up
five feet--more or less--trying to pilot a flatboat over a mill-dam. The
boat was so full of water that it was hard to manage. Lincoln got the
prow over, and then, instead of waiting to bail the water out, bored
a hole through the projecting part and let it run out, affording a
forcible illustration of the ready ingenuity of the future President.