Abraham Lincoln

by Augusta Stevenson

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  ABRAHAM LINCOLN

  Name: Abraham Lincoln

  Born: February 12, 1809

  Died: April 15, 1865

  Position: 16th President of the United States, Civil Rights Activist

  Career Highlights:

  • Elected to the Illinois state legislature in 1834

  • Served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849

  • Elected president in 1860, inaugurated in March 1861. The Civil War broke out less than a month later.

  Interesting Facts:

  • Was an excellent wrestler and is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame

  • His son was saved from getting hit by a train by Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth.

  CONTENTS

  Illustrations

  Abe’s First Toy

  School-butter

  Grandfather and the Indians

  Sarah and Abe Go Fishing

  Forest Adventures

  Abe Learns by Watching

  Thank Honey

  The New Home in Indiana

  Changes in the Family

  A Busy All-Round Boy

  The Preacher Comes

  Abe Thinks of Others

  A Spelling Match

  Johnny Appleseed

  How Neighbors Helped

  Moving to Illinois

  Helping the Helpless

  President of the United States

  About Augusta Stevenson

  With appreciation to

  Jessica Brown Mannon

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  Abe pulled the wagon around the room.

  “The Indian dragged me from the field.”

  They crossed the creek in the dark.

  On they went, into the wilderness.

  “I have brought you a new mother.”

  The bags of appleseeds were heavy.

  President Lincoln made a speech.

  Numerous smaller illustrations

  ABE’S FIRST TOY

  THERE WAS ONCE a little boy who lived in a little cabin on a little farm in a little clearing on a little creek. Now this little creek had a little name—Knob. But the boy had a big name—Abraham.

  Little Knob Creek was in the great big state of Kentucky. Abraham was born February 12, 1809, on another farm about ten miles away. This farm was not on Knob Creek, but it was in the great big state of Kentucky.

  Little Abraham was in the great big family of Lincolns. There were his father and mother and older sister, Sarah. He lived with them, of course. Then there were many aunts and uncles. There were more cousins than he could count. He didn’t see any of these relatives very often, because they lived too far away.

  Nobody in the Lincoln family called Abraham by his big name. “Abraham is too long,” everyone agreed. “Abe is better.”

  So Abe he was, to his family and his friends. The name stayed with him, even when he became a man and as long as he lived.

  Abe liked his home on Knob Creek. But sometimes he wished that the Lincoln farm was not so far from other farms. The nearest neighbors lived miles away in other clearings in the forest. They lived too far away for him to play with any of their children.

  Sarah played with Abe when she had time, but she liked to play with dolls. Abe couldn’t help wishing that he had a brother or some other boy to play with. A boy would like to do the things that he liked to do.

  SARAH’S DOLL

  One morning Abe and Sarah were playing outdoors. Before long Sarah ran into the cabin, crying. “Oh, Mother!” she said. “Abe won’t play with me.”

  Mrs. Lincoln was surprised. “What is the matter?” she asked. “Have you children been quarreling?”

  “No, Mother, we didn’t quarrel, but Abe wouldn’t play with my doll. It’s a new doll, too, and it’s made from the largest corncob Father could find.”

  “That’s true,” said Mr. Lincoln. “It was the largest one in the field.”

  “It is a fine doll, Sarah,” said Mother. “Why doesn’t Abe like it?”

  “I don’t know,” said Sarah. “He said he wouldn’t play girl games any more.”

  “Well! Well!” said Mother. “I am surprised to hear that Abe won’t play with a doll.”

  “Ha! Ha!” laughed Father. “Abe is growing up, Nancy.”

  “But he is only five and a half, Thomas.”

  “He is growing up just the same. You must play something else with Abe, Sarah.”

  “There isn’t anything else to play, Father.”

  “If they only had some toys, they could play better,” said Mother.

  “I suppose they could,” said Father, “but toys cost money and I haven’t finished paying for this farm.”

  “Abe wants a little wagon,” said Sarah.

  “Couldn’t you make one, Thomas?” asked Mrs. Lincoln. “You are such a good carpenter. You made our wooden plates.”

  “Of course I could make a little wagon,” said Mr. Lincoln, “but I won’t have time this summer. Maybe I can next winter.”

  “But Abe needs something to play with now,” said Mother. “He is so lonesome. Sarah helps me with the work and that leaves Abe alone so much. No little boys to play with. No one but just himself.”

  “I tell you what I’ll do,” said Father. “I’m going to Thomas Hall’s sale this morning to buy some tools, and if I can find a toy wagon I’ll buy it. That is, if it doesn’t cost too much.”

  “Oh, of course,” said Mother, “if it doesn’t cost too much.”

  THE SALE

  The Halls were going to move away. Almost everything they owned was for sale, and people came from miles around to buy.

  Mr. Lincoln met neighbors from up the creek and down the creek and over the hills.

  They were all glad to see him. They liked him, and, besides, he was the best judge of horses in that part of Kentucky.

  “I’ve been waiting for you, Thomas,” said a man. “I want to buy a horse, but I want your opinion first.”

  Mr. Lincoln examined the horse carefully and told the man what it was worth.

  Then other men asked him about horses and kept him busy so long he forgot all about that toy wagon for Abe.

  At last he bought his tools and told his friends good-bye.

  As he went for his horse, two men passed him. They were carrying a long settee.

  “I hope it will go in my wagon,” said one.

  “Wagon!” said Mr. Lincoln out loud. “Oh, yes! Wagon!” Then he hurried back to the cabin and began to look about.

  On a table were dishes, forks, knives, spoons, buckets, pots, and pans. On the floor were featherbeds, pillows, coverlets, quilts, and skins. There seemed to be everything but toys.

  “What are you looking for, Mr. Lincoln?” asked Mrs. Hall. “Perhaps I can help you.”

  “I want a little wagon for Abe, Mrs. Hall, but I don’t see any toys.”

  Mrs. Hall laughed. “Look up there,” she said.

  She pointed to the shelf over the fireplace.

  Mr. Lincoln looked up. Then he laughed, for there was a little toy wagon!

  “I have ten cents I can spend,” he said.

  “It’s yours,” said Mrs. Hall. “See! It’s marked eight cents.”

  “Good!” said Mr. Lincoln. He paid the money, took the wagon, and started for the little log cabin on
Knob Creek.

  ABE WATCHES

  Outside this cabin, on a stump, sat a little black-haired boy watching the road. He looked and he looked, but his father did not come.

  His mother had said that Father would be home for supper, but supper was over and he hadn’t come. Now the sun was going down behind the hill. Soon it would be dark.

  “Abe!” called Mrs. Lincoln from the door. “It’s too late for you to be outside.”

  “May I wait till Father comes?”

  “No, Abe. It’s too damp. You’ll get chilled.”

  Abe went into the cabin at once.

  “Why, Abe,” said Sarah, “you’re crying!”

  “I want my wagon,” said Abe.

  Mother put her arms around the boy and spoke to him gently.

  “Abe,” she said, “Father wasn’t sure he could find a wagon, was he?”

  “No,” said Abe.

  “And he wasn’t sure he would have enough money to buy it, was he?”

  “No,” said Abe.

  “Then you shouldn’t be crying when he comes home. It will make him feel bad.”

  “I won’t cry any more,” said Abe.

  “That’s fine,” said Mother. “Sarah, Abe is a little man. Don’t tell Father he cried.”

  “I won’t,” said Sarah. “But Father might lose the wagon on the way home.”

  “Lose it!” Abe said. “How could he lose it?”

  “It might fall in the creek and he couldn’t get it out,” said Sarah. “Or maybe he wouldn’t even know it fell.”

  Abe’s lips trembled. He looked as if he were going to cry again.

  “Yes,” said Mother, “all those things might happen.”

  She smiled at Abe, and Abe smiled back. Then he said bravely, “I won’t cry anyway.”

  Just then the door opened, and in came Mr. Lincoln. “Here’s your wagon, Abe!” he said.

  “Oh!” said Abe. “Oh! Oh!”

  That was all Abe could say.

  Abe pulled the wagon over to the fireplace. He sat down on the floor and turned the wagon upside down. With his fingers he made the wheels go round and round. After a while he turned the wagon right side up again and began to pull it around the room.

  “Will you give my doll a ride in your wagon, Abe?” Sarah asked.

  Before Abe could answer, Mother said, “Wait until tomorrow, Sarah. Abe has waited so long for his wagon. Just let him do whatever he wants to with it tonight.”

  “Oh, I’d like to give the doll a ride,” said Abe. “That’s not like playing with one.”

  Back and forth Abe pulled the wagon. There wasn’t a happier boy in the world that night than little Abe Lincoln.

  SCHOOL-BUTTER

  SARAH AND ABE were ready for their first day of school. They were so excited, they scarcely knew what they were doing. Sarah had braided her two pigtails four times. Abe had combed his hair five times.

  Sarah wore her new dress of linsey-woolsey that her mother had woven and made. She was barefooted and bareheaded. Her pigtails hung down her back.

  Abe wore his new pants. They were linsey-woolsey like his shirt and had been woven and made by his mother. He wore a coonskin cap, but he was barefooted like Sarah.

  Both children were as clean as soap and water could make them.

  “Here are two corndodgers for your dinner,” said Mother. “Put them in your pocket, Sarah. If you children want berries you can pick them at noon. There are plenty in the woods around the schoolhouse.”

  “May I carry your speller, Sarah?” asked Abe, as he reached for the book.

  “I don’t care,” Sarah said.

  Just then Mr. Lincoln came in. “Sarah,” he said, “tell the schoolmaster that I will buy a speller for Abe soon—the next time I go to a sale. He can study with you for a week or so.”

  “Don’t I need a reader, too?” asked Sarah.

  “Not until you have finished your speller,” said Mother.

  “Be sure to study it out loud,” said Father. “The teacher won’t know you are studying if you don’t.”

  “All right,” said Sarah, “I will.”

  “I will, too,” said Abe.

  “It’s time for you children to start now,” said Mother. “You must not be late on the first day.” She kissed them, and Father patted Abe’s black head and Sarah’s brown one.

  The children followed the path across the clearing and into the woods. Soon they were out of sight.

  Mrs. Lincoln wiped the tears from her eyes. “It’s so far for them to walk,” she said. “Three miles every day and the path is rough.”

  “It can’t be helped, Nancy. They are lucky to go to school at all. There are several children around here who can’t afford to go.”

  “We can’t really afford to send the children ourselves,” said Nancy.

  “I’ll do extra work this winter,” said Thomas, “carpenter work. I think I’ll make enough to pay the schoolmaster.”

  “I hope you will,” Nancy said. “I’m so anxious for the children to learn.”

  “Yes,” said Thomas, “they should learn to read and write.”

  AFTER SCHOOL

  Late that afternoon Sarah came home from school alone.

  “Mother! Father!” she cried as she hurried into the cabin. “Abe’s gone!”

  “Gone!” said Father. “Gone where?”

  “I don’t know,” said Sarah. Then she began to cry.

  “Come, come, dear, don’t cry,” Mother said. “Sit here by me on the bench. Now, then, tell us what happened.”

  “Just as school was out,” said Sarah, “we heard some boys outside calling names at us.”

  “At you and Abe?” Mother asked.

  “No,” said Sarah, “at all of us. I couldn’t understand what they said, but it made the schoolboys mad.”

  “Was it ‘school-butter’?” asked Father.

  “Yes, that was it! Then they ran, and our boys ran after them, and Abe went, too.”

  “Abe went!” cried Mother, alarmed.

  “I told him not to, but the boys called him. I guess he thought he had to go.”

  Mrs. Lincoln was frightened. “The big boys will run ahead and leave him,” she said. “He will get lost in the woods.”

  “I’ll go after him,” said Mr. Lincoln. “Don’t worry, Nancy, I’ll find him.”

  Then he ran out of the cabin. He didn’t even stop to get his cap.

  Sarah cried again. “I’m afraid Abe will fall in the creek,” she said.

  Mother was afraid of that, too, but she didn’t want Sarah to know it. So she said, “Father will find him. Now then, do you know why those boys called ‘school-butter’?”

  “No, Mother, I don’t.”

  “They wanted to make fun of the children who go to school.”

  “Why?” asked Sarah.

  “I think they really want to go to school themselves, but their folks can’t afford to send them. So they pretend it’s silly to go, sort of soft—like butter.”

  “Oh, yes,” said Sarah. “I understand.”

  “Now let’s get a good supper for Father and Abe. I’ll make some flour biscuits,” said Mother.

  “Flour biscuits!” Sarah cried. And her eyes nearly popped right out of her head.

  “It will be a treat for all of us,” said Mother. “Please put these apples in the hot ashes, Sarah. Then you may fill this gourd with maple sugar.”

  “Oh! Oh!” said Sarah. “Won’t a good supper make Abe happy!”

  HUNTING ABE

  Mr. Lincoln ran into the woods calling, “Abe! Abe!”

  There was no answer, so he ran up the trail toward the schoolhouse. Sometimes he stumbled over large tree roots. Once he caught his foot in a wild grapevine and fell. But in an instant he was up and running again.

  He kept on calling Abe, but there was only silence in the great forest.

  At last he reached the clearing where the log schoolhouse stood. There wasn’t a boy or a girl to be seen, so into the woods he
went again. On and on up the trail he went.

  “Abe!” he called again and again. “Abe! Abe! Abe!”

  There was no answer and not even a glimpse of a little black-haired boy.

  It began to get dark in the woods, but still Mr. Lincoln went on. At last he stopped.

  “Abe! Abe! Where are you?” he called once more, but there was no answer.

  “Abe couldn’t have come any farther,” he said to himself. “He couldn’t walk any farther.”

  So he turned and went back on the trail toward the schoolhouse. He hoped the schoolmaster would still be there. The two of them could go together to hunt for Abe. They would stop at every cabin along the creek, and every neighbor would join them. They would all take torches and look in the creek.

  Mr. Lincoln came to the clearing and went in the schoolhouse. There sat the master at his desk, writing.

  “Mr. Riney!” said Mr. Lincoln. “I’m hunting Abe. He’s lost!”

  “Look there,” said Mr. Riney. He pointed to a bench.

  Mr. Lincoln looked. Abe was lying on it, sound asleep!

  “He ran after the boys,” said Mr. Riney, “and I ran after him and brought him back. I was just getting ready to take him home.”

  “I’m much obliged to you, Mr. Riney,” said Mr. Lincoln. “I was afraid he might have fallen into the creek and been drowned.” Then he went to the bench and tried to awaken Abe.

  First he shook him gently by the shoulder.

  “Abe! Abe!” he said. “Wake up!”

  Abe opened his eyes, but he was still half asleep.

  “School-butter!” shouted the master.

  Then Abe awoke and jumped up.

  The men laughed. Abe laughed. Then Mr. Lincoln took Mr. Riney and Abe to a very, very good supper in the Lincoln cabin on Knob Creek.

  GRANDFATHER AND THE INDIANS

  ONE RAINY DAY Mother Nancy Lincoln was spinning wool.

  Sarah and Abe were watching her. They loved to watch Mother spin. They loved to watch that great wheel go round and round. They loved to see the spindle turn.

  “Mother,” said Abe, “I would rather watch you spin than do anything else.”