The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-07-21
LINcoLN's srEPMoTHER.
BY JAMES PARTON.

BY JAMES PAKEON.
 six.y-hve years ago. on grassy hiltoek ia the magnificent pr'nevai forest oi southern Indiana, a few miles from the Ohio river, stood the small. unhewn half finished and mos, forlorn log cabin of Thomas Lincoln. The father oi the president was an idle, shitucss. worthless carpenter. who had taken up land in the wilderness, and lived by half cul,ivating | few acres and shooting the wild turkeys, the deer and other game with which the region teemed. The occupants of the cabin were himsefi his wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Harks. and two children, Nancy, eleven years oi age, and Abraham, the future president, nine.
 suppose there never was more beautiful country than this part oi lndi- ana, as il was before the settlers d.s- figured il. Imagine the undulating country covered with trees of the largest size. oaks. beech and naples, alnlts. without tha, entangled mass of under growth which We find in the primeval forests of the eastern states.
 This land had probably been, within few cen,unes, prairie. The forest had gained ..upon the grass, bu, here and there. there was small portion of the original prairie left, which, besides furnishing good pasture, gave to the region the aspect of an ancIen, heavily wooded park, the result of labor, wealth and taste expended for ages. Upon some of the oases of emerald. the deer found sal. springs to which they resorted in grea, numbers; U the wider expanses. the buffalo had recently fed; on others, the arriving pioneer had fixed his camp and built his cabin.
 The knoll on which Thomas Lincoln had fixed his house was free from trees. and sloped gently away on every side. The spot had every charm and every advantage except one: there was no good water within mile. and i, tel! 70 the lo' of ,sese children ,o bring fronl ;ha, dis tance the water req siyed for drinking.
 Carpenter as he was. Thomas Lincoln had rot taken the trouble either to finish or to furnish the house. 1, had no floor. TO door no windows. There were three or four three-leSy yed stools in the house, and no other seats The table was broad slab supported by four legs. with the fla; side upwards. There was bed stead made of poles stuck in the cracks tthe logs ln one corner of the caoln, the other ends being supported by torsed sticks sunk in the ear,hen floor. On the poles some boards were laia, upon which was thrown a covering of leaves. and these in turn were covered with skins and old clothes. For cooking utensils the family possessed dutch oven auc skillet There was loft in the upper par. of the cabin ba: as this shii,,ess pioneer had no, made either stars or ladder, little Abe was o5l. ged to climb 10 his perch a, nigh; by pegs driven n;o ,he logs.
 The children were no better cared for than the house. They were iN-clac. H. fed. un,augh,, and harshly treated. The father. naturally disposed 10 indolence, country by his ride, with which ne was extremely expert. and from his patch of corn and potatoes. which his wife and children cultivated. ,ha, he gave way io his natural disposition. and passed his time. when he was no, hunting. IT telling stories to his neighbors. He was the great stoy-,eller @ the country. character in much request or the fron-ier in the early days.
 Some readers have doubtless visited the richly wooded parks of Germany, France or England. where the game IS carefully preserved. where droves of clean. glis,ening black pigs and herds Of deer are seen. and where, as you walk along. there IS heayi a. every step the rustic of a startled hare. and where broods of pa,ridges are following their mother in search of food, as tame as chickens. Now, i. was as easy for the settler to subsist his family in this Indi- ana forest, as it would be for one of the hunssmen to live in a large park. if he could shoot as much game as he liked. Thomas Lincoln. therefore. being such as he was, destitute of ambition either for himself or his children. took life very easily. and any one acquainted with the family would have foyetold for Abraham no greater destiny than that of a s3ual,er on the frontier, or a fia,-boa, hand on one of the rivers
 A terrible and mysterious epidemic swept over tha, country. called the milk disease, one of the numerous malacies caused by the settlers total disregard of sanitary conditions. One of the victims was Nancy Lincoln the wife of Thomas and mother of Abraham. The husband, who had been her only nurse and only physician was now her undertaken, also. He saved and hammered some green boards into long box. The few neigh bors. about twenty m all, earned and followed the remains io ii.tle en.nence half a mile away and they hisrie4 rer IT