The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1885-07-09
abraham LincoIn's Boyhood.

''Well, he was at this time not
grown, only six feet two inches high
Isaid Dennis F. Hanks, cousin of Abra-
ham Lincoln1. He was six feet four
and one-half inches when grown-tall
lathy and gangling-not much APP
pearance, not handsome, not ugly,
but peculiar. This kind of a fellow.
II q man rode up horseback, Abe
would be the first one out, up on the
eence and asking questions, till his
father would give him a knock O. the
head; then he'd go and throw at snow
birds or suthin', but ponderin' all the
while"
WAS he active and strongP"
"He was that. I was ten years
older, but couldn't rassle him down.
His legs was too long for me to throw
him. He would fling one foot upon
my shoulder and make me swing corn
ers swift, and his arms so long and
strong! My, how he would chop! His
ak would flash and bite into sugar
tree or sycamore. and down it would
come. If you heard him fallin' trees
in a clearin' you would say there were
three men at work by the way trees
fell But he was never sassy or
ouarrelsome. I've seen him walk into
a crowd of sawin' rowdies, and tell
some droll yarn and bust them all up.
1t was the same when he was lawyer;
there was q suthin' peculiarsome about
him."
.'What did you teach him to write
withp''
sometimes he would write with 8
piece of charcoal, or the pint of &
| burnt stick, on the fence or floor. We
got a little paper at the country town.
| and / made ink out of the briar-rooi
and put little copperas in it. 1t was
black, but the copperas would eat the
paper after a while. / made his frs
pen out of a turkey buzzard's feather
Them's good for pens We had NJ
geese them DAYS. After he learned &c
write, he was scrawlin' his name every
| where; sometimes he would write it o.
the white sand down by the crick bank
and leave it till the fresh would blot il
OUT
All, Dennis, that name is writer
now, not in sand, high on the heroi
roll in Liberty's proud temple, aboV
the names of all save one. Next t
the name of the immortal Washington
blazes the signature of the blameles
ruler and matchless man, Abraham
Lincoln. That plain name is now
kinglier title than is worn on earth
Yes. that's so. and rightly, too. Nc
for his greatness; he was not th
: greatest man that ever lived, but b
3 was the honestest. I reckon he nevt
did mean act. could see he didn
, know how, an he never learned.
"Did you have any idea of his futui
D greatnessp" :,
: ''No; it was a new country and
was a raw boy; rather g bright an
: likely lad. but the big world SCENE
? far ahead of him. We were all sloN
goin' folks, but he had it in hir
though we never suspected it.
"Did he take to books eagerlyP
s.No; we had to hire him first, b
when he got taste it was the o
story-we had to pull the sow's ears
/. get her to the trough and pull her t:
to get her away. He read gre
= deal and had a wonderful memory
!. wonderful. Never forgot anything
II .tWhat church did Abe attend?"
IS .sThe Baptist- I'll tell You C
ir cumstance about him. He would col
d home from church and put box
the middle of the cabin floor and !
70 peat the sermint from text to doxolog
e I've heard him do it often. "-CkGTl
I, ton Meas and Courier.