Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-06-10

The Man who Taught Him to Read
Adds Another Chapter to His Won.
derful History.
From the Charleston News and Courier.

derfuI History.
From the Charleston News and Courier
Dennis Hanks, of Paris. ILL.,, is a cousin of
Abraham Lincoln. Uncle Dennis is a typical
kentuckian, born in Hardin county, 1899. TO
our query he replied eheerily:
Certainly, certainly, sir. I'll talk to you
about Abe. 1 kin talk, too bein' I'm the
only Twin man that knows all about him."
How old was he when you first met him?"
about "a hours-hardly that. 1 rikkilect
run all the way-over two miles-to see Nancy
Hanks boy baby. Twas common then for con-
necton to gether in them days to see new ba-
bies- Her name was Nancy Hanks before she
minnit. was. 10 years old, and it tickled me
TO hold the red, little Lincoln"
w hen did you move to Indiana?"
hen Abe was about nine. Mr.. Lincoln
moved first, and built a camp OF brush in Spen-
Ger county. We came out a year later, and he
then had a cabin up, and he gave us the shanty.
On this spot Abe grew to manhood"
"HOw far apart were your cabins?'
About fifteen rods Abe killed q turkey the
day we got there. and couldn't git thro' tellin'
about it. The name was pronounced Linkhorn
by the folks then. We was all unedducated.
After spell we learned better. / taught him
TO spell, read and cipher. He knew his letters
pretty wellish, but no more. His mother taught
on earth she one, true Christian of the
Baptist church: but she died soon after we ar
rived and left him without d teacher; his father
couldn't read a word
as it possible he had no schooling"
."Only about one quarter; scarcely that.
but did the best I could
''What books did he read first?'
"Webster's speller. When got him through
that only had copy of Indiana statutes.
Then he got hold of a book; can't rikkiiect the
name; may be you kin if i tell you somethin' ct
in it. 1t told yarn about a Teller, Niger
or suthin, that sailed a fiatboat up to a rock,
and the rock was magnetized and drawed the
nails out of his boat, and he got duckin, or
drowned, or suthin l forget now"
That is the story of sindbad in the Arabian
That's it, that's the book. Abe would lay on
the floor with a chair under his head and laugh
him it was likely lies from end to end, but he
learned to read right well init.
Had he any other bOOks?"
ayes. borrowed tor him the life of Wash
ington and the Speeches of Henry Clay
They had a powerful influence on him. He
told me afterward in the White House he
wanted to live like Washington. His speeches
show that, but the other book did the most
amazing work. He was a democrat like his
father and all of US, when he began to read it.
When he closed it he wing, heart and
soul, and he went step by step until he became
leader of the republicans"
'sWill You describe him when boy?"
SWELL he was at this time not grown, only six
feet two inches high. He was six feet four and
one-half inches when grown-taii. iathy and
gangling-not much appearance, not hand
some, not ugly. but peculiar. This kind of
fellow: If a man rode up horseback Abe would
be first out, up on the fence and asking ques-
tions, till his father would give him a knock
side o. the head; then he'd go throw at snow
birds or suthin', but ponderin all the while"
"Was he active and strong?'
"He was that. l was ten years older, but
couldn't rasSle him down. His legs were too
long for me to throw him. He would fling one
foot upon my shoulder and make me swing
corDers swift, and his arms SO long and strong!
My, how he would chop! His axe would flash
and bite into sugar tree or sycamore, and
down IL would come. II You heard MN iaiiin
three men at work by the way trees fell. But he
never was sassy or quarrelsone. I've seen him
walk into crowd of sawin rowdies, and tell
some droll yarns and bust them all up. 1t was
the same when he was a lawyer; all eyes when
ever he riz We're on him; there was a suthin'
peculiaTsOme about him."
What did you teach him to write with?"
sometimes he would write with piece of
fence or floor. We got a little paper at the
county town, and made ink out of black
was black, but the eopperas would eat the pa
per after while. made his first pen out of u
turkey buZzard feather; them's good for pens.
We had DO geese them days"
"Did he take to books eagerly?"
"No; we had to hire him at first. But when
he got taste it was the old stOry-we had to
pull the sow's ears to get her to the through
and pull her tail 10 get her away. He read
great deal and had a wonderful memory-won-
derful Never forgot anything"
''W hat church did Abe attend?'
"The Baptist. I'll tell you a circumstance
and put box in the middle of the cabin floor
and repeat the sermint from text to doxology.
I've heard him do it often.'
"Was he religious man?'
"Wel, he wasn't in early life a religious
man. He was moral man strictly-never
went 20 frolics, never drank liquor never used
tobacco, never swore. But in after life he be-
came more religious, but the Bible puzzled him,
especially the miracles. He often asked me in
the timber, sittin around the fireplace nights,
To explain Scripture. He never Joined any
.iiow did he fare for food and clothing?"
"Plenty, as it was-corn dOdger, bacon and
game, some fish and wild fruits. I've often
seen him take dodger to the field and gnaw
at it when ploughing. We had very little wheat
flour. The nearest mill was eighteen miles. A
around; and Abe used to say his hound could
stand and eat the -four as fast as it was made,
and then be ready for his supper. For clothing
he had jeans. He was grown before he wore
Atwood pants'
Ibid you ever visit him in Washington >"
Certainly. There were some folks arrested
In Charleston, and /, for their folks sake. went
on durfn' the war to get ern free for it was best
rounded with soldiers. went up to the door
to get in, and porter stopped me and said:
w no do you want To see?' said: MIR. Lincoln
day yet / said: I'll show you if / can't 1
hain't come here from Illinois for nothin'. He
Outside was heap of fellers waitin' to git to
see the President. / opened the door kinder
soft. and at the other end of a big room sat Abe
at an old desk worth about six bits. !Hey?' /
hollered, you're n pretty President, haint your
He looked up and said: Well, Dennis, is that
you? and made a run and Just gethered me.
When 1 could get able to talk 1 said: Il don't
want no oils, Abe. He said: Most of em do,
Dennis and smiled kinder tired. told my er,
rand and he said to come up next morning
and he would fix it. We talked an hour, as
friendly as ever about long-gone times. Then
he told me to go down 10 the house and see
Mary-that's his wife, Shes dead now, poor
soul. knowed they was too highfalutin' down
to Mary s for me; SO ] went 10 a tavern and put
up Next morning went up, aid Abe had an
armload OF indictments, and he said: Take
these over to stanton and he'll fix it, said:
ABE. don't know where the plageoned place
Is. So he called q porter standin' by and said:
Take these TO Mr.. Stanton Pretty soon Mr.
Stanton. in a bobtail coat came in. He didn't
want to let EN- go, but Abe was kind an made
him sign. When stanton went out said: Abe
If was as big as you are. I'd take Stanton over
my knee and spank him.. He laughed and
said: 1T is not easy to keep my cabinet in good
huInor. i left, an came an never saw him
again. The next spring he was killed"
lone more questions: Did he get his sense and
principle from one parent or both?'
Both: his strong will from his father I'll
tell you incident: His father used to swear
little. and one day his baby girl picked up a
foul oath and was bruisin' the bitter morsel in
her sweet lips when Nancy called Thomas.
and said: Listen, husband. He stopped that
habit thar: never swore again. But Abes kind
illness. humor. love of humanity, hatred of
slavery, all came from her. 1 am free to say
Abe was "a mothers boy"
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