The herald., 1895-03-24
SKETCHES OF LINCOLN
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AppIto

she was especially fond, and we have her
| testimony that her kindness and care for
him were warmly and bountifully re-
| turned.
The two sets of children in the Lincoln
| household-to their credit be it said-lived
together in perfect accord. Abe was in
his tenth year, and his stepmother, awake
| to the Importance of an education, made
| way for him to attend school. To her
he seemed full of promises.and although
not SO quick of comprehension as other
boys, yet she bolieved.in encouraging his,
every effort He had had a few weeks of
schooling under Riney and Hazel in Ken
| lucky but it is hardly probable that he
could read. He certainly could not write.
| Hazel Dorsey was Abe's first teacher in
Indiana, He held forth mile and half
| from the Lincoln farm. The schoolhouse
was built of round logs and was just high
| enough FOR man to stand erect under the
loft The floor was of split logs, or what
were called puncheons. Tho chimney was
made of poles and clay, and the windows
were made by cutting out parts of two
| logs, placing pieces of split boards proper
! distance apart, and over the aperture thus
| formed pasting pieces of creased paper to
admit light
Abraham at School.
He was always at school early" writes
! Grigsby, 'and attended to his studies He
was always at the head of his class and
passed us rapidly in his studies. He lost
no time at homo, and when he was not at
work was at his books, He kept up his
studies on Sunday andMearried his books
| with him to work. SO THAT he might read
! when he rested from, Alabor." Now and
then, the family exeheaper running low,
it would, befound necessary for the young
rail splitter to. stop school and either work
| with:his:fathsron tbe farm or render like
! .sefyi ice for the neighboTs. These periods
of work occurred so'often and continued
so'1ong thatsan his school days added to-
| gether would not make year in the ag
gregate. When he attended school, his
sister usually accompanied him. sally
was quick minded young woman" is
the testimony of a schoolmate.$ "She was
moro industrious than Abe in my opinion
] can hear her good humored laugh now
Like her brother, she could greet you
kindly and put you at ease. She was
really an intelligent woman.
| At Dorseys school Abe was 10 years
old At the next one, Andrew Crawford's
| he was about II, and at Swaney'S he was
in his seventeenth year. The last school
required walk of over four miles, and
on account of the distance his attendance
was not only Irregular but brief School
master Crawford introduced new feature
in his school, and we can imagine its
effect on his pupils, whose training had
| been limited to the social requirements of
the backwoods settlement. 1t was instruc-
ton in manners. One scholar was requir-
ed to go outside and re-enter the room as
lady or gentleman would enter q draw
ing room or parlor. Another scholar
would receive the first party at the door
and escort him or her about the room,
making polite introductions to each per-
son in the room. How the gaunJ and
clumsy Abe went through with this per-
formance we shall probably never know.
| If his awkward movements gave rise to
any amusement, his schoolmates never re-
! vealed it,
He was now over feet high and was
| growing at a tremendous rate, for he add
ed two inches more before the close of his
seventeenth year, thus reaching the limit
of his stature. He weighed in the region
| of 100 pouqds, was wiry, vigorous and
strong. His feet and hands were large,
arms and legs long and in striking con-
head. His skin was shriveled and yell
| low" declares one of the girls who attend
ed Crawfords school, 'sHis shoes, when
he had any, We're low. He wore buckskin
breeches, linseys woolsey shirt and cap
made of the skin of squirrel or coon.
His breeches were baggy and lacked by
! several inches meeting the tops of his
shoes, thereby exposing his shinbone-
! sharp, blue and narrow" In one branch
of school learning he was great success
that was spelling. We are indebted to
Kate Roby, pretty miss of Is, for an Incl
dent which illustrates alike his proiicien-
oy in orthography and his natural inclina-
tion to help another out of the mire The
word 'defied" had been given out by
| Schoolmaster Crawford, but had been
misspelled several times when it came
Miss Roby's turn. ABE stood on the op-
| posite side of the room, ~ related Miss Ro-
by to me in 1865, land was watching me.
l began def, and then j stopped, hesitat-
! ing whether to proceed with an i or
" Looking up, l beheld Abe, grin
covering his face and pointing with his
index finger to his eye. l took the hint,
spelled the word with an i, and it went
through all right"
There was more or less of an attach
! HlSbU DetWttu 4hi5S ItOby anu ADe, Ill
though the lady took pains to assure me
that they We're never in love. She describ-
ed with self evident pleasure, however the
delightful experience of an evening S stroll
down to the river with him, where they
were wont to sit on the bank and watch
the moon as itslowly rose over the neigh
boring hills Dangling their youthful feet
in the water, they gaZed on the pale orb
Of night, as many a fond pair before them
! had done and will continue to do until the
end of the world. One evening when
thus engaged their conversation and
thoughts turned on the movement of the
planets. II did not suppose that Abe, who
had seen so little of the world, would
know anything about it, but he proved
TO my satisfaction that the moon did not
go down at all; that it only seemed to;
that the earth, revolving from west to
east, carried us under, as it were we do
the sinking, he explained while to US
the moon is comparatively still. The
moons sinking is only an illusion l
at once dubbed him fool, but later devel-
opments convinced me that / was the fool,
not he. He was well acquainted with the
general laws of astronomy and the move
ments Of the heavenly bodies, but where
he could have learned SO much or how to
put it SO plainly L never could under
stand "
Absalom Robyis authority for the state