Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-02-12

EyV frontier wagon, IN
II which were packed
SARAH LINCOLN. all of their earthly
possessions, except an old COW, which
Thomas and the son drove along behind.
They crossed into the wilderness of In
diana and drove north into the Indian
land. Fifteen miles back from the Ohio,
they found knoll, and there they stop
ped and made their home. This ground
Is Lincoln City of-ta.day. Thomas was
. carpenter, and he managed to build n
log cabin. He did not take the trouble,
however, to cut in windows. He
made three three-legged stools and ta-
bic by turning broad slab, Hat surface
up. and putting in four sticks as legs.
There was bed made by poking poles
Into cracks in the logs, and supporting
the other ends in forked sticks. Over
these poles were laid whip-sawed boards
and over these leaves and then bear and
deer skins and old clothes. This. with
the exception of Dutch oven and a
skillet, was the entire household equip
ment.
'As he Is remembered here, Thomas
Lincoln was anything but exemplary. He
was lazy to very great degree. and spent
oil Of his time fishing and hunting. He
only cultivated half dozen acres of
land and his wife and children did all of
the work. He was too lazy, or indispos-
ed, to provide his house with necessities,
and Abe, who slept in the loft, had to
mount to his perch by pegs driven in the
walls, because his father WINS too shiftless
to make him ladder. And with all due
credit to Nancy Hanks, it must be adj
mitted that she was little better than the
father. They ruled their children by
harsh methods. they were not clearly
and they had never cared for better
things, Therefore Abraham, when he
was 0 years of age, had not learned to
read or '6gger,' and his sister, two years
bis senior, had not Jared better. 1t was
possibly good thing for the nation, as
well as the boy, that, when he was 3
years old, his mother sickened and died
The father and son whip-sawed lumber
and made crude box into which the
corpse was placed. Twenty settlers gath
cred at the Lincoln cabin and carried the
coffin to hillock in the virgin forest and
lowered her to her last resting place.
There was no one present who was capa-
bic of Saying few words, and that
was deferred for some months, and then
performed by an itinerant preacher.
Woman Who Made His Character,
''Thomas had been a widower thirteen
months, when he took notion to go over
to Kentucky and see the folks where he
had lived There he found widow,
Sally Bush Johnston, an old sweetheart,
who had married Johnston, his hated
rival. He again proposed and was ac-
cepted. Thomas was not only the great
est story teller Of his section of southern
Indiana, but he had poor regard for
the truth, at times, and he won his sec
ond wife by cxaggerating his estate in
Indiana to palatial proportions. Sally
was woman of sterling qualities. She
had been surrounded with the utensils of
Civilizations bureau, clothes chest,
table, chairs with backs, white table and
bed clothes, knives, forks, and cooking
equipment. Thomas insisted that she sell
these and get the money, telling her he
had all that was necessary. But she saw
different and loaded them int. wagon
nd they started for Indiana. When she
rived ut Lincoln City and saw her flu
e home she was heartbroken, and
en- she saw ill-kempt and ill-fed Abe
! Nancy she cried. Her own three
Snildren were In striking contrast When
Abe saw the chairs, the knives and forks
and other furniture unloaded, his eyes
stood wide open, for he had never seen
anything like it before. Sally Bush was
natural enemy of all chaos and disorder.
She tossed the old dirty household effects
out, made Thomas cut windows into the
walls and put floor ia the cabin. She
washed the walls and put the five chill
dren to cleaning up the premises. She
took charge of Abe and Nancy, and
taught them the first principles of clean
Illness and care, and love took the place
OF harsh words, and i'll treatment. The
great soul of the awkward, ignorant boy
opened to her and the friendship which
followed filled his whole life. He has
said of her: She was the woman who
first made me feel like human being
sally clothed Abe and Nancy Clearly,
and as well as her limited finances would
permit and put them in school, They