Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-12-06
A PRESIDENTS BoYHOoD.

AS Abraham had been only seven
years old when he left Kentucky, the
little beginnings he learned in the
schools kept by Riney and Hazel in
that state must have been very slight,
probably only his alphabet, or at most
only three Of four pages Of Webs
ter's Elementary Spellingbook." The
multiplication-table was still mys-
terry to him, and he could read or
write only the words he spelled.
His first two years in Indiana seem to
have passed without schooling Of any
sort. and the school he attended short
ly after coming under the care of
his stepmother was of the simplest
kind, for the Pigeon Greek settlement
numbered only eight or ten poor
families; and they lived deep in the
forest, where, even If they had had
the money for such Injuries, it would
have been impossible to buy books.
states. pens, ink or paper. It is
worthy of note, however, that In our
Western country. even under such
dicffiulties, a schoolhouse was one, Of
the first buildings to rise In every
frontier settlement. Abraham,a sec
ond school in Indiana was held when
he was fourteen years old. and the
third In his seventeenth year.
BY that time he had more books
and better teachers, but he had to-
walk four or five miles to reach them.
We know that he learned to write,
and was provided with pen, ink and
a copy-book-a very small supply of
writing paper, for copies have been
printed of several scraps on which he
carefully wrote down tables of long
measure, land measure, and dry
measure, as well as examples in null
tiplication and compound division.
from his arithmetic. He was never
able to go to school again after this
time. and though the instruction he
received from his five teachers-two
in Kentucky and three in Indiana
extended over period of nine years,
1t must be remembered that it made
up in all less than one twelvemonth;
that the aggregate of all his school
ing did not amount to one year" The
fact that he received this instruction,
as he himself said, "by littles," was
doubtless an advantage. A lazy or
Indifferent boy would, of course, have
forgotten what was taught him at one
time before he had opportunity at an
other; but Abraham was neither in
different nor lazy, and these widely
separated fragments of instruction
were precious steps to self-help. He
pursued his studies with very unusual
purpose and determination not only
to understand them at the moment,
but to fax them firmly in his mind.
His early companions all agree that
he employed every spare moment In
keeping on with some one of his
studies. His stepmother tells us that
when he came across a passage that
struck him, he would. write it down
on boards If he had no paper, and
keep 1t there until he did get paper.
Then he would rewrite 1t. look at it,
repeat 1t. He had copy-book, a kind
al, tbinys and thms nroservad +hem
no snan+ lone evan,pas do,na .,er,s
IN tbe Arc shova, Iron sra shouais
were rarity among r,onears Tn.
stead tbay mead a hroad thin o,on.
hoard with ono eva n.rrowad ~ .
handle arranging Nth th,s tha n,,os
OF Goals mnon the hearth over which
thew set their askillatu ana ..ovan.,
r. do +be,r coorsng r NOS IN suoh
a wooden shove, that Ahrab.m worr.
cd his sums NV the a,cLerinu Arc.
lisht making his aenres with MACE
Of charcoal and when tbe shovel was
all covered taking drawine.kniYe
and shaving II off clean again.
The hours that he was able to de-