, 1906-03-21

d-e-f-y-d-e, said another; d-e-f-y-d-
d-e-f-y-e-d, cried another and another.
But it WAS all wrong. 1t was shameful
that, among all these big boys and
girls, nobody could spell "deied." and
Crawford's wrath gathered in clouds
over his terrible brow. He made the
helpless eulprits shake with fear. lie
declared he would keep the whole class
in all day and all night if 'detied' was
not spelled.
There was among them a Miss Roby.
a girl fifteen years of age. whom we
must suppose to have been pretty, for
Abe was evidently haif in love with
her. Il saw Lincoln at the window
says she. He had his finger IL his eye
and a smile on his face. . instantly
took the min that | must change the
letter Y into an /; hence { spelled the
word; the class let out. | felt grateful,
to Lincoln for this simple thing"
A Humane Boy.
Nat Grigsby tells us. with unnecessa-
~ particularly, that ESSAYS and poet
ry were not taught IN this school,"
abe took it dhem) up on his own ae-
count" He first wrote short sentences
against cruelty to animals and at
last came forward With n regular com
position OF the subject He was very
much annoyed and panied by the con
duct of the boys. who were in the habit
of catching terrapins and putting Goals
of fire on their backs, He would chide
us" says Nat, tell us it was wrong
and would write against it."
The third and last school to which
Abe went was taught by Il Mr.. Swaney
in 1920. To get there he had to travel
four and a half miles, and this going
back and forth so great a distance oc-
cupied entirely too much of his time.
His attendance was therefore only at
odd times and was speedily broken Off
altogether. The schoolhouse was much
like the other one near the Pigeon Creek
meeting house. except that it had two
chimneys instead of one. The course
of instruction was precisely the same
as under Dorsey and Crawford, save
that Swaney, like Dorsey, omitted
the great department of manners"
Here says John Hoskins, the son of
the settler who had "blaZed out" the
trail for Thomas Lincoln, I'VE would
choose up and spell as in old times
every Friday night"
Abe never went to school again in In
diana or elsewhere. Mr.. Turnham tells
us that he had eXcelled all his masters,
and it was no use for him to attempt
to learn anything from them. But he
continued his studies at home or wher-
ever he was hired out to work with n
perseverance which showed that lie
could scarcely live without some spe-
cies of mental excitement. He was by
no means fond of the hard manual la
Dor to which his own necessities and
those of his family compelled him.
Many of his a~cquaintances state this
fact with strong emphasis, among them
Dennis Hanks and Mrs. Lincoln.
His %neighbor. John Romine, declares
that Abe was lawful lazy. He worked
for me; was always reading and think
ing; used to get mac at him. He work
ed for me in 1929, pulling fodder. l say
Abe was awful lazy. He would laugh
and talk and crack jokes and tell sto-
ries all the time; didn't love work, but
did dearly love his pay. He worked for
me frequently, a few days only at a
time. Lincoln said to me one day that
his father taught him to work, but
never learned him to love it,"
Wiring on a Shovel.
Abe loved to lie under a shade tree
or up in the loft of the cabin and read,
cipher and scribble. At night he sat by
the chimney "jamb" and clphered by
the light of the fire Oh the wooden fire
shovel. When the shovel was fairly
covered he would shave it off with his