The National tribune., 1909-01-07
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Continued from page one.)

naa quite way with the women, ana
among those to whom he had paid hisi
rustic court was certain bright, sensi- l
Die, ievei-headed Sarah Bush, who, It is l
ssio. refused to marry him on account
of his shiftiess ways However that
may be. she married a man named
Johnston instead. and at the time OF
Thomass afhiction was herself widow
Thomas hunted up Mrs. Johnston.
presented his case so well that she ac-
cepted his proposition to become his
wife, and they were married the next
morning, which shows that Thomas
could accomplish things when he want
ed to. The new Mrs. Lincoln was by no
means without a modest share of this
worlds goods. Her various belongings,
which filled a four-horse team, were
packed. and abe and Thomas, with her
three children. left for the home in In
diana. A woman of great energy and
common sense, it did not take her long
to change things most decidedly in the
Lincoln home after she became its mis-
treSs. Thomas very soon realized that
he had struck very different PROPOSE
ton from poor. patient Nancy, and at
once found himself working early and
late in making windows and doors to
the house. and a nice floor, which he
had planed off smoothly, so his new
wife could scour 1t. She had brought
along with her feather pillows, home
spun blankets and patchwork quilts,
and the Lincoln children for the first
time in their lives had a warm, COM
Portable bed. She brought chests Of
drawers, a fax wheel, soap kettle, cook
ing-pots and pewter dishes, and a hun
dred and one little things, which,
changed that forlorn. poverty-strickenI
Lincoln cabin into a bright, CHEEKY
home. Pretty soon they had the best
house in that part of the country. and
the Lincolns, instead OF being looked
down upon on account of their poverty,
were regarded with respect and even
envy. Mrs. Lincoln was a great man.
ager, and altho she had family of
eight to look after now, she never got
fiurried or worried, but was always calm
and pleasant and equal to any emer-
gency. Little Sarah frightened up at
once with the little Johnston girls to
play with. and the pain at young Abra-
hams heart caused by the death of his
mother grew less and less in that cheer
! full, comfortable atmosphere. Dennis
Hanks, in the little book before referred
to. gives a good illustration OF the ener-
getic regime which she established:
y "Aut Sary Had Faculty."
"Aunt Sairy sartinly did have faculty.
reckon we was all purity ragged and
dirty when she got thar. The fust thing
she did was to tell me to tote one o.
Toms carpenter benches to a place
outside the door, near the hoss-trough.
Then she had me m Abe m John john
/ ston, her boy, fill the trough with spring
water. She put cut a big gourd full o.
soft soap, an another one to dip water
with, an told US boys to wash up fur
| dinner. You jist naturally had to be
somebody when Aunt Sairy was around.
She had Tom build 'er a loom, an when
she heerd O. Some lime burners bein'
1 L.
over an git some an whitewash the
cabin. An he made 'er an ash-hopper
fur Iye, an q chicken-house nothin'
could git into. She made q heap more
o. Tom than pore Nancy did. Cracky,
but Aunt Sairy was some punkins!"
| She and Abraham seemed to under
stand each other from the first. Altho
she had very little education herself,
she fully appreciated its advantage, and
she soon saw that her stepson was diff
ferent from the other children, and re-
solved to do everything to help him. He
was always reading in those days, never
without a book in his hands when he
wasn't at work, and his stepmother
would ask him to read aloud to her, and
she would talk with him about what he
was reading. or. rather, listen to him
4 talk, for he was always great talker
She never allowed the other children to
disturb him when he was thus engaged
and would always put candle on the
Imantlepiece for him to read by at night
he was going to be great man some
day, and she wasn't goin' to have him
lhindered."
Tender Care for Her Stepson.
Mrs. Lincoln seemed to feel, too, that
Abraham was more sensitive and had
more pride than the other children, and
always managed so that Abraham had
an extra pair Of butternut-dyed jeans
trousers when the other boys had only
one pair. AS he began to grow older
and went some to the other houses In
the neighborhood, she felt that he ought
to have some white shirts, so she talked
to him about it, and when he, by extra
work, bought nine yards of unbleached
cotton, she bleached 1t and made him
two shirts, one of which he put on every
Sunday, to her great satisfaction. In
every way she possibly could Lincoln's
Istepmother helped and encouraged him,
and there is no doubt she loved him
dearly. She was religious woman, like
most of the women of that day, and ii
was the rule in this well-ordered house
hold that on Sunday all the children
should accompany her and Thomas to
church. But sometimes she could not
go. and on those occasions Abraham
would please her very much by repeat
Ing OH Ills IttuTu every WOTu Ol THE
sermon, from Beloved brethren to
Amen" and she used to say it was just
as good as going herself. That he was
sincerely attached to her there is also
no doubt, and fully appreciated all her
kindness to him. After he left home
he wrote to her regularly and visited
her frequently. Just before he went to
Washington to take up his duties as
President he went down to the old home
to see her and when he bent his tall
frame down to her old and shrunken
figure to kiss her good-by she put her
arms on his shoulder and, look
ing him earnestly and full in
the eyes, said, you'll never
come back, Abraham" Whether
/ she had a sort of premonition of the
tragic days ahead of him is not known.
but Abraham Lincoln's good old step
mother never saw him again. She lived
| on the farm some time after Thomas'S
death, and never ceased to talk of her
great stepson SO long as she was alive.
Not many years before her death she
said to Mr.. Herndon: II can say what
scarcely one mother in thousand can
say, Abe never gave me a cross word
or look, and never refused in fact or
appearance to do anything asked him.
His mind and mine-what little had
| seemed to run together. had a son,
John, who was raised with Abe. Both
were good boys; but I must say. both
now being dead, that Abe was the best
boy ever saw or ever expect to see."