Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-31

"
+ INCOLNS first teacher was young man named
Il zaehariah Riney We know little t about hin him
his attachments were extremely crude. This could
scarcely have been otherwise; for Kentucky, where
Lincoln lived until re had reached the age of seven,
was then on the frontiers of civilization amid the
half-subdued wilderness. Culture of any sort
rarity, and the learning of the average pedagogue
was of very ordinary character. For the sake of
economy it customary to have the teacher
board around; and Zachariah Riney stayed by
turns in the homes of those who sent children to
school, stopping with each household longer or
shorter time, according to the number OF pupils
that We're sent.
Often the log huts in which he made his temporary
home more open to the incemencies of the
weather than the pgpens OF careful farmer OF
TO-DAY. One early schoolnaster speaks of staying
at house consisting OF single room sixteen feet
square and tenanted by a man and wife, ten chill
dren, three dogs, and two cats Some families lived
in novels so cold in the winter that they had to
sleep with their shoes in the bed to keep them from
freezing too stiff to be put on. The children grew
Injured to the hardships of their life; but nearly
everyone suffered from malarial and rheumatic
complaints, and vigorous and painless old age
can fancy however little Abe and his sister, who was
years older roaming in the woods, hunting for
berries in summer and for nuts in autumn, and
watching the birds that huttered about and the
small animals that battered across their path and
peopled the solitude in the place of human COM
panions Whenever the two tired OF wandering
in the borders of the forest, finished playing
their lonesome little games, they returned to the
home cabin. This cabin was practically all made
with an AK and in the hands of Thomas Lincoln,
the future President father. 1t had root OF thin
boards split in short sections from straight grained
oak and anchored in place by stout poles fastened
crosswse. At one end was huge chimney
made of small logs laid cob house fashion and thicky
daubed inside with clay. Almost nails other
iron were used in the construction of the cabin
Even the hinges of the single door were of wood
while rawhide thongs used to hold in place the
board shutter which was hung inside the CLASHES
aperture of the only window.
Log Houses Their Homes
OG houses similar to this served as homes for
- nearly everyone in the new country round though
the Lincoln dwelling rather rougher and smaller
than the average. The school buildings were of
logs too and outwardly were in now1se different
from the humber homes. The cabin in which Lin
coin began to attend school probably stood close
by one of the rough cart paths that served for
roads. There were plenty of stumps In the TN
fenced space about, while the tall woods i'm
mediately behind. When the building not in
use, its door secured by withe twisted in the
handle. The walls were of round logs that had the
bark on, and the cracks between somewhat
imperfectly chinked with clay.
If one went inside he found the walls just bare
as they outside. Overhead, the space
open to the rafters Glass for windows was
luxury, and instead, paper used which had
been creased to make it transparent and less easily
affected by wet. The floor if the room had floor
was of puncheon; that is it of logs split in
half and laid the earth and pegged in place with
the fiat sides up. In the floor simply the
bare earth, the youngsters would sometimes pur-
posely stir up the dust in clouds to annoy the
teacher and aInuse their fellows. Sticks in
serted between the logs around the sides of the
at convenient height and boards were fastened