Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-02-09

they studed-so hard to memorlze the AS :
and Cs-and with what doting fondness she
must have trained little Abe's tiny hand &c
trace the letters on a slate!
Dearly Nancy Lincoln loved the Bible, and
there were readings from the sacred book;
there was told the old, old story. And these
stories Lincoln never forgot. When, in after
life, he electrified the world by his eloquence
his mastery of pure and perfect English anG
his tempestuous oratory, he retold the same
stories-the stories he heard at his mothers
knee.
Life was not prosperous with the father. He
left Kentucky and went prospecting In illinois
where he took up land on Little Pigeon creek
in Spencer county And again the hard-worked
wife was called upon to move her home.
With their furniture packed in a wagon and
their COW behind, the family started on their
long pilgrimage in 1916. During the winter OF
1916 and 1917 the family lived in a camp. The
winter was rigorous.
OVERWHELMINGLY the tender, gentle woman
bore her lot but her health slowly gave way
her face became more wan. rough cabin was
begun in the spring and life opened anew. Land
was cleared. Thomas Lincoln piled his trade
among the scattered inhabitants Of the solitary
region. They began to prosper. But the life
had been toe hard for the tender, loving wife
and she sank under the burden.
One day in October, 1918, as she lay in her
dren to her.
''She took the hands of Sarah and the thin
serious-faced boy. BE good to one another, u
she said, brokenly, with infinite tenderness
Then she closed her eyes. The wonderful
smile deepened. The sunlight faded into even
ing, and little Abe, leaving Sarah kneeling by
the bed, crept away and climbed the pegs in the
wall to the garnet where he flung himself on
the mattress Of leaves.
Night fell, and from the loft came a stifed
sound of sobbing-sobbing depressed, checked
restrained, yet so poignant, keen, so heart
forlorn that the father, returning home, paused
hearing it, his heart sinking. He knew the sun.
light of the boys life had departed.
Many years afterward people wondered at
the sorrow moulded indelibly on the face OF
Lincoln-like agony craven on a figure Of stone
Before the next December Thomas Lincoln
married Sarah Bush Johnston a widow, who
it is said, had rejected him many years before
In later years. when Lincoln again shrouded
in sorrow, sat by the bedside of his little son
Willie who was dying, he cried in despair:
This is the hardest trial of my life. Why is
it? Why is it?" A nurse who had lost her hus-
band and children told him of her loss, adding
But trust in God. I rely upon his will" Lin,
coin shook his head sadly.
On the day of the funeral he asked the nurse
and friends to pray for him. 81 will try
to go to God with my sorrows" he said. 81 wish
I had that childlike faith you speak Of trust
God will give it to me-"
Then his memory travelled back over the
years and his first loss by death came to his
mind He told of his mothers confident belief
in the wisdom of God. 81 remember her pray.
ers" he said in a low voice, land they have
always followed me- They have followed me all
my life"