The Yale expositor., 1919-02-06

oxford n printed COPY of letter Lincoln wrote
10 a mother who had given five that the
Union might he preserved. label beneath this
copy Of the letter bears the simple comment that
this is 'one of the finest specimens of pure English
eXtant."
And that comment by one of the greatest uni
versitieS In the wOrlc is on the work of maA
who never had a years schooling in his life.
1t is small wonder that Lincoln's life is upheld
to the poor boy as thinning example of what de-
termination to learn sud succeed will do
Lincoln's grandfather, like many others fol-
lowed the magnetic Daniel Boone into the wilder
ness of Kentucky. The Lincolns at that time
were not poor folks, as many have believed, for
the grandfather. whosN name also was Abraham,
sold his property for $1,000 before he out for
the unclaimed lands where some say the mann
moths still existed.
But when later he Gted Thomas. the father Of
the future president dil not inherit much. if any
thing, and had TO start out for himself at early
age He married Nancy Hanks, the niece of the
man he worked for ard she became the mother
of Abraham Lincoln. thA president
Little chanc7 for Education.
kentucky then QS09) had been a state for seven
teen years but it was wild wilderness of a land.
There were few books, no schools in the modern
sense and little hope for anything but hard work.
Ii was exactly the kiIv1 of country for great
man to make start if' for unless he had some
elements of greatness he never would achieve his
goal.
If was country of hard knocks, as well as hard
work, and il all made Cor economy of time and
study Lincolns mothei, who was a bright, desi-
cate woman. taught her much she could.
visiting schOolmaster gave him some lessons I'm
the ordinary "Three RS" The country was so
sparsely settled and distant from civilization
4Aat at the little church the services thai we're
held were conducted by itinerant clergymen
The boy Lincoln grew up here in small log
cabin that without windows, and whose wide
chimney was built on the outside of the cabin.
At night log in the fireplace gave all the illum-
nation the place afforded. BY this freight to
the music of the cracking burning logs. young
Lincoln extended fat the floor. studied and
worked out little problems in arithmetic which
in that section regarded as of greater inn
portance than deep knowledge of English liter
allure.
Lincoln's mother died when he was nine years
of age or about year after his father moved To
Indiana, and the following year his father married
Mrs Sally Bush Johnston. Contrary TO the i'm
preston mainly created by the old fairy tales the
second Mrs Lincoln was model stepmother.
Studied While Working.
At the same time young Lincoln was working
as farm hand. He borrowed books from neigh
bors and greedlly devoured them. The one book
that impressed him most Weems' Life of
Washington He received his exalted idea of the
Father of His Country from that book which
deihed the first president rather than told his
life But Lincoln believed In It and ii influenced
his life.
He read "Roblnson Crusoe' and Bunyans "Pil-
grims Progress" and history of the United
states, and II on these that he founded all his
knowledge of biography history and literature
But he knew those books by heart, for he had to
memorize them, as they all were borrowed He
walked miles 60 store where a ST. Louis news
paper was taken TO borrow IT, and thus he re-
ceived his news of current events
And all the wnile he was working, and working
hard Now ferrying, now blowing but always In
this backwoods country, for he quite young
man when his father removed to Illinois
Lincoln about twenty-five at the time when