The Dolores star., 1919-02-07

oxford printed copy of letter Lincoln wrote
to mother VIII" had given five sons that the
Union might be preserved. \ label beneath this
copy "r the letter bears the simple comment that
this is 'on" OF 'he finest specimens of pure English
sNtant."
And Ihnt ccmmcnt by of the greatest uni
yersiticS in the world il on the work of u man
who never had years schooling in his life.
II is small wonder that lincoln'S life is upheld
to the poor boy as shining example of what de
termination 10 learn and succeed will do.
Linroln'S grandfather. like ruauy Others fol
lowed th"sma-nc; Daniel Eoouc into the wilder
ness Of Kentucky The LincnlnS at that time
were not poor folks many have believed for
The grandfather, whose name also was Abraham,
sold his property for $i7ooo before he set our for
the unclaimed lands where some say the NAM
moths Stiil existed
BUT when later he died Thomas the father Of
the future president. did 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. and she became the mother
of Abraham Lincoln. the president.
Little Chance for Education
Kentucky then GSO9) had been state for seven.
tcan years. but it was wild wilderness of n land.
There were few books, schools in the modern
sense. and little hope for anything but hard work.
1t was exactly the kind Of country for great
man to make t; start in. for unless he had some
elements of greatness he never would achieve his
goal.
1t was n country of hard KNOCKS as well MS hnrd
work and it all made for economy of time and
staly. Lncon's mother, who bright, deli
cate woman, taught her lis much as she could
A visiting schOomaster gave him some lessons in
tnr ordinary Three RS The country was so
sparsely settled and distant from civilization
that at the little church the services that were
held were conducted by tineraut cergynien
The boy Lincoln grew up here in small log
cabin that without windows. and whose wide
oh built the outside of the
At night log in the fireplace gave all the illun
iaation the place afforded. BY this freight to
tile music of the cracking burning logs. young
Lincoln extended fiat on the floor studied and
worked out little problems in arithmetic which
in that section was regarded of greater i'm
portance than deep knowledge of English liter
aturc.
Lincoln's mother died when he was nine years
of age, about year after his father moved TO
Indiana: and the following year his father married
Mrs Sally BuslI Johnston. Contrary to the i'm
preston mainly created by the old fary tales the
second Mrs Lincoln was model stepmother
Studied While Working.
At the same time young Lincoln was working
os n farm band. He borrowed books from neigh
bors and greedily devouicd them. Tie one boo;
that Impressed him most was Weems' Life of
washington" He received his exalted idea of tbe
Father Of His Country from that book which
defed the first president rather than told his
life But Lincoln believed in it and it influenced
his life.
He read "Robinson Crusoe" and Bunyap.s "pu
griln's Progress" and history of the United
States and it was 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, they all borrowed He
walked miles 10 n store where St Louis news
paper taken to borrow it, ana thus he re-
ceived his news of current events.
And all the while lie was working, and working
hard. Now ferrying. now blowing. but always In
this backwOods country. for he was quite II young
man when his father removed to Illinois,
Lincoln was about TWENTY-FIVE at the time when