The Idaho Springs siftings-news. (Idaho Springs, Colo.) 1905-19??, 1919-02-07

Oxford printed copy of letter Lincoln wrote
to mother who had given five sons that the
Union might be 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 of the greatest uni
versites in the world is the work of a man
who never had years schooling In his life.
1t is small wonder that Lincoln's life is upheld
the poor boy shining example of what de-
termination to learn and succeed will do.
Lincoln's grandfather like many others, fol-
lowed the magnetic Daniel Boone into the wilder
of Kentucky. The Lincolns ut that time
not poor folks, many have believed. for
the grandfather, whose name also 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 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
he worked for, and she became the mother
of Abraham Lincoln. the president.
Little Chance for Education.
Kentucky then CSO9) had been state for seven
teen 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.
II was exactly the kind of country for great
man to make a start in, for unless he had some
elements of greatness he never would achieve his
goal.
III
work, and it all made for economy of time and
study. Lincons mother. who n bright, deli
cate woman, taught her son as much she could
A visiting schoolmaster gave him some lessons in
the ordinary Three RS The country was SO
sparsey settled and so distant from civilization
that at the little church the services that were
held were conducted by itinerant clergymen.
The boy Lincoln grew up here in a small log
cabin that was without windows. and whose wide
chimney was built the outside of the cabin
;,ht loo in he nj fha In
ination the place afforded. By this freight, to
the 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 regarded of greater i'm
portance than deep knowledge of English liter
AZURE.
Lincolns mother died when he 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 stepm0ther
Studied While Working.
At the same time young Lincoln working
as a farm hand. He borrowed books from neigh
bors and greedily devoured them The one book
that impressed him most was Weems' Life of
Washington" He received his exalted idea of the
Father of His Country from that book, which
deifed the first president rather than told his
life. But Lincoln believed in it and it Influenced
his life.
He read Robinson Crusoe' and Bunyan's "Ptl-
srm's Progress" and history Of the United
states and it was 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 to store where st. Louis news
paper was taken to borrow it, and thus be re.
ceved his news Of current events
And all the while he was working. and working
hard. Now ferrying now Flowing but always in
this backwoods country, for he was quite young
man when his father removed to Illinois.
Lincoln was about twenty-five at the time vhan