Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-09
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY THE BoOKLOVER.

dCIuaI ScnOOllnR was very meager. lis
went to school, altogether. for less thar
a year, Albert j. Beveridge tells us ir
his Abraham Lincoln. 1800-1853." The
time was divided among several schools
The first were in Kentucky, when
Thomas Lincoln and his family were
living in cabin on Knob Greek
Sometime during the sojourn of the
Lincoln family on Kncb Greek a school
was opened in the vicinity by one
Zachariah Riney, a Catholic. and Sarah
accompanied by her little brother went
to this school for a few weeks. Later
another school, taught by one Caleb
Hazel, was attended by the Lincoln
children for an even briefer period
Tt was from that place (Knoh
Creek cabin),' writes Haycraft to Hern-
don, that young Abraham commenced
trugging his way to school to Caleb
Hazel with whom was we'll acquaint-
ed and could perhaps teach spelling
reading and indifferent writing and
perhaps could cypher to the rule of
three-but he had no other qualifica-
ton of a teacher except large size and
bodily strength to thrash any boy or
youth that came to his school, "
X X X u
The next schooling was in Indiana,
where the family had moved, in an at
tempt to better fortune which had al
WAYS been bad Lincoln was about 10
at this time. when there were enough
children i'll the settlement to justify
the starting Of school. Andrew CraW-
ford opened one in a cabin Of unheWn
logs, two or three miles from the hut of
Thomas Lincoln. Like all others of
the time it was a subscription school,
the teacher taking his pay in skins CT
farm produce, far more valuable than
the wildcat paper. which then was
the only form of money. The
Lincoln children went to Andrew Craw-
fords school for while during the
Winter of 1818-1S19. The school was
held in "a rude pole cabin with huge
fireplace. rude floor Of punchconS and
seats of same, and window made by
leaving out a log on the side to admit
the light, often covered with creased
paper to keep out the wind Spelling,
reading, writing and 'ciphering to single
rule of no further were taught in
the haphazard manner of the period
and region. Tt was a 'blab' or loud
the children studying vocally.
was administered by whip
ping or making the child wear the
Ounce cap When we went to Craw-
ford he tried to learn us manners re-
lates Nathaniel Grigsby, showing the
pupils how to enter room, the for
nalities of introduction and the like
. But the teacher gave up after one
season, it appears, as frontier school
promoters sometimes did. Thereafter
Andrew Crawford disappears from the
of Pigeon Creek pedagogy
Lincoln was then in his tenth year
and he did not again go to school until
he was about IA or 15.' What ne
learned from Crawford we do not know:
a little simple reading. perhaps, end
how to form words with quiz pen
not much more, since he could
not write well until four or flVe years
later"
X X X X
Lincoln's last school was also at the
Indiana settlement. "A year or Two
after the coming of Sarah Lincoln tthe
another school, about tour
miles away, was started by one AZel w:
Dorsey. 1t was exactly like that OF
Andrew Crawford except that Dorsey
did not try to learn manners TO the
children. Abraham went to this scnool
for a short time. The school BOOKS
from which the teacher gave out MS
lessons were the Bible, Webster's or
Spelling Book, Pixies Arlth-
metic and a song book. 1t was at
Dorsey's school that he perfected that
clear. distinct chirography, 50 like that
of Washington and Jefferson; and here,
foo. he learned to spell with that accu-
racy which was to become a tradition
in the neighborhood. He did all the
writing for the family and. indeed. Tor
everybody in the settlement. Even
more important to his avid mind was
the fact that he learned to read with
ease and fiuency. SO ended TIE
of Abraham Lincoln In
schools, except for a short and broken
in 1926 at a similar schooi
taught by William Sweeney. 1ncludlng
the two schools In Kentucky the boy
went to school for less than year.
There was, indeed, no reason Tor
him to 90 longer TO these backWoods
could do him no 1ur.
Their good; he went to school no more
* X X X
Queen Elizabeth depended upon her
sea power for both safety and eXpan-
sion and her sea rovers We're her hon
ored subjects. The names OF many OF
them are famous in history, and Slr
francis Drake and Sir John HAWKINS
head the list. Sir John Hawkins, Dy
James A. Williamson, is an interesting
of the man and a history
of the sea adventure of his time. Inc
exploits of Hawkins might today. De
called piracy. but in the EllzabetnaIi
Age they were patriotic services. Ihey
we're chiefly directed toward Spain. t1e
arch enemy of England. When HaW-
Gins raided the Spanish Main ana
brought home a ship loaded with treas
IRE he was the hero of the hour. he
was third in command of the meet
which met and defeated the famous
Snanish Armada and an admlral III
the Queens navy. Hawkins MADE sew
eral Saving voyages, in intervals When
hostilities against Spain permitted, ana
combined the capture OF Negroes Irom
the Coast of Sierra Leone with trace
In these same Negroes and other gooos
in the West Indies. He and the queer;
as well as the English nation. pronteo
bv these expeditions. His life story Is
a stirring historical romance.
X x X x
II did not pay to double-cross the
according to the recently 10y
nublished book. THE Reign OF tile
House of Rothschild." by Count Egon
Caesar Corti. Spain tried 1t ana ON, tne
took revenge on the who!e
nation, To work for fall in Spanish
funds they applied an amount OF
/ 400 900 pounds! The operation was
successful, Spanish l1an Ien res
falling from 10 to 81, and the panic re-
shifting from the terrible fall III Value
Of SPANISH securities in London was
simply and solely. the result result 81 Tbo one
act of vengeance. oo, htUes
sands of holders of Spanish securltI ,,s
lost two-thirds of their property. ouf
the Rothschilds made far more out OF y
It than the Spanish government MAG naI
caused them to lose. Li3liei
= othschild was recalled from MADRID
out of fear OF assassination.
* X X II
We talk glibly of civilization, can an
certain actions uncivilized, SPEAK oa
civilized countries and periods, pun are
ve alwsvs clear in our own minds as 10
what we mean by civilization? Is civili-