Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-09

Southern Indiana.
Long-legged he surely waS-he was six
feet four, and as he moved about his
tasks he took strides that made him ap-
pear to be in rapid action, although as
a matter of fact he moved with SlownesS
and elaboration.
A plump gray-haired woman came to
the cabin door and called him. ABE!
Come in now. Dinners on
Abe'S long. rangy back, stopped over
. rooster that he was tying by the legs,
Strengthened itself This critter thinks
I'm going to eat him, guess he said
with a whimsical grin, as he placed the
struggling fowl into the wagon box. Then
he went into the cabin.
There was chicken for dinner that day,
O rare treat. But it was Abes twenty
first birthday, and there had to be some
kind of celebration. Besides, with the
packing nearly done, one chicken more
on the table was just one less to haul
along on the trip on which the family
was to embark the following morning.
Hot iapjacks deftly turned by Abe
Lincoln'S good-natured stepmother, who
cooked and served that birthday dinner:
hot corn bread with pork drippings fresh
doughnutS, fat berry pie and chicken
what a feast! We'll" young Abe re-
marked, looking over the table after his
father had said the blessing, I'm sure
glad was born
A ND as he "set-to" the fun began.
Sarah Lincoln, busy between stove
and table, and all who sat at table were
kept in laughter between mouthfuls.
There was, you can SurmiSe, quite a
crowd at that birthday party. But that
rUoc 'T1TNth HING ivn b.
coin cabin, for easy-going Tom was, as
records show, always feeding his rela-
tives and keeping himself poor in the
process.
Abes cousin, Dennis Hanks, with his
wife, who was Abe's stepsister Elizabeth;
Levi Hall, with his wife, Abe'S other step
sister. Matilda; his stepbrother, John d.
Johnston-an Of these very likely sat
around the table that day. Perhaps
others. And they all had fun.
This was, in fact, more than a BIRTH
day party 1t was the last family gath
ering of the Lincoln clan before they left
Pigeon Greek, Ind, for their migration to
Illinois. Their hearts were light with
hope of the new world they faced
THUS Abraham Lincoln celebrated his
coming of age with more than a
of manhood by crossing a new threshold
Of life.
Abe had laughed and joked at the
birthday table. But late that night, when
every one was asleep and the whole world
around was Stilled, his long strides took
him on a solitary walk to a hillside
nearby.
There, in the dark, under the thawing
February moon, he stood for long time,
thinking. At his feet were the graves Of
his mother, Nancy Hanks, and his only
sister, Sarah, the playmate of his child
hood. He hadn't said word, but he had
missed them at his birthday dinner
When Abe came down the hill, there
was purpoSeful set to his jaw, a light
in his melancholy young eyes, The big
world that he had dreamed of was before
him. This was good-by not only to home
and the graves of loved ones, but good-by
to all the old life of boyhood. He was
81, and the world belonged to him.
HE meant to put that life of the past
positively behind him. He meant
to make something of himself besides
day laborer in the clearing. The long
that was to begin early the next morning
to take him to more than just Illinois.
meant this to be so. He was man grown
meant to make something Of himself.
He knew a little already of the world
side of the Indiana wilderness. Most o
life SO far had been spent, when it "
spent working at home, at odd jobs for n
bors-plowing, Woodcutting, planting, HI
Even butchering. He had been the main
ing power of the family since he was al
work and his father had rigidly exacte,
legal right to his earnings right up to
twenty-firSt birthday of his. But Abe
made one or two escapes.
He hated butchering. He was too
hearted for that sort OF rough and bloody
Nancy Hanks had left her tender mark in
He had grown to hate all the endless
breaking toll of the wilderness that got
nowhere. So he had ventured once or
into other worlds.
-Four years before, at IT, he had got :
along with Dennis Hanks and Levi Hall Gu
HUnna fIaI for the Ohio I0ivar booko -.