New world heroes. Lincoln and Garfield: the life-story of two self-made men, whom the people made presidents

Contents

CHAP.

TAOS

I. A Hero's Birthplace .... 1

Chapter II The First Sorrow

" Friend after friend departs, Who lias not lost a friend ?

T was no pleasant or easy task that was before Mrs. Lincoln and her children.

They welcomed with great glee the return of the husband and father, and tired though he was after his long walk, he had at once to begin answering their questions.

" Have you found a place, father 1 Will it be our own ? Where is it ? What is it like 1 "

They lost no time in starting on the journey. They bade good-bye to the little home, which, poor as it was, they all loved, with tears. Then they all went to look their last at the tiny grave of the baby who had died several years ago. When Abraham had grown to be both a tall and a great man, he used to speak of this incident with emotion.

But a long journey was before them, for a distance of a hundred miles separated the new home from the old, and it would take a week for them to go from one to the other. They had a cow, which, of course, they must take with them for the sake of her milk, three horses, and a waggon. They managed to pack in the waggon and on the horses all their household articles, which were very few ; and as to themselves, Mrs. Lincoln and Sarah might ride if they liked, but the father and the son walked the greater part of the distance, for the horses had to be led and the cow to be driven. When they reached the proper part of the river Ohio, they were floated across in a flat-boat, and at the end of the seventh day they reached the spot which Thomas Lincoln had selected.

It was near the present town of Gentryville, in what was then Perry County, but is now Spencer County, that Mr. Lincoln and his son and a neighbour at once set to work to build a new log-cabin. It had two rooms, one downstairs, and a small attic or loft above. Sarah and her parents slept below, in what was the living room of the family ; and Abraham slept in the loft, on the rough logs that made the floor. A bear-skin was spread for him to lie upon, and a blanket covered him. The bedstead of his father and mother was made of slabs nailed together against the side of the cabin, and their bed was a heap of dried leaves thrown upon the slabs. A rough table and three stools formed the rest of the furniture. There was always a good fire burning in the cabin, and when it was very cold, all the family slept around it ; while skins were nailed over the doors to keep out the biting winds.

Winter was upon them, but Spring would follow ; and Thomas Lincoln and his son began the hard work of clearing the forest, and preparing the land to receive the seed which they would put into it. Abraham, of course, helped him ; and he proved the truth of the saying, " It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." He grew strong and hardy, self-denying and brave. He was very industrious ; and when his day's work upon the forest or the farm was finished, he was free to spend some happy hours with his friends, and in the way he liked best.

THE FIRST SORROW. 9

Besides the Bible and the Catechism, there had been added to the family treasures an old copy of Dilworth's Spelling Book, and by the aid of this young Abraham Lincoln continued his education. Altogether he had enjoyed less than a year's schooling, but he had made as much as he could of the little ; and he had begun to write and to "cipher." He practised well at home. Pens and ink and paper were luxuries unknown to, or at least unenjoyed by, the pioneer and his family; but Abraham did very well without them, for he managed to write letters or figures on the white surface of the bark of the birch-tree with charcoal. They had fine fun over the spelling and the reckoning, for Abraham tried to keep school at home, and change his parents and his sister into scholars.

About this time he came into possession of one or two other books. The first was JZsop's Fables, with which he was greatly delighted. It had pictures at which he never wearied of looking, and stories which interested him so deeply, that he read them over until they were firmly fixed in his own mind ; and then he related them for the amusement and edification of his sister Sarah. About the next book that he read his mother took care often to talk to him. It was Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress. The boy seemed to have the opportunity of reading it just at the time when he needed its instruction.

11 You see, my boy, that there is another land, and a journey to be taken to the Celestial City," said his mother to him one day, little thinking that she was herself drawing very near to its gates.

"Yes, mother; and it must be a very beautiful city that ! "

" Ah ! my son, you cannot guess how lovely ; and the best of it is that there we shall see Jesus, and the next best, that there will be no such thing known as sin."

" It will be a very wonderful place then, where everybody is good. I am afraid there is not much chance for me."

" Indeed there is ! The King wishes to have my Abe in the beautiful city, and He will guide you if you ask Him. Only you must be willing to forsake sin here, and so be prepared for the holiness there."

And Abraham would say softly to his mother, and yet more earnestly to himself, that he meant to be good, and would really try to be.

Another book that he read was Weem's Life of Washington. It was a very exciting book, full of fighting and adventures, and it fired his young imagination greatly. Many years afterward he spoke of that book : — " I remember all the accounts there given of the battle-fields and struggles for the liberties of the country. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than common that these men struggled for."

The next book he read was also very useful to him ; it was the Life of Henry Clay, who was at that time exceedingly famous. Since Abraham Lincoln was himself to become a politician and statesman, it was well for him to read of the brilliant speeches of this young orator, made on subjects that so nearly affected the interests of his country.

But Abraham had much to do besides read books. To get wood for his mother, to carry water for her, and help her in every way, was a pleasure to him ; and he was besides learning to be a very useful help to his father. At that time he was dressed in coat and trousers made of buckskin, and was not afraid of either hard work or cold weather. On one occasion, too, he proved that he was not afraid to handle a gun. His father had taken his axe and gone away to work in the forest, when Abraham, looking through a crevice of the log-cabin, saw a flock of wild

THE FIRST SORROW. 11

turkeys outside. He knew that these were worth having, for the family lived chiefly on game shot by the father. But the father was not there to shoot, and what was to be done ? The boy, only about eight years old at the time, could not bear to let so good an opportunity pass ; and so he called his mother.

"Could you load father's gun? Here is a flock of turkeys ! If you can, I will have a shot."

Mrs. Lincoln peeped through the opening.

" They are beauties ! Could you pull the trigger, Abe ? "

" Yes, mother \ load it and see."

In less than a minute the boy had fired into the midst of the birds, and hit one of the finest.

There was great glee when Mr. Lincoln returned.

" Father," said Sarah, " guess what there is for dinner to-morrow ? "

"Fish?"

" Flesh 1 "

"Fowl?"

" Yes, a turkey. *

" A turkey, indeed. Where is it to come from 'i "

"It has come already."

"You are joking. Let me see it."

It was drawn from its hiding-place with a triumphant "There!"

" But what does this mean. Who shot it ? "

"Abraham."

" Did you really, Abe ? " The boy stood blushing with pleasure. " It is a wonderful shot for a boy of your age," said Thomas Lincoln. " You will become a great hunter one of these days."

Abraham Lincoln, however, never became very fond of a gun.

But a shadow was gathering over the Lincoln's home.

They had only been in Indiana two years, when it became evident that Mrs. Lincoln was dying of consumption. It was some time before her husband and children could believe that so great a trouble was befalling them. But she knew it herself, and the coming separation made her love them more than ever.

" Let me do something for you, mother," Abraham would say ; and she was glad to give up the work which she had done so long and so well.

" I am getting too weak to do it," she said.

At last she could not leave her bed ; and it was Abraham's task to read to her the words which have comforted so many dying Christians. There was no minister ; but the beautiful sayings of Jesus was not less powerful because they were conveyed by the clear tones of a boy's voice. " Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe &lso in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

And soon the place was hers.

There was great desolation in the log-cabin when the mother had died. Abraham keenly felt her loss ; and he cried as if his heart would break when he and his sister stood with their father by the humble grave in the forest. A few friends came to the funeral, but there was not even an itinerant preacher — the only kind they ever had — in these parts.

But there had been one, Mr. Elkins, a Baptist, who sometimes conducted open-air services among the few settlers, and sometimes gave exhortations in their cabins. Mrs. Lincoln had known and respected him ; and it was decided that a letter should be sent to ask him to come and preach a funeral sermon.

" I will write a letter," said Abraham, whose heart was

THE FIRST SORROW. 13

very much in the matter. And accordingly, with the feeling that he was doing a very great thing indeed, the boy wrote his first letter, telling the minister that his mother had died happily, trusting in Jesus, and that he, and his father, and his sister would be glad if Mr. Elkins would come and preach a funeral sermon. Thomas Lincoln praised the performance of his son, and the letter was despatched. As soon as possible the answer came, and it was to the effect that Mr. Elkins would be with them at a certain time. He had to journey a hundred miles to fulfil the engagement but he did so willingly, and found that young Abraham had been so busy making known the service, that there was quite a large congregation to hear the sermon. Mules and horses, ox -teams and waggons, had been pressed into service ; and on a beautiful Sunday morning Parson Elkins stood at the head of the simple grave in the forest, and the people, old and young, pressed around to hear the words of life which he spoke. It was a simple service, but very solemn and beautiful. The hymn that rang through the air came from the hearts of the people ; and they listened, as those who were in earnest, to the preacher's words, or joined with fervour in his prayer. Seeds were sown that day that brought forth fruit a hundred-fold.

When the congregation dispersed in silence, there remained, with his hat off, and his face full of serious resolve, the boy whom the dead woman had loved so dearly, and for whom she had prayed unceasingly. And who can tell what solemn vows, that were afterward fulfilled in the life, were made by young Abraham Lincoln, as he stood at his mother's grave on that never-to-be-forgotten day !

Chapter III. A New Mother

" Then spake the angel of mothers To me in a gentle tone, ' Be kind to the children of others, And God will bless thine own. ' :J

T was a sad home in which Mr. Lincoln and his motherless children lived; but they made it as happy as they could. A school was opened in the neighbourhood by Mr. Crawford, who helped Abraham Lincoln in many things, and especially in arithmetic, of which the lad became very fond. He got to write so well that he became " the general letter-writer of the neighbourhood." His love of books grew upon him, and Mr. Crawford gratified it by lending him Ramsay's Life of Washington.

He ran home with it, and burst into the cabin in such a state of joyous excitement that his sister looked up in surprise.

" Why, Abe, what is the matter with you % *

" A new book ! a new book ! "

" Oh, capital ! " said Sarah, who sympathised with everything that interested her brother. Indeed, the two, since their mother's death, had become more fond of each other than ever.

"What book is it?" cried the father, who was as rejoiced as his children over a new volume.

"It is another book about Washington; better than the other, because it has more solid facts, at least so Mr. Crawford says, and the writer's name is Ramsay."

" I will leave off my work then, and we will have some of it this evening."

So Thomas Lincoln sat by the fire-place in an attitude of rest and reflection, Sarah got her sewing or her knitting, and Abraham, with his back to the fire, so that the blaze might fall upon the book, read to his loving listeners hour after hour in such a way as to prove that he really entered into the spirit of the book. Indeed, he grew so interested in it that he did not wish to lay it aside either for sleep or for work. He read it the last thing at night and the first in the morning.

" Put down the book, Abe," his father would say, " and go and finish that wood."

"All right, father," said the lad; and immediately became so engrossed again in the book that he forgot everything else.

This was the case one night, and led to consequences that might have been very serious. He was reading after his father had retired to rest. Thomas, waking from a dream, to find his son still reading, became angry, and peremptorily ordered him to go to bed at once. Abraham laid down the book, and went off so hurriedly that he did not notice that he had placed it in the window. In the night a storm arose, and rain fell heavily. The next morning, when Abraham rose early, intending to have "one little read" before beginning the work of the day, he was dismayed to find that the rain had beaten in through the window, and the book was soaked through with water.

His heart sank at the remembrance of Mr. Crawford s assertion that that was the only copy of the book in the neighbourhood, and the thought that it had been spoiled through his carelessness. But he thought the best way would be to go to Mr. Crawford at once and confess the truth. So away he went to the schoolmaster, and with blushing face told his story.

"I am very sorry, sir, but I left your book near the window last night, and the rain came in and spoiled it."

" Let me look at it. Oh ! what a pity. How could you be so careless, Abe ? "

" I don't know, sir. I am ashamed of myself. I cannot pay for the damage, I know ; no money could do it, and I have none; but if you will let me work out the cost I shall be very glad."

11 1 think you had better buy the book, Abe."

" Buy it, sir ; how can I do that ? "

" Come and pull fodder for me for two or three days, and the book shall be yours."

Yery gratefully the boy set about the task ; and Mr. Crawford had no reason to complain of the amount of work which he did in the time, and at the end of three days he went home, carrying the treasure that was now his own.

When Mrs. Lincoln had been dead a year, Mr. Lincoln married again. His second wife was a widow, Mrs. Sally Johnson of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. She had three children of her own, so that the family circle become considerably enlarged. Mrs. Lincoln proved a good and kind mother-in-law. She loved Abraham almost as much as if he were her own son. She pitied and admired him before she married his father ; and it is said, indeed, that it was this love of the boy that was the chief reason of the union.

She soon set about making the home more comfortable.

"Cannot you make a puncheon floor, Thomas?" she asked of her husband.

M T could, if I tried," said Mr. Lincoln.

"Then I wish you would try. The house would be so much more comfortable. We must make it as warm and cosy as we can for the children's sake. Abe is a great, strong fellow, who does not mind roughing it ; but Sarah is only a delicate little girl, who needs taking care of."

And the good woman proceeded to take care of her excellently. She made warm, comfortable beds for both the children, and provided them with clothing thick and suitable for the cold weather ; and made them both feel glad that they had once more a mother's loving care. Alas ! Sarah did not live to enjoy it very long. She soon followed her own mother to heaven.

In the meantime Abraham Lincoln was growing in stature, and it seemed in favour also with God and man.

An incident occurred about this time which illustrated both his great strength and his kindness of heart. He and some other young men had been engaged in erecting the frame of a new house, when, as they were returning to their homes in the evening, they saw, standing by the roadside, a horse saddled and bridled.

" Hullo ! " said young Lincoln, " here is Jim's horse. I suppose the stupid fellow is drunk, as usual. Let us see if we can find him."

A search was made, and presently the owner of the horse was discovered, chilled and unconscious.

"There let him lie, and serve him right," said one of the young men. " I hope it will teach him a lesson."

" It is more likely to kill him," said Abraham. " It is too bad to leave him here to die."

"Not at all. He has brought it on himself."

" Never mind. Here, lift him on my shoulders, will you 1 I will carry him to the nearest house."

And he did so. " Call and tell my father where I am, b 2 please," he said to his companions ; and then he remained with the drunken man until he became sober.

It was the first, but by no means the last life that Abraham Lincoln saved. It was the beginning of his career as a deliverer from slavery ! It proved him to possess that kindness of heart which fits a man for any position, from the lowest to the highest.

His character was developing in many ways. Especially was he on the alert to obtain knowledge ; and this perseverance helped him when another and less determined spirit would have failed.

The Rev. J. P. Gulliver once said to him in the afterward, when his high position was attained — " Mr. Lincoln, I very much want to know how you got your very unusual power of 'putting things.' No man has it by nature alone. What has your education been 1 "

Mr. Lincoln replied — " Well, as to education the newspapers are correct. I never went to school more than twelve months in my life. But, as you say, this must be a product of culture in some form. I have been putting the question you ask me to myself while you have been talking. I can say this, that among my earliest recollections, I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand. I don't think I ever got angry at anything else in my life. But that always disturbed my temper, and has ever since. I can remember going to my little bed-room, after hearing the neighbours talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small part of the night walking up and down, and trying to make out what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep, though I often tried to, when I got on such a hunt after an idea, until I had caught it ; and when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until I had repeated it over and over — until I had put it in language plain enough, as T thought, for any boy I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me, and it has since stuck by me, for I am never easy now, when handling a thought, till I have bounded it north and bounded it south, bounded it east and bounded it west. Perhaps that accounts for the characteristics you observe in my speeches, though I never put the things together before."

Of his habits and deeds while he was still at home with his father and his stepmother we get a very good picture from Lamon's Life of Abraham Lincoln: —

"Abe never went to school again in Indiana or elsewhere. Mr. Turnham tells us that he had excelled all his masters, and it was no use for him to attempt to learn anything from them. But he continued his studies at home, or wherever he was hired out to work, with a perseverance which showed that he could scarcely live without some species of mental excitement. Abe loved to lie under a shade-tree, or up in the loft of the cabin, and read, cipher, and scribble. At night he sat by the chimney- 'jamb,' and ciphered, by the light of the fire, on the wooden fire shovel. When the shovel was fairly covered he would shave it off with Tom Lincoln's knife, and begin again. In the daytime he used boards for the same purpose out of doors, and went through the shaving process everlastingly. His stepmother repeats often that he read every book he could lay his hands on. She says, 'Abe read diligently ; and when he came across a passage that struck him, he would write it down on boards if he had no paper, and keep it there until he did get paper. Then he would re-write it, look at it, repeat it. He had a copy-book — a kind of scrap-book — in which he put down all things, and thus preserved them.'

" John Hanks came out from Kentucky when Abe was fourteen years of age, and lived four years with the Lincolns. We cannot describe some of Abe's habits better than John has described them for us : — When

Lincoln, Abo, and I returned to the house from work, he would go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn bread, take down a book, sit down in a chair, cock his legs up high as his head, and read. He and I worked barefooted, grubbed it, ploughed, mowed, and cradled together ; ploughed corn, gathered it, and shucked corn. Abraham read constantly when he had opportunity; and he transferred extracts to the boards and the scrap-book. He had procured the scrap-book because most of his literature was borrowed ; and he thought it profitable to take copious notes from the books before he returned them.

" At home, with his step-mother and the children, he was the most agreeable fellow in the world. He was always ready to do everything for everybody. When he was not doing some special act of kindness he told stories or cracked jokes. He was as full of his yarns in Indiana as ever he was in Illinois. Dennis Hanks was a clever hand at the same business, and so was old Tom Lincoln. Among them they must have made things very lively during the long winter evenings. "

Mrs. Lincoln was never able to speak of Abe's conduct to her without tears. She spoke with deep emotion of her own son, but said she thought that Abe was kinder, better, truer than the other. Even the mother's instinct was lost as she looked back over those long years of poverty and privation in the Indian cabin, where Abe's grateful love softened the rigours of her lot, and his great heart and giant frame were always at her command. "Abe was a good boy," said she, " and I can say what scarcely one woman — a mother — can say in a thousand : Abe never gave me a cross word or look, and never refused, in fact or appearance, to do anything I asked him."

Abraham had another sorrow when his own mother had been dead four years. His sister Sarah died. She was married when she was only fourteen years old ; and when she was fifteen she died. It was a great trouble to her brother, for the two had been not only brother and sister, but very close and dear friends.

When he was about eighteen years old, Abraham Lincoln left home on an expedition, and it came about in this wise : —

" We have more farm produce than we shall require," said Thomas Lincoln.

" Let us sell it then," said his son.

" But how can we do that 1 "

" We will export it ; that is the right thing to do with the over-abundance of any neighbourhood. Now, I will build a flat-boat, and take the produce down the river to the market, and there sell it."

" Could you build a boat 1 " asked his father.

" Yes, I'm sure I could, and I will too, if you only give me leave. I know the use of tools."

"But New Orleans is a long way off, and Abe is young," objected Mrs. Lincoln. " I don't think I could give my consent."

" I will not go unless you do, mother," said the lad ; " but I should like to go very much. I want to see the world a little, and this will give me an opportunity."

" We could do a good deal better if we had more money," said Mr. Lincoln.

"Abe might get it this way."

" That is what I want to do, father. It is time I did more than I can do at home. You are not afraid to trust me, are you, mother V

" Not at all, my boy ; you will do what is right I know, for you are steady enough. You would not take to drinking whisky."

" Not I. I have never tasted it, and do not intend to do so."

" But if any harm should come to you, Abe, the extra money would do us very little good."

" But what harm will come % Let me try."

"Very well, you may try."

Abraham at once set to work. He had not many tools, but he was expert in the use of them, and was indeed rather fond of showing his mechanical skill. He lost no time in building a boat, and made it as complete as he could. When it was nearly finished, a steamer stopped opposite the place where he was at work. Two gentlemen wanted to be taken on board.

" Is that boat yours 1 " one inquired, looking at that which Abraham had made.

"Yes, sir."

"Will you take us and our luggage across to the steamer 1 "

" Certainly," said Abraham, beginning at once to shoulder the trunks. When they were placed on the flat-boat, the gentlemen sat on them. Abraham sculled them across. They sprang on the steamer, and the young man lifted the trunks on deck. Almost immediately the steamer started. But the gentlemen had forgotten to pay the young boatman, who had hoped to get some money. He thought he would remind them ; he did not expect to get much ; but he knew the service was worth something, and that he ought to get a little.