But there were things other than politics discussed at the country store, and Abe Lincoln often raised a laugh at the expense of some braggart or bully. There was "Uncle Jimmy" Larkins, who posed as the hero of his own stories. In acknowledgment of Abe"s authority as a judge of horse flesh, "Uncle Jimmy" was boasting of his horse"s superiority in a recent fox chase. But young Lincoln seemed to pay no heed. Larkins repeated:
"Abe, I"ve got the best horse in the world; he won the race and never drew a long breath."
Young Lincoln still appeared not to be paying attention. "Uncle Jimmy"
persisted. He was bound to make Abe hear. He reiterated:
"I say, Abe, I have got the best horse in the world; after all that running he never drew a long breath."
"Well, Larkins," drawled young Lincoln, "why don"t you tell us how many _short_ breaths he drew." The laugh was on the boastful and discomfited Larkins.
TRYING TO TEACH ASTRONOMY TO A YOUNG GIRL
Abe"s efforts were not always so well received, for he was sometimes misunderstood. The neighbors used to think the Lincoln boy was secretly in love with Kate Roby, the pretty girl he had helped out of a dilemma in the spelling cla.s.s. Several years after that episode, Abe and Kate were sitting on a log, about sunset, talking:
"Abe," said Kate, "the sun"s goin" down."
"Reckon not," Abe answered, "we"re coming up, that"s all."
"Don"t you s"pose I got eyes?"
"Yes, I know you have; but it"s the earth that goes round. The sun stands as still as a tree. When we"re swung round so we can"t see it any more, the light"s cut off and we call it night."
"What a fool you are, Abe Lincoln!" exclaimed Kate, who was not to blame for her ignorance, for astronomy had never been taught in Crawford"s school.
THE EARLY DEATH OF SISTER NANCY
While brother and sister were working for "Old Blue Nose," Aaron Grigsby, "Nat"s" brother, was "paying attention" to Nancy Lincoln. They were soon married. Nancy was only eighteen. When she was nineteen Mrs.
Aaron Grigsby died. Her love for Abe had almost amounted to idolatry. In some ways she resembled him. He, in turn, was deeply devoted to his only sister.
The family did not stay long at Pigeon Creek after the loss of Nancy, who was buried, not beside her mother, but with the Grigsbys in the churchyard of the old Pigeon Creek meeting-house.
EARNING HIS FIRST DOLLAR
Much as Abraham Lincoln had "worked out" as a hired man, his father kept the money, as he had a legal right to do, not giving the boy any of the results of his hard labor, for, strong as he was, his pay was only twenty-five or thirty cents a day. Abe accepted this as right and proper. He never complained of it.
After he became President, Lincoln told his Secretary of State the following story of the first dollar he ever had for his own:
"Seward," he said, "did you ever hear how I earned my first dollar?"
"No," replied Seward. "Well," said he, "I was about eighteen years of age ... and had constructed a flatboat... . A steamer was going down the river. We have, you know, no wharves on the western streams, and the custom was, if pa.s.sengers were at any of the landings they had to go out in a boat, the steamer stopping and taking them on board. I was contemplating my new boat, and wondering whether I could make it stronger or improve it in any part, when two men with trunks came down to the sh.o.r.e in carriages, and looking at the different boats, singled out mine, and asked:
""Who owns this?"
"I answered modestly, "I do."
""Will you," said one of them, "take us and our trunks out to the steamer?"
""Certainly," said I. I was very glad to have a chance of earning something, and supposed that they would give me a couple of "bits." The trunks were put in my boat, the pa.s.sengers seated themselves on them, and I sculled them out to the steamer. They got on board, and I lifted the trunks and put them on deck. The steamer was moving away when I called out:
""You have forgotten to pay me."
"Each of them took from his pocket a silver half-dollar and threw it on the bottom of my boat. I could scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up the money. You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day--that by honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time."
CHAPTER VIII
MOVING TO ILLINOIS
"FOLLOWING THE RIVER"
Thomas Lincoln had become restless again. Fourteen years was a long time for him to live in one place. Abe was seven years old when they came over from Kentucky, and he was now nearly twenty-one. During that time Thomas had lost his wife, Nancy, and his only daughter, who bore her mother"s name. While the land he had chosen was fertile enough, the want of water had always been a sad drawback. The desire to try his fortunes in a newer country had taken possession of him.
John Hanks had gone to Illinois, and had written back that everything was more favorable there for making a living. Thomas Lincoln had not been successful in Indiana. His children"s prospects seemed to be against them. After working as a hired hand on the surrounding farms, Abe had served for a time as a ferryman, and, working by the river, had learned to build the boat with which he had earned his first dollar.
As George Washington longed to go to sea, Abraham Lincoln seems to have yearned to "follow the river." He tried to hire out as deck hand, but his age was against him. He soon had a chance to go "down river" to New Orleans, with his friend, Allen Gentry, the son of the man for whom Gentryville was named. Allen afterward married Kate Roby. A flatboat belonging to Allen"s father was loaded with bacon and other farm merchandise for the southern market. Allen went in charge of the expedition, and young Lincoln was engaged as "bow hand." They started in April, 1828. There was nothing to do but steer the unwieldy craft with the current. The flatboat was made to float down stream only. It was to be broken up at New Orleans and sold for lumber.
The two young men from Indiana made the trip without incident until they came to the plantation of Madame d.u.c.h.esne, six miles from Baton Rouge, where they moored their raft for the night. There they heard the stealthy footsteps of midnight marauders on board.
Young Gentry was first aroused. He sprang up and found a gang of lawless negroes on deck, evidently looking for plunder, and thinking so many of them could easily cow or handle the two white men.
"Bring the guns, Abe!" shouted Allen. "Shoot them!" Abraham Lincoln was among them, brandishing a club--they had no guns. The negroes were frightened not only by the fierce, commanding form of their tall adversary, but also by his giant strength. The two white men routed the whole black crew, but Abraham Lincoln received a wound in the encounter, and bore the scar of it to his dying day.
The trip required about three months, going and returning, and the two adventurers from Gentryville came back in June, with good stories of their experiences to tell in Jones" store.
Not long after this Thomas Lincoln, in response to an urgent invitation from John Hanks, decided to move to Illinois. It took a long time, after gathering in the fall crops, for Thomas Lincoln to have a "vandoo" and sell his corn and hogs. As for selling his farm, it had never really belonged to him. He simply turned it over to Mr. Gentry, who held a mortgage on it. It was February, 1830, before the pioneer wagon got under way. The emigrant family consisted of Thomas Lincoln and Sarah, his wife, Abraham, and John Johnston; Sarah and Matilda Johnston were both married, and, with their husbands, a young man named Hall and Dennis Hanks, formed the rest of the party. The women rode with their household goods in a great covered cart drawn by two yoke of oxen.
A TRAVELING PEDDLER
Merchant Jones, for whom Abe had worked that fall and winter, after his return from New Orleans, sold the young man a pack of "notions" to peddle along the road to Illinois. "A set of knives and forks," related Mr. Jones" son afterward, "was the largest item on the bill. The other items were needles, pins, thread, b.u.t.tons, and other little domestic necessities. When the Lincolns reached their new home, Abraham wrote back to my father stating that he had doubled his money on his purchases by selling them along the road. Unfortunately we did not keep that letter, not thinking how highly we would prize it afterward."
In the early days of his presidency, an international problem came before the cabinet which reminded Mr. Lincoln of an experience he had on this journey, so he told the several secretaries this story:
"The situation just now reminds me of a fix I got into some thirty years ago when I was peddling "notions" on the way from Indiana to Illinois. I didn"t have a large stock, but I charged large prices and I made money.
Perhaps you don"t see what I am driving at.
"Just before we left Indiana and were crossing into Illinois we came across a small farmhouse full of children. These ranged in age from seventeen years to seventeen months, and were all in tears. The mother of the family was red-headed and red-faced, and the whip she held in her right hand led to the inference that she had been chastising her brood.
The father of the family, a meek-looking, mild-mannered, tow-headed chap, was standing at the front door--to all appearances waiting his turn!
"I thought there wasn"t much use in asking the head of that house if she wanted any "notions." She was too busy. It was evident that an insurrection had been in progress, but it was pretty well quelled when I got there. She saw me when I came up, and from her look I thought she surmised that I intended to interfere. Advancing to the doorway--roughly pushing her husband aside--she demanded my business.
""Nothing, ma"am," I answered as gently as possible. "I merely dropped in, as I came along, to see how things were going."