THE STORY OF THE MARTYRED PRESIDENT,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

BY MISS FRANCES M. PERRY.

CHAPTER I.

AN UNPROMISING START IN LIFE.

THE child was small to be alone in the forest. He seemed quite as much at home there, and looked almost as wild and tiny as a rabbit, as he darted along the shady deer-trail.

His little brown arms and legs were tanned till they were wellnigh as dark as the scant deer-skin garment he wore. No hat covered the shock of straight black hair that hung over his eyes.

He was scampering along at a lively pace, for he had caught a fish, and was taking it home for his mother to cook for his supper,

but he paused as he saw a strange man coming toward him.

At sight of the small sportsman the stranger stopped, too, and remarked, “That's a fine fish you have there, my boy." A smile lighted up the thin, dark face of the child. "Take it, sir, you're a soldier," he answered, gazing reverently at the dust-covered uniform of an infantryman of the War of 1812.

"What will your mother say if I take your fish?" asked the soldier, in some surprise. "She says soldiers are brave, and we must be kind to them," answered the lad, still offering the fish.

The man took it, saying it would make a hungry man a good supper. The boy ran on with a light heart to the little cabin in the clearing. He ate his supper of potatoes, which had been baked in the ashes of the hearth, with a good appetite while he told his adventure with the soldier.

The boy was Abraham Lincoln. The cabin in the clearing was the Kentucky home near Hodgensville, where he was born on the twelfth

day of February, 1809. The small hut, fourteen feet square, made of rough logs, without floor, without doors or windows, was little better than an Indian's lodge.

There were a few acres of corn growing back of the cabin, and there was a carpenter's bench near the doorway. But the bench was often idle and the weeds choked the corn, while Thomas Lincoln, a Rip-Van-Winkle sort of a man, was off in the woods with his dog and gun hunting wild turkey.

He had lived in Kentucky all his life. He could remember seeing his own father shot by an Indian while he was working in the field with his sons, not far from the fort. He had grown to manhood on the frontier, but, unlike many of his thrifty neighbors, he had not profited by the many opportunities to buy a good farm, and was still miserably poor.

Sometimes he resolved to go to work, to pay off his debts, and save a little money. After such a resolution he worked with a will for a time and accomplished a great deal, for he was unusually strong. But he lacked persistence,

and soon lost interest and slipped back into his old idle habits.

Little "Abe" liked to hear the stories his father had to tell about hunting and Indians; he liked to hear his father laugh at his pert remarks; he liked his rough caresses. But there were times when he avoided his strong hand, which to-day might be raised to strike him for some prank that yesterday would have brought only laughter.

But the gaunt, unsmiling mother had a gentle touch, and her anger was not easily roused. What was she thinking about while she hoed the corn and cured the skins and cooked the meals? Sometimes she talked to Abraham and his sister about the future. She hoped they would learn to read and write and that they would grow up to be very wise and good.

When a school was opened in the neighborhood, Mrs. Lincoln wished to send the children. Mr. Lincoln did not think it a matter of importance. His wife could read and write. She had taught him to write his name. She

could teach the children, when they were older, all they needed to know. But when Mrs. Lincoln had made up her mind to do a thing she was not easily discouraged; and her two children were among the boys and girls and the young men and women who gathered at the log school-house to learn the alphabet and master the spelling-book.

School was only open for a few weeks at a time, however, and most of Abraham Lincoln's days in Kentucky were spent in the forest, either alone or with his sister. When he was seven years old his father moved to a farm in Indiana, where land was cheap and game more abundant.

To move his family and household goods Thomas Lincoln borrowed two horses. One of them was loaded with a clumsy burden of kettles, pans, stools, and dressed skins. On the other the members of the family took turns riding. Though but a little boy, Abe showed great strength and endurance on the journey, and trudged along for hours together without making the least complaint.