c* * A «W C° d- £• vv 'cC^WA° ^r. cy *r r oK ■• ;■ ,^ v /i&£i> °v . of Xincoln paine publishing Company Dayton, ©bio OUR NEW SERIES OF Five Cent Classics The list comprises Fables and Myths, Biographies, Nature Stories, ana Stories of Geography, History and the Industries, as well as selections from leading authors and poets. Each booklet contains about 32 pages of choice material for Supplementary Reading and Study. They are well edited and carefully graded, are printed from new type, are splendidly illustrated, and have attractive and durable covers printed in colors. They are used by progressive schools throughout the country. FIRST GRADE — (Large Type) Fables— 1. Old Fables — ^Esop The Fisherman and the Little Fish, The Ox and the Frog, The Horse and the Donkey, The Man and His Goose, The Peacock 2. Stories from Andersen — I The Constant Tin Soldier, The Storks, The Toad, The Princess and the Pea 3. Nursery Tales Tom Thumb, The Foolish Weather Vane, The Little Half Chick, The Little Pine Tree Nature— 4. Animal Stories History Stories— 5. Boyhood Stories — I Columbus, Washington, etc. Geography— 6. Children of Many Lands — I A Queer Little Eskimo SECOND GRADE Fairy Stories— 7. Stories from Andersen — II The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Snow Man, Five Peas in a Pod 8. Grimm's Fairy Tales The Three Feathers, The Town Musician, The Brave Little Tailor, The Three Spinners Nature — 9. Bird Stories — I Two Dear Neighbors: The Robin and Bluebird 10. Adventures of a Brownie Geography— 11. Children of Many Lands — II Ten Little Indians History and Biography— 14. Story of New England Religious Persecution, The May- flower. Miles Standish and Indian Warfare, Story of Priscilla 15. Boyhood Stories — II Franklin, John Adams, Jefferson etc. THIRD GRADE Myths— 16. Myths 17. 18. Yesterday — I Yesterday — II of Indian Myths of Greek Stories from Andersen — III The Little Match Girl, The Fir Tree, The Flax, The Real Princess Nature— 19. Bird Stories — II The Sparrow Family 20. Studies of Plant Life Geography— 21. Children of Many Lands — III Kenjiro, the Japanese Boy 22. Story of Glass History and Biography— 24. The Story of Virginia Lost Colony of Roanoke, Virginia Dare, Captain John Smith and Po- cahontas, First Law-making Body in America 25. Story of Independence — I Boston Tea Party, Battles of Lex- ington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, Washington takes Command of Army 26. Story of Independence — II The Declaration of Independence. Battle of Long Island, Battle of Trenton. Winter at Valley Forge, Washington defeats the English in the Middle Colonies 27. Story of Independence — III Revolution in the Southern Colon- ies closing with Battle of Yorktown Art— 29. Story of Landseer SCHOOL CLASSIC SERIES Story of Lincoln By Harriet G. Reiter PAINE PUBLISHING COMPANY DAYTON. OHIO -K Copyright, 1910, By Paine Publishing Company STORY OF LINCOLN ©CI.A259857 Abraham Lincoln The Story of Lincoln Nearly three hundred years ago a Dutch ship sailed up the river to Jamestown bearing a strange cargo. The cargo was twenty negroes, and they were sold as slaves to the colonists. This was the way in which negro slavery began in this country. The buying and selling of men and making them serve their masters without pay went on for many years. As the United States grew larger this traffic in men grew until at last people began to be afraid slavery would spread over all the country. At first only a few people thought slavery was wrong. These talked and wrote about it until more and more people joined them in this belief. The quarrel grew and grew and waged fiercely between the people who believed in slavery and those who did not. Then at last this country was plunged into a cruel war. The Northern people who wished to put an end to slavery fought against the Southern people who owned the slaves. This Avar lasted several years. Many brave men died and many precious lives were 1 lost that the negro might be free. The man who did more than any other to free the slaves and keep this country as one nation was Abraham Lincoln. As long as this country stands, the world will look up to and honor him not only for what he did for our country, but because, also, all his STORY OF LINCOLN life he stood for honor, honest} 7 , uprightness, and truth. Abraham Lincoln was born in a home of poverty and ignorance in Kentucky, February 12, 1809. His grandfather had moved over the mountains from Vir- ginia when the land was a wilderness. Buffalo roamed over the bluegrass fields and cruel savages lurked in the forests. White men in their rude dress of skins had always to be on the watch against an Indian attack. The elder Lincoln settled on a farm and began to clear the land. One day when he was going to his work with his three boys, a shot rang out in the quiet woods and he fell dead. One of the boys started to run to the nearest fort for help. Another rushed to the cabin for a gun. Seizing the rifle, he peeped out through a crack and saw an Indian stoop over his baby brother. To save him he must kill the savage. He aimed at a white ornament on the breast of his foe, and fortunately his shot went true, the Indian lay dead, and little Thomas was saved. Yes, saved to be the father of Abraham Lincoln. Little Thomas's mother moved to another county and the child grew Tip very ignorant and poor. He could not read or write until his wife taught him to write his name, and he did this very badly. He was a "wandering laboring" boy, honest and sober, and finally became a carpenter, but was never a very good one. He married Nancy Hanks when he was twenty- eight and she was twentv-three. There was bear meat, venison, and wild turkey at their wedding STORY OF LINCOLN STORY OF LINCOLN feast. Maple sugar hung from a string, and when any one wanted a bite he took it. A sheep was cooked whole over a pit of coals. Some of the dishes were made of gourds. Thomas Lincoln took his young wife to a rude little cabin with only one room, but he was not so poor, for he had a "good feather bed, a loom, and a wheel," to say nothing of a cow. But work was scarce tor a car- penter, and after a baby came to the little home the cabin was too small, so they moved to a farm. There, in a rude hut, Abraham Lincoln was born. This cabin Thomas Lincoln had built with his ax and saw. Its roof was made of thin boards split from oak cut in short pieces. Stout poles, laid across and fastened securely, held them in place. A great chim- ney stood at one end built of small logs laid crosswise like a cob house and daubed with mud inside. Iron was scarce, so everything had to be put together with wooden pegs. The door was hung on wooden hinges and a wooden shutter closed the window that had no glass in it. This shutter was held in place with raw- hide thongs. Abraham's chief playmate was his little sister, two years older than himself. The lonely forest around their home was their playground. We can think of little Abe and his sister picking berries in summer and gathering nuts in the autumn, making friends with the squirrels and birds, or gathering wild flowers through the woods. Toys they had hone, for there was no money to buy anything. Their father's gun kept them in meat, their mother's busy fingers spun and wove their clothing. STORY OF LINCOLN By and by Zacharia Riuey came to the neighbor- hood and opened a little school. There were no free schools at that time in Kentucky; parents had to pa} r for sending their children. Poor as the Lincolns were, the mother determined to send Abraham and his sister to school to Zachariah Riney. We know very little about him except his name, and still less about the school. The schoolhonses of that time looked much like the houses. They were built of round logs and the cracks between were chinked with clay. Inside, the bark on the logs made the walls; overhead, it was all open to the roof. The window was covered by greased paper. The ] >aper let in more light when greased, and did not tear so easily. The floor, if the school had one, was made of logs split in half and pegged down with the flat side up. Long pegs were driven into the wall and boards laid across them for desks. The children sat on benches with no backs, or else on seats made of logs with slanting legs stnck into auger holes. There were no maps or blackboards, and very few books. The teachers knew but very little more than the scholars. 9 STORY OF LINCOLN About this time the United States was having a war with England, and of course little Abe had heard his people talking of it. Many years afterward he told this story: "I had been fishing one day and caught a little fish, which I was taking home. I met a soldier in the road, and, having been told that we must be good to the soldiers, I gave him my fish." When the little lad was seven years old, his father decided to move to Indiana. He built a raft and loaded his tools and rowed across the river. There he selected a home in the unbroken forest and re- turned for his family. After crossing the river, all they had was loaded on the backs of two borrowed horses, and little Abe and his sister trudged away behind their parents toward their new home. The undergrowth was so thick in the trackless woods that the pathway had to be cut with an ax. Three days it took to make the journey of only eighteen miles. When the family reached the place Thomas Lin- coln had chosen, there was no shelter of any kind. They set to work at once and cut down young sap- lings to build an open-faced camp. This was a sort of shed enclosed on three sides, with one side left open to the weather. And this poor place, "less snug than the winter cave of a bear," was their home for a year. Little Abe could already swing an ax and was a great help to his father in cutting down the under- brush and planting the corn and potatoes. After the freezing storms of the next winter had passed, the Lincolns moved into a new cabin. But this was only a little better than the open-faced camp. It had no 10 STORY OF LINCOLN floor, 110 door, or window. There was not even a skin to hang over the hole used for a door. Two poles were driven into the logs of the only room, for a bed- stead. When Abe wanted to go to bed he had to climb up some pegs driven into the wall, to a loit where he slept on a bed of leaves. They did not have an earthen dish. Their table was set with tin and pewter and gourds. They tried to raise corn enough tor their bread, and also some potatoes, but it was not always easy to build a fire without any matches, so the potatoes were sometimes eaten raw. Lincoln spoke of this time sadl v as ' ' a pretty pinching time. " After two years of this hard life, Mrs. Lincoln took sick. No doctor was nearer than thirtv-nve miles. Mr. Lincoln and his little ones had to look on help- lessly while she grew worse and worse. Abe, crying, knelt by his dying mother. She put her hand on his head and begged him to be good to his sister and father, and to worship God. Mr. Lincoln cut down a tree and made a rude cottm, and poor Nancv Lincoln was buried, without a praver on a little knoll in the forest. Some tune after, it is said, little Abe induced a traveling preacher to hold services over his mother's grave. The poor home was indeed desolate without a mother, and after a time Mr. Lincoln went back to Kentucky and returned with a new mother for his children." And now a much happier and pleasanter time was in store for the Lincoln children. The new mother brought her possessions on a four- horse wagon, and the cabin became much more com- n $&&&![■'■ ,y.v . i "V •- ' ( " w:- — - - v.nv'«g^| -j^^Hr H^ ' fpSaP^ ■Hj*^5 1 . li ■sBHtSTV-?''' : HWk^tJSI " Mir.-' ?;;■ ■ A'\/ :t » ■ ■•' -• '.A '*& "'^'^ i, ; f; bj K?^ : *^ii g . i s ' mil* ' I'liMinr i ,:■'■'* ^^%fcv*y^ ^ ^^Sm i^^#.fe^^U^a** ll 1 i 12 STORY OF LINCOLN fortable. Thomas was made to lay a floor and hang a door. The forlorn, neglected little lad had a feather bed to take the place of his leaves in the loft, and then there were blankets and quilts and even a pillow for his head. The children were given a good scrubbing. The new mother threw away Abe's old deerskin shirt and gave him a new one of linsey-woolsey. A very tender love grew up between the lonely little boy and his stepmother. Hope and happiness once more came to the Lincolns. Abe had long since forgotten what he had learned at the Kentucky school. He was ten years old and could not write, but he could ask questions. He perched on the fence by the roadside, and, when a traveler came by, would ask questions as long as any one would answer, or until his father found him and would send him away. One day a lady had to wait at the cabin who had some books. She read stories to the children from them, and these were the first that little Abe had heard. Thus a new world was opened to him, and from that time his thirst lor knowledge never ceased. He afterward wrote of his life at this time: "It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There T grew up. There were some schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond 'readin', writing and cipherin' to the rule of three." Whenever a teacher came in the neighborhood, Mrs. Lincoln insisted on the children going to school. This was sometimes hard, for the father did not 13 STORY OF LINCOLN believe in schools or education, and wanted the boys to help him on the farm. But, every chance he had, Abe went to school. One time he had a nine-mile walk to and from school, with only a corn-dodger in his pocket for a lunch. All day Sunday he. was at his books, and Saturday between his chores. This made trouble, for his father hated the sight of a book, and his mother had to beg for him to be allowed to read. He did his sums on a wooden shovel with a piece of charcoal, and, when the wood was covered with figures, scraped them off and began again. He covered the walls and boards with his writing. good He became such a speller that they would not have him in the spelling matches any more. His writ- ing was so good that he became the letter-writer for the family "He did his sums on a wooden , ,-. . , ■, -, -, ttti shovel" and the neighborhood. W hen- ever he heard of a book, he went straight away and borrowed it, and never stopped until he knew it thoroughly from cover to cover. In this way he read Pilgrim's Progress, iEsop's Fables, Robinson Crusoe, and Weem's Washington. He kept a notebook and wrote about things he read. "His pen was made of a turkey quill, and the ink from the juice of a brier root." It made him angry to hear or read anything he could not under- stand. He never rested until he found the meaning 14 STORY OF LINCOLN and was able to give the same thought in his own words. When he was reading Weem's Washington, he stuck the book in a crack of the wall in his loft. A rain came up that night and the book was soaked. The man who owned it made him pull fodder three days to pay for it. But, anyway, the borrowing went on until he was sure he had read every book for fifty miles around. Altogether, Lincoln attended school only about a year, and this was snatched a few weeks at a time until he was nineteen years old. His father was so very poor and needed his help. He was hired out to work for the neighbors at twenty-five cents a day, and his father got the money. Indeed, Abe did not need it, for in the wilderness what would he do with pocket money if he had it % He had a great gift for story-telling, and some- times, mounting a stump in a field, he gathered the hands about him and kept them roaring with laugh- ter until the enraged farmer appeared. In every crossroads store he was welcome because the loafers there loved to listen to him, sometimes until after midnight. He was six feet four inches tall and was very strong. Many tales are told of the great feats of strength he performed. One man said that when he was at work in a clearing you would think six men were swinging axes by the way the trees fell. While these things are interesting, it is of more worth to know that he had a kindly, tender nature. He wrote 15 STORY OF LINCOLN an essay on cruelty to animals long before there were any societies formed to protect our dumb friends. When Abe was twenty-one, his father, restless as ever, decided to move to Illinois. The household goods were loaded on a wagon drawn by an ox-team driven by young Abe. They found a place for the new home on the bank of the Sangamon River. Abe helped clear the land and fence it. He then being past twenty-one, his work no longer belonging to his father, started in life for himself, his ax over his shoulder and all he owned in a little bundle. At first he found such odd jobs as he could about the neighborhood. One bargain he made was with Mrs. Nancy Miller "to split four hundred rails for every yard of brown jeans dyed with Avhite walnut that would be necessary to make a pair of trousers." However, Lincoln never cared much about his dress. One person, in writing of him at this time, has said: "He wore a scant pair of trousers, hitched by a single suspender over his shirt, and so short as to expose, at the lower end, half a dozen inches of shinbone, sharp, blue, and narrow." Several months after leaving home, Denton Qffut employed him to take a cargo of hogs, pork, and corn down the river to New Orleans. On this trip Lincoln saw slavery at its worst. He visited the slave market and saw men and women being sold like they were cattle. Several years after, in again going down the river, there were several negroes shackled together with irons. Of this he wrote to 'i friend: "That sight was a continual torment to me; and T see something like 16 STORY OF LINCOLN it every time I touch the Ohio or any other slave border. It is not fair for you to assume that I have no interest in a thing which has and continually exer- cises the power of making me miserable." After returning from taking the flat boat down the river, Mr. Offut started a general store 4 and put Lin- coln in charge. But it must be confessed that he was not a great success as a storekeeper. He read con- tinually. A customer was very apt to find him stretched out on the counter studying a grammar he had walked six miles to borrow. Perhaps he would not be in the store at all, but out in the grass working sums on wrapping-paper. But he always had time to cut wood tor a poor widow or sit up with a sick child. And then he was honest. A woman once by mistake overpaid him fourpence. She lived several miles away, but Lin- coln walked out and paid her the money before Ik 1 slept that night. Another time he found lie had used too small a weight in weighing tea. This mistake was also made right at once. This was the chief trait of his character always— honesty. He was honest in all ways and in all things. He was honest in his speech and in his thoughts, as well as in his acts. So what better name could be found for him than "Honest Abe"? And by this he was known to all the country round. In less than a year OfTut failed and Lincoln was out of employment. The Indians were giving trouble and the governor asked for volunteers and Abe en- listed. When the time came to choose a captain, there were two men for the place, Lincoln and one 17 STORY OF LINCOLN 18 STORY OF LINCOLN other. They stood a short distance apart, and the men went over to the one they chose. When they were through, Lincoln had three-fourths and the other only one-fourth of the men. He afterward said that nothing that had ever happened to him gave him so much pleasure. But Lincoln was not even in any engagement, so he did not get any military glory. He was known, though, as a good comrade and the best story-teller in the camp. At the close of the war he went into the grocery business with a partner. Neither had any money, so they gave notes for the amounts they owed. In a barrel of odds and ends Lincoln found an old law book. Then, lying on his back on the ground, his feet against a tree, swinging around the trunk to keep in the shade, he read and read until he had mastered the book. This was the turning-point in his life; hereafter all spare time was spent in reading- law. He walked many miles to borrow his law books from a friend, and the tall, poorly-dressed fellow, walking along the roads reading, became a familiar sight to many. But Lincoln had no head for business and his part- ner drank, so the store soon "winked out," leaving him with a large debt to pay. That is, it was large for him, for money was scarce and labor very poorly paid. " Honest Abe" went to see all the men he owed and told them he would pay them all he could earn outside of his living expenses. It took him many years, and the debt looked so big to him that he always called it "the national debt." 19 STORY OP LINCOLN Good luck came his way and he was appointed postmaster of New Salem. There was not much work about this, for newspapers were scarce and letters few. It cost six cents to send a letter less than thirty miles, and for a long distance, twenty cents or more. Lincoln carried the post-office in his hat and gave the letters out to the people as he met them. At last the post-office also "winked out." He owed the Government about sixteen dollars. Several years afterward, when he was practicing law in Springfield, the Government agent came to him to settle. He went to his trunk, took out an old blue sock, and in it was the very money he had collected from the people of New Salem. Many, many times he had been in need and almost want, but he had never touched that money. After being postmaster he got work at surveying. He had to study very hard to fit himself for this work, and now when times were getting somewhat easy, misfortune again came. His horse and saddle and even his surveying instruments were seized for debt. But friends, for which he never lacked, came to his rescue and his property was returned. Lincoln never forgot any one who did him a kind- ness. At one time at New Salem a man trusted him for his board and lodging. Many years afterward he heard that this man was friendless and destitute. He made a long journey to a distant part of the State, took him from the poorhouse, and placed him in a good home Lincoln had always taken the greatest interest in jiolilics. He believed that if he could become a politi- 20 STORY OF LINCOLN cal leader he could use his influence to bring good to his fellow-men. While he made no secret that he wanted badly to hold office, he did not seem to think of his own glory, but of the good use he could make of his position. At last he was successful and was elected to the Legislature. After the election he went to a friend, Mr. Smoot, and said, "Did you vote for me?" "I did," said Smoot. "Then," said Lincoln, "you must lend me two hundred dollars." With this money he bought a good suit of clothes and rode to the capital in a stagecoach. When there, he earned four dollars a day, which was as much as he had been able to earn before in a week. Nothing of much importance took place while he was a member of the Legislature except he made a protest against slavery. This was a very brave thing to do, for at that time men were being murdered, mobbed, and driven out of the country for saying things against slavery. At twenty-eight he was admitted to the bar and was now a full-fledged lawyer. He packed all he had in a pair of saddle-bags and moved to Springfield. He went to order a bed made and found it cost seven- teen dollars. This looked like a vast sum to him, and the storekeeper, feeling sorry for him, offered to share his room over the store with Lincoln. He carried up his saddle-bags, and. coming back, smil- ingly told his friend that he was moved. In those days court was held in different towns. The lawyers traveled from town to town, wherever court was being held at that time. Sometimes Lin- 21 STORY OF LINCOLN coin traveled on horseback and sometimes in a buggy. Circuit-riding, it was called. From the very begin- ning he was the light and life of the court. His wit touched everything. There was a crowded court- room whenever it was known that Lincoln was to argue a case or make a speech. He was always careful to ask rather small fees for his work, nor would he allow his partner to charge much. One time his partner bargained to take a case for two hundred and fifty dollars. Much to every one's surprise, the case was settled in a few minutes. The man cheerfully paid over the money, Mr. Lincoln watching. When he went out, Lincoln said, "Lamon, that is all wrong. The service is not worth that sum. Give him back at least half of it." Mr. Lamon insisted that the man himself was satis- fied. "That may be," said Lincoln, angrily, "but I am not satisfied. This is positively wrong. Go, call him back and return half the money at least, or I will not receive one cent of it for mv share." Lamon had no choice but to do so. The judge then thought he would take a hand in the argument. "Lincoln, I have been watching you and Lamon. You are impoverishing this bar by your picayune charges of fees, and the lawyers have reason to complain of you. You are now almost as poor as Lazarus, and if you don't make people pay you more for your services you will die as poor as Job's turkey!" The lawyers held a mock court that evening and tried Lincoln for his "awful crime." He was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine. He did so cheer- 22 STORY OF LINCOLN fully, and then kept the lawyers in a roar of laughter until midnight. One time when the lawyers were riding to another town they stopped at a trough to water their horses. Lincoln was missing. "Where is he?" the men asked. "Oh," said the man who had been riding with him, ,k when I saw him last he had caught two young birds which the wind had blown out of their nest, and was hunting up the nest to put them back into it/' One day when he v r as riding, dressed in his best, with a party of ladies and gentlemen, they saw a pig caught in the fence and squealing with pain. Lincoln s] trang from his horse and went to the poor pig's aid. When asked why he did it, he said the misery of the brute was more than he could bear. In 1842 Lincoln had married a beautiful and witty girl named Mary Todd. She said of him that "his heart is as large as his arms are long. " She was very ambitious, and often boasted that her husband would be President of the United States. Lincoln continued to take the greatest interest in politics; indeed, he often neglected his law practice to do so. He wanted badlv to be elected to Congress. He wrote to a friend: "If you should' hear any one say that Lincoln don't want to go to Congress, I wish you, as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is, I would like to go very much." At last the time came and he was elected by a very large vote. His dearest wish had come true, but he did not care for it as much as he thought he would, 23 STORY OF LINCOLN Mary Todd Lincoln From a photograph by Brady when she was the mistress of the White House 24 STORY OF LINCOLN for he sadly said, "It has not pleased me as much as I expected." While he served his country in Washington, he gained many friends. He had only to tell his first story in the lounging-room to be known thereafter as the best story-teller in Congress. Here the great Congressional Library was a gold mine to him. The amused attendants often saw him tie up a bundle of books in his bandana handkerchief, hang it on to his cane, and stride off to his boarding-house with it over his shoulder. He was sent for to make some speeches in Massachusetts. The people flocked to hear him, and his fame grew. He offered a bill in Congress to put an end to slave trade in the District of Columbia, but it was defeated. At the close of his term he was not elected again, and had to go back to practicing law in his dingy little office in Springfield. He came home with a determination to study. He had seen the lawyers in the East and how well educated they were. At forty lie was not too old to learn, so lie went about it in the same thorough way he did everything. Night after night when lie was riding the circuit, while the judge and other lawyers Avhose room he shared lay snoring, he was reading. He lay with a candle at the head of the bed on a chair, his feet hung over the footboard. He was called sometimes to the cities to try cases, and once he had an offer to go in partnership with a great Chicago lawyer. Fortunately he refused this. He suffered a great disappointment at one time. He was employed to try a great case at Cincinnati. His employer got frightened at the last and sent for 25 STORY OF LINCOLN Edwin M. Stanton. Stanton ignored Lincoln, with his ungainly figure and uncouth dress. Lincoln heard him say, "Where did that long-armed creature come from, and what can he expect to do in this case?" He was deeply mortified, but he took the lesson to heart. He saw the eastern lawyers were better trained. "They w T ill soon be in Illinois," he said, "and I am going home to study law. I am as good as any of them, and when they get out to Illinois I shall be ready for them." Such was his brave spirit nothing could crush him. The whole country was becoming aroused by the slavery question. Nothing else was talked of. Lin- coln had never lost his interest, and now he cared for nothing else. Everything gave way to that. He ran for Congress again, and before the election he engaged in some debates with Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas was a great politician and a polished, well- educated gentleman. He was rich and could go to the meeting-places in a private car with a band of music. Lincoln was poor and had to travel any way he could. Sometimes it was in a day-coach, sometimes in the caboose of a freight train. But, once at the meeting-place, Doug- las had met his match. His arguments were so good and his questions so well formed, that Douglas found it very hard to answer him. Lincoln was defeated, but the speeches that he had made were copied all over the United States. He had found his true work, and the people began to understand what an earnest, true-hearted, and great man the humble Illinois lawyer was. 26 STORY OF LINCOLN He had to go back to his law practice, for he was sadly in need of money. ' ' Though I now sink out of view and shall be forgotten," he wrote, "I believe I have made some marks which will tell for civil lib- erty when I am gone." Before this he had said: "I know there is a God, and he hates injustice and slavery. I see the storm coming. I know his hand is in it. If he has a place and work for me, and I think he has, I believe I am ready. I am nothing, but truth is everything." When the next election came on, he was called on in many States to make speeches. "I have been a great man such a mighty little time, ' ' he said, ' ' that I am not used to it yet." When people began to talk of him as the next President, he said: "What is the use of talking of me, while we have such men as Seward and Chase ? There is no such good luck for me as the Presidency of these United States." Again he said humbly, ' ' I must in candor say that I do not think myself fit for the Presidency. ' ' Lincoln was invited to make a speech in New York. He prepared for it by diligent study. When he went upon the platform and looked over the great gather- ing of well-dressed people, he for the first time felt conscious of his own appearance. His coat collar had an unpleasant habit of flying out of place when he moved his arms, his clothing was wrinkled. But the people soon forgot all this in listening to the great speech that fell from his lips. When it was seen what power he had to influence men, he himself began to believe that he was " fit to be President." 27 STORY OF LINCOLN The Lincoln Farm in Kentucky 28 STORY OF LINCOLN When the convention met at the great wigwam in Chicago to nominate a man for President, it was a great surprise to many that Lincoln was chosen. They did not realize how he had taken hold of the hearts of the people. He waited in the newspaper office for news of the convention, and when the telegram came telling that he was nominated, he read the dispatch aloud. "There is a little woman down at our house who will like to hear this," Lincoln said. "I'll go down and tell her," and he was gone before his friends could tell him how glad they were. After he had told Mrs. Lincoln, he went upstairs and lay down on a couch. He was disturbed when he saw in a looking-glass a double image of himself. He rose and lay down again, but still he saw the second image. They were just alike except one was paler. Lincoln believed that it was a sign he would have two terms in the Presidency, but would not live to finish the second term. ' fc I am sure I shall meet with some terrible end," lie said to his partner. When the time came for the new President to go to Washington, the country was in a great turmoil. The Southern States declared they would not stay in the Union, but would withdraw and set up a government of their own. The great duty that lay before 1 jincoln was to keep these States in the Union. When he was in Pennsylvania, a plot was dis- covered that as he passed through Baltimore he was to be mobbed. It was then decided that he should take the rest of the journey to Washington secretly. When he arrived at the capital, no one knew it, and 29 STORY OF LINCOLN when the inauguration day came the streets were guarded by soldiers; every place was watched lest the angry people should kill the new President. Lincoln entered upon his work with a heavy heart. And well he might, for the black cloud of the Civil War was thickly gathering. The next month the first gun was fired on Fort Sumpter. Both North and South had hoped till now that there would be no war. But after the South began at Fort Sumpter, the whole country was aroused. Lin- coln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers. Many more came than were asked for, and the war had come in earnest. Nor was the struggle short. Many battles were fought; some were lost and some were won. Many brave men on both sides gave up their lives for a cause they loved. Many mothers lost their sons and many families were left fatherless. But through all the sorrow and anxiety, Lincoln's first thought always was, the Union must be saved at any cost. He thought of nothing else, worked only for that. At last, when exactly the right time, Sep- tember, 1862, came, he issued the Emancipation Proc- lamation that the slaves should be freed. One great grief came to Mr. Lincoln while he was in the White House. His little son, Willie, died. He loved his children passionately, and his grief was so deep that his friends feared he would neglect the great duty he owed to his country. But, as always before, he put his own feelings aside, and the work of saving the Union went on. 30 STORY OF LINCOLN When the time of his office drew to a close, it seemed doubtful if he would be nominated again. Lincoln was too busy with the war to give the matter much thought. However, against the wish of many enemies, he was nominated and afterward elected. When the time came for the second inauguration, the war was drawing to an end. But many bitter enemies surrounded the President. His life was constantly in danger. His friends knew it, but they could never make Mr. Lincoln believe it. He thought it was non- sense, and their care and watchfulness foolish. On April 14, 1865, he planned to go to the theater with Mrs. Lincoln. General and Mrs. Grant were to go with them, but were called elsewhere. About nine o'clock the President and his party entered their box. A flag draped the front in his honor. In a little while the people heard a shot and saw a man leap from the box and run across the stage. Abraham Lincoln had been shot and the assassin was fleeing for his life. The President was carried across the street and in the morning he died. He had finished his work. He had saved the Union. He had freed the slaves. 31 Five Cent Classics (Continued) FOURTH GRADE 41. 42 Legends— 30. Norse Legends 31. Legends of the Rhine Nature— 32. Bird Stories— III The Woodpecker Family Geography— 34. Story of Coal 35. Story of Cotton 37. Animals of the Hot Belt 38. Animals of the Cold Belt History and Biography— 39. Story of Washington 40. Story of Linco? Great Inventors — I Watt, Stephenson, Fulton Great Naval Commanders Jones, Perry, Farragut Literature— 43. Studies of the Poets — I Longfellow Art— 44. Story of Raphael FIFTH GRADES Nature— 45. Bird Stories— IV Some Bird Weavers: Orioles and Vireos Geography — 46. Children of Many Lands — V A Child of the Philippines 47. Story of Canada 48. Story of Silk History and Biography— 50. Great Inventors — II Morse, Field, F.dison 51. Great Statesmen Clay, Calhoun, Webster Literature— 54. Studies of the Poets — II Whittier One copy del. to Cat. Div. I grade: Stories — V SIXTH Nature— 57. Bird A Charming Group: Indigo Bird, Summer Yellowbird, Swallow Geography— 58. Children of Many Lands — VI A Little Chinese Girl Literature—* 63. Studies of the Poets — III Holmes 64. Rip Van Winkle (Irving) 65. Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Irving) 66. The Pied Piper of Hamelln (Bryant) Rab and His Friends 79. Art— 67. Story of Reynolds . SEVENTH GRADE Literature— 68. Studies of the Poets — IV Lowell 69. Courtship of Miles Standish (Longfellow) 70. Evangeline (Longfellow) 71. The Great Stone Face (Hawthorne) 72. Snow Bound (Whittier) 73. Selections from the Merchant of Venice EIGHTH GRADE Literature— 74. Stories of King Arthur 75. Enoch Arden (Tennyson) 76. Vision of Sir Launfal (Lowell) 77. The Cotter's Saturday Night (Burns) 78. Speeches of Lincoln PS PER DOZEN, $5 PER HUNDRED for less than 5 copies. Order by number. SHING COMPANY i, Ohio G \. '» • » * o *> v % ^ v*«^ V n * o_ V J ^v ^o^ ^- -^ « c ,4^ -* * H ' A V o V'*.TT>\^ >o \*° ,*' ^ ^0^ <*" ♦ < % ■ ** v * N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962 ° ,•■: w S9L2ZS8 UOO ssaaoNoodOAHvaan