cutting a rough slab of wood, boring holes in the corners and making rough legs. The chairs were made much the same way. They did not have any bed-steads; but made a frame by putting holes in the logs of the house and fastening side pieces to a pole driven down into the ground, then they covered it with skin, dry leaves and some rough cloth. Little Abraham slept in the loft. He had a corner there filled with dry leaves, to which he had to climb by means of pegs driven into the logs. Their food was of the plainest kind as far as bread went, corn dodger being the most common. Wheat bread, which they called cake, they sometimes had for Sunday. Once in a while they would have potatoes for a meal; but most of the time they had fish and game, such as deer, bear, wild turkeys, ducks, etc., for all of these were plentiful there. They did not have stoves as we have; but used a large fireplace built of brick or stone in the side of the log house. They had what was called a Dutch oven to do the baking. They did not have the many cooking vessels we have now and hence did not have the variety of food. They raised their own indigo with which they colored the cloth they made. They also used sumac berries and white walnut bark to color. They raised some cotton, which they would put near the fireplace, to keep warm and make it sweat, and then card it, spin it and finally color it. This would make what they called a pretty linsey dress or suit. They had to make their own soap by taking the fat of hogs and boiling it in a kettle with lye. Abraham's clothes were often made of deerskin, and he wore a coonskin for a cap.

One October day, a few of the friends of the Lincolns gathered around an open grave under a large cypress tree, and they buried the mother of Abraham Lincoln. They had lived but two years is that southern Indiana home. When all the others had gone away, and the shades of night were coming on, little Abraham threw himself on the new made grave and wept hours, for the greatest sadness and loss that could come to him was the death of his mother. Mother does more for us than any one else; when we are helpless she cares for us, and waits on us, and teaches us and does more for us than we can ever do for her. When a boy or girl loses his mother, he loses the one who will always do the most for him. It was not strange then that this little ten year old boy should feel so sad, when he knew he never could have the kind care of his own mother again. There were no preachers there who could perform the ceremony at the burial; but Abraham wrote to an old preacher friend down in Kentucky, one of those circuit riders I told you about, and many months later, he came and preached the funeral sermon. The man's name was David Elkin. At this time, all the friends from far and near came to hear the funeral sermon.

Some time after his wife's death, Thomas Lincoln went back to Kentucky, and there married a widow, Mrs. Sallie Johnson, who with her three children, came to the log cabin home near Gentryville, where had been left little Abraham and Sarah. Mrs. Johnson had a nice lot of household furniture, and when she came, she brought it with her. There was a bureau, table, set of chairs, clothes chest, knives and forks and bedding. All of these seemed wonderfully nice to Abraham and Sarah, for they did not have them before. Thomas Lincoln built a new log cabin house that had four sides and a kind of door and window in it. They also put a floor in the cabin made of slabs, and put plastering between the cracks in the logs. A feather bed was made for the children to sleep on. The step-mother was very good to them and took much interest in Abraham's studies. They did not have many books at that time; but Abraham was a great reader, and borrowed from all the neighbors. The books he was most familiar with, were the Bible, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Weems' Life of Washington and the poems of Robert Burns. He did not have many books, and he read the ones he had over and over again, and became very familiar with them. Edward Eggelston, the author of the famous book "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," was one time confined by a storm in a house where the only books they had were the Bible and a dictionary. He said he learned more in those three days than in any other three days of his life. There has been no statesman who quoted the Bible so well as Mr. Lincoln, and the reason is, that he studied the Bible thoroughly when a small boy. Hardly any of his speeches but have many quotations from the Bible. His step-mother urged him all she could to study. In reading the life of Washington, he came to think he might make something out of himself. At this time, they were poor, and there were few opportunities, and the chances for becoming a great and prominent man seemed very small; yet young Abraham thought if he would study hard, he might make something out of himself, and so he did. The school was very small, and as he had to work a great deal of the time on the farm, he could not attend it very much; but at night, he would often, after working hard all day, lie in front of the fireplace and figure on a piece of board. When he had used up all the space he scraped it off, and figured again. He would also read books by this same light. One night while reading the Life of Washington, lying in bed, he placed the book in the crack between the logs and went to sleep. In the night, it snowed, and some snow drifted between the logs on the book and injured it a great deal. It was borrowed from one of the neighbors. Abraham took it to the owner, and asked him what he could do to pay for it, and the man said he could work three days on the farm, and Abraham asked him if that would pay for the injury or pay for the book. The man said, "Well Abraham, you may have the book, I do not want it." Perhaps not many of us would be willing to work that hard to get the Life of Washington; but it was that very hard work and liking to study that made it possible for Mr. Lincoln to rise from such humble surroundings to be the great man he was. If he had not worked hard and studied in that way, he never could have become great. We cannot amount to much of anything if we are not willing, as boys and girls, to study and work.

He was always a good speller in school. They used to stand up in two rows and spell down. When you failed on the word, you sat down and the next one had a chance at it. A girl was trying to spell "definite," she was afraid she would miss it and she became nervous, and was about to spell it with a "y," when Abraham, who was standing across the room, put his finger up to his eye, giving her a sign, and then she knew it was "i" instead of "y." Abraham also made a habit of committing to memory pieces out of the books he was reading, and thus it became possible in after years for him to use fine quotations in his speeches. He was one of the best scholars in school. He was also noted for keeping his clothes clean longer than the others. Sometimes when Abraham was plowing in the field, at the end of a long row, the horse was allowed to rest, and he would then get his book from the corner of the fence and read a little, until it was time to start again. His father did not want him to do so much reading because he thought he was neglecting the necessary work; but his step-mother persuaded his father that Abraham was a good boy and ought to be allowed to read all he could, because it would make a better man of him. A Mr. Jones, who kept a store in Gentryville took about the only paper that was received there, and Abraham used to go into the store regularly to borrow it. He would often read aloud to the men who gathered there, and make comments. He was so bright in this that there would always be a great crowd around to listen to him. Abraham was a great story teller, and would give them many a hearty laugh with the stories he could tell. Special subjects were also much discussed. About this time, a few people began to claim that negro slavery was a bad thing, and there was general discussion over it. Slavery was universally common in the South. One question of debate was, which