he picked up his saddle bags and his little bundle of clothing, and without saying another word went up stairs, set down his little bundles, came down, his face all smiles, and said, "Well, Speed, I'm moved."

Here, boys and girls, ends the story of Abraham Lincoln's youth and young manhood. He was now twenty-eight years of age, but had just begun his life work. The story of his life is indeed what he himself said it was: "The short and simple annals of the poor!"

We may do no better than to close this part of the story of his life with the words of Elbridge S. Brooks:

"You see now, do you not, what pluck and perseverance will do? You know how Abraham Lincoln started in the world; how he came from the poorest and most unpromising beginnings; how poverty and ignorance and unfavorable surroundings and awkwardness and lack of good looks could not keep him down, because he was determined to raise himself and become somebody.

In all the history of America there has been no man who started lower and climbed higher than Abraham Lincoln, the backwoods boy. He never 'slipped back.' He always kept going ahead. He broadened his mind enlarged his outlook, and led his companions rather than let them lead him. He was jolly company, good-natured, kind-hearted, fond of jokes and stories and a good time generally, but he was the champion of the weak, the friend of the friendless, as true a knight and as full of chivalry as any of the heroes in armor of whom you read in 'Ivanhoe' or 'The Talisman.' He never cheated, never lied, never took an unfair advantage of anyone; but he was ambitious, strong-willed, a bold fighter and a tough adversary -a fellow who would 'never say die;' and who, therefore, succeeded.

Take well to heart, boys and girls of America, the story of the plucky boy who, upon what, seventy years ago, was the outskirts of civilization, was all unconsciously training himself to be the American."-From "The True Story of Abraham Lincoln," Lathrop Publishing Co., Boston.

More of his life and labors may not be given here. You will get a good idea of his noble character by a study of his own words gathered from his letters and speeches and from what great men say of him. When you have the opportunity you will read a complete life of this great and good man.

II.

WORDS OF LINCOLN.

One of the best ways to get acquainted with Abraham Lincoln is to read his own words. There are two reasons for this. In the first place, while he was called upon in the course of his life to deal with some of the most difficult questions that have ever been discussed in America, what he said and wrote was so simple, so direct, and so clear that almost anybody could understand him. In the second place, his letters, speeches, and State papers bear everywhere the stamp of that quality which, when he was twenty-four years old, had won for him the homely frontier title of "Honest Abe." It is, therefore, the real Lincoln that is revealed in them.

When the people began to talk about Lincoln as a possible candidate for the office of President of the United States, there was a natural desire to learn who he was, who his ancestors were, and what he had done in his early years. To one of his friends, J. W. Fell, who asked him for this kind of information, he wrote the story of his life. This is the fullest statement that he ever made. -Henry Johnson, Columbia University, New York.

LINCOLN'S OWN STORY.

I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin county, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families-secand families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, and others in Macon county, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham county, Virginia, to Kentucky about 1781 or 1782, where a year or two later he was killed by the Indians, not in a battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks county, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like.

My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer county, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin', and ciph

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erin' to the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.

I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon county. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard county, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store.

Then came the Black Hawk war; and I was elected a captain of volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the Legislature the same year (1832), and was beaten the only time I ever have been beaten by the people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections I was elected to the Legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. During this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of Congress. Was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics; and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.

If any personal description of me is thought desirable it may be said I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected. Springfield, December 20, 1859.

FAREWELL SPEECH.

[On February 11, 1861, Mr. Lincoln started for Washington to be inaugurated President, on March 4th. Just before the train started he spoke to his neighbors the following genuine, heartfelt words. It would seem that on this occasion the people would have shouted in exultation over the

victory and honor, but most of them were in tears. When he again returned to Springfield he had finished the greatest work done by an American since Washington, but he was being conveyed to his tomb. Then not only his neighbors, but the whole country was in tears.]

"My Friends: No one not in my position can realize the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. I go to assume a task far more difficult than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I can not succeed without the

same Divine blessing which sustained him; and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support. And I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance without which I can not succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell."

FROM A LETTER TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON, WASHINGTON, JULY 10, 1848. [Mr. Herndon was a young man living at Springfield. He wrote to Lincoln, who was then a member of Congress at Washington, complaining that the older men held all the places in the public service, and that a young man had no chance to rise. The older men were ungenerous and held young men back because they were young men. Mr. Lincoln gave him the following advice, which is just as good for young men today as it was then.]

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him. Allow me to assure you that suspicion and jealousy never did help a man in any situation. There may sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted injury. Cast about, and see if this feeling has not injured every person you have ever known to fall into it.

"A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND."

[On Lincoln's Nomination to the United State's Senate.]

[Before making the following statement in a speech Mr. Lincoln showed it to some of his friends. They told him it was a great mistake. It would surely defeat him for the Senate. He replied that he considered it the truth and he would rather say it and be defeated than not to say it and be elected. His judgment was correct, as was that of his friends. It defeated him, yet later it became his tower of strength and was a strong influence in his election to the Presidency.]

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, 'we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased but has constantly augmented. In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis. shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved,— I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South.-Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858.

ON MOB RULE.

[From an address before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Ill., January 27, 1837.] .

Here, then, is one point at which danger may be expected. The question recurs, how shall we fortify against it? The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and the Laws let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honour; let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, spelling-books, and in almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.

STAND BY DUTY.

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If slavery is right, all words, acts, laws, and constitutions against it are themselves wrong, and should be silenced and swept away. If it is right, we cannot justly object to its nationality, its universality; if it is wrong, they cannot justly insist upon its extension, its enlargement. All they ask, we could readily grant, if we thought slavery right. If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty fearlessly and effectively. * * Let us have faith that right makes might; and, in that faith, let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.-February, 1860.

THE MAJORITY RULES.

The only dispute on both sides is, "What are their rights?" If the majority should not rule, who should be the judge? Where is such judge to be found? We should all be bound by the majority of the American people; if not, then the minority must control. Would that be right? Would it be just or generous? Assuredly not. I reiterate that the majority should rule. If I adopt a wrong policy, the opportunity for condemnation will occur in four years' time. Then I can be turned out, and a better man, with better views, put in my place.February, 1861.