children if permitted to have His way. Nowhere in history can there be found the story of a human life which more clearly and effectively illustrates the potency of prenatal influence than does that of Abraham Lincoln and his mother. There never has been, nor will there ever be, another Abraham Lincoln. But there may and will be many others much like him if the lessons taught by his birth and character are learned and duly heeded by those for whom he lived and died.

A FORTUNATE BEGINNING

The conditions into which Abraham Lincoln entered at his birth were in every particular favorable. His parents were poor in worldly goods, but they were rich in the love and loving kindness which they lavishly bestowed upon him. Above all possible estimate it was fortunate for Abraham Lincoln, for the nation, and for all the world that he began life in such an atmosphere of peace as was that which filled the humble habitation of his early days. Between his devoted parents there was an affinity of spirit and a constancy of love and tenderness which in spite of seeming inhospitable conditions kept the infant's better nature always in comfort and content. Some, in considering this scene, think only of the earthen floor and the scant rough furniture; but during those initial hours a higher power was ministering to this child of poverty with a skill which human hands have never known.

True, there was physical discomfort in that cabin, but it made for sturdy growth of mind and body, and for the development of trust in things unseen. As the oak is toughened and made more fit for service by the cold blasts that beat against it with pitiless severity, so Abraham Lincoln was aided to become staunch and strong by the rigor of his early life.

Near the cot on which the infant slept was his mother's Bible with the truths of which she was thoroughly familiar, and his childhood's first lessons from his mother's lips were the teachings of that Book. Thoroughly and well he learned those lessons for they were taught with fervency of soul by

one who loved the sacred volume, and so effective was her work that before he learned to read the child knew from memory the pages she had read to him. His father heartily encouraged the mother's efforts to teach her children religious truth, for though he was untaught by books and schools, Thomas Lincoln was a devout Christian. Prayer and Bible study were united in this home and the growing lad, under such tuition, grew in moral stature and strength even more rapidly than he gained in physical proportions and agility.

Some have claimed that Mr. Lincoln's early life was full of hindering disadvantages in spite of which he achieved greatness by his own supreme and persevering efforts. His biographers, who were his private secretaries during all his Presidency, give the following interesting sidelight in connection with their record of his early pursuit of knowledge: "He could not afford to waste paper upon his original compositions. He would sit by the fire at night and cover the wooden shovel with essays and arithmetical exercises, which he would shave off and then begin again. It is touching to think of this great spirited child battling year after year against his evil star, wasting his ingenuity upon devices and makeshifts, his intelligence starving for want of the simple appliances of education that are now offered gratis to the poorest and most indifferent."23

This passage undoubtedly represents the prevailing thought respecting the hardships in Lincoln's early life. But there was no hiatus in the plans for Abraham Lincoln's development and training. The obstacles he encountered were stepping stones which, when surmounted, raised him to a higher level, and by stimulating to greater efforts, accomplished in him great results in soul expansion and development of mind and body. Mr. Lincoln's poise of character, which has ever been the marvel of the world, was largely the product of his early struggles with the limitations of his lot, and his patient perseverance in turning to his advantage the most stubborn difficulties.

23 Abraham Lincoln, A History, Vol. I., pp. 35-36.