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.

It is interesting and pleasing to think of Abraham Lincoln as winning great distinction by his own endeavors in spite of serious disadvantages; but it should not be forgotten that a higher Power participated in his development, and that the hardships and hindrances of his early and later life were parts of the work of preparing in him a hero of gigantic physical proportions, with brain of massive measurements, brawn of giant strength, and will of adamant.

President Lincoln's secretaries touch the core of the matter in the statement that, "He was evidently of better and finer clay than his fellows even in those wild and ignorant days." Unquestionably he was. And that clay which without doubt had been brought into its primal form under favorable influences was afterwards beaten by adversity into greater purity and fitness for use, as a potter prepares choice material for a vessel of surpassing excellence. The blows seem cruel but they are really beneficent for they achieve the desired result. It is safe to assume that no lesson written with charcoal on a wooden shovel, and removed the next evening to prepare for another, was ever forgotten by this earnest student. And that seeming slow advance in learning thus attained was more rapid than it appeared, and was attended by a mental discipline rarely secured by less taxing methods and endeavors. Therefore, it is no disparagement of our educational agencies to claim that Abraham Lincoln's disadvantages are to be numbered among the priceless assets of which he was the beneficiary.

In these claims, so at variance with the ordinary views concerning Mr. Lincoln's early life, I am glad for the endorsement of the Hon. John D. Long, who aptly remarks: "There are those who express surprise that Lincoln was the product of what they deem the narrow and scanty environment from which he sprang. As well wonder at the giant of the forest, deep rooted, bathing its top in the upper air, fearless of scorch of sun or blast of tempest, sprung from the fertile soil and luxuriant growth of the virgin earth, and rich with

the fragrance and glory of Nature's paradise. I can hardly think of a life more fortunate. . . . Where can be found a better preparation for an American career. To what one of those whom we call the favored youths of the land have not his splendid advantages of social position and university education sometimes seemed an obstacle rather than a help in the path that leads through the popular hedge to the popular service? Hard lines! Lincoln's is rather one of the illustriously fortunate careers of young men.'

9924

Another, and not the least of the great favors bestowed upon Abraham Lincoln was his association with

STRONG FRIENDS AND FOES

During the period in which Mr. Lincoln was coming into prominence, Illinois had in its political arena a large number of brilliant and promising young men. Some were just coming into distinction when death ended their careers of usefulness; others like Edward Baker, Mr. Lincoln's cherished and trusted friend, removed to other fields, but a larger group consisting among others of Douglas, Washburne, Stuart, Stephen Logan, Davis, Wentworth, Arnold, Gillespie, Trumbull, Shields, and Bryant remained arousing him to the herculean efforts which presaged and hastened his future masterful ability and great influence. Lincoln and Douglas from the start were in political hostility. Without his contests with the "Little Giant," Lincoln would not have reached the proportions he attained or the prominence to which he rose. Those who witnessed the titanic struggles between those two political gladiators soon discovered that from each encounter Mr. Lincoln retired with head more confidently lifted, and with a greater manifest disproportion between himself and his great antagonist.

And this continued until the day when Douglas, with grace and dignity held his rival's hat, and listened with approving smiles and nods to his courageous and masterly in24 Abraham Lincoln, The Tribute of a Century, pp. 319-322.