day, with a grotesque imitation of the preacher's voice and manner. He had but little reverence, and there are stories of home sermons preached by him when a boy to the other children, from behind a table in the corner of the cabin, while the older people were attending services at the meeting-house. These first efforts in oratory were after a while followed by others of a different sort, and he was apt to make an audience of the hands in any harvest field. There was sure to be fun in whatever he undertook to say, and boys and men were only too willing to drop hard work and listen.

Efforts at original composition took many forms in the hands of the only Pigeon Creek boy who was really obtaining an education. Neighborhood chronicles, traditions, and anecdotes were reduced to written form. Then came rude jingles of doggerel verses, and there were sometimes coarse satires of acquaintances, old as well as young. So keen and unsparing were some of these, that their boy author would have suffered severely at the hands of his victims but for his very good muscular capacity for self-defence. He was by no means quarrelsome and was something of a peacemaker, but he was not at all a non-resistant. Rough-and-tumble fist fights were hardly considered beneath any man's dignity, although weapons were rarely used. From one pernicious agent of disorder young Lincoln kept himself thoughtfully free. In a community where whiskey-drinking was the rule and occasional intoxication but mildly condemned by public opinion, he resolutely refused to touch ardent spirits. The

object lessons of wreck and ruin around him were ample teachers. Among them was one helpless drunkard whom he found in the road on a bitter night, picked up in his strong arms, saved from freezing to death, and carried home. No vice of any sort was permitted to sap the increasing strength of his mind and body, and he became the acknowledged best man of the settlement in all manly exercises, such as running, wrestling, jumping, lifting, throwing the heavy hammer, as well as in the more practical uses of the woodman's axe. The one frontier accomplishment in which he never excelled was that of hunting. He was not fond of it as sport, and he could shoot only fairly well with a rifle.

Abe was at home now only when out of work, and it was just as well, for the Lincoln cabin was over full, loft and all. Besides, Thomas Lincoln was all the while willing that his tall son, who had refused all urging to learn the carpenter's trade, should earn something toward providing the increasing needs of the rest of the family. For the sake of his beloved stepmother Abe was willing to do almost anything, but as time went on he found the business of toiling for everybody's benefit but his own becoming more and more irksome. He was not exactly fettered, for he had a great deal of time to himself, owing even to the scarcity of cash-paying employers, but his first idea of launching out into the world and going upon the river as a boatman was nipped in the bud by the reminder that his father was still entitled legally to his labor and his wages. He was not fond of bodily toil for its own sake, and was disposed to

undertake no more than was needful until an opportunity should come for the different work for which he was steadily preparing himself. How well he had advanced in one direction was proved by the fact that an essay of his upon temperance and another upon popular education, sent by friends to the editors of newspapers at a distance, were promptly printed and received strong commendation.

The village of Gentryville, named from its founder, had now attained a fair degree of prosperity and was the centre of trade for a pretty large district. It was the place for unemployed men and boys to stroll in and spend their idle time, and for farmers and their families to linger in and gossip after trading at Mr. Gentry's store. It was but a moderate walk from the Lincoln farm, and became a favorite resort for young Lincoln. Lincoln. Books could be borrowed there, news could be heard, and now and then there were

debating matches," in which the budding orator is said to have distinguished himself. Fifteen miles away was Booneville, the county seat of Warrick County, and whenever court was in session Abe was sure to steal enough of time from any other occupation and go over to attend the trials of civil and criminal cases. He was by no means singular in that, since any important criminal or any really great property dispute, such, for instance, as the ownership of a horse, was sure to summon an audience from far and near. There were differences among the listeners, however, and while others laid in stores of materials for home and neighborhood gossip, the youth from Pigeon Creek heard the state

ments of witnesses, the arguments of lawyers, the charges of judges, and the verdicts of juries, as a profoundly interested law student, adding more than he was yet aware of to the curious learning he had already acquired from the Revised Statutes of Indiana.

CHAPTER IV.

A Young Flatboatman-A Night Fight-Family Changes-Migrating to Illinois-Historic RailsOf Age and Free-A Day Laborer-Boat Building -Rutledge's Dam-Down the Mississippi-Object Lessons on Slavery.

THE time for seeing something more of the country he lived in came to Abraham Lincoln at last. Early in March, 1828, he went to work for Mr. Gentry, of Gentryville. Trade had prospered, and a flatboat cargo of Indiana produce was getting ready for a trip down the river to a market, under the direction of Mr. Gentry's son, Allen. Abe had won a reputation for sobriety and trustworthiness as well as for industry and strength, and he was chosen as crew of the craft which his friend Allen was to command. The voyage was a complete success. Some sales were made at river landings by the way, and what remained, the boat included, found purchasers at New Orleans. The steering a flatboat down the swift currents of the Ohio and Mississippi is watchful but not difficult work. The low banks upon either hand offer little that is worth studying, and there are few excitements attending such a trip. Only one is recorded as occurring to the Gentryville captain and his crew. It came by night, while the