Show Legacy of I i Inspiration to Americans p BY FREDERICK TREVOR HILL HILLi i I Part I IThe The Surroundings of His Birth and Boyhood f t ji j From Prom the standpoint of history a cen century century t tury tilT is but a and a hundred J years sears have not quite passed since Abra Abraham Abrat t ham barn Lincoln was born Yet Tet already alread ii f r t i i myth eulogy tradition and romance f c are busy with his bI memory weaving i ithe t the mantle of greatness about him In f such mch fashion that all the rugged out outlines outlines outlines lines of his very human personality i fT h may m y soon be shrouded from our view J L and a hd the man himself translated to the thet t i realm of heroes whose development Is Isa isI I a mystery and whose hose achievements are j the despair of all ordinary mortals i There is very little incentive In the ca career career CaI reer of any anyone one whose success is inex inexplicable inexplicable I I t able Marvelously endowed Individuals I t may excite our admiration or our F wonder but they do not afford much I i Inspiration for the rank and file me of I struggling humanity But Lincoln was neither a heaven I born bom genius nor the miraculous product of chance His lot was not cast among the favored few but among men of II i common mold and his life was lived I In no spall measure for the benefit f and encouragement of ot his fellow coun countrymen countrymen I of average ability and ordinary ordinary ordinary nary caliber There Is nothing ob oh obscure obscure scum about his development AH Au his achievements can be readily understood They were the direct results of a men mental menI I L 0 tal tat and moral discipline and training to which any man may I I subject himself not with the same po political poi i results it Is true but with last lasting lasting t ing be ha to himself and correspond corresponding c ing advantage to the community of S which he may bo a member The re results reI I suIts In case are for tor history 1 i L and the historian the processes by byI byc c I It which he be arrived at those results are I 2 for the Individual for the of at American citizens I tf Few Americans of ot this day and gen generation beg life with the forlorn out outlook outlook l look which greeted Lincoln at his birth I t It is impossible to exaggerate ate the adverse conditions which sur surrounded t 7 J rounded him The cabin where he first J it i saw the light was not much more than thana d a woodmans shack with a flooring of I hard earth devoid of most of ot the com corn comforts I 1 forts and many of the decencies of ot life t p 1 The land about abut it was practically an nn l 1 the whole it J countryside was lonely to the point of ot otc c desolation each day was a dreary I struggle for food From almost every i 4 aspect poverty was his portion It was not degrading poverty because it was wasI I not dependent but It was the sort that weakens and affords no f prospect of escape 1 i Mothers Influence If But material poverty was not his j most discouraging Inheritance His MIs MIsI i mother undoubtedly undoubted did her best to kin kindle kindIe I I r j dIe dle a spark of ambition in her eon son 1 I 1 but she was an uneducated delicate J and ll even sickly house bouse drudge who died v while he was still stin a child leaving him prone to the suspicion that he had bad an i 4 V inherited tendency to consumption His I iF father was an Illiterate shiftless farm farmer II er or and carpenter without skill or train training f r ing lug at cither calling who regarded ed education edI r I J as a waste of time and would not permit the boy to attend school ex except except f at rare Intervals Indeed the only I I r effort he made to instruct his son was wast wasa t t if Jr a halfhearted attempt to teach him himi ft J i L I ifT T carpentry which was soon roon abandoned when he found that he could auld hire him t I out to other farmers In need of an ex extra ir 1 tnt tra hand b Uninspiring as his home Influence L Wasp was as that of ot th neighborhood was even eyen ins i more so eo There was practically noth ing In his surroundings In Kentucky or ori K at Gentryville Ind md where he lived aft after j i Lz er his mothers death to touch the i I i imagination of a growing boy or quick quicken ii iii I I r en his ambition The country was wasI I 1 t sparsely settled and the life was not notI I I really living It was an ex r i I Surely no American Americ n ever had hadI 4 i better reason to complain of his chance I J I I In life It Tt was not a fair chance It ItI I was ns practically no chance at all But ButI I I I Lincoln was gg searching s for ties tics not excuses and he found what he was seeking This was not the result of luck or fa favor favor vor or any consciousness of dawning powers He was no inspired dreamer who In the of hard realities saw sawa sawa a vision of coming coining greatness He lived Jived not In the future but one day at a time and neither during this nor any other period of his life Ufe did Lincoln ever eyer hurry hum He had common sense enough to real realize realIze realize ize that his chance of advancement lay lar larIn in education but instead d of fretting I over oer the disadvantages under which he labored he endeavored to overcome them Thus white while he be performed the dull dun routine tasks about his fathers house and farm he acquired the habit of thinking of others rather than of himself until the neighbors gradually came to recognize that he was one of the few persons In the community who could be confidently relied upon for ev every every ery cry sort of ot friendly office and kindness from roofing a barn to rocking a baby This was a very homely homel distinction but It was quite as rare then as It is today and though what he did was done without thought of a return It itI brought Its own reward People took I an nn interest In this unostentatious un unselfish Unselfish selfish boy and they loaned him their books with such freedom that he soon secured all that were vere available within a radius of many miles mUes It was no anointed youth however who pored over those volumes by the light of his fathers lathers fire but a very cry practical young man who kept his ambitions well with within within withIn in bounds and was satisfied to pro progress progress progress gress step by step Once he ho accident accidentally accidentally accidentally ally Injured one of at the borrowed books and when the not too generous lender tender demanded compensation he worked out nut the damages at 23 5 3 cents a day da in no spirit but as a matter malter of ot Justice and this one of ot the few well authenticated stories of ot his early life affords a clear glimpse of ot the man in inthe Inthe Inthe the making Not a Precocious Youth Those who picture Lincoln as a pre pro precocious precocious youth of angelic disposition do donot donot donot not understand his character at all He was no more fond of hard work than other boys of his age and he amused himself whenever he had the chance But he did not waste his time Dull as Gentryville Ind md was was it I had one da day on Its it calendar and that Was vas the meeting of O the circuit court at Boonville fifteen miles mies away Thither Lincoln trudged to listen Isten with wih rapt attention to the harangues of the backwoods lawyers laWers and watch with wit keen interest the drama of life Ufe as a it was ws portrayed on that mimic stage and there he doubtless received the first impulse to fit himself himsel for the profession sion slon of the law But this dream made him neither discontented nor restless The Idea of abandoning his home borne duties never crossed his mind Unquestionably ably ho he could have bettered his chances had ad he followed his dawning ambitions instead of continuing to help his father amid discouraging surroundings and difficulties Yet he remained at home and gave his family the benefit of his services until he ho was 21 up to which time he had earned practically nothing for himself himsl But from nothing Lincoln was wa slow slowly slowly slowly ly but surely making something and am that something was as character From anc deprivation and want he lie was wa evolving helpfulness antI and unselfishness from lack of opportunities he was developing modesty and resourcefulness from sor Hor sorrow Horrow sorrow row and neglect he was as acquiring sym sm sympathy S pathy from solitude and simplicity lIe he was learning the value lue of truth For despondency and discontent he was s fashioning humor for tor lack of education he was wa providing a thorough knowl knowledge knowledge edge oge of men for luck and favor he was substituting courage The Te little farm far that raised rise a man was gg not enchanted ground The seeds that were sown there tere are within the i reach of all Abraham Lincoln Is an inspiring product of the soil sol He Is a prophecy for those thOe who believe beleve In their native land 0 Copyright 1909 Times Times by b the te New N w York |