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Show ABRAHAM LINCOLN. A Few K.lt.ctloo. n the llaya or Hi" Tttulti. Carl Scliiir. lu tho Atlantic Monthly. it won a nvifhijoitiood reputation as a clever yutinjf man, which he increased by his performance) as a speaker, not seldom drawing upon, himself tho dis-sutisfaction dis-sutisfaction ot his employers by mounting mount-ing a stump in the hold ami seeping the farm bauds from their work by little speeches in a jocose and sometimes itlsu a serious vein. At tho rude suu'.al frolics of the aellluineiil he became au important person, telling funny stories, mimicking the itinerant preachers who hajipeneij to pass by, and making his mark at wrestling matches, too; for nt the a'e of 17 he hud altaiued his full heixht, six feet four inches in his atock-itiKf, atock-itiKf, if ho had any, and a terribly muscular mus-cular clodhopper he was. H it lie was known never to use his extraordinary strength t0 the injury or humiliation of others; rather to do them a kindly turn, or to enforce justice jus-tice and fair dealiuej between them, Ali this made him a favorite in backwoods back-woods society, although in some things he appeared a little odd to his friends, lar mure than utiy of them, hb was given not ou!y to reading, but to fits of abstraction, to ijnict musing w tl h himself, him-self, ami itlsu lo strange hpells of melancholy, mel-ancholy, liom which he would often pass iu a moment to rollicking outbursts out-bursts of droil humor. lint, on the whole, ho was ono of thn people aiiione; whom he lived; in appearand?, ap-pearand?, perhaps, even a little more uncouth than most of lliem a very tall, ratvbouod youth, with largo features, dark shriveled skin and rebellious hair; his arms and legs louu, out of proportion; propor-tion; clad in deerskin trousers, which from freiitieiit exposure to the rain had shrunk so as to sit tightly ou his limbs, leaving several sev-eral inches oi bluish skin exposed between, be-tween, their lower end and the heavy tan colored shoes; tha nctliof garment held usually by only one f uspender that at struni over a coarse home-made shirt; the bead covered in winter iu a coottskiii cap, in summer with a rough atraw hut ol uncertain simpo, without a baud. ll is doubtful whether he felt himself much superior to his surroundings, al-tfioiigh al-tfioiigh he confessed to a yearning for some knowledge of the world outside of the circle iu which he lived. This wish was gratilied, but how'- At the age of 1!) he went down the Mississippi lo New ( iriesfis as a tlalboat hand, temporarily tem-porarily joining a trade many members of which at that time still took pride in being called ' naif horse anil half alligator." alli-gator." After Ins return ho worked and lived in tho old way until the spring of ls;:o, when his lather "moved again," this tune to Illinois; and on the journey of iilteeii days "Abe" had to drive the ox wagon which carried the household goods. Another log catiin was built, and then, fencing a field, Abraham Lincoln split tho.-e historic rails which were destined to play so piciurestiuo a part in the presidential campaign twenty-eight years later. |