Show KNEW LINCOLN FROM HIS HilS BIRTH i Dennis Hanks Cousin of the Emancipator Has Left Record of the Early Days in the Humble Humble Humble Hum Hum- ble Little Kentucky Log Cabin EDDINGS and births always always always al al- W WEDDINGS ways attract attention so itis it itis itis is interesting to note that the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks the parents of f Abraham Lincoln and the advent Into the world of the Great Emancipator Emancipator pator 1 ator were not without exception It was always the proud boast of Rev Edward Head a Methodist minister and likewise a carpenter that lie he performed the ceremony that united Abraham braham Lincoln's parents in mar- mar In telling of the bridal couple find and the feast he said Nancy Hanks flanks was a looking fresh-looking girl I should say past twenty Tom was a respectable mechanic who could take his choice and she was to be treated with respect I was at the in- in tare fare given by John H H. Parrott her guardian guardian and and it was only girls with with money who had had guardians appointed appoint appoint- ed led d by the court Our table was of puncheons cut from the solid logs and they were the cabins cabin's floor next dayVe day We Ve had bad bear meat venison wild turkey turkey turkey tur tur- turI tur- I key ducks' ducks eggs wild and tame tame tame-so so common common that you could buy them at two bits a n bushel maple bushel maple sugar swung on a n string to bite off for coffee or whisky in big gourds peach and honey a sheep that the two families barbecued whole over coals of wood burned In a pit and aud covered with green boughs to keep in the juices sand fand and a n race for the whisky bottle Another guest at the wedding was Christ Christopher pher Columbus Graham who lived to to o be more than one hundred years wears ears old In e explaining laining his presence at nt the festivities Graham said You see I was out hunting roots for medicines and I Just went to the I wedding to get a good supper supper and and I got It Tom Lincoln was a carpenter and a good one for th those se days when a Cabin was built bunt mostly with an ax It didn't have a nail or a n bolt or a hinge In It it- it only it-only only leathers and pins to the door There wasn't any glass either except what you might find in tn bottles or watches and spectacles If f they owned them But Tom Lincoln lead bad the best set of tools in the whole county Dennis Hanks flanks Lincoln's cousin and playmate takes up the story When Nancy married Tom he was working in a carpenter shop It wasn't I Toms fault he couldn't make a living I by l his s trade there was scarcely any money m ney in the country So Tom took up tip some land mighty land mighty poor land but the ithe best he could get when he hadn't much to trade for it Tom and Nancy lived on a farm about two miles mUes from us when Abe was born Dennis Hanks recalled I recollect f Tom coming over to our house one c cold ld morning In February and nd saying kind of slow Nancys got a boy baby Mother got flustered and hurried up her work to go over and look after the little fellow but I I didn't have nothing to wait for tor so 80 I cut and run the rthA whole V two miles to see my new I cousin You bet I was tickled to Vo death Babies wasn't as common as aa blackberries In the woods of Kentucky I rolled up and slept in a bearskin that night by the fireplace so I could see the little fellow when he cried and Tom had to get up and tend to him Nancy let me hold him pretty soon Folks often ask me if Abe was a 8 looking good-looking baby Well now he ha looked just like tiny any other baby at first like like red cherry pulp squeezed dry And he didn't improve as he be grew old old- er Abe never was much for looks I recollect how Tom joked about Abes Abe's long legs when he was toddling about the cabin He grew out of his clothes faster than Nancy could make them After he could walk valk Abe never gave Nancy any trouble except to keep him himIn himin himin In clothes Most of the time we went barefoot Did you ever wear a wet buckskin glove Well Vell moccasins weren't any protection against the wet For snow birch bark with hickory bark soles strapped over yarn socks beat II i 1 C 0 1 rf I r 4 1 1 I I I i Cr Nancy Let Me Hold Him Pretty Soon buckskin all hollow Abe and me me got pretty prett handy contriving things that way And Abe about ns s soon as he was weaned was right out in the woods fishing In the creek setting traps for tor rabbits and muskrats going on hunts coon-hunts with Tom and me and the dogs following up bees to find the bee trees and dropping corn for his pappy It was a mig mighty ty Interesting life for tor a boy but there was a good many chances that he wouldn't live to grow up So taken all in all aU even admitting the dignity conferred on Tom Lincoln's Lincoln's Lincoln's Lin Lin- coln's bride by the possession of a guardian it was a lowly chronicle chronicle- this of the backwoods wedding and the childrens children's log log cabin birth But it has been the story of the origins of hundreds hun hundreds hun hun- of other Americans who like their most famous exemplar have risen risen risen ris ris- ris- ris en by the sheer force of their energy and brains to positions commanding the respect of those born to the earths earth's richest comforts and most lavish lux lux- uries And there is this to be said of It That Lincoln's emancipation of the poor blacks was wad not the only freedom he gained for humanity through his ca ca- reer He had the cabin of his birth flung In his teeth many a time before his home was the nations nation's most coveted coveted coveted covet covet- ed place of residence After that no noson noson noson son of poverty need take talce shame for tor forthe forthe the humble roof root that sheltered him to bJ Infancy r |