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L J rG b 4 r- r fJ t jV V t to are true the best In tho country for many miles He lIe not only hacked and an and II chiseled wood with skill but he did what nono none others had succeeded In doing chiseled his way Into the tho heart of at Nancy Nanc Th Thomas om as Lincoln had a a. varied career Ho lie was strong as an ox In his habits an all attendant attend attend- ant at church and was bitterly bitterly- opposed to slavery Both Doth ho and Nancy a agreed In that The Tho couple en entered entered entered en- en Into a marriage bond on Juno 1 12 1806 On Juno 14 11 the couple were married by a n Methodist preacher the Rev Jesse Jesso Head who besides being a a. clergyman was ns an editor country Judge and carpenter And a a. wed wedding It was with was with merrymaking and feasting Thero There were present the tho Mitchells and Berrys Nancys Nancy's cousins relatives cs and friends from the country roundabout In a n pit near tho the homo a a. great fire lire was wag built over which a n sheep was placed and barbecued During the tho morning It roasted covered cov cov- ered ored b by green groen boughs and after tho the wedding It was cut an and served for tor dinner Thero were ere venison too and wild turkey and ducks The wedding was re remembered ro- ro for tor years There Thero was no hint of ot futuro future glory in tho the wedding or bringing homo home of Nancy ancy Lincoln wrote Icola and Un Hay All accounts represent her as lS a 3 handsome young youn woman of 3 3 of or appearance and intellect su su- superior superior to to her hor lowly fortunes She could read and write write write-a a remarkable accomplishment In her circle circle- und even taught her husband to form the letters of ot b f fin nJ C o j rl fd eT o rid f J Ji i r rt F t yr r. r 1 3 S x- x 3 i- i c w 1 w j jw r h ECh o Zinco n Y I e td hL d the r r ul d err p Goose J z Prate rd j Hero Hora too can cnn be bo found a record of at the se seed d which budded so nobl nobly In Joseph Hanks' Hanks grandson Joseph JosephII II IIa Hanks most of the pioneers owned no slaves When Nancy ancy Hanks Hanles later married Thomas Lincoln tho they bought no slaves slave and never owne owned 1 any Nancys Nancy's life lire while she lived with her Aunt Lucy was happy She grew new into a ft young miss 01 of unusual beauty and became the belle of or the countryside Sho She learned to read and write and was considered exceptionally ox- ox accomplished V When hen she married Thomas rhomas Lincoln she sho taught him to spell the letters of or his name There are aro but few ew and meager descriptions of Nancy Hanles On One learns that she ahe was slight of or figure that her hur hall hair was palo pale golden almost nn flaxen en and her eyes were blue Her Hor wit v was nimble nimble Suitors thronged the thc parlor of Aunt Lucy Lucy's Lucys b farm But Nane Nancy lost her heart to none she slie laughed gaily at their protests parried their Importunate proposals with whit jest and was so BO natured good ll so mirthful and funny about it thru that all remained hor friends Nancy often went to tho the farm of at Joseph Hanks at r n where sho she saw aw hOI her cousin Thomas Lincoln Thomas was a carpenter and If the records his name Ho had hall no such valuable wedding ea gift gUt to bestow upon her he brought her to a 3 little house In Elizabethtown Elizabeth town where whore ho and aull she and want dwelt to together together to- to gether gather in fourteen feet square For two happy but needy years the couple lived in a a. log cabin on or the banks of at what was W then thon known as aH Mill cree creek Ie Picture to yourself that homo home of ot the young bride bride bride-a a single le room with a huge hugo fireplace fireplace where horo logs burned In winter whiter an iron pot suspended from tram a crane rough roush chairs choirs hewn by the carpenter husband of or logs togs a a. number of oC crude crudo benches a 3 bed boo made of rO 1 rough h trees from which tho the bark had not been removed a a. spinning spinning- wheel by which tho In industrious industrious indus indus- wife sat and wove OVO the tho material for tor clothing a n room lacking in comforts typical of ot tho the pioneer cabins of those days with an opening into aloft ft n. loft lort reached b by a ladder where things wore store stored There Thore one day U In 1807 Nancys Nancy's first baby was born It was as a little girl and was called Nancy after the tho mother Later tho the little girls girl's namo was changed to married his Sarah That was when Thomas Lincoln second wife Sarah Bush Thomas Lincoln owned a farm Carm near Buffalo which ho had bought In 1503 During the tho two years cats ho lived on nn Mill crock creek he cultivated tho the t farm Improving the ground round and there thoro ho he moved tho spring following the birth of ot Sarah In their life of Lincoln Nicolay arid and Hay y write Thomas Lincoln settled down In Jn this dismal solitude soli soU- tudo tude to a Do deeper poverty po than any of ot his name had over ever known and there in tho the ml midst of at the most unpromising unpromising un un- un- un promising circumstances that over ever l' l witnessed the a advent advent ad ad- vent ont of at B e. hero Into this world orld Abraham Lincoln Was wan born on February 1 12 1809 Tho The family however lo could not have bo been n extremely extremely ex ex- destitute for tor wo we are aro told tho they had a cow and anda a 8 calf caIr milk and butter buller and a n. feather teather bed What wealth When Abraham was waR 4 the family family- moved mo again this again this time to a 0 cabin situated on Muldraugh's hill There a third 1 child was born which died when a few v months old e Of Ot tho the Ufo life of Nancy Lincoln not at this thin time nothing has been written Of Ot his boyhood Lincoln himself seldom But ono one can con imagine the tho patient Woman v alone and unassisted performing tho the work of ot her household tending the cows cons and milking them making butter cleaning tho meagerly furnished cabin in which the tho family lived cooking and spinning cloth of which sho she made garments c for tor her husband little Sarah and Abe Nancy Lincoln's beauty faded the roses fled from her cheeks her bod body became wasted and her shoulders stooped But Dut her happy spirit never left leCt hor her she sho had hada a a. word of cheer for all her neighbors Stories are told of at how sho she visited tho the sick and comforted them and how when whon her neighbors were in difficulty her tender tender tender ten ten- der heart was moved and sho she helped them thorn as b best bast t she could coul LITTLE ABE HER SOLACE V 1 h. h Her Iler life was ms was hard But there thero was was was' cause for tor- j Joy Joyin Y t lit in Nancy ancy Lincoln's life lito Little Abe was her constant delight At night when her hor work was over she sha would open the preceptor book bool and teach tho the two children the letters of ot the alphabet With what tenderness tenderness tenderness ten ten- and love lo she sho must have ha watched them thorn as the they studied studied studied-so so hard hara to memorize tho the As A's Bs B's and C's Cs Cs C's and with what doting fondness sho must havo o trained little Abes Abe's tiny hand to trace tho the letters lotters on a slate Those Thos were wonderful evenings o As she sat by the hearth sho silo would read stories from an old torn COlyor copy COly of or Aesop's fables And the tho deep eyed deep boy would listen lie lis ten with eager gaze tense tenso face to tho the stor story of or the wicked fox longing for tor the tho grapes tho fox and tho the stork and tho the tortoise and tho the hare hard Then when the stor story was read little Abe Abo would ask questions he would repeat the wonderful stories and the characters characters charac charac- tors and animals in the old fables became his friends Dearly Nancy Lincoln loved lo tho the Bible and there were readings from tho sacred acred book bool there thero was to told the tho old old stor story And these stories Lincoln never nover forgot tors-ot When In after life lite he be electrified the world worl U by his eloquence his mastery of ot pure and perfect English and his tempestuous orator oratory ho lIe retold the tho same samo stories the stories tho stories ho heard at ot his mothers mother's knee enoe Life Lito was r not prosperous with t tho the father Ho left Kentucky and went prospecting in Illinois where he took tool up land on Little Pigeon creek creele In tt Spencor Spencer coun county ty And nd a again cin tho the worked hard wife was called upon to move her her home With their furniture packed In a wagon and their cow behind the family started on their lon long pilgrimage In 1816 During the winter of 1816 and aua 1817 1317 tho the family lived Cd in n a camp The Tho winter was as rigorous Hardship and privation and suffering from cold were the portion of oC the little family Uncomplainingly tho the tender gentle woman bora bore her lot but her health slowly slot gave gate wa way her hor face tace boc bo- bo c came mo moro mOlo wan A rough cabin was begun bogun in the spring and life opened ano anew Land was cleared Thomas Lincoln plied piled his trade tralle among tho scattered Inhabitants of ot the tho solitary region They began to prosper But Dut tho the life had been too hard for tho the tender ten ton der loving and sho sank under tho the burden One day In iii October 1818 ISIS as sho she lay In her hor bed in inthe tho the little cabin sho called hor her two children to her The sun flooding through tho the doorway wreathed the faded face faco with a n halo of at gold Through the door camo came the tho crisp odor of ot warm brown loaves leaves Outside tho the birds sang A smile wr wreathed thed tho faco taco of ot the tired Urea weary woman BE GOOD TO ONE ANOTHER She Sho took the hands of ot Sarah and tho the thin serious serious- faced ac d bo boy boj Bo no good to ono one another she sho said Bald brokenly broken broken- ly h with infinite tenderness Then Thon she closed her eyes rho Tho wonderful smile deepened The sunlight faded into evening and ana little Abo Abe leaving Sarah kneeling by tho the bed bcd aWa and climbed tho the crept away pegs in the I wall to tho the garret s where ho flung nung himself himsel on a n mattress mattress mattress mat mat- tress of or leaves Night fell tell an and from tho the loft came camo a n. stifled sound of at bobbing sobbing sobbing-sobbing sobbing repressed ed chocked checked restrained yot yet so poignant so keen so 90 heart forlorn that th the father returning 1 homo 1 one po paused usell hearing it his heart sinking He lIe knew the the sunlight of at the boys boy's lIfo life had departed Many years afterward people wondered at ot the sorrow sorrow sorrow sor sor- row Indelibly on tho the taco taco faco of or Lincoln Lincoln like agony ason graven raven on a n figure of stone Nancy Hanks Lincoln succumbed to a fever which had hud ravaged the country and which carried away tho the Sparrows husband and wife a n few days before all were burled buried on the same sane day Before Defore the tho next December Thomas Lincoln married Sarah Bush ush Johnston a a. widow who it is said sald had rejected him n ml many years before Sho She camo came from Kentucky and became a mother to tho the two motherless mother mother- less children She loved Abo Abe and he ho became a dutiful von son to her The Tho f family more prosperous roul hut But tho the face of or the tho bo boy as he ho grew up became more melancholy it was not until after aUer the death of at Anna Anno Rutledge e his first love 10 that there thero developed in him tho the gloom and son sense so of fatality which colored his life In later years ears when hen Lincoln again shrouded In la sorrow sat cat by the tho bedside of ot his little son Willie who was dying ho cried In despair This is tho the hardest trial of or m my life lite Wh Why is it Why is It A nurse who had lost her husband and children told him of oC her lots loss adding But nut I trust in God I rely upon his hit will Lincoln shook his head 8 sadly On the tho day of ot the funeral ho asked the and some Home friends to pray pra for tor him I will wUl try to go so to God with m my sorrows he said sald- I l wIsh I had that childlike faith you speak of I trust God will wUl che Jt t to me Then his memory traveled back over the years and his first loss by death came to his mind He told of his mothers mother's confident belief bellet In the wisdom of or God I I remember her prayers ho he said in a low lot voice and they have always alwa's followed e me rho They have hav f followed tollo mo nm all my life lite I i |
