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Show OVCOLN llMZmk lift5 UTSIDE the win- wlBJYl M) dow the snow I'r vfR came b t o a d 1 1 y vS down ,n Great soft rtsJTv flakes, while in- VVv5 Bldo th0 ncko,-y Yj flro blazed In tho '" chimney, now and then throwing out sparks across the hearth rug where Toddy Trucsdalo lay, with Keep, the curly-halrcd collie. "Holidays Is awtul stupid' said the little boy presently, "if people won't let you go out or mako snowballs or anything. An' the big boys is out. I'd rather lenrn lessons than stay In the house" "Do you know what holiday this Is?" nskod Grandpa Hnlsey, who wns reading read-ing near tho window. "Just Lincoln's Birthday," answered tho llttlo boy, cnrelcssly, "and ho wasn't anything but President. Presidents Presi-dents happened most any day. Wish I wns at school." Grandpa Hnlsey smiled as he laid down his book. "Presidents may happen hap-pen every day," he said, "but iJr.colns don't. Let me tell you something about him, and then I think you'll bo glad to have him rempmbered by a holiday, even It It does keep you In tho house." Teddy was Interested at once "Tell mo 'bout when he was a little boy," he said. "Very woll," answered grnndpa, "though I didn't know him then. The first time I ever saw him I went with a numbor of friends to Washington to consult the President about a certain man for an office in our state. But wo all had to wait until the great man had finished a plcturo ho was drawing for tho little daughter ot ono of tho laboring pcoplo abqut tho White House. He had started to put her down from his knee when our party was announced, but she begged so hard to have' him finish 'Just thnt one doggio,' that he smilingly said ho hoped wo wouldn't caro, nnd sent tho llttlo maiden away happy In the possession pos-session of tho rudo sketch. He was never too busy, this great-hearted man, to do n kind thing, however small it seemed. "Even when he was a boy ho was always on the sldo ot tho 'under dog,' as we say, nnd sympathized with all suffering, for he had known so much of It In his own life. Ho was very poor, you know, and had to work early and late and hard for the barest livelihood. live-lihood. What would you think of living liv-ing In a cabin where tho wind whistled whis-tled through the chinks, rough leather-hinged leather-hinged boards took the place of window win-dow sashes, and, when visitors came, which happened only a few times in the year, raw potatoes were pared and washed and handed around for refreshments? re-freshments? Tho family were too poor to afford anything else. "Lincoln himself never had any stockings until he was nearly a man grown. Rough cowhide boots, deerskin deer-skin leggings and coonskin cap were the best his boyhood ever know. For pins ho used the long thorns of tho haw and bean locust, and hla coffee was mado of ryo bread crusts. "Just Lincoln's Birthday." "But Youcg Abo, as ho was called In thoso days, was ns nmbltlous ns no was poor. Ho would walk miles and tnllos nfter his hard day'a work was over to borrow somo book a crammnr or an nrlthmotlc or a history which ho hnd heard of somo neighbor possessing. pos-sessing. Then ho would rend nnd reread re-read nnd study It, until ho had mas-torcd mas-torcd ovory word, Bluing up tar into tho night to won. out oxample.s by the light of tho plnewood fl. .. Paper was too oxpenslvo In thoso rtnys for n boy as poor ua Lincoln to think of owning nnj, and slates v.-ero unhoard oi whoro ho llvod. But ho usod smooth boards InstoaJ, nnd bits of charcoal for pencils, planing tho boards off whon tho'Bldos woro nil covered with figures. , -Do you think you would over wnnt lnv lenrn enough to tnko so much trouble?" Toddy shook his curly head soberly. M IIo wns very much Interested bj ttiln w time, and ono or two of tho other Kl children, who had run In out of the Ik snow to get warm, had also stopped to If, listen to grandpa's story. f WA "Often, too," tho old man wont on, VtjF "they could not got their meal ground Ml at n mill, and 'Young Abe' would WB have to grind all the corn, ear after Km car, on u big Iron grater, something Nf like those wo use for nutmegs now H 'The only bed he had In thoso days H wns ono made of big Blabs hewn from B trees and covored with hay or straw, I and ho paid for his first suit of 'blue fl Jeans' at the rato of 'four hundred I rails a yard.'" "But I thought Presidents had lots B of money," spoko up one of grandpa's I listeners. "How could he ever get to I be President when ho was so poor as I thnt?" I "I think what really made Lincoln I the sort of man that was most needed I Just at the tlmo for President of our I big country," grandpa answered, "was I ..Is slmplo truthfulness. Even when I he was a little boy, living In th I shadow of 'Blue Ball' and 'Shlnoy B Mountain In his old Kentucky home. m his word could always be depended H on. Onco, when ho was clerking In a I store, ho mado a mlstako of a few I cents In giving an old woman her I charge. Neither he nor Uic woman 1 noticed It at tho time, but that night. M when Lincoln was going over tho ac- M counts, ho discovered tho error. Fear- Ing his customer might need Urn ,, money, he walked covoral miles to " her cottngo to return tho nrrnunt be- " foro ho went to bed. If nny ong found ' him out In tho wrong he wns nlwnys ready to admit It, which Is often, yon J ptlJ Wn " Would walk miles and miles. know, about the hardest thing a boy, , or even a man, lias to do. All these H seem lltUo things, but It was Just such fl J little things that dny by day built up . the character of tho rough country 4f boy into thnt ot tho mnn whom a I whole nation could trust at a time 1 when everything looked dark. "Lincoln's habit of thoroughness J oven as a llttlo boy helped him, more than anything else In the responsibilities responsi-bilities nnd Important a flairs of his later life, No matter what he. did, whether sweeping floors or planUng corn or studying lessons, he always went to tho root ot things, and did them thoroughly, leaving no loose ends to trip up later on. Afterward. In his public speaking, he often won the day over an opponent, Just be- cause ho had thoroughly mastered I every detail ot tho subject on which j thoy were to speak. The many disappointments, dis-appointments, too, which Abraham Lincoln's early life had known made him always very kind and courteous to othors who wero struggling, and he never lot his discouragements keep him from trying once more. Over and again his business vonturcs failed, and he was many times defeated for political offices beforo he filled that 1 at the head ot this big country ot ours. 1 But each tlmo ho failed ho liurnod ' something that was of uso to htm In I his next effort. Ho used to say that I ho would novcr linvo known how to bo I President It ho hadn't had to learn 1 so often and over how nut to bo many 1 1 othor things. I "Tho sadness nnd poverty of his I own boyhood, too, mado him vory gen- I tlo and Indulgent with all children. I Hq wns r,oyor Impatk'nt with them, no I mutter what thoy did, or too tltod or I busy to glvo them u pleasure. In -w fact, now I como to think of it, Lincoln Lin-coln was pcrhnps moro of n children's President than any wo lmvo hnd, und thero Is no holiday children ought to bo happier to hnvo than tho onu that marks his birthday." |