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Abraham Lincoln and

Education

Lincoln's Self-Education

Excerpts from newspapers and other

sources

From the files of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection

. lAtrGHTIiNCDfflGRlJIISE

frrnrrsiscExcEs of a cuunr of the

CHEAT WAIt PRESIDENT.

MOW the Two Clerks Slept "Spoon Fash- Ion" on Oflntt's Connter— " When Ho Tnrned Over I IMd, Too"— Lincoln's Con- test for a Captaincy In the Black Hawk War— A Eat as a Keniedy for Betting.

D alias. Tox., May 25.— There is a remarka- ble old man visiting here from his Illinois home. His name is WilliamLGraham Green. and ho is 80 years old. He has had a curious life, and he is proud of the fact thai ho Is the teau who flr3t taught Abrn-ham Lincoln i the rrincir!cs..oT_JincLishJ"KrarnmBr. ""1 taugbt Abo Lincoln nil he ever k new abeut erammar." he says, " and a mighty smart pupil he was. too." Mr. Groon's story of how he came to do this and how he did it Is rs follows:

"My father moved over to Menard coun- ty, 111., in 1820, and I have hoen living in that State ever since. I went to the Illinois tollegein Jacksonville to cot a business edu- cation, and I made a specialty of erammar. In 1830 I went to work as a clerk in the store of Donton Offutt, in Now Salem, Menard county. There I first mot Abe Lincoln. He had Ihclpod Offutt take his flatboat on' a trading expedition down the Sangamon Hivcr. Thor ran aground on the dam at Salem, and Offutt set up his* •storo there with tho goods from his boat 5'his was in 1831. Lincoln was 22 years old at tho time, but he was six foet four Inches tall, and one of the strongest men I ever saw. Lincoln had steered the boat for Offutt. snd. I reckon, he had run her aground. I got $8 a month In tho store and Lincoln got $10 a 'month. He and I slept on a single mattress on the counter, and it was so narrow we had to -eleop sroon fashion. When ho turned over. I ■did, too. Ono night he said to me:

" • Bill, haven't you an English grammar you Could lend mo?'

"Itold him that I had a Klrkham's Gram- >nar. and he said:

"'Bring it to me when you go home on Sun- day.'

" Ho used to read it at night after the store ■hut up, and when ho had read for a while I Vrould near him his lesson. He wont through the grammar in about two weeks, and then, at his request. 1 got him another grammar— Lindley Murray's, I think, it was— and he went through that one the samo way. In six weeks ! he knew live times as much about grammar an 3 did.

•• Lincoln dld'nomethlne else for me while we •

' ^veroin ibi„ 6toro togjther— ne broke me of

7^' i J i ig» - T kfl1'-'? ri&afrttwte if r— fellow nr,mo<:

.wSp A jinstBD. who would come in there and

' epend a lot or time loafing around. He was a

betting, trifling kind of a man and ho had a lot

tricks that he was always betting on. He had a

trick of doubling up his hand insomowayso

as to hido his middle finger. Then he would

bet you that you couldn't mark his middle fln-

rrer wiih a pen. I lost some nickels betting

With him, and one day Abe Lincoln said to me:

I •' ' Billv, you ought to know better than to bet

«n anything, but especially than to bet with a

Jnanonhis own tricks, You ought to quit it.'

•"But. Abe. he's got ninety cents the best of

pe.' I said. 'If I could get that back I would

bo willing to quit.'.

" ' V/ill you promise me that yon 11 never bet •tiny moro If I manage it so that you can get > *way ahead of him with one bet?' asked Lin- 4coln.

" ' Yes.' I said. ' but I'd bate to quit loser.'

" ' Billy,' said Lincoln, ' you are getting to an

*ge when you're beginning to tnink a good

, -tleal at. out tho girls. Wouldn't you like to

have a plug hat to wear when you go calling

- <on them ?' . ._

"'Yes, I would,' I said, but they cost $7

■apiece, and that is more than I can afford to

"Bay.'

" ' Well,' said Lincoln, * when Enoch comes In bore attain and wants to bet with you on his tricks, you just say that you don't care to bet on such trilling things with him, but that yon •will bet that Abe can take a forty-gallon bar- rel of whiskey off the floor and take a dram • from the buughole. You say that you'll bet him a plug hat on it' ' ""But oan you do it?' I asked

"'You wait until after tho store closes to- night and I'll show you,' said Abe.

'" Bo that night ho took a barrel of Whiskey end ch'med It uo a little on his left knee, and

rthehtiTteflW'o-fthta rtKht SfieeY ftifd iinfl of bent back, and I pulled tho bung out of the hole and he took a dram sure enough, and •purted it right ont again on the lloor. The next day I won the plug hat from Enoch, as Abe baa said I would. I have kept my word

, ever slnco. and I've never bet on anything. And fbat's more. I wouldn't for $1,000.

Lincoln left the store after a while and Vent to work hauling logs to the sawmill for "William Klrkpatrick. Kirkpatriok bad eight Or ten other men working for him. and he paid them each $10 a month. Lincoln drove an ox team and bad a boy to help him. One day Lincoln told Klrkpatrick that be wanted to get a cant-hook to help him load the

iogs on tbe wagon. He said that a cant- look would cost only $5, but Klrkpatrick: eaid: 'Now. Lincoln, if you'll manage to haul the logs without the cant-hook I'll

five you $3 a month extra.' Lincoln said that e would do it, but at the end of tho month he only got $10, instead of $13, When he asked for tho other $3. Klrkpatrick said: 'Abe, I can't fcay you $3 extra.' "But, you promised to do It.' (.aid Abe. ' Yes, I know.' said Klrkpatrick. but the other men would raise hell if I paid you more than they are getting, so I can't do it.' Lincoln quit work for Klrkpatrick then. ; "The next yoar. in 1832. old Black Hawk came back Into Illinois with the Sacs and Poxes, and militia companies were raised to go end fight them. All the young men went into the Black Hawk war, and Lincoln and I wore among them. Major Moses K. Anderson came to form the companies and get them iuto ahape. Now, Klrkpatrick was very anxious to be elected Captain of our company, and so was Abe Lincoln. Major Anderson got us all to- gether, and then he called out:

""You aspirants for the Captaincy walk twenty paces to the front and lace the lino.' Klrkpatrick and Lincoln stepped outand faced about.

"'•Mow.' said the Major, 'the rest of yon fall , in alongside of the man you want for your Captain 1'

" I was the first to run to Lincoln's side, and I stood at his right. Kirkpatrick's men formed on his left. After awhile, when all had chosen, there were two long liues, one to the right of Lincoln and ono to the left of Klrkpatrick. Then we eawthnt Lincoln had beaten Klrk- patrick two to one and bad seven over to spare. I'll novorforget bow. when Abe 6aw howthings bad gone, the old fellow put hi9 big. horny hand on my shoulder, und I could feel him all trembling with delight ns ho said :

"'Bill, I'll be damned if I hain't beat him I' , That was the first time that I ever beard Abe »woar, and I know he must have been power- fully excited to do it.

"It was at thattime that Lincoln first met

Jefferson Davis. Zachnry Taylor and Davis

were both there, and Jeff Davis swore Lincoln

into the service of the United States aB Cap-

: tain of our company. I saw him do it"

Mr. 'ireen bad many other reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln's voung manhood. When Lincoln was elocted President he did not for- got his old fellow clerk and friend. It was in iS<i2 that they came together again, bat each ad watched the other's career with great in- terest. When Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency ex-Gov. Bennison of Ohio went to Springfield to see him and get from him a ■ketch ot bis life, to bo used for campaign

Jurposes. Lincoln said: "Oh, let it alone: never did anything worth writing about." The Governor Insisted that a pketch was very necessary, and then Lincoln gave the Governor tbe names of some of his friends to get his history from. Among those names was Green's, and Lincoln said when he gave it to Dennis: "He knows what not to tell you, which is more important than I what he does toll you." In 1862 Mr. Green had become President of theTonnekey and Peters- burgh Railroad, now a branch of the Chicago and Alton. He was a very bu*y man. One day he received a message from Lincoln to come to Washington, lie went and Lincoln said to him: " Billy. I want you to he the Internal Reve- nue Collector for your district. It tak^s a very determined man for the place, for L. W. Ross, that copperhead Congressman of yours, is giv- ing tbe Government trouble there."

" I tried to beg off," said Mr. Green In telling the story yesterday. " I told Lincoln that I had invested .ill my money in the railroad, and that I couldn't nut it through, perhaps, unless I gave it my undivided attention.

' Billv,' he f-aid. ' whether you are rich or' broke, you must do all you can for the country. Ion have four sons In the army. I know, but if we don't save the country we will all go to hell in a handbaskot any how. so you must take the place. You can resUn In three or four months, and I'll let yon name your succossor.' " So I went back borne and took the office and the first thing I did was to plant a cannon , ti»ar Boss's place and mnke my headquarters lose to it. Then I sent for Ross n>:d said to im: ' I have trained that cannon on that fine rick house of jours beoause I want you to do all yon can to help me In my work.' And Poss turned in and helped me. tod. I never had any trouble with him aft^r that" P Mr. Green would not say who was his choice for the Presidency in 1892, but he did say that be had never voted anything but a straight Democratic ticket, except when he voted lor ■ Jjncoln_and.thnt be would keep up the nrac- [tioi afK5« aJTjsltrcai*,.. N. A. J.

,\ -

LINCOLN AND SUMNER.

The Difference Between the Student of Books and the Student of Men.

' (Murquls do Chambrun la Scribner's. ] On ,the day following we bad left Richmond, and joined Mr. Lincoln at the headquarters. I was then at leisure to observe closely the existing relations between these two men, so different in origin and education, who repre- sented opinions and convictions so distinctly apart, and who, notwithstanding, bad found themselves bound to one another by the ties of a similar political faith, and united by a sentiment of mutual esteem. Their natures so straightforward, their unquestionable honesty, the true patriotism which guided both, seemed a sort of platform upon which they naturally met; they were therefore made to appreciate one another.

But, on the other hand, it must be admitted that their two minds were scarcely Intended to agree. Mr. Sumner took pleasure in men- tioning that he had studied the Summa of St. Thomas. I do not know if It was from that source that he had derived his reasoning methods; it is true, however, that io many respects his mind had been accustomed to the argumentative process of the Scholastics. Mr. Sumner reasoned as reasons a professor of theology. From the days of his youth he had felt that he had a calling in life; that be would devote his existence to opposing in- justice everywhere.

In contrast to this character so marked, this nature so vigorous, to this scholar so lormed by the most profound studies, stood Mr. Lincoln, the man of the people, of the humblest origin, molded for state affairs by the practice of affairs themselves, having risen little by little, through fatigue and toil, knowing from experience all the difficulties of life, whose disposition was sweet and sad more than persistent and audacious, lie, too, had devoted himself to the triumph of his ideas of justice and emancipation, but he was accustomed to measure obstacles and to appreciate them. Gifted, furthermore, with an uncommon resisting power, he felt him- self sufficiently strong to oppose by the sole force of his obstinacy all eaorts made with a . view to alter his opinions. f'fcQIj

I

ABLY DEFENDS" HIS STATEMENT

DR. F. H. WINES STANDS BY HIS LINCOLN ASSERTION.

Jn Support of It He Produces State- ment From Judge James A. Creigh- ton of the Circuit Court to Show That The Martyred President Was an Ed- ucated Man— Jurist Close Student O.f All Lincoln's Writings— Has Made Special Study of His Law Writings.

In a highly interesting communica- tion to The Sunday Journal, Dr. Fred- erick H. Wines ably defends his state- ment in his Memorial day address on Abraham Lincoln, in which he declared that when Lincoln was a law student in the office of John T. Stuart, Lincoln had studied with care all the text books on mathematics, physics and belles-let- tres which were at that time Included In the curriculum of Yale college.

In support of this assertion he pro- duces a statement from Judge James A. Crelghton of the circuit court on the subject There Is no one in the whole United States, perhaps, better quali- fied to speak In this regard, as Judge Crelghton has been a close student of all Lincoln's writings, and has made a special study of his law writings.

Judge Crelghton shows in his state- ment, that by evidence deduced from the remains of Lincoln's personal lib- rary, part of which is in his possession, and from remnants of papers in hand- writing which is Indisputably that of Lincoln, there can be not the least doubt but that he has studied such text books.

Did Not Realize His Education. Doctor Wines takes pains to state that he does not claim that Mr. Lin- coln was a scholar In the general ac- ceptation of that term, nor does he think that Lincoln gained as much knowledge from books, as from nature and life, but declares that he was far more highly educated than his associ- ates were aware or able at the time to realize.

Doctor Wines communication is as follows:

Editor The Sunday Journal: A doubt has been expressed as to the accuracy of the following statement made by me in the Memorial address on Lincoln which I had the honor to deliver In this city on Decoration day: "He was self-educated, but the remains of his library attest the Tuct that, when he was a law-student In the office of John T. Stuart, he had studied with care all the text-books on mathematics, physics and belles-lettres •which were at that time Included in the curriculum of Yale college."

My reason for making this assertion was a conversation had by me with Judge Crelghton of the circuit court, who has kindly assumed the responsibility for It In a written paper, which is herewith ■ubmltted for the Information of any per-

Ions who may be interested, and which i as follows:

Judge Crelghton's Statement.

"All I know abou* Mr. Lincoln's edu- ' cation or tSe books he read is derived from hereBay1 and circumstantial evi- dence. He had been a member of con- gresB before 'I was born, and I web but a email boy when he was elected president. I never saw him.

"I remember that his political enemies charged that he was an Ignoramus. And while his friends boasted of the fact that he was a self-made man, they Insisted that he was neither Illiterate nor Ignorant. but that he had acquired an education by his own elTorts and without the advant- age of a/tendance at school or college. This they deemed greatly to his credit. They did not concede his lack of educa-

plre and* that he had an elementary , knowledge of chemistry.

Was an Educated Man. That Lincoln was a scholar. In the j usual signification of that word, I do not claim, nor that he had a wide knowledge | of English literature derived from gen- era] reading. I do not think that he1 learned as much from books as from na- ture and life. But he was an educated man, and far more highly educated than his associates were aware or were able at the time to realize. He gained his education late In life, and by his own al- most unaided exertions; but he had It., The lecture of which Judge Crelghton speaks, written In early manhood, was, on Inventions. He was himself an in- 1 ventor, and I believe that he once applied for and secured a patent. The famous law case in the United States court at Cincinnati, in which Edwin M. Stanton took advantage of his modesty and cour- tesy to elbow him out of an opportunity to plead, was a patent case, demanding for Its elucidation an extensive and min- ute familiarity with the principles of mechanics. And when he was Invited to deliver an address in the city of New York, before the Cooper institute, he chose as his theme the probable future of physical discovery and Invention, and this before a learned body. He was per- suaded to speak on the political Issues of the time Instead; but he would not have dared to attempt so ambitious a program had he not been conscious of his ability to carry It out to his own credit and the satisfaction of his au- dience.

Mental Qraspja. Illustrated His mental grasp and the ease with which he acquired Information, as well as the tenacity with which he retained it for practical use at the right moment, are illustrated by his almost forgotten connection with the construction of the Pacific railway, the bill authorizing which was passed during his administration and received his signature. Years be- fore he had a talk with General Gran- ville M. Dodge, then In camp at Council Bluffs, on the proper route for such a road, should it ever be built. The act required the president to fix the term- inus of the Iowa braheh of the road: and Lincoln, recalling this conversation, named Council Bluffs. Congress further Imposed upon him the duty of determin-

tion but boasted of the fact that notwith- standing: the disadvantages under which a? fv. °J*eJ he had attained an education. At that time this all seemed reasonable to mo, and I accepted It as true. For an aspiring young; man who had not the advantage of a school training; to take up and pursue text-book studies was not a very unusual thing In those days.

Some time after Mr. Lincoln's death I saw in a newspaper published In one of the eastern cities what purported to be VlL^l ItanCJr of a conversation with him during the time he was president. The

iTIt JLsta.ted ttat he Mked Mr- Lincoln ,,A oWfPre true *that he had attended school ™- «W ™onths- and Mr. Lincoln said It ZfSi^l then asked him if he had not studied or read the school books. Mr. | Lincoln said yes. He mentioned arith- metic, .grammar, rhetoric, history and

adm[tteib3tnCtt1; a5din? that Bfter he «■*') analogic. ^r h^8tudled geometry!

Contained Old Text Books.

♦J,'.y£eni LCame t0 sPringfleld. about rt^rf? Z~a ^ ^Xoars ago. General Oren- uorff admitted me into his law office as a partner. He hod succeeded to the old Lincoln and Herndon office. It had been removed to another building, but It con- tained what remained of the Lincoln and

£ ?hfl°tn nffl rary- In a Ilttle "°«* room In that office was a miscellaneous and Sgfe* Incongruous lot of books, numbering perhaps three hundred, most of »S were old, though a few were more modem and were doubtless put the™ by judS Zane or General Orendorff. In this col- ection there were some old text-books of the kind used in Yale college seventy or seventy-five years ago. such as I had Been among my grandfather's books

One day I asked Mr. Herndon if Mr Lincoln had read these books. He said

nftalh0%had- ,He wont out and returned after a few minutes with a book made up of foolscap paper, the sheets stitched to? gether by hand in which was written oSt Ln»Kta1l.th* sJolution of many problems "n arl hmetic and geometry, and therlwere

L^oln^r"* l knOW to "^'nT, "Captain Kldd once told me that Lln- C2'n had r.ead everything on "physical philosophy," and I have often heard it said that he prepared a lee ur"e on that

!UW JUld /p|lvere<i It in one of the neighboring towns. e

Was Accurate In Spelling.

"He was unusually accurate in spelling His sentences were correctly constructed when tested by the book rules of era m mar and rhetoric; and the Inducement" the major premise, the minor premise and the conclusion, as taught In the text J books on logic, can easily be detected in his writings and speeches." CLeclea m

The foregoing Is a very abridged sum- mary of what Judge Crelghton has sa?d to me on more than one occasion He mentioned certain books by name on mental and moral philosophy, and Palev's Evidences of Christianity. He said thlt

he ^ notv,0^ course «een Mr. Lincoln read these books, but that their presence In the library to which he had acceTlpart of which he personally owned, taken In connection with Mr. Herndon's statTmVts made to him in frequent convcm on3 a Intervals during a period of seven years produced such a conviction of the suh stantlal truth of the assertion which I ventured to make on his authority a, to eave in his mind no reasonable doubt he has sentenced men to be hung on less satisfactory proof. eas

Mr. A. M. Brooks ha* said to me that he was interested in the question of Lin- coln's education from the point of view of a teacher: that he had an opportunity to know, and JTfl know, that he was |well versed in the history of Engbnd ^reece and Rome, that he had read Glb- ■on s Decline and Fail of the Roman Em-

ing the width of the gauge of this road, and this he did, in the midst of all his other cases and duties, while the civil war was raging.

As a physician of Springfield once said to Judge Creighton, "No man Is born with sense enough to know, as Lin- coln knew, how to spell phthisis and as- safoetida. without having studied his spelling-book." Many things may be learned from association with other men on the streets; but there are some things that can be learned only from assiduous study of books. If Lincoln knew these things, as he certainly knew his Euclid, not to mention anything else, he must have studied. "Where or when or how, Is immaterial. Admit It, and the mys- tery which has been erroneously said to attach to it totally disappears. This line of reasoning Is inferential but It Is un- answerable. Frederick Howard Wines.

W. T.- Baker, the postmaster at Bo- livia, 111., who were well acquainted with Lincoln, sends the following com- munication relative to the education of Mr. Lincoln: • Editor the Sunday Journal: I see In the Issue of the 13th Inst., an article about Abraham Lincoln with request to add knowledge from any one. I am just turning Into my 78th year. I came to Springfield. November 14, 1828. and my father, James Baker and Abraham Lin- coln were mess mates in the Black Hawk war I knew him well. (Mr. Lincoln) have ground his and M. Hank's corn meal When they chopped cord wood and made rails. I helped him Over father's mill dam with the boat. I have slept with him several nights and have been at his house a good many times. General Whltesldes lived three miles up the river and they would meet at father's and fish and hunt. I think Mr. Wines is mis- taken. It seems to be generally un- derstood that Mr. Lincoln's schooling was limited but great and he never forgot anything. I could tell you a good many of his anecdotes. There Is no doubt In my mind but Mr. Jayne and Thayer are correct. I know both of them. I am also a member of the Lincoln and Yates organization. With respects, W. T. Baker, Bolivia.

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POLITICS • ART

Editorial Section

Ji """ Tl

H r.TTTPAfi-O STTWHAV ATWERTCAN. FTCRRTTARV 11 iQflR ■_

CHICAGO SUNDAY AMERICAN, FEBRUARY 11, 1906.

LIJVCOLJV AJSfT) EDUCATION.

OoprrtBht, 1»00, br Aii.rlo.n-Jonrnol-Iilsnmlnc

Y father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached onr new home about the time the state came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond 'readin', writin' and cipherin' ' to the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to un- derstand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. I HAVE NOT BEEN TO SCHOOL SINCE. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.

"If any personal description of me is thought desirable it may be said I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on an average one hun- dred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyeB. No other marks or brands recollected."— ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

He WOULD Feed His Brain, He WOULD Have Knowledge. He WO ULD^ia^earTEdu cation. His Noble Life and Useful Work Prove That LOVE OF KNOWLEDGE Is First Among the Essentials of Success.

HE birthday of Lincoln, remembered with loving ad- throughout the world, might supply with i every pulpit, every newspaper, every father,

The world loves Lincoln for hie purity of charac- tr and of purposes. That character, blackened by envy while the man lived and worked for hla coun- try, shines now brightly as the sun.

The world admlree Lincoln for his courage, unflinching. It ad- mires him perhaps even more for hla marvelous patience, for the kind heart that gave him power to deal with those so far below him In manhood.

To look upon this character, this beautiful spirit born In the rugged body for hard work, 13 to look upon one who, like a great

For the children, and young mt for the parents and the teachers, and of education, we choose for coi love of knowledge.	n, and OLDER men and women; the makers and sellers of books nment to-day Lincoln's passionate
On this page we publish a himself. Head that first.	. ext	act from his own brief account of
Have you read It?
Do you reallae that that i ability to read, reaching ma day's early childhood, DID	larveloui man, struggling even for the hood deficient In the knowledge of to- BUCH WORK AS PEW MEN ON

MUCH HE OWED to that knowledge gained so painfully, with such difficulty and with only hlB determination to help him?

The scholars of his day, the men learned In all branches of knowl- edge, were those whom he gathered moat eagerly about him, In his Cabinet and as advisers among hie friends. Not one of them out- shone him. Not one equaled him. For the knowledge that HE possessed he had gained by struggle, by self-sacrifice. He walked twenty mites and back to get hold of a simple English grammar. His books were few— but with the few books, and the hard work, HE COMBINED CONSTANT THINKING.

What he studied he studied HARD. Every word of a book re- ceived his earnest thought, and difficulty was not a word In his list.

Young men, you who complain of lack of opportunity, GO GET AN EDUCATION. Teach yourselves to think, as you read. Deter- mine to make yourselves well-informed men. Save your vitality for your brain, as Lincoln saved hlB.

When he was keeping store Lincoln bought a barrel for fifty centB, It was supposed to be empty. But a book fell out of it— a copy of Blacksione.

old man after the failure saw long, It a pile of cord wood, burled CATE HIMSELF. His clothes wer When asked what he was reading he Thi> surprised o]j man, according to t God Almighty!" and could think of looking

EARTH HAVE EVER 1

Do you realize that SELF-TAUGHT he on 'n that of the best educated tnen of his day?

ltd not discourage him. An ky young Lincoln sitting on I, TRYING TO EDU- as grotesque as his figure, iswered, "Studying law, sir." historian, exclaimed, "Great nothing else to say. 'studying law" on a wood pile made himself into a really great lawyer; he laid down rules for a lawyer's conscience that would Improve certain lawyers and hurl their profits to-day. He could have been great, or greatest among the lawyera of the country, had nut Destiny reserved lor ulm gfeater

work than fighting the petty quarrels of individuals.

Luckily the books that came Into Lincoln's hands were GOOD books. In his cabin were "Aesop's Fables," "Robinson Crusoe," "Pilgrim's Progress," a life of Washington and a history of the United States.

These he read and reread. The fables helped his Imagination and cense of humor. Bunyan taught him simplicity and directness of expression. Later he read Shakespeare and Burns. What he read he read over and over. He made good writing a part of him- self. He DIGESTED EVERY WORD AND THOUGHT.

And he TAUGHT HIMSELF to write such speeches and state papers as have never been excelled In beauty of language or of in this country or any other. Shakespeare Lincoln read most often "King Lear," "Richard "Henry VIII.," "Hamlet," and "Macbeth," He liked of all "Macbeth." If you will honor Lincoln's birthday and levotlng your evenings for the next few weeks or months to rending carefully OVER AGAIN, If read already, the books we have mentioned— you will find yourself on the road to good thinking and to good expression of thought.

Men. women, YOUN GAND OLD, let the memory of Lincoln In- spire you. Let It force upon your mind your duty to yourselves, which is THE ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE. Libraries, schools, SYSTEM, make easy for you what was eo hard for the great Man whom we revere. You cannot honor him better than by LEARNING FROM HIM, by following In his steps, with earnest thought, and earnest, patient study.

The politicians and the would-be statesmen of to-day should be set to earnest thinking by any mention of Lincoln.

Every word and thought In the man was a reproach to the present sham "government by the people." Lincoln TOOK THE PEOPLE AND THEIR POWER SERIOUSLY,

When he announced his Intention to do certain things, he added, and he MEANT it: "Unless my RIGHTFUL MASTERS, the Ameri- can people, shall withhold the requisite means, or In some other au-

That sounds VERY old-fashioned, doesn't It. Lincoln, greatea* American since Washington, cpoke of the people who chose him, ai "MY MASTERS." He recognized their rights and power. It la a little different In our day, isn't it?

He said AND MEANT it: "This country, with Its institution* belongs to the people who Inhabit It."

He had little respect for the whining of tbe dollar. No man could bother him or divert him with foolish talk of "money danger or trade worries," such as recently set all our statesmen to asking for coolie labor. He was interested in the prosperity of the people— more truly interested than any modem trust puppet In office- Bat he could not be bullied by the big pockets trying to govern. Ha aaidl

"I am not Insensible to any commercial or financial depression that may exist, but nothing la to be gained by fawning AROUND THE 'RESPECTABLE SCOUNDRELS/ WHO GOT IT UP. Let them go to work and rapalr the mischief of thalr own making, and then, perhaps, they will ba leta greedy to do the like again."

Hasn't that a good American sound! It would strike with, a Jar on the ear of n modern Wall street gambler going to Washington for government gambling funds, or bonds at half-price.

Lincoln studied for himself— he studied a few books and many men. He saved his country, by his own death ha hastened th« healing of the wound that was inevitable, and all of hla prsaenlnc and all of his practice were bound ap In these few words fi*m hla first Inaugural addrsss, March 4tb, 1661:

"Why should there not bo a pattont confidence In the ultimata justice of the peopiar la thar* any better «r tquaJ hop* k» VU world!"

t

Xtncoln H Stuoent

Ibis Unonstr^, Concentration, SelMRellance

t

M

As the decades pass, tbe figure of Lincoln looms greater and greater. Time is giving us the right perspec- tive, and eich yea.r makes him* seahi more of a miracle. Yet; in sober truth no man ever had less of the miraculous In his history. His rise was not even sudden; it- was by the slowest and most tedious gridatlon. Every step has been distinctly traced and there is not one of them that any other man might not have taken.

He began ab?olutely at the botto m. There was not even a step to the front door of the house in which he was born. Until be was twenty-one not a board separated his feet from Mother Earth. No artificial contri- vance of civilization aided bis advance he pushed himsels along by the sheer force of elemental qualities. Social jackscrews and financial derricks may lift a little man fco^cjrtala^aLtit]iide^ ftuTtliey Have ;tbeir ' limits. Lincoln did not need them. Had they b.en at his command they might have made him a figure, but they could dot have made him a force. I f (0

Character alone cah give a man an inaccessible place in the history of civilization and in the heart of man- kind . In its last analysis character is crystallized habit. A man is the sum of his thoughts, feelings, acts. When Lincoln stood on the steps of the Capitol In 1865 and all printing presses of the world were stopped for his second Ioagural Address, he was the embodiment of fifty-six years of slowly accumulated habits. The next morning every land rang with applause and the London Times said -ttre-lrjaogirrarwas~"trje greatest-state paper of the century." Toe flawless logic and the faultless phrase whence came they? According to his own account, LincolD went to school "bv littles"; "in all it did not amount to more than a year." And what teachers there were in those days! Scarcely ohe of them could go beyond "readin', writia', and clpherin' to the rule of three." Such a curriculum was not likely to lead to " the great- est state paper of the century," such a school was hardly planned for the making of a President. We must find the secret elswhere. ;~~ ' :r~> --• ■■-?-

r ' it is here: Lincoln deveTdpfta "the j study habit.

! But the study habit implies three other habits — Industry, Concentra- tion, and Self reliance.

Shut off from schools and colleges, Lincoln read and studied evury book he could find. His father's little lib- rary was pitifully small, so he borrow- ed from far and wide. He once told a friend that he "read through every book he had ever heard of in that country, for a circuit of fifty miles." With nothing but a turkey buzzard pen and home made ink he made a careful synopsis or copied long extracts from everything he read. These he read over and over until committed to memory. .Shingles, boards, shovels doors served as notebooks In the crack of the log near his rough bed , ready to seize the moment be awoke in the morning. At night he made use of the fire on the hearth for light and studied for hours after the other members of the family were fast asleep. He carried books with him wherever he went, valued everz spare moment as an opportunity for read^" lng, even chose his occupation with a view to the chances they ofiered for udy.

The habit offocuslng evdry„, power .•HHlfrrjrairnrpou uut; "UCCupatiitm^Ts" be key to successful scholarship. >ne that elves only a part of his ilnd masters only a part of hie sub- jet. Whej Lincoln learned anything i was his for all time; he never had o go back to verify impressions: the lets and principles, even the very /ords, were fixed in his memory for- ver. Concentration Is the only path hat leads to thorougbness. When twenty-four years old Lincoln aw that there was not much of a uture in general stoorkeeplng. He ■as offered the position of deputy

couoty surveyor. The only difficulty in the way of accepting was that he knew absolutely nothing about. ^ sur- veying. But what did so trivial an obstacle amount to? Me borrowed Fiiot-and Gibson's treatise on the subject and bent his will to the task of, mastering It. He worked as if his temporal and eternal well-being de- pended on the effort; everything else was banished — friends, pleasures, and food were almost forgotten; day and night he kept at It, denying himself sleep until he was pale and haggard and the neighbors expostulated. In six short weeks he mastered every brancn of the subject upon which he could get any information and repor- ted for work. No wonder he was a good surveyor. One of his biographers says: Lincoln's surveys had the ex- traordinary merit of being correct. His verdjct.was.the end,, cl., any dls-; pute so general was the confidence in his honesty and skill."

While keeping his grocery store in New Salem, Lincoln bought a barrel of old household stuff for fifty cents. In it he found Blackstone's "Com- mentaries." He began to study them. Speaking of it in after life he sain: "The more I read, the more intensely interested I became. Never In my life was my mind so thoroughly ab- sorbed. I read until I devoured j them."

. Difficulties could not daunt a man that early In life had cultivated such a habit. When Lincoln began to study law he had to tramp twenty miles every time he wanted a law -book. — la-doiug-so-he-would-read-aod- digest about forty pages each trip. He never allowed the subject to slip from his mind, when manual laror j made it impossible forhlm to be reading I he would recite aloud what he had! last read and fix it forever in his mind. Twenty years after this time when he was an acknowledged leader of the Illinois bar he gave the follow- ing advice to a young man wishing to becomea lawyer; "Get books, and read and study them carefully. Begin with 'Blackstone's Commentaries,' then take up Chitty's 'Pleadings,' Greenleaf's 'Evidence,' and Story's Equity.' Work, wort, work, is the

J w

main thing." One day while still a law student In Springfield, Lincoln found that he did Dot understand the meaning of the word "demonstrate." He tells the story himself: "At last, said, Lincoln you can never make a lawyer if you do not understand what, demonstrate mean'; and I left my situation at Springfield, went home, and stayed there, until I could give at sight any proposition In the six books of Euclid. I then found out what 'demonstrate' meant.,"

Some time after Lincoln had achieved considerable success as a law- yer, he was engaged upon an import- ant case in Cincinnati, in which he found himself associated with, men of high training: college graduates, equipped with the culture of .the more developed east. After the trial he said to a friend: "Emerson, I am going home to study law." "Why j Mr. jjincoln," Emerson exclaimed, "you stand at the head of the bar in Illinois now. What are you talking aboutl" "Ah, yes," he said, "1 do occupy a good position there, and I think I can get along with the way things are done there now. But these college-trained men, who have devoted their whole lives to study, r»r« -wm i Df-wes t -i don-'t-yoUvSGaS^aJtadJ they study their cases as we never do. They have got as far as Cincinnati now. They will soon be in Illinois. I am going home to study law. I am as good as any of them, and when they get out to Illinois I will be ready for them." What difficulty was there that Lincoln did not overcome? What ambition was there that he did not realize? What position he could not reach? And all the equipment In his possession was Industry, Concent- ration, and Self-reliance.

—Joseph H. Odell

otuaiousness

Lincoln was a singularly studious man — not studious in the ordinary conven- tional sense. To be studious in the or- dinary, conventional sense, if I may judge by my observation of a university, is to do the things you have to do and not understand them particularly. But to be studious in the sense in which Mr.

C--^vvc-<CXL(vt^— <&*

. Lincoln was studious, is to follow eagerly and fearlessly the curiosity of a mind which will not be satislied unless it understands. That is a deep studious-

•ness; that is the thing which lays bare the map of life and enables men to un- derstand the circumstances in whielr they live, as nothing else can do. — Woodrow Wilson.

LINCOLN, THE STUDENT.

His Industry, Concentration, Self- Reliance. / $ 2 »

By. Joseph H. Odell. As the decades pass, the figure of Lincoln looms greater and greater. Time is given us the right perspec- tive, and each year makes him seem more of a miracle. Yet the sober truth, no man ever had less of the I miraculous in his history. His rise j was not even sudden; it was by the j slowest and most tedious graduation. I Every step has been distinctly trac- j ed and thero wis n^+ nnn ■'■" ill m that any other man might not have taken.

'He began absolutely at the bot- tom. There was not even a step to the front door of the house in which he was born. Until he was twenty- one, not a board separated his feet from Mother Earth. No artificial contrivances of civilization aided in his advance; he pushed himself along by the sheer force of elemental qual- ities. Social jackscrews and finan- cial derricks, may lift a little man to a certain altitude, but they have their limits. Lincoln did not need them. Had they been at his command they might have made him a figure, but they could not have made him a force. Character alone can give a man an inaccessible place in the history of civilization and in the heart of mankind. In its last analysis, char- acter is crystalized habit. A man is the sum of his thoughts, feelings, acts. When Lincoln stood on the steps of the Capitol in 1865 and all the printing presses of the world were stopped for his second Inaugur- al Address, he was the embodiment of fifty-six years of slowly accumu- — lated fufhits. The noxt morniner ev- ery land rang with applause, and the! London Times said the Inaugural was | "the greatest state paper of the cen- tury." The fllawless logic and the faultless phrase — whence come they? According to his own account, Lin- coln went to school "by littles"; "in all it did not amount to more than a year." And what teachers there were in those days! Scarcely one of them could go beyond "readin', writin' and cipherin' to the rule of three.' Such a curriculum was not likely to lead to "the greatest state paper of the century"; such a school was hardly planned for the making of a Presi- dent. We must find the secret else- where.

It is here: Lincoln developed the study habit.

But the study habit implise three other habits, Industry, Concentration and Self-Reliance.

Shut off from schools and colleges, Lincoln read and studied every book he could find. His father's library was pitifully small, so he borrowed from far and wide. He once told a friend that he "read through every book he had ever heard of in that country, for a circuit of fifty miles." With nothing but a turkey-buzz- ard pen and home-made ink. he made a careful synopsis or copied long ex- tracts from everything he read. These he read over and over until commit- ted to memory. Shingles, boards, I shovels, doors, served as notebooks, when he ran short of paper. He al- ways kept a book in the crack of the logs near his rousrh bed, ready to

sieze, the moment "he awoke in the] morning. At night he made use ofi the fire on the hearth for light, and! studied for hours after the other members of the family were fast asleep. He carried books with him wherever he went, valued every spare moment as an opportunity for read- ing, even chose his occupations with a view to the chances they offered for study.

When twenty-four years old. Lin- coln saw that there was not much of a future in general storekeeping. He was offered the position of deputy county surveyor. The only difficulty in the way of accepting was that he knew absolutely nothing about sur- veying. But what did so trivial an obstable amount to? He borrowed Flint and Gibson's treatise on thei subject and bent his will to the task| of mastering it. He worked as if his temporal and external well-being de-, pended on the effort; everything else I was banished — friends, pleasures, and food were almost forgotten; day and night he kept at it, denying himself sleep until he was pale and haggard, and the neighbors expostulated. In six short weeks, he had mastered ev- very branch of the subject on which he could get any information, and re- ported for work. No wonder he was a good surveyor. One of his bio- graphers says: "Lincoln's surveys had the extraordinary merit of be- ing correct. His verdict was the end of any dispute, so general was the confidence in his honesty and skill."!

While keeping his grocery store in New' Salem. Lincoln bought a bar- rel of old household goods for fifty

cents. In it he found Blackstone's I college trained men, wno nave aevoteo. "Commentaries." He began to study I their whole lives to study, are com- them. Speaking of it in after-life, ling west, don't you see? And they he said, "The more I read, the more J study their cases as we never do. ] intensely interested I became Nev- They have got as far as Cincinnati ' er in my life was my mind so thor- now. They will soon be in Illinois, oughly absorbed. I read until I de- j I am going home to study law. I will voured them." I be ready for them." What difficulty

Difficulties could not daunt a man was there that Lincoln did not over- that in early life had cultivated such j come ? What ambition was there that [ a habit. When Lincoln began to stu- 1 he did not realize. What position he j | dy law he had to tramp twenty miles could not reach? And all the equip-! ! every time he wanted a law book, j ment in his possession was Industry, ! In doing so he would read and digest i Concentration and Self-reliance.

[ about forty pages each trip. He nev- 1

' er., allowed .the subject to slip from^ his mind. When rnlfl'tial IaTjOr""made it impossible for him to be reading he would recite aloud what he had last read and fix it forever in his mind. Twenty years after this time, when he was acknowledged leader of the Illinois bar, he gave the following ad- ! vice to a young man wishing to be- come a lawyer: "Get books, and read and study them carefully. Begin with "Blackstone's 'Commentaries.' then take up Chitty's 'Pleadings, Greenleaf's 'Evidence, and Story's 'Equity.' Work, work work, is the main thing.

Some time after Lincoln had achieved considerable success as a lawyer, he engaged upon an impor- tant case in Cincinnati in which he found himself associated with men of high training, college graduates, equipped with the culture of the more developed east. After the trial he said to a friend: "Emerson, I am go- ing home to study law." "Why, Mr. Lincoln," Emerson . exclaimed, you stand at the head of the bar in Illi- nois now. What are you talking talking about, "Ah. yes, he said, "V do occupy a good position there, and I think I can get along with the way things are done there now. But these !

J WR I P H T

Left— the boy Lincoln and his mother.

Illustrations from the First National Picture "Abraham Lincoln**

and some day my chance will come

tf

Perhaps it is not written in the stars that you will become another Lincoln, men saw the making of a great President in the humble railsplitter. But — Lincoln Looked Ahead. He Studied and Got Ready. He Made Each Day Count.

Few

Above, Left — Abraham Lin- coln knew the value of study. As a boy he ciphered with charcoal on the back of a shovel before the fitful glow of a log fire. As a young man he studied law far into the night with the aid of a flickering candle.

Above, Right — George Bill- ings as he appears in the First National Picture, "Abraham Lincoln."

Left — Every schoolboy knows the famous Gettys- burg address of Abraham Lincoln. "Four score and seven years ago," it reads. The man who preceded the beloved Lincoln spoke for an hour and a half. Lincoln spoke for barely five min- utes. The words of the one are practically for- gotten; the words of the other have become im- *~ mortal.

4

"ftWiNe-o wtH f£i3 vsi'S

National Republic, February , 1928.

LINCOLN AND HOME STUDY

Possibly one of the best arguments in favor of HOME STUDY COURSES for those who cannot enjoy the ad- vantages of a college, university or private school education and training is the success of Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln's parents were poor. He could never expect to attend the public schools regularly, to say nothing of his chances of attending a college or university. But Lincoln knew the ad- vantages of having an education, if lie was to ever make any mark in life. He wanted to attend the schools at New Harmony, Ind., but it cost one hundred dollars a year and he did not have the hundred dollars.

With a determination to learn, Lin- coln planned his own way of gaining this education that he sought. He would walk miles to borrow certain books that he needed and by candle light he sat for hours during the evenings in his father's log cabin and by his own planned course of home study educated himself to the point where he finally became a successful lawyer and later one of the outstand- ing figures in American history.

Through HOME STUDY. Lincoln ed- ucated himself and became President of the United States. Some of his ad- dresses and state papers are regarded as among the finest productions in the English language.

Today there are carefully planned HOME STUDY COURSES laid out by those who have studied the situation, and which if properly applied will help anyone gain additional knowledge and training in his chosen profession or occupation.

f ,-j - r (,— — r '. :.- ■ • " v. *s ' Incident iri Lincoln's 7 1 1 - >iS Quest for Education

An instance of the indomitable de termination of Abraham Lincoln to eet the best education possible Is told bv Dr William E. Barton in an ar- ticle in LIHerty In "-Men he draws a comparison between Lincoln and I George Washington. ."Lincoln's emi- nence in the matter of his education grows upon us," Doctor Barton writes. j "when we remember his subsequent attempts to make good, in part, the disadvantages of his early prepara- tion There is nothing in the career of George Washington that can be cited as a parallel for the way in which Lincoln studied law in Salem, nor for the way in which, after his term of congress, and at the age of forty, he mastered Euclid and -the Ele- ments of Logic.

"When John Locke Scripps wrote his campaign Life of Lincoln, in 1SG0" Doctor Barton continues, "he enumerated Plutarch's Lives, among the books that Lincoln had read Lin coin had not read that work, but, deeming the inclusion of the title in the list of his supposed accomplish- ments an indication that he ought to have read it, he did not correct the proof, but obtained the four volume* and read them." '

Owen's New Harmony Proj ect Fascinated Young Lincoln

But Abe's Dream of Getting "Book Larnin' " There

Was Dashed

\

It was in January of 1826 that Robert Owen came down the Ohio river with 30 people on his "Boatload of Knowl- edge" and founded the idyllic community, New Harmony,

LINCOLN SAYINGS !

"Abraham Lincoln, His hand and pen, He will be r/ood

Bat God knows irlirn."

Ind.

Owen was a rich English business man and had paid $132,000 for the land, and put $50,000 into livestock, tools, and merchandise to put over the project. Word of his scheme had been broadcast thru a speech he made before congress telling that the com- munity was going to be one where "people would live their lives together, without fight- ing, cheating or exploiting each other, where work would be honorable yet there would be time for play and learning; the}' would sbare and share alike, each for all and all for each."

They came by boat and 05 wagon and pack horse to join the new community, and Abe Lincoln ■'caught the fever. He would like to go to that place of J^ew Harmony and get some re&l schooling. He found this would cost about $100 a year and he could work for his board. ■ .'■ •

But Tom Lincoln had other plans and Abe's dreams of book larnin' came to naught at thi3 time.

Lincoln as a Student

k

| Sir: — Lincoln, seli'-educated.' made his; bruin superior to that of the best educated men of the 'day. J The knowledge he possessed he had | gained by struggle, by self-sacrifice, ui -n-iitanri ?n p111"" and b^ck to get hold of a simple English grammar. His books were few, but with the few books and the hard work, he combined constant thinking. What he studied, he studied hard. Every word of a book received his earnest thought, and "dif- ficulty" was not a word In his list.

When be was keeping store, Lincoln bought a barrel for 50 cents. It was supposed to be empty. But a book fell out of it, a copy of Blackstone. Lincoln's store was a failure, but that did not discourage him. He made himself Into a. really great lawyer; he could have been great or greatest among the lawyers of the country had not Destiny reserved for him greater work than fighting the petty quarrels of Individuals.

Luckily the books that came Into Lincoln's hands were good books. In his cabin were "Aesop's Fables," "Rob- inson Crusoe," "Pilgrim's Progress," a life of Washington and a history of the United States. These he read and reread. The fables helped his Imagina- tion and senile of humor. Bunyan taught him simplicity and directness of expression. Later he read Shakes- peare and Burns. What he read, he read over and over. He made good writing a part of himself. He digested every word and thought. And he taught himself to write such speeches and State papers as have never been excelled In beauty of language or of sentiment In this country or any other. We cannot honor him better than oy learning from him, by following In his steps, with earnest thought audi patient study. WILLIAM H. BITZ. Jj

Lincoln the Student

KessingerU Mid-West Beview February, 1931. p. 43.

LINCOLN AS STUDENT: HIS OWN NARRATIVE

Little-Known Incidents That

Show His Hard Efforts Are

Recalled by Dr. Finley.

EDUCATION WAS 'DEFECTIVE'

So Described It for Congressional Directory — Mastered Euclid at 40 ■ as Part of His Study of Law.

Adult education, of which ,10 much is heard, today, had a hard pacemaker in Lincoln. Some little- known incidents recalled in a com- mencement address by Dr. John H. Finley at Gettysburg College last week show how he went about it. The address, in part, appears below.

By JOHN H. FINLEY.

No biographical account of the education of Abraham Lincoln ex- lends over a p«gfe" or two, while Lin- coln's own biographical story is told by himself, though in the third per- son. After speaking in detail of the ABC schools and their teachers he said:

"Abraham now thinks that the aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to a year. He was never in a college or academy as a student and never inside of a college or acad- emy building till since he had a law license. What he has in the way of an^education he picked up. After he was 23 and had separated from his father, he studied English grammar —imperfectly of course but so as to speak and write as well as he now does. He studied and nearly mas- tered the six books of Euclid since he was a member of Congress. He regrets his want of an education and does what he can to supply the want."

This is supplemented by an inter- view which he gave to Dr. John C. Gulliver * * * who * * * met Mr. Lincoln one day in Connecticut and asked him, * * * "How did you pre- pare for your profession?"

"I read law, as the phrase is; that is, I became a lawyer's clerk in Springfield and copied odious docu- ments and picked up what I could of law in the intervals of other work.

Lincoln's System.

"But your question reminds me of a bit of education I had which I am bound in honesty to mention. I thought, at first, that I understood the meaning [of the word demon- strate] but soon became satisfied that I did not. I said to myself, 'What do I do when I demonstrate more than when I reason and prove? How does demonstration differ from any other proof?'

"I consulted Webster's Dictionary. That told of certain proof ('proof be-* yond possibility of doubt'); but I could form no idea of what sort of proof that was. I thought a great many things were proved beyond a possibility of doubt, without recourse to any such extraordinary process of reasoning as I understood 'demon- stration' to be. I consulted all the dic- tionaries and books of reference I conlri find hnt_with no hetter results.

You might • as well have" defined I 'blue' to a blind man.

"At last I said, 'Lincoln, you can never make a lawyer if you do not understand what "demonstrate" means.' And I left my situation in Springfield, went home to my father's house, and stayed there until I could give any proposition in the six books of Euclid at sight. I then found out what 'demonstrate' means and went back to my law studies."

Dr. Newton Bateman, • • * Super- intendent of Public Instruction in Illinois at the time when Lincoln was first nominated for the Presidency, had a room adjoining that- which Mr. Lincoln used during the eight months preceding his departure for Washing- ton. The door between the offices was "wide open" and there was a frequent passing to and fro, so that Dr. Bateman, as he says, saw Lincoln every day for several hours, Mr. Lincoln brought to Dr. Bateman (whom Lincoln called his "little friend the big schoolmaster") his let- ter of acceptance, saying: "I think it is all right, but "grammar, you know, is not my stronghold, and as several persons will probably read that little thing, I wiph you would look it over and see if It needs doc- tpring anywhere." '

His Regard for Grammar.

Dr. Bateman read it Slowly and handing it back said that it was strictly correct with one very slight exception almost too trivial to men- tion. "Well, what is it?" said Mr. Lincoln, "I wish to be correct with- j out any exception, however trivial." "Well then," said Dr. Bateman, re- membering the rule about the avoid- ance of a "split infinitive," "it would be as well to transpose the 'to' and the 'not' in the sentence, 'and it shall be my care to not violate it.' "

"Oh," replied Mr. Lincoln after looking at it a moment, "you think I I'd better turn those two little fel- lows end to end?" and he did (though I am not sure that he im- proved the_?entence : it was stronger as it was).

Of his Cooper Union speech he wrote to some one who wanted to edit it that if it was intended to im- prove the grammar and elegance of composition, he was agreed, but he added, "I do not wish the sense changed to a hair's breadth." • • *

I have given the * •.• statement of his "education" in his own language, but he himself condensed it into one word, when he was asked to state for the Congressional Directory what his education was. This one word was "defective." * * *

If it was a "defective" education that gave us such a man, then, as Lincoln said when complaint was made to him about General Grant, we ought to find out what the brand is and give it to others. What was there in the education of Abraham Lincoln to carry into a system for the education of youth in a democracy— not only youth but men and women?

The outstanding fact is that his own education did not stop with the school, nor with learning to read and write, nor even with his profes- sional studies. He went back to Euclid at 40. He kept on growing till the sudden end of his life. That is the supreme lesson of it to those who are living in the Republic which is the "central fact" in the world to- day.

We' have set up a wonderfully ef- fectual machine for elementary edu- cation and compelled every child to pass through it on the way to liter- acy. But if in doing this we do not inspire or foster in the child a zeal for knowledge, a desire to go on and on as did Lincoln in his search for ideas and in his effort to put them into plain language, bounding his thought north, south, east and west, and finally demonstrating it, we are missing the major purpose of educa- tion, -

v

V\ v| J^

-^n^^

%u^\jJ £~

H3X

Lincoln's Method of Learning Language Worth Teacherj Study

i i v

By GARRY C.

How did it happen that Abraham Lincoln, with parents practically illiterate, spoke and wrote in lan- guage that has lived?

From early boyhood he read aloud a great deal, from about the choicest literature. The books of his boyhood included the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Arabian Nights, Aesop's Fables, Rob- inson Crusoe and a few others. But these he read over and over again.

John Hawks, who worked barefoot in the fields with young Abe Lincoln

S3.ICI !

"When Abe and I came back to the house from work, he used to go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn bread, sit down, take a book, cock his legs up high as his head, and read Whenever Abe had a chance in the field while at work, or at the house, he would stop and read "

Lincoln't step-mother once told Mr Herendon that Abe devoured every- hlfhhe,C0Uld get in the ^Ok line;'

Shi« ^ the Blble and Aes°P'* Fables within his reach, and read them over and over again. Lincoln once sald himself that as a boy he read all the books he could find for oO miles around.

Abe's step-mother once said that when neighbors came to visit in The

uri"Abe WaS a s,Ient an<* atten- ive observer, never speaking or ask- ng a question until they were gone

and then he mUst understand every-

ovprV V he W°Uld then rePe*t it

o\er to himself again and a-ain sometimes in one form, then m an- other and when it was fixed in his i mind to suit him he became easy I

MYERSS, Ph.D. '' / /

and never lost that fact or his under- standmg of it."

Little Schooling Abe Lincoln attended three differ- ent schools in Kentucky and two in Indiana, but not for many weeks in any one of them.

President Lincoln, in 1860, told a newspaper reporter:

"I never went to school more than six months in my life, but I can say this: That among my earliest recol- lections I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand . i can re member going to my little bed room" after hearing the neighbors talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small part of the night walking up and down and trying to make out what was the exact mean- | ing of their, to me, dark sayings. Couldn't Sleep "I could not sleep, although I tried to. when I got on such a hunt for an

5 ^K1^" causht lfc: «d when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until I had repeated it over and over; until I had put it in lan- guage plain enough, as I thought for any boy I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me- for I am never easy now, when I am handling a thought, tin I have bounded it north and bounded it south and bounded it east and bounded it west."

Teachers of English might get some tips to pass on to their students from Abe Lincoln's way of learning to speak and write effectively.

1 Toe/ay's Assignment for —

JUNIOR ED I T 0 R S

'31

THE EVENING STAR, Washington, D. C.

XXirj &VXJ MONDAV, FEBRUARY IK 1057 _, . , .

THE YOUNG LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, educated himself studying his few books by the flickering light of a log fire and working out arithmetic problems with a burned stick on a wooden fire shovel. , . , . .

By the time he was 9 years old, he was doing a mans job, clearing land for planting, splitting rails for fences and helping build a log cabin. \

Lincoln set out to make his way in the world when he was 21. He carried his belongings— a few home-spun shuts and home- knit socks— tied up in a big handkerchief. .

He traveled down the Mississippi River dn a flatboat. The trip was adventurous but not very profitable. After that, he settled in New Salem, 111., where he was a clerk in a small store.

The village of New Salem has been carefully restored so that people of today can see it just as it looked in Lincoln's days there.

Cut out and color this picture and mount it on cardboard.

Mrs. Henry Loser of Deer Creek, 111., sent in this idea. ,

< Violet Moore Higglns, AP Newsfeatures) Tomorrow: Lincoln the Man I

The University

THE young Lincoln, poring over borrowed schoolbooks far into the night — seek- ing in the dim light of his log fire the transforming light of knowledge — eager to grow — eager to do — here is a picture that has touched the hearts of men in every country on the earth — here is an example which, for three score years, has inspired the man who strives against the odds of circumstance to make his place in the world.

HIS STUDY IN GERMAN.

Along In the winter of 1840- T>0 a class of us began the study of German in Lincoln & Herndon's office. I think Mr. Lincoln, When in Congress, had seen the necessity for a better education In foreign ^languages, and . so when a German teacher carrie from Phila- delphia he helped to get up a school for him. Mr. Lincoln's sense of humor stood Irt the j way of our dolnp much, atid after twelve i or fourteen lessons we gave It up. The lessons too often were stopped by Jlr. Lin- coln being reminded of something to be of much use in the mastery of German. Yet with all his jocularity Mr. Lincoln was a I serious man, and those who came in contact I with him well realize it. A. W. French. . 1

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X

WHAT HE DID AT HOME

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BIENNIS HANKS tells how Abraham spent his time at home:

Sometimes he would write with a piece of charcoal, or the p'int of a burnt stick, on the fence or floor. We sometimes got a little paper at the country town — (Gentryville, a mile and a half from Prairie Fork). His first reading book was Webster's Speller. Then he got hold of a book — I can't rikkilect the name. It told a yarn about a feller that sailed a flatboat up to a rock, and the rock was magnetized and drawed the nails out of his boat, and he got a duckin', or drownded or suthin', I forget now. (The books was "The Arabian Nights.") Abe would lay on the floor with a chair under his head and laugh over them stories by the hour. I told him they was likely lies from end to end ; but he learned to read right well in them."

John Hanks, another cousin, relates: "When Abe and I returned to the house from work, he would go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn-bread, take a book, sit down, cock his legs up as high as his head, and read."

Abraham read all the books he could borrow within a circuit of fifty miles, and that was not very many. A book was a precious thing in the sight of young Abraham. He read some of them, including the Bible, over and over. He read the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," which he found at Constable Turnham's, as eagerly as boys to-day read "The Count of Monte Cristo" or the stories of Conan Doyle. At this time he read, some of them repeatedly, besides the Bible, "The Pilgrim's Progress," "Robinson Crusoe," "iEsop's Fables," a History of the United States, and Weems's "Life of Washington." In connection with the last-named book he had a queer experience which will be described in another story.

As candles were scarce and costly, Abraham read and studied by the firelight until far into the night. With a piece of charcoal he would cipher on a wide wooden shovel and erase his figures by shaving the shovel clean with his father's drawknife. Whenever he found anything in his voracious reading that he wished to preserve, he would write it on smooth board, on the under sides of chairs and shelves, and leave his odd notes there until he could supply himself with paper which he made into a rough kind of "commonplace book" and copied into it the data and quotations from their queer hiding places, high on the walls or under the benches and stools. He used to talk over what he had read, sometimes with his mother, sometimes with those of his companions who were interested.

His stepmother, not long before her death, referring to this time in the life of Abraham Lincoln, said:

I can say what scarcely one mother in a thousand can say : Abe never gave me a cross word or look, and never refused in fact or appearance to do any- thing I asked him. His mind and mine — what little I had — seemed to run to- gether. I had a son John, who was raised with Abe. Both were good boys, but

I must say, both being now dead, that Abe was the best boy I ever saw or expect He read and studied by the firelight to see. j,, . . . . ^

until far into the night

A Few Great Books Started Lincoln

Just a

few great

books

gave

Lincoln

his start

VOU probably have read as many books as Lincoln read in the first thirty years of his life. Why is it that you have gained only a smattering of knowl- edge from your books while he gained a liberal ed- ucation from his? The answer is that he knew what few books were really worth-while. He made every moment count.

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LINCOLN'S ARITHMETIC

Lincoln attended school for a few months during his

boyhood in Indiana, A page of the Arithmetic he made

is here shown. In the lower left corner of the page

he wrote:

" Abraham Lincoln his hand and pen he will be good but god knows When ■

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Lincoln Thought It Out

Abe nodded. "Got a heap of time to think. They's days an' days an' weeks when I'm in the woods an' don't see a soul till I git home. Jes' me an' the axe an' the trees an' the sound of the wind in the trees. Kearn't he'p fig- gerin'. ..."

"You figgered 'bout schoolin', too?"

"Figgered thet. Pappy ain't wanted me to mess 'round blab-schools but Mammy, she made him see it like I see it."

Hugh struggled with a stubborn chip. "What good's schoolin* fer folks thet live like us?"

Abe held out his long arms. "I kin use them hands. But so kin a coon. Mebbe better. I kearn't ketch suckers in my hands like a coon. does. But all folks don't live like we live* I kearn't see that the Almighty was ever minded thet folks spend all their lives jes' breakin' land an* choppin' trees an' plowin' an' harvestin'. An' then choppin' more trees, breakin' more land, plowin' more fields — jes' movin' from one quarter-section to another. They's things in books thet'll he'p folks he'p themse'ves, he'p 'em to he'p other folks." He paused, axe resting easily in his scarred hands. "Know what's wrong with folks, mostly? Ignorance. Thet's it — jes' plumb ig- norance. They don't know no better."

"Never heerd no one talk like you afore, Abe. You kin read thet clock back to the cabin. What good it do you? Tell time by the sun good enough. . . . Don't know what you read in books, but I bet they ain't anything you kearn't figger fer yourse'f in a corn- patch."

Abe frowned. "They's a heap more things in this world than corn-patches. I aim to know 'bout 'em. Sometimes I look up to the stars an* try to figger what they're seein'. Seein' a heap more'n jes' cornfields. They're seein' me an' they're seein' folks in Pitts- burgh an' N'Orleens. They're seein' the Presi- dent in Washin'ton an' rich folk in New York. They're seein' the Wabash an' the Mississip' an' the Ohio an' a heap of rivers I ain't even heerd on — all them rivers an* the folks that lives along 'em. They're seein' the oceans an' them furrin countries, an' I heerd of some of them. Jes' countries filled with folks same as Indianny." He poised his axe. "Kinda sets you figgerin', lookrn' at the stars."

Hugh hacked on silently, then asked, "What thet got to do with gittin' this tree down?"

"They's a powerful sight of trees an* a powerful sight of folks under 'em. Jes' 'cause we're here in a clearin' we don't fergit 'bout thet cabin yonder. We know 'bout it. We'll sleep thar, eat thar. Then you start figgerin' what's beyond the cabin — what sort of folks live thar. An' beyond thet, an' beyond thet? What do they think? What they do? Jes' figger like that an' purty soon you've gon round the world, jes' from this clearin'. Thet's what I aim to know. Not jes' one clearin* or one cabin. If you're workin' in a clearin' an' know all 'bout another one, thet he'ps you with the clearin' you're workin'." He pushed his coon- skin cap back on his head. "Kinda hard to explain. I alius want to know what an' why. Caleb Hazel, he was another blab-schooler an'

he tolt Pappy I was a l'arner, an' I reckon he was 'bout right." . . .'

Abe gave a warning shout. "She's a-comin'! I'll take the last licks. No, you done fine, but I know jes* whar I want her laid." He chopped rapidly. The tree tottered, roared to the ground in a swirl of snapping branches.

Hugh stared. "How you do thet? Never seed a tree laid so close." '

"Pappy l'arnt me. 'Tain't much of a trick. You c'd 'a' done as good only you wouldn't 'a' knowed whar to lay her. You c'd 'a' cut jes* like I done, right here. Thet's what laid her. Now let's trim her." — From "For Us, the Liv- ing," by Bruce Lancaster. (New York: Stokes.)

'BY SIGHT, SCENT, HEARING."

that Is How Dennis Hanks Described the Way He and Lincoln Learned in the Early Times.

7*.il?SSi« W« Heard all mat was

«? «s was sa- •--

after the order of Jackson; so waibto father, alter ineoiuc h d made speeches,

s0 we all were. »*£^!^Sb etc Abe was

lAcal anSo&Veches to the boys;*e was calm, logical, and clear always. .,_

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The Living Lincoln

(Continued from page 87)

"If you are going before the public, Abe, you should study grammar."

"But where can I get a gramma ?" asked Abe.

Mr. Graham knew of but one grammar in all the countryside, and that at a place six miles away. Leaving his unfinished breakfast, Abe rose from the table and walked straight to the place mentioned to borrow the precious book: For many weeks after, in every leisure moment dur- ing the day's work, and at night when the chores were all done, he pored over its contents until he knew every rule and pre- cept from cover to cover. Then he said: "If that is what they call a science, I think I'll go into another."

Lincoln never stopped until he had com- pletely mastered whatever he undertook. He borrowed and read, until its contents were his own, even' book he had ever heard of in that region for a circuit of forty miles.

It didn't matter to him that his feet were sore and his whole body weary after walking twenty miles or more from his log cabin home in the wilderness to bor- row some volume he had heard of, when the coveted treasure was in his hands he forgot everything else. So eager was he for knowledge, he sometimes would read as much as a hundred pages of one of those books on his way home.

When Abe Lincoln got hold of a book, he would drink it in as a man drinks at a spring of water in a desert when nearly dead with thirst. And when he had fin- ished reading and re-reading a book it no longer belonged to the owner— it was his! Tic had its contents in his head. It had become a part of him.

At night, long after everyone else was in bed, he studied arithmetic; his slate a wooden shovel, on which he ciphered with the carbon end of a burned stick. When the shovel was covered with figures, he would shave it off again and again, for hours at a stretch. He always kept books under the eaves, near his bed in the loft where he slept, so that he could get hold of them in the morning as soon as it was light enough to read.

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tThe business done over Offut's counter gave hia clerk frequent in- tervals of rest, so (hat, if bo in- clined, an abundance of time for study was always at. his disposal. Lincoln had long before realized the- deficiencies of his education, and resolved, now that Ihe condi- tions were favorable, to atone for early neglect by a course of study. Nothing was more apparent ro him than his limited knowledge of lang- uage, and the proper way of ex- pressing his ideas. i Moreover, it may be -said that he I appreciated his inefficiency in a rhetorical sense, and therefore de- termined to overcome all these ob- stacles by mastering the intricacies of grammatical construction. Act- ing on the advice of Mentor Gra- ham he hunted up one Vaner, who was the reputed owner of Kirk- hnm's grammar, and after a walk of several miles returned to the store with the coveted volume un- der his arm.

With zealous perseverance he at once applied himself to the book. Sometimes he would stretch out at full length on the counter, his head propped up on a stack of calico prints, studying it; or he would steal away to the shade of some in- viting tree, and there speud hours at a time in a determined effort to fix in his mind the arbitrary rule that "adverbs qualify verbs, adjec- tives, and other adverbs."

From the vapidity of grammar it was now and then a great relaxa- l tion to turn to the more agreeable I subject of mathematics; and ho | might often have been seen lying face downwards, stretched out over six feet of grass, figuring out on scraps of paper some problem given for solution by a quizzical store lounger, or endeavoring to prove ; that, "multiplying the denominator of a fraction divides it, while di- viding the denominator multiplies it." Rather a poor prospect one is forced to admit for a successful man of business.