Abraham Lincoln and education

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Abraham Lincoln and

Education

Schools

Excerpts from newspapers and other

sources

From the files of the
Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection

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LINCOLN AND HIS
RELATION TO I. C.

i went horns v'it/ his Erfeads, Green I

during one of pre student vacations.

Lincoln workea in the harvest field

• at the Green f|rm and was said to be

(able to pitch more hay th3n any other:

IALKcD 10 LlUnJ Lincoln was a friend of Jonathan

Baldwin Turner, who was an occa-
ssional visitor at the white house dur-
Dr. CVHffiammelkamp Tells Clubmen fe* his &?£***•* Lincoln once told
Man* Incidents of War ..rrcsi- : Turner that ne had gained his knowl-

denfs Connection With Local
College.

^edge of English from students who

studied Rhetoric under Prof. Turner

______ at Illinois. Lincoln was also a friend

-Lincoln and. Illinois College- was:of ^"^ent Sturteyant and in 1856
the' mm m ah interesting "address *rote °r" ^f'^ a ,sttf explain-
delivered last. evening at the regular !in? "*___ he did not carS t0. .™n J°r
meeting of the Lions club bv Dr. C.H.iC0^ess- a. *"■*■_ *<* which the
Rammelkamp. The speaker was in- allege President had evidently urged
i reduced bv Orville Foreman, chair- \*im t0 make the race. Dr. Rammel-
raan of the" club program committee, ^mp read the letter in question to
Dr. Rammelkamp stated that Lincoln tne C1UD-
was one of those rare individuals who Lincoln Defends I. C.

tower above their environment and Lincoln once defended the college
accomplish great things in spite of it. ! In a lawsuit which grew out of the gift
There is no doubt that the college on i of lands which had been acquired by
the Hill had some influence on his j Gideon. Blackburn. The trustees of
life, tho he never attended the insti- i Blackburn's estate found the 15,000
tution. | acres of good Illinois land he had ac-

Lincoln knew manv of the colleee ' quired for the founding of a college,
students of the early davs, and later i too much of a burden. They had to
in life he was acquainted with mem- ! dig down in their pockets and pay
bers of the faculty. They must have [taxes on the land.
.given him some of the ideas regarding } They therefore gave the big hold-
slavery and the preservation of theirs scattered thruout the state and
Union which later became cardinal i including town lots in Chicago.
principles in directing his career. Lin- | Springfield and other cities, to the
coin bore a more or less intimate re- (trustees of Illinois college on condi-
lation to the school because of its '■ tion that they establish a Blackburn
short distance from New Salem and '■ chair of theology. The Illinois trustees
Springfield, and because of the anti- I accepted the land and had sold most
slavery stand taken by its faculty and ;01 it: when the heirs of Blackburn who
students, an attitude* which was also!found a clause in the will which said
dear to his own heart. 'the college must be established at

Considered College ' Carlinville, started suit for recovery-

It is held bv at least two Lincoln i °f the 'and. Lincoln defended Illinois,
biographers. Dr. Barton and Carl|but "ost the case ™ the high court..
Sandbere, that Lincoln intended to which ordered the college to return
enter Illinois college, but was pre-'rrie land t0 the BlacKburn heirs,
vented from doing so bv the death of j Lincoln also once defended a former
his sweetheart. Anne Rutledge. It is Illinois college student in a murder
fairly well established that Anne was case- He was Quin "Peachie" Harri- j
planning to attend the Jacksonville son> v,"ho had an altercation with his
Female academv, and some believe t brother-in-law. Harrison thought his
:hat Lincoln would have come to Illi- : relative was going to hit him with a
nois at the same time. The fact that | heavy weight and proceded to defend
Anne intended to come is set forth | himself with a knife. He cut his an-
in a letter written to her by her j tagonist so badly that he died. Lin-
brother. David, a student heTe, the.00"11 cleared Ha-rison of the murder
original of which the college possesses, j charge.

However, Lincoln was 25 years old ! The law partner of Lincoln. William
and a member of the legislature at the jn- Herndon. was a student at Illinois
time, and it is hard to believe that ' i or two years. He made a protest
he mieht have yet come here to Speech against the killing of Lovejoy
school. <m 183~ at a mass meeting on the cam-

However. Lincoln must have used<Pus' and for this his father, ordered
the textbooks of Illinois students ' him home Irom school. There is no
whom he knew. Harrv Lee Ross, who ' doUDt that Herndon influenced Lin-
carried the mail between Sprinsrfield j coln somewhat. He often gave him
and Lewiston and who knew Lincoln I advise, tho Lincoln often used his/
well, tells how the latter asked Vfe-J own iudsment. «hrmf fniioxrin<T_it — •
ham Green who was home at- New
Salem on vacation from the college,
if he brought his becks with him.
Lincoln asked their use and the as-
sistance of Green in the study of L
grammar and arithmetic, as he wished
to qualify for the post of deputy sur- j
■>eyor. Green did assist Lincoln and1
he got the position.

Richard Yates, the war governor
»f Illinois, tells how he once saw Lin-
coln "spread all over a cellar door
reading a big book, which proved to
be Blackstone." This was when Yates

.U.eKSPWrLT,E ILL JOr*VAL
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1931.

Bulletin of the Lincoln National Life Foundation Dr. Louis A. Warren, Editor.

Published each week by The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

No. 283

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA

September 10, 1934

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SCHOOL DAYS

Abraham Lincoln's formal education has been given
very little consideration by those interested in studying
his life; and, when his achievements are discussed, his
school days are seldom mentioned as contributing factors
in his training. Lincoln himself is partly responsible for
the glossing over of the short but very important periods
during which he received instruction from Kentucky and
Hoosier school-masters. As a nominee for the presidency
he had occasion to write about his early days, and, observ-
ing the many advantages enjoyed by the school children
of 1860 over those of 1820, he drew a very gloomy word
picture of the pioneer schools on the western frontier.
Somehow biographers concluded from this and other
statements that Lincoln was denied even the meager edu-
cational opportunities then available.

It can now be shown that Lincoln's formal instruction
was not inferior to that of the majority of other boys
who grew up in the wilderness. He went as far in his
reading, writing, and arithmetic as the pioneer school was
able to carry him. The school-houses occupied, the school
terms attended, the school-teachers who instructed, and
the school-books read are subjects of interest in consid-
ering Abraham Lincoln's school days.

School Houses

Abraham Lincoln attended four different log cabin
schools; one less than a mile from his home, two different
ones about one and one-half miles away, and one nearly
four miles distant. A photograph of the first log build-
ing where Lincoln went to school with his sister, Sarah,
is still extant. The log school-house which served as a
gathering place and shelter allowed Abraham Lincoln to
enjoy the valuable social contacts made with both teacher
and pupil, and in this respect at least his education was
not deficient. In one of these rough buildings a course in
manners or pioneer etiquette was taught.

School Terms

On one occasion Lincoln wrote that "the aggregate of
all his schooling did not amount to one year." yet he
attended at least five different terms of school. This
would allow approximately two months for each term,
which was not an unusually short period for a pioneer
school. The court established a ruling that a child bound
out to a guardian should have "one year's schooling in
the English language."

Lincoln attended two terms of school in Kentucky dur-
ing 1815 and 1816 when he was six and seven years old
respectively, and three terms in Indiana during the years
1820, 1823, 1826 at the ages of 11, 14, and 17 respectively.
During the latter period, from 1820 to 1826, there were
two boys and three girls in the Lincoln home, and it is
likely that the indirect influence of the school continued
to play an important part in Lincoln's life for many years.

School Teachers

We are not left in doubt as to who had the honor of
instructing Abraham Lincoln, as he remembered the
names of those who assisted him in his formal education.
His Kentucky teachers were Zachariah Riney and Caleb
Hazel; the Indiana instructors were Andrew Crawford,
(James) Swaney, and Azel W. Dorsey. No one of them

was an itinerant pedagogue, but each one resided in the
community where he taught.

While they were not versed in the higher branches, they
were all sufficiently educated to instruct Abraham Lin-
coln during those periods in which he was under their
tutorage. Riley was educated in St. Mary County, Mary-
land, and Hazel in Virginia. Both were good scribes, and
the latter, who lived on the farm adjoining the Lincoln's
in Kentucky, "had many fine leather bound books."

Crawford, aside from following the teaching profes-
sion, was a justice of the peace in Indiana, but little
is known about Swaney except that he was a young man
and a resident of the county in which he taught. Dorsey,
aside from acting as treasurer of Spencer County, also
served in other official capacities. At one time he was
proprietor of a store. He lived to see his distinguished
pupil achieve fame. It would appear from evidence avail-
able about these men that they were pioneer teachers of
more than average intelligence.

School Books

Dilworth's New Guide to the English Tongue was Lin-
coln's first school-book. While it was a speller, it also con-
tained "a short but comprehensive grammar" and "a use-
ful collection of sentences in prose and verse."

Although the Bible was probably used in the pioneer
schools as a reading book, Lincoln told Herndon that
Murray's English Reader was "the best school-book ever
put in the hands of an American youth." It outlines in
great detail: Proper Loudness of Voice, Distinctness,
Slowness, Pronounciation, Emphasis, Tones, Pauses, and
Mode of Reading Verse. The author claimed the selec-
tions in his book to be extracted from "the works of the
most correct and elegant writers."

Pike's Arithmetic is the text Herndon claimed Lincoln
used in Dorsey's school and which enabled him to
"cipher through the rule of three." The rule of three is
the method of finding a fourth term of a proportion when
three are given. This was the most advanced course of-
fered in mathematics. Many pages of Lincoln's own
arithmetic copy book have been preserved which prove his
efficiency as a mathematician.

Aesop's Fables, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Weems's
Washington, Barclay's Dictionary, The Kentucky Pre-
ceptor, Weems's Marion, Ramsey's Washington, The Col-
umbia Class Book, Scott's Lesso7is, and a history of the
United States are some of the other books which were
read and studied by Lincoln during his school days.

Abraham Lincoln's early training was made more valu-
able by a sympathetic home atmosphere. Both his own
mother and his step-mother encouraged him, and one of
the Lincoln's neighbors in Indiana claims that Abraham's
father seemed to be proud of his son's ability to learn. A
schoolmate of Abraham has left this reminiscence of Lin-
coln's school days: "Abe was always at school early and
attended to his studies, always at the head of his class
and passed us rapidly."

The achievements of Lincoln would have been impos-
sible without the primary formal education which he re-
ceived in log cabin schools.

Note — Reprints of this issue are available. Form No. 2399.

I o —

Lincoln's Schooling

Accwdjpg fata recent "Lincoln |
Lore Ijuyetin ot the Lincoln Na-
tionjlJLife Foundation, tftg lwtw
ble feature dr'UIP1 JHPkger pioneer
education of the future President1
was not its meagerness after all,
but the solid foundation of educa-
tional growth that was crowded
into the short and few school
terms possible in those early days.

Lincoln was a good scholar and
made the best of what opportun-
ity was given him, but what
schooling he had was no less
than that of the ordinary boy of
his time and place.

Between the years of six and
seventeen, the boy .Lincoln went,
for a term of two or more months,
each, to five different schools,
making about a year of formal
school study.

The classes- of course were
small and the teachers earnest
and devoted men, one of them
educated in Maryland and one in
Virginia, with both of these
"good scribes," with the Virgin-
ian, who lived on the next farm,
the possessor of "many fine
leather books."

These, with the other two or
three teachers, all of whom Lin-
coln remembered well and by
name, were spoken of as men of
unusual intelligence and ability.

The little log schools were cen-
ters not only of learning, but of
social contacts of their day, with
one of them carrying on a course
of pioneer manners and etiquette
for its young scholars.

Lincoln himself is quoted as
enumerating' his school books.

First mentioned among them
was his beginner's book, "Dils-
worth's New Guide to the Eng-
lish Language," a spelling book,
but containing also "a short but
comprehensive grammar," and "a
useful collection of sentences in
prose and verses."

It is supposed that the Bible,
after the custom of the time, was
used as a reading book, but Lin-
coln's most intimate biographer,
Herndon, quotes him as saying
that Murray's "English Reader,"
which he had studied at school,
was "the best school book ever
put into the hands of an Ameri-
can youth."

In this volume were extracts
from "the works of the most cor-
rect and elegant writers," with
instruction to the young reader
on "Proper Loudness of Voice,
Distinctness, Slowness, Pronuncia-
tion, Tones, Pauses, and Modes of
Reading Verse."

There was Pike's Arithmetic,
too, which carried its young stu-
dent through the rule of three,
and there were also Aesop's
Fables, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Prog-
ress, Weems's Washington, Bar-
clay's Dictionary, The Kentucky
Preceptor, Weems's Marion, Ram-
sey's Washington, The Columbia
Class Book, Scott's Lessons, and a
History of the United States.

This list was enough to inspire
an ambitious and eager young
mind, and if deeply absorbed,
could easily become of more
value than the offerings of ten
years of schooling carelessly ac-
cepted.

xnoxvili.e rrEMM*. .wm'At

OCTOBER '2, 193J

'Schooling For The
Young Lincoln

"Abe," said Tom, after a moment of hesi-
tation, "how would you like to have Men*
more schooling?"

Abe was so startled that he was unable
to answer.

"I mean it, boy," his father said, squint-
ing at him in the pale early light of the
morning. "How would you like to get some
more book-laming?" J

''Where would I get it?" Abe asked.

Tom Lincoln hesitated again, and Abe
could see that, whatever he was about to
propose, it was not coming out easily.

"Your mamma tells me," he said at last,
"that Azel Dorsey is fixing to start him up
a blab school next winter." ... '

Abe scrutinized his father's face for a
moment.

"But you were always dead set against
schooling, Pappy."

"Not altogether, I wasn't," Tom replied
uncomfortably, . . . avoiding his son's eyes.
"Of course you've had your quarter at Andy
Crawford's already. You can read some and
cipher a little. A feller would think that
was enough. Now you take me, I've always
kept my accounts by making marks on a
rafter with a wood coal and then rubbing
the marks out when I was through with
them. Yeah — you would think that was good
enough, wouldn't you?" . . .

"But you think I ought to go to Azel
Dorsey 's school for a little more, just the
same," Abe put in hastily, seeing that he
was losing ground.

Tom looked startled. ,

"Me?" he said,
v "Her, then. She thinks so."

"Her," Tom said. He nodded slowly, his
face once again troubled.

"So? . . ."

Tom sighed.

"She's got the fool notion," he said, "that
your head is like Mizz Reuben Grigsby's
flowerbed, or something of the sort. She
keeps saying that flowers can grow in it or-
weeds can grow in it. Says it will be weeds
If we don't do some cultivating." . . .

"Well, Pappy, I reckon we oughtn't to
disappoint her," Abe said. "I'd sure hate to
sprout weeds outen my ears."

Tom Lincoln's shoulders slumped as he
nodded again.

• " 'Course you'll have to pay for it outen
your own earnings," he said.

" 'Course I knowed I'd have to do that,"
Abe said.

So he was going to school again! As he
rode along through the woods that June
morning, Abe's heart was lighter than it
had been in a long time; and everything
about him seemed exciting and wonderful.
— From "Abe Lincoln of Pigeon Creek," by
William E. Wilson. Copyright 1949. Used
by permission of Whittlesey House, a divi-
sion of The McGraw-Hill Book Company.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, BOSTON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1951

Cincinnati Times-Star
February 10, 1958

arne<

By FRED D. CAVINDER

INDIANAPOLIS (NANA)—
Somehow, it is felt here,
Lincolniana has passed In-
diana by.

Kentucky has well pub-
licized Abe's log-cabin birth
and who doesn't know that
Lincoln split rails in Illinois?
Yet it was among the Hoosiers
that Abe Lincoln's formative
years were spent. He came
here as a boy of 7 in 1816
and stayed for 14 years.

A COMMISSION has now

been set up in Indiana to
catch up with the publicity
lead won by the two other
states. Among several proj-
ects planned under way, the
commission is digging up
some interesting facts about
the little known careers of
Andrew Crawford, James
Sweeney, and Azel W. Craw>
ford. It was this Hoosier trio
who gave eager Abe his only
formal schooling. • '-.

Two years after Abe came
to Indiana, Andrew Crawford
opened a log schoolhouse
three miles from the Lincoln
family hut. Tuition was in the
form of animal skins and
farm produce.

CRAWFORD RULED his

"blab" schoolhouse, where the
pupils studied vocally, with
the whip and dunce cap while
the youngsters sat stiff-backed
on wooden benches.

The 10 or 12 children

\ learned little more than their

three R's, using pens of turkey

quill dipped in pokeberry ink.

it was here that Abe won
his reputation as a speller,
and because of this skill suf-
fered the pangs of his first
schoolboy. love. She was Ann
Robey.and she thought quite
a lot of bUncoln,;; especially
after 'he 'helped her in spell-
ing class when the teacher
wasn't looking. Legend says
he once pointed to his eye
to help her remember the "i"
in "defied." •' '

In Crawford's school Abe
began- writing his first com-
positions—against cruelty to
animals. One of hi^jrize es-
says ,was an, attack on placing
live coals on turtles' backs.

}[6GRAWFORD ALSO tried to
leach his backwood's pupils
social graces and he had them
practice cavalier - style bows
and formal introductions.
Lanky Abe, <in, low shoes,
short socks and buckskin

britches that left six inches
of his shinbone bare, was the
brunt of many jokes in his
clumsy attempts to learn, "city
manners."' v

Crawford gave up his school
after one season, but along
came Sweeney in 1822, and
this teacher set up shop in a
cabin just like Crawford's ex-
cept that it had two chimneys.
Sweeney was supposed to get
$Lor $2 for tutoring each of
his nine or ten scholars, but
he soon settled for skins and
grain, the only things the
parents could afford.

MORE LITERARY cam-
paigns against cruelty to ani-
mals and 9 dabbling in 'poetry
occupied;. Lincoln here, but
the distance to school made
Ms attendance sporadic and
he soon stopped going. A
short time later Sweeney gave
up the school.

Then came Sweeney's foster
father, Dorsey. He was by far
the most competent and best
remembered of the trio. .

DORSEY WAS considered
an educational marvel. Not
only was he a popular leader
and an office holder, but his
competence,, in arit h m e tj c,
gained in the mercantile
trade, placed him at the pin-
nacle of. intellectual achieve-
ment in the, backwoods,

Se venteeri-yearfpjd' - Lincoln
developed his clear, distinct
handwriting skill under Dor-

sey and clinched the title as
the state's top speller. He
delved into the "higher
branches" of learning — arith-
metic— in an ancient text.

In 1828 Dorsey moved to
•SJiuyler County, 111., where he
became patron of the Rush-
ville post office and taught
school again. Years later the
Rev. Chauncey Hobart of Red
Wing, Minn., wrote:

"IN THE FALL and winter
of 1828-29, Dorsey taught
school in our neighborhood
which I attended: From Mr.
Dorsey I first heard of Abra-
ham Lincoln, who had been
one of his pupils the win-
ter previous,' Mr. Dorsey re-
membered the young Lincoln
kindly, spoke of him frequent-
ly and sarid 'Abraham Lincoln
was one of the noblest boys I
ever knew and is certain to
become noted if he lives.'"

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2013 with funding from

Friends of The Lincoln Collection of Indiana, Inc.

http://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolnedschlinc

By MARIE FRASER

Managing Editor

Lincoln's Indiana School Days

Schoolmaster dorsey pushed

the crudely-made plank door open and
peered inside the new Jackson Township
school. The room was dim. Poor light

At one end of the cabin was the fire-

the heat but also the light for the small
"deestrict" school. A platform for the
master's desk was at the other end. Dor-
sey would have his older scholars help
him move the heavy oak desk he had
brought with the rest of his plunder from
Hardin County, Kaintuck, in 1816.

The desk was battered now, having
been moved from the Mill Creek (Ky.)
community to Ohio Township, Warrick
County, where Dorsey had served as
election clerk. In 1818 he moved the
desk to Spencer County to serve as his
only "official" piece of furniture during
the years he was county treasurer and
coroner.

In 1820 he had moved on to Dubois
County, but he and his family returned
in 1823 to set up a real estate business
in Rockport for a year, followed by his
two-year try at the mercantile trade.
Now it would serve as the schoolmaster's
desk.

Dorsey put his Murray's English
Reader down on a bench, rubbed his
chilled hands together, and studied the
fireplace momentarily. He reckoned the
Jackson Township freeholders had done
a "right smart job" of the stone fireplace.
The rocky hills of Spencer County had
yielded a plentiful crop of stones which,
mixed with the clay and straw of the
Little Pigeon Creek area, were used by

.1 -%r\ *\ p- _ _ __ ___! 1_A_J !___

the new law of 1824 to provide a public
school for their community.

The schoolmaster stepped outside to
pick up some shavings and logs to start
a fire. The young-uns, who had watched
their pappys at work on the new school,
had piled the logs up outside. The au-
tumn air was raw and the heavy frost
clung to the long, brown grass. Harvest
was over ; his younger scholars were free
now to come to school — weather permit-
ting. The freeholders had been reminded
to place the schoolhouse on a site as near
the center of the township as possible.
Still, some of the young-uns had to walk
four or five miles.

Once the fire was burning brightly,
Dorsey looked around the cabin more
closely. Sure, nuff, there were pegs for
coonskin caps, probably enough benches
for the Gentry, Grigsby, Hall, Forsythe,
Brooner and Lincoln young-uns, and a
gourd for pokeberry juice. Maybe some

of his "scholars" would have turkey buz-
zard quills for writin'.

DONATED BUILDING TIME

something of the law. As he looked
around his school, he uttered a silent
"thanks" to the legislators who had met
at the state capitol in Corydon and on
January 31, 1824, had passed an act pro-

The law said that 20 freeholders in
a township could authorize the building
of a schoolhouse, centrally located, and
that all freeholders over 2 1 years of age
were required to put in one day a week
on the construction of the schoolhouse
until it was completed.

This school was an improvement over
the hard dirt-floor school his ward, James
Sweeney, had kept during the winter of
1822. Young Sweeney, 22, had a sub-
scription school with about nine or ten
scholars. He was supposed to get $1 or
$2 a quarter per young-un, but they were
pinching times and he usually settled for
skins or produce.

PUNCHEON FLOOR

The 1824 statute specified that all of
the schoolhouse construction had to be
done under the direction of the school
trustees and, in the case of two-story log
schools, there were to be eight feet be-

THE INDIANA TEACHER

tween floors. This ruling wasn't necessary
at the Jackson Township school, a one-
story structure, but the ruling that the
first floor had to be one foot from the
surface of the ground had been observed
in school construction at Little Pigeon
Creek for the first time. Yes, Dorsey
agreed that the puncheon floor had helped
finish the cabin "in a manner calculated
to render comfortable the teacher and
pupils" as the law specified.

Dorsey had figgered he could handle
the schoolmaster's job between harvest
and plantin' time in the spring. He had
had no trouble qualifying. All the law
said was that the prospective teacher was
to be examined by the trustees "touch-
ing his qualifications, and particularly as
respects his knowledge of the English
language, writing and arithmetic."

PRACTICED CIPHERIN*

Actually, most of the settlers 'round
the Little Pigeon Creek community
'lowed as how Master Dorsey, with his
background of public official and mer-
chant, was much better qualified to teach
than the two masters before him — An-
drew Crawford and James Sweeney.
Leastwise, his knowledge of cipherin' was
greater than his predecessors.

Dorsey had heard the settlers talkin'
in Gentry's store about the other two
schoolmasters. Take Master Crawford.
He wasn't an itinerant teacher like some.
He had lived in the community several
years, served as justice of the peace of
Carter Township in 1819, and had taught
"subscription" school one winter in 1820.
Crawford, not related to Josiah Craw-
ford, however, was considered above the
average pioneer because he had had to
read the 38 pages of closely-printed state
laws in the published statutes in order to
be a justice of the peace.

MANNERS A MUST

His other claims to fame as a teacher
were that he was a good penman and that
he taught the young-uns manners. The
scholars took turns playing "visitor" at
the school, being greeted at the door by
a classmate with a "howdy" and intro-
duced properly to the master and others
in the class who bowed or curtsied..

Folks in Jackson Township also "were
still talkin' 'bout the spellin' matches
that Master Crawford held every Friday
night at the schoolhouse. The young-uns
took great delight in out-spellin' the old-
sters three times their age. Dorsey soon
,"took the hint'' that it might be wise to
revive the spellin' matches at Little
Pigeon Creek.

Crawford operated a "blab" school
with all the scholars studying aloud.

Those who mumbled or forgot their sums
were cracked with his heavy whip.

Crawford left Spencer County presum-
ably in 1821 after he performed the mar-
riage ceremony for Robert Angel and
Polly Richardson.

MASTER AND THE PUPIL

Sweeney, sometimes called Swaney,
and his sister Charlott were orphans.
Azel Dorsey and his wife had posted a
$1,000 bond as guarantee that by the
time James had reached the age of 22,
the end of his apprenticeship, Dorsey
would give him "a horse, saddle and
bridle worth $70 and learn him to read,
write and cipher to the rule of three."

When Dorsey 's scholars seemed defec-
tive in their larnin', they were quick to
tell him that they "ain't never heerd
that-there afore" which caused Dorsey to
squirm. After all, the little that Master
Sweeney was able to pass on to his
scholars he had picked up from Master
Dorsey!

WASTED TIME

Speaking of one of Sweeney's schol-
ars — Abe Lincoln — John Hoskins told
Dorsey that Tom Lincoln's young-un had
to walk four and a half miles to school —
two miles beyond Gentry's store. This
going back and forth occupied entirely
too much of his time. Tom Lincoln was
unhappy because he reckoned that a big
boy like Abe could be earnin' 25^ a day
for his Pa, hired out to cut logs, during
the time he was wastin' on eddication.

Hoskins said: "Sweeney's schoolhouse
was much like the other one near the
meetin' house 'cept that it had two
chimneys instead of one. . . . Here, we
would choose up and spell as in old times
every Friday night."

Sweeney married Sarah Jane Crannon
in 1825 and moved to Rockport. He was
the only one of the teachers of that period
who continued to live in Spencer County.

TEARS later, just before his death on
September 13, 1858, in Schuyler County,
Illinois, Dorsey had occasion to remi-
nisce about his teaching days at Little
Pigeon Creek and his scholars there.
There was one in particular he couldn't
forget.

Dorsey rolled back the years and re-
called the first day the gangling, six-foot-
three Abe Lincoln ducked his tousled
head as he came in the door and said
"howdy" to the new master. He had come
to get some larnin' because, as he put
it, "I aim to be somebody some day —
maybe President. I must study and get
ready." —30—

Th* dotted line'
r Indicate* «He.
' dv»to»ce Abe
Lincoln Had to
P travel to
.attend tchool . ,

LINCOLN
SCHOOL SITE

IITTLB I

PI ©EOT* (TREBK

.settle imtent

THOMAS
LINCOLN
HOMESTEAD

1 MILE

NOVEMBER, 1958

LINCOLN'S SCHOOL DAYS.

Ltttle Abe was first sent to school when he
was about seven years of age. His father
had never received any "book learnin'," as
education was termed among such people,
and it was with difficulty that he could write
his own name. One day about four weeks
alter Abe had been sent to school, his father
asked the teacher: "How's Abe getting
along?" The teacher replied that he was
doing well; he wouldn't ask to have a better
boy. He had only one lesson book, an old
spelling-book.

During the school hours he was attentive
to his task, and at night he would study over
the lesson he had been engaged upon during
the day; the highest ambition of his life at
this time was to learn to read. He believed
if he could only read as well as his mother,
who read the Bible aloud to the family every
day, the whole world of knowledge would
be open to him, and in this conjecture he
was about right. As the old Baptist minis-
ter told him one day: "When you can read
you've got something that nobody can get
away from you."

In the Kentucky home there were but
three books in the family — the Bible, a cate-
chism, and the spelling-book which Abe
Lincoln studied. He-had not been long in
Indiana before he had read the "Pilgrim's
Progress," his father borrowing it from a
friend who lived twenty miles away. He
was very fond of reading "./Esop's Fables,"
a copy of which came in his way. A young
man taught him to write.

As writing-paper of any kind was very
scarce and expensive, Abe used to practice
his writing exercises with bits of chalk or
a burnt stick, on slabs and trunks of trees.
Sometimes he would trace out his name with
a sharp stick on the bare ground. When,
finally, he was able to write letters, he was
called to do the correspondence of many of
his neighbors, for very tew grown persons
in that region could write even a simple
letter.

As Abe Lincoln grew older he became a
great reader, and read all the books he could
borrow. Once he borrowed of his school-
teacher a "Life of Washington." His mother
happened to put it on a certain shell, and,
the rain coming through the roof, the book
was badly damaged. Abe took it back to
the school-master, and arranged to purchase
it of him, paying for it by three days' hard
work in the cornfield; and he was entirely
satisfied with the bargain at that.

At the age of eighteen his library consisted
ofthe"Lifeol Franklin," "Plutarch's Lives,"
the Bible, the spelling-book, 'VEsop's Fa-
bles," "Pilgrim's Progress," and the lives of
Washington and Henry Clay. A boy might
have a much larger private library than this,
but he could scarcely find an equal number
of books better calculated to impart whole-
some lessons as to correct living and right
thinking. — Harper'' s Young People.

LINCOLN'S SCHOOL DAYS.

How Little Abe Acquired a Knowledge
uf ltcudiug iiml Writing.

Little Abo was first sent to school when
ho was about seven years of ago. His
father had never received any "book
learnin'," as education was termed
among such people, and it was with dif-
ficulty that he could write his own
name. Ono day, about four weeks alter
Abo had been sent to school, his father
asked the teacher: "How's Abo petting
along?" The teacher replied that he
was doing well; he wouldn't ask to havo
a better boy. lie had only ono lesson
book, an old spelling-book. During the
school hours he was attentive to his
task, and at night ho would study over
the lesson ho had been engaged upon
during tho day; Lho highest ambition of
his life at this time was to learn to
road. He believed if ho could only
read as well as his mother, who read
the Bible aloud to the family everyday,
the whole world of knowledge would be
opened to him, and in this conjecture
he was about right. As the old Baptist
minister told hiin one day: "When you
cau read, you've got something that no-
body can get away from you."

In the Kentucky homo there were
but three books in the family — tho Bi-
ble, a catechism and tho spelling-book
which Abo Lincoln studied. lie had
not been long in Indiana heforo he had
read tho "Pilgrim's Progress," his
father borrowing it from a friend who
■ived twenty miles away. He was very
2nd of reading 'vEsop's Fables," a
>py of which came in his way. A
young man taught him to write. Af
writing-paper of any kind was ver
scarce and expensive, Abo used to prr *-
tice his writing exercises with bits of
chalk or a burnt stick en slabs and
trunks of trees. Sometimes ho would
trace out his name with a sharp stick
on the bare ground. When, finally, he
! was able to write lotters, he was called
j to do tho correspondence of many of his
I neighbors, for very few grown persons
in that region could write even a sim-
ple letter.

As Abo Liucoln grew older he became
a great reader and read all the books ho
could borrow. Once lie borrowed of his
school-teacher a Life of Washington.
His mother happened to put it on a cer-
tain shelf, and, the rain coming through
the roof, the book was badly damaged.
Abe took it back to tho school-master
and arranged to purchase it of him, pay-
ing for it by three days' hard work in
tho corn-field; and he was entirely sat-
isfied with the bargain at that. At the
ago of eighteen his library consisted of
tho Life of Franklin, Plutarch's Lives,
tho Bible, tho spolling-book, iEsop's
Fables, Pilgrim's Progress, and tho
lives of Washington and Henry Clay.
A boy might have a much larger private
library than this, but ho could scarcely
find an equal number of books better
calculated to impart wholsome lessons
as to correct living and right thinking.
— George J. Manson, in Harper's Young
People.

THE SCHOOL THAT LINCOLN
ATTENDED

Did you ever hear of a "blab" school? That
is what the settlers of southwestern Indiana called
the school that Abraham Lincoln attended when
he was a boy. If you had lived there you could
not have passed the log schoolhouse without know-
ing that the name fitted, for as you approached
you would have heard a stead}- hum of voices,
growing louder as you passed by, which you would
have known could only have come from everybody
talking together. And so it was. The pupils were
studying out loud. There were so few books that
the teacher was obliged to read each lesson aloud
and the boys and girls repeated it after him. It
is probable that Abraham Lincoln never owned
a schoolbook in those days. The habit he learned
in the " blab " school stayed with him, for all his
life he loved to read aloud, and when he was -pre-
paring a speech he would repeat over and over the
argument and struggle with sentences until he had
them in a form where they sounded right.

The schools were as poof in furniture and con-
veniences as in books. Everything that the pupils
used was homemade. The benches were made of
puncheons, set in rough logs, so were the tables.
And as for blackboards, globes, reference books
and pictures — there were none. The only branches
that the teachers attempted were reading, writing
and arithmetic.

But this poverty of books and furniture did not
prevent the schools being full of life and variety.
If the}' had little they made much of what they
had. There might be but one reader, but it was
packed with interesting selections, meant not only
to give a good vocabulary, but to teach history,
natural science, geography, as well as to arouse
a love of generous actions and a contempt for
meanness and injustice. Many of the selections
chosen dealt with the men that had formed the
United States and with their hopes that in this
new land there would be freedom and a chance
for all that were oppressed.

The very problems in the arithmetic often aimed
to teach facts about the country, as those given
Abraham when he was studying subtraction :

" General Washington was born in 1732. What
is his age in 1787? "

" America was discovered by Columbus in 1492
and its independence declared in 1776. How many
years elapsed between these events?"

Having no books, and eager to have copies of
the examples given out, Abraham made himself
copybooks by fastening together sheets of paper.

Much was made of spelling in the pioneer
schools, the pupils choosing sides and spelling
down almost every day. One of the excitements
of the neighborhood was the public spelling bee.
Lincoln was so much better speller than most of
his friends that the side which had him for a
leader at these bees nearly always won.
— From " Bov Scouts' Life of Lincoln," bv Ida
M. Tarbell.

Copyright, the Macmillan Co.

YOUNG ABRAHAM'S SCANTY SCHOOLING

<

O when the father could not find a pretext for keeping Abe at home he
was allowed to go to school. Part of the time he had to walk four and
a half miles each way, but what of that? Nine miles a day in snowy
or muddy winter weather was nothing to the joy of learning something
— something his teacher, a wonderful man who knew everything, could
tell him. Although Abraham never went to those poor schools a whole
year in his life, all told, there are many stories about his school days.
Tie schoolhouses were built of logs, of course, with floors of "puncheon" or split logs,
i id windows of oiled paper, if there was any substitute at all for glass. They "trapped"
a and down and spelled down every week. Abe became so proficient in spelling that
Le was always chosen in the "spelling-bees," which formed the social dissipation in-
iulged in, somewhat as dancing and "bridge" are in modern society. He so excelled
in spelling that the side lucky enough to choose Abe Lincoln always "spelled down,"
and matters came to such a pass that they had to leave him out of their spelling
matches. Then he made himself useful in giving out words for the others to spell, or
acted as referee or umpire in cases of dispute, being the authority instead of "Web-
ster," "Worcester" or the "Century," which are the court of last resort to-day.

They did have a book of authority, though. It was Web-
ster's Speller. Webster's Dictionary existed only in the fond
imagination of the indefatigable Noah Webster. That great
work was not published until many years later.

"Nat" Grigsby, who afterwards married Abe's sister
Sarah, or Nancy, as she was now called, once told of Abe's
conduct at school in the following enthusiastic terms :

"He was always at school early and attended to his
studies. He was always at the head of his class and passed
us rapidly in his studies. He lost no time at home, and when
he was not at his work was at his books. He kept up his

studies on Sunday, and carried his books with him to work, - " -^S-^* «.x*

so that he might read when he rested from labor." They ■«teBpp«i« up ^ down

ft-1

•^-^v— JtsZt,' \<-"'~ •» ' ' -- -.' -M

3^1^^

Restored Schoolhouse, New Salem State Park

EDUCATION, 1832

When they laid out New Salem
village above the Sangamon, there
was already a log schoolhouse on
the next hill. And there in the
woods Mentor Graham tried to in-
still into the young minds of a
pioneer community some of the
practicalities of reading, writing,
and ciphering, and, to a receptive
few, some of the elegancies of the
classics. However well he succeed-
ed, he nevertheless was part of the
young school system of Illinois in
the days shortly after it became a
state. And the old log schoolhouse,
today restored on the same old hill,
stands as a living relic of a past in
which, in spite of physical hard-
ship in a raw new land, men got
the wanted education for their
children.

Schools in the 1830's, however,
were haphazard affairs and teach-
ers were too poorly paid to encour-
age many really good teachers to
come out of the east. There were
those who, like Mentor Graham,

taught because they were dedi-
cated to teaching, and there were
others who, without much more
education than their pupils, taught
till something better came along.
In 1825 a law was passed in
Illinois by which the schools would
be supported by a new tax levy,
but it met with so much opposi-
tion that it was shortly afterward
repealed, and folk continued to
send their children to the nearest
log school house if there was one
handy or, if they could afford it,
to other private schools, or to no
school at all. Colleges and aca-
demies were springing up in Illi-
nois; by the 1840's there was
higher learning at Jacksonville,
Kaskaskia, Alton, Lebanon, Ma-
comb, and Galesburg. The one-
room schoolhouse still lived on,
however, and children got educated
under conditions that seem crude
and primitive today. And young
men who could not afford to go to

(Continued on page 260)

(EDUCATION, 1832: Continued from page 259)

school, yet who contained within
themselves the burning urge for
learning, still found a way to get
an education. That was the secret
of the new democracy. There was
nothing to prevent anyone from
getting as much education as he
craved, provided he had the urgent
desire for it and the courage to
surmount the obstacles of poverty,
family indifference, ridicule, or the
absence or poorness of the schools
themselves.

And so it was that an Abraham
Lincoln emerged from the prairie
with an education that stemmed
from the basic learning which he
found in drafty little log schools on
the hills of Kentucky and Indiana.
From his six years in New Salem
came new knowledge of law, sur-
veying, Shakespeare and Burns,
village culture, and a broader out-
look on life. From this same log-
cabin beginning arose the high
standards present in the Illinois
school system of today.

260