In The Boyhood of Lincoln

e any schools

wfor

my boy, is

shing-on thrashing-and-and he knows everything. Every

rashing, and knows everything.' Very extraord

Old Dennis and young Dennis do t

thrash, my boy-wha

shes boys, do

ry extraordinary.

ers, Crawford does. Didn't you never hear of Cr

on the prairie islands. This is a beautiful country. Nature has covered it with grasses and flower

t isn't the time of year

was speaking spiritually. Yes, I c

ou pr

hes-like Crawford. He teaches th

know that he used the higher branches. He just

igher branches in new schools-Latin and singing.

n you must

eded polishing. Do you see? Well, the Lord is doing his work, polishing me, and I shall shine by and by

ou be a

dering Brethren that

for nothin

oy; the Wo

who pa

so

h for nothin'

y. Knowledg

who pa

k to me. He that

obble for no

a wayfaring man, wandering to and

and travel, and travel, and sleep anywhere. Father will be proper glad to see you-and mother; we are glad to see near upon anybody. I suppose that you will hold forth down t

ber, I will come to

on't he now? They are great on spellin' down there-have spellin'-matches, and all the people come from far and near to hear 'em spell-hundreds of 'em. Link-he's the he

dly. I shall have a good tim

e other folks. You didn't think that

and mother that old Jasper the Parable has gone by, and that he has a message for them in his hea

ter him. The water rippled under the trees, and afar lay the open prairie, like a great sun sea. The air

was a woman in a linsey-woolsey dress, corn sun-bonnet, and a huge cane. She looked

latter, coming up to her,

l, I

o the Pigeon Cr

have kept the way

parts. A boy has directed me, but I feel unc

't los

f you

ht, and keep right straig

a new country to me. I

them land agents. One of the Brethren. I'

ord's

rd does. They say that Crawford teaches clear to the rule of three, whatever that may be. One added to one is more than one, according to the Scriptur'; now isn't it? One added to one

spe

husband and I did. He was kind o' weakly; he's gone now, and I live all alone. I'd be glad to have you come over and preach at the 'ouse, though I might not believe a word on't. I'm a Methody; most people are Baptist down here, like the Linkuns, but we is all ready to listen to a Tunker. People are only responsible for wha

iarchal beard. His garments had hooks instead of buttons. He carried a leather bag in which were a Bible and a hymn-book, some Germa

ouls. They called themselves Brethren, but were commonly known as "Tunkards," or "Dunkards," from a German word meaning to dip. At their baptisms they dip the body of a convert three times; and so in their own land they received the name of Tunkers, or dippers, an

y worldly ambitions or rivalries. They thought it wrong to take oaths, to hold slaves, or to treat the Indians differently from other men. They would receive no payment for preaching, but held that it was the duty of all men to live by what they earned by their own labor. They traveled wherever they felt moved to go by the inward monitor. They were a peculiar people, but the prairie States owe much that was good to their influence. The new settlers wer

of Gentryville. This county was rapidly being occupied by immigrants, and it was to this

ings and cabins, where he stopped to receive d

with moss, in whose high boughs the orioles in summer builded and sang, and under which the bluebells grew. There were black-walnut forests in places, with timber almost as hard as horn. The woods in many pl

of poles with one open side was called. Spencer County was near the Kentucky border, and the clim

doors nor glass windows, a large, rough, good-humored-looking man came

eer. "What brings you to these parts-l

so kindly to a wayfarer-peace be with you-I am loo

, is the smartest fellow in all the country round-and the laziest. Smart at the top, but it don't go down. Runs all to larnin'. Just reads and studies about all the time, speaks p

my new name. I'm one of the Brethren. No

proper glad to see you down here. I com

ia, here. I was

Pennsylvany! And how

good friend, I stop and preach a

goin' to see? You're an Indian agent, perhaps

romised me a young Indian guide, who will show me all these paths and act as an interpret

over-healthy here. Say, stranger, come back and stop with us after you've been to the school. I haven't any great accommodations, as you see, but I wi

nk you, yes. I feel moved to say that I wil

ou see that there openin'? Well, you just follow that path as the crow f

to their old homes in the tree-tops. Jasper went along singing, for his heart was happy, and he felt the cheerful influence of the vernal air. The birds to him were prophets a

was constructed of poles and clay, and the floor and furniture were made of puncheons, as split logs were called. The windows consisted

. He affected gentlemanly and alm

awford, may I a

And whom have I th

to meet Black Hawk, the chief, who has promised to assist me with a guide and interpreter for my missionary journeys

assure you that you are very w

cal patterns. The furniture seemed all pegs and puncheons. The one cheerful object in the room was the enormous fireplace. The pupils delighted to keep this fed with fuel in the c

g sun was glimmering in the tops of the gi

ord. "I have yet to hear the spelling-class, and to conduct the exe

yes, in the usual way-in the

boys and girls stood up, and came to an open space in front of the desk. The recitation of this

ord. "You may make your manners

bashed glance at the wandering visitor, blushed, courtesied very low, and

re's your incompati; incompati. B-i-l, bil; ibil, patibil, compatibil, incompatibil; there's your incompatibil; incompatibil. I-, bili, patibili, compatibili, incompatib

. Mr. Crawford bowed, and Jasper the Parable

. One meets with strange things everywhere. I should think that that girl would mak

, I assure you; I appreciate it, and thank you. I have aimed to make my school the b

hanged a little too soon. The next word that Mr. C

our hands out of your pockets; that isn't manners. Ta

nkles were bare. He seemed to have a loss of confidence, but he bobbed his head for manners

." He made a leer. "L-i-k, li

th a look of vexation and d

a higher ke

our ob; ain't it? L-i-c-k

lick after school. Think of bringing obliquity upon the sch

roved method of spelling, and the class brought dishon

anners partly red

Lincoln,

much too short for him. His ankles were exposed, and his feet were poorly covered. His face was dark and serious. He did not look like

may go out, and come

ke the young giant out of the doo

may go to the door

to the door, and b

ad to see you. Come in. If it please

in response to this

f presenting to you my friend Abraham

oolmaster's Cl

e was a very creditable one, under the untoward circumstances. And this shall be our own introduction to one of the heroes of ou

d entered the famous regiment of Lützow; he had met K?rner, and sang the "Wild Hunt of Lützow," by Von Weber, as it came from the composer's pen, the song which is said to have driven Napoleon over the Rhine. He had married, lost wife and children, become melancholy and despondent, and finally fallen under the influence of the preaching of a Tunker, and had taken the resolution to give up himself entirely, his will and desires, and to live only for others, and to follow the spiritual i

Froebel. "I am going to study life," he said, "in the wilderness of the New World." He came to Pennsylvania, and met the Brethren there who had come from Germany, and then traveled with an Indian agent to R

nd I will provide you with as noble a son

was now on his way to v

ls, the prairie islands with their giant trees, the forests that shaded the streams, were all like a legend, a fairy story, a dream. He admired the he