reading, and his arithmetic were by no means many; for, save for
the short time that he was actually in school, he was, during all
these years, laboring hard on his father's farm, or hiring his
youthful strength to neighbors who had need of help in the work
of field or forest. In pursuit of his knowledge he was on an
up-hill path; yet in spite of all obstacles he worked his way to
so much of an education as placed him far ahead of his
schoolmates and quickly abreast of his various teachers. He
borrowed every book in the neighborhood. The list is a short one:
"Robinson Crusoe," "Aesop's Fables," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress," Weems's "Life of Washington," and a "History of the
United States." When everything else had been read, he resolutely
began on the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," which Dave Turnham,
the constable, had in daily use, but permitted him to come to his
house and read.

Though so fond of his books; it must not be supposed that he
cared only for work and serious study. He was a social,
sunny-tempered lad, as fond of jokes and fun as he was kindly and
industrious. His stepmother said of him: "I can say, what
scarcely one mother in a thousand can say, Abe never gave me a
cross word or look, and never refused . . . to do anything I
asked him. . . . I must say . . that Abe was the best boy I ever
saw or expect to see."

He and John Johnston, his stepmother's son, and John Hanks, a
relative of his own mother's, worked barefoot together in the
fields, grubbing, plowing, hoeing, gathering and shucking corn,
and taking part, when occasion offered, in the practical jokes
and athletic exercises that enlivened the hard work of the