THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Birth.--His father and mother.--History of Thomas Lincoln and his family
a necessary part of Abraham Lincoln's biography.--Thomas Lincoln's
ancestors.--Members of the family remaining in Virginia.--Birth of
Thomas Lincoln.--Removal to Kentucky.--Life in the Wilderness.--Lincolns
settle in Mercer County.--Thomas Lincoln's father shot by
Indians.--Widow and family remove to Washington County.--Thomas
poor.--Wanders into Breckinridge County.--Goes to Hardin County.--Works
at the carpenter's trade.--Cannot read or write.--Personal
appearance.--Called "Linckhom," or "Linckhera."--Thomas Lincoln as
a carpenter.--Marries Nancy Hanks.--Previously courted Sally
Bush.--Character of Sally Bush.--The person and character of Nancy
Hanks.--Thomas and Nancy Lincoln go to live in a shed.--Birth of a
daughter.--They remove to Nolin Creek.--Birth of Abraham.--Removal to
Knob Creek.--Little Abe initiated into wild sports.--His sadness.--Goes
to school.--Thomas Lincoln concludes to move.--Did not fly from the
taint of slavery.--Abraham Lincoln always reticent about the history and
character of his family.--Record in his Bible... 1

CHAPTER II.

Thomas Lincoln builds a boat.--Floats down to the Ohio.--Boat
capsizes.--Lands in Perry County, Indiana.--Selects a location.--Walks
back to Knob Creek for wife and children.--Makes his way through
the wilderness.--Settles between the two Pigeon Creeks.--Gentry
ville.--Selects a site.--Lincoln builds a half-faced camp.--Clears
ground and raises a small crop.--Dennis Hanks.--Lincoln builds a
cabin.--State of the country.--Indiana admitted to the Union.--Rise
of Gentryville.--Character of the people.--Lincoln's patent for his
land.--His farm, cabin, furniture.--The milk-sickness.--Death of Nancy
Hanks Lincoln.--Funeral discourse by David Elkin.--Grave.--Tom Lincoln
marries Sally Bush.--Her goods and chattels.--Her surprise at the
poverty of the Lincoln cabin.--Clothes and comforts Abe and his
sister.--Abe leads a new life.--Is sent to school.--Abe's appearance and
dress.--Learning "manners"--Abe's essays.--Tenderness for animals.--The
last of school.--Abe excelled the masters.--Studied privately.--Did not
like to work.--Wrote on wooden shovel and boards.--How Abe studied.--The
books he read.--The "Revised Statute of Indiana."--Did not read the
Bible.--No religious opinions.--How he behaved at home.--Touching
recital by Mrs. Lincoln.--Abe's memory.--Mimicks the preachers.--Makes
"stump-speeches" in the field.--Cruelly maltreated by his father.--Works
out cheerfully.--Universal favorite.--The kind of people he lived
amongst.--Mrs. Crawford's reminiscences.--Society about Gentryville.
--His step-mother.--His sister.--The Johnstons and Hankses.--Abe a
ferryman and farm-servant.--His work and habits.--Works for Josiah
Crawford.--Mrs. Crawford's account of him.--Crawford's books.--Becomes
a wit and a poet.--Abe the tallest and strongest man in the
settlement.--Hunting in the Pigeon Creek region.--His activity.--Love of
talking and reading.--Fond of rustic sports.--Furnishes the
literature.--Would not be slighted.--His satires.--Songs and
chronicles.--Gentryville as "a centre of business."--Abe and other
boys loiter about the village.--Very temperate.--"Clerks" for Col.
Jones.--Abe saves a drunken man's life.--Fond of music.--Marriage of his
sister Nancy.--Extracts from his copy-book.--His Chronicles.--Fight with
the Grigs-bys.--Abe "the big buck of the lick."--"Speaking meetings"
at Gentryville.--Dennis Hanks's account of the way he and Abe became so
learned.--Abe attends a court.--Abe expects to be President.--Going
to mill.--Kicked in the head by a horse.--Mr. Wood.--Piece on
temperance.--On national politics.--Abe tired of home.--Works for
Mr. Gentry.--Knowledge of astronomy and geography.--Goes to New
Orleans.--Counterfeit money.--Fight with negroes.--Scar on his face.
--An apocryphal story...........19

CHAPTER III.

Abe's return from New Orleans.--Sawing planks for a new house.--The
milk-sickness.--Removal to Illinois.--Settles near Decatur.--Abe leaves
home.--Subsequent removals and death of Thomas Lincoln.--Abe's relations
to the family.--Works with John Hanks after leaving home.--Splitting
rails.--Makes a speech on the improvement of the Sangamon River.--Second
voyage to New Orleans.--Loading and departure of the boat.--"Sticks" on
New Salem dam.--Abe's contrivance to get her off.--Model in the Patent
Office.--Arrival at New Orleans.--Negroes chained.--Abe touched by the
sight.--Returns on a steamboat.--Wrestles with Daniel Needham.........73