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
pioneers. For both work and play Abraham had one great advantage.
He was not only a tall, strong country boy: he soon grew to be a
tall, strong, sinewy man. He early reached the unusual height of
six feet four inches, and his long arms gave him a degree of
power as an axman that few were able to rival.
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