973.7L63 
 B3H8ly 
 
 Houser, M. L. 
 
 loung Abraham Lincoln and 
 
 Log College 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
Young Abraham Lincoln 
 
 and 
 
 Log College 
 
 By 
 M. L. Houser 
 
 Lester O. Schriver 
 Peoria, 111. 
 
 1942 
 
Copyright 
 
 By M. L. Houser 
 
 1942 
 
S2> H%ly 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/youngabrahamlincoOOhous 
 
Foreword 
 
 When Homer began to sing, his sonnets jell upon the ears 
 of dull barbarians, but he peopled the sky with heroes, and the 
 shepherds on a thousand hills looked up, caught visions of 
 greatness and themselves became great, for Greece has furnished 
 orators, statesmen, poets, philosophers and warriors for all the 
 civilized world to follow. 
 
 So Abraham Lincoln, not less rugged and simple than this 
 ancient bard, peopled American skies with the noblest ideals, 
 and these have been reflected in the character of our citizens. 
 
 Dr. M. L. Houser believes that the "Sad and Lonely Man 
 From the Sangamon" was the logical product of his environ- 
 ment and education. He believes that young Lincoln's alert 
 and expanding mind began its eager exploration of knowledge 
 before the family removed from Kentucky. He also believes 
 that the fourteen years in Indiana were not only years of hard 
 physical work, but that they were also years of purposeful read- 
 ing and study; and that when he reached Illinois he was 
 educated far above the average. 
 
 I believe Dr. Houser has proved his case. Abe Lincoln was 
 not a young ignoramus when he reached New Salem. He 
 possessed a trained and disciplined mind. Like another mighty 
 soul about whom it was said, "Never man spoke like this man" , 
 he might have possessed little formal education but he constantly 
 "Increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and 
 Man." That process working in the mind and heart of a boy 
 and youth constitutes education in its best sense. Yes, Young 
 Lincoln surely went to Log College. 
 
 Lester O. Schriver. 
 December 25, 1942. 
 
The ideal college consists of a 
 log of wood with an instructor on 
 one end and a student at the other. 
 — Horace Mann. 
 
YOUNG ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND LOG COLLEGE 
 
 lNa sketch of his life which he wrote for John Locke Scripps, for cam- 
 paign purposes, in I860, Mr. Lincoln said: 
 
 Abraham now thinks that the aggregate of his schooling did not 
 amount to one year. He was never in a college or academy building 
 as a student, and never inside a college or academy building till 
 since he had a law license. What he has in the way of an education 
 he has picked up. After he was twenty-three and had separated from 
 his father, he studied English grammar — imperfectly, of course, but 
 so as to speak and write as well as he now does. He studied and 
 nearly mastered the six books of Euclid since he was a member of 
 Congress. He regrets his want of education, and does what he can to 
 supply the want. 1 
 
 Following Lincoln's lead, every early Lincoln biographer, with an 
 occasional slip, rang all the changes on his lack of opportunities before 
 going to Illinois; and, also, regarding his almost total lack of formal 
 education when he arrived at New Salem, which occurred soon after he 
 reached his majority. 
 
 It is true that they told of his having been a voracious reader and 
 relentless student in Indiana, and that he "borrowed and read every book 
 he could hear of for fifty miles around"; but the specific books mentioned 
 were largely such as a child might find interesting, and the kind his 
 unlettered associates would remember — Aesop's Fables, Pilgrim's Progress, 
 a Life of Franklin, etc. 
 
 BUT, within less than three years after Lincoln reached Illinois, 
 Denton Offut had declared that Abraham "knew more than any man in the 
 United States," Lincoln had been elected Captain of his company in the 
 Black Hawk War, had received 277 votes out of 284 in his own precinct 
 for membership in the General Assembly of the State, and had attracted 
 the favorable notice of the best educated and most influential men at 
 Springfield. Soon after that, he was a competent surveyor, and had been 
 elected over popular and cultured men to a seat in the legislature. After 
 but a short service there, he became the leader of the Sangamon delegation 
 and of his party in the State; was envied by his associates for his political 
 acumen, his resourcefulness, and his genius for leadership. 
 
 All of which foregoing, taken together, leaves much to be desired in 
 
the way of logical sequence; unless, of course, one has a boundless faith 
 in the miraculous; the which Mr. Lincoln, himself, did not. He once said: 
 
 There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have 
 its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will 
 be the cause of the future. 2 
 
 Some years later, Thomas H. Huxley, the great English scientist and 
 philosopher, expressed the same thought in similar words: 
 
 To any person who is familiar with the facts * * * and is 
 competent to establish their significance, it has ceased to be conceivable 
 that * * * events should depend upon any but the natural sequence 
 of cause and effect. We have come to look upon the present as the 
 child of the past and as the parent of the future. 3 
 
 Perhaps because he was ignorant of many of the conditions which 
 surrounded the Lincolns in Indiana, and accepted pure political propaganda 
 for history, the sudden, profuse, and seemingly inexplicable, blossoming 
 of Lincoln, immediately following Lincoln's arrival in Illinois, remained 
 an apparently insoluble mystery to the present writer, until he chanced to 
 learn that Grace Ayde Enghof, an educator and historian of the Lincoln 
 Country in Indiana, had affirmed: 
 
 Many of the local pioneer families took great pride in sending 
 at least one child out of the State to school ; and their textbooks were 
 brought home and passed around. 4 
 
 Inquiry developed that three other historians in that section had pur- 
 sued independent investigations regarding this phase of Lincoln's Indiana 
 environment, and were generously willing to share the results of their 
 researches with others. No one of them has been able to find much docu- 
 mentary evidence; but family traditions, as voiced by the descendants of 
 people who were close neighbors of the Lincolns, seem illuminating. 
 
 Charles T. Baker, Grandview, Indiana, editor of a local newspaper, 
 and a keen researcher, says: 
 
 Every child, except one, in the Grigsby family attended schools 
 outside the State. The girls probably went to Bardstown, Kentucky. 
 Aaron Grigsby, who married Sarah Lincoln, Abraham's sister, attended 
 a school for two years and studied law, probably at Hampden-Sidney, 
 Virginia, the ancestral home of the Grigsbys. He rode a horse all 
 the way, and then sold it to help pay his expenses. Reuben Grigsby 
 studied surveying, it seems likely at Lexington, Kentucky. Abraham 
 borrowed his books, and was coached in their study by James Blair, 
 who had received a good education in the East before coming to 
 Indiana. Blair's granddaughter confirms these statements. I have 
 reason to believe that other Lincoln neighbors, like William Wood, 
 
 10 
 
lent Abraham books, and coached him in their study. Nancy, Sarah, 
 and Elizabeth Ray, daughters of Ezekial Ray, were sent to Bardstown, 
 Kentucky. Ray lived at Yellow Banks. The Lincoln and Ray homes 
 were sixteen miles apart, but the families often visited each other. 
 Betsey Ray married Reuben Grigsby, so she and Sarah Lincoln were 
 sisters-in-law. At least one of the Gentrys attended a school of higher 
 learning. Members of other families in the Lincoln neighborhood — 
 notably the Brooners, Coxes, and Lamars — later displayed educations 
 far above what could have been obtained in subscription schools. 
 
 Bess V. Ehrmann, Rockport, Indiana, author of Lincoln books, and 
 for many years a leading figure in the Southwestern Indiana Historical 
 Society, wrote: 
 
 Matthew Gentry attended school at Louisville, Kentucky. James 
 Gentry, Jr., was sent to school at Owensboro, Kentucky. His grand- 
 daughters, who live here, remember some of his classmates. Mrs. 
 Nancy Grigsby Inco told me that Aaron Grigsby, who married Lin- 
 coln's sister, brought home law books which Lincoln borrowed. In 
 my research work, I have found a number of Spencer County pioneers 
 who were college men. 
 
 Francis Marion Van Natter, Vincennes, Indiana, author and soldier, 
 told the present writer: 
 
 William Jones, whose father ran a tavern here, attended Vin- 
 cennes University before opening near the Lincoln home the store in 
 which Abraham sometimes clerked. As to whether or not Jones 
 retained his textbooks and coached young Lincoln in their study, there 
 seems to be no record. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It appears, then, that according to several independent traditions, a 
 number of Abraham's youthful associates — all, or nearly all, of whose 
 textbooks would be available to him — attended at least six schools of higher 
 learning in three States. 
 
 * * * 
 
 If, in the 1820's, Lincoln had access to, and diligently studied, the 
 textbooks used in academies, seminaries, and colleges, the question imme- 
 diately arises as to why, in the late 1850's, he should ignore having had 
 such advantages, and thereby minimize the opportunities which he had 
 enjoyed. We might also wonder why during the latter period he repeatedly 
 asserted that he was "not fit to be President" while making every effort 
 to secure that exalted position. Several explanations, each possibly a factor, 
 suggest themselves. 
 
 A vast majority of the voters at that time were unlettered, many of 
 them illiterate; and they liked to believe that one man is just as good as 
 
 11 
 
another, often better, regardless of educational advantages. They felt 
 flattered when an uneducated man attained distinction ; and love of flattery 
 among the sons of Adam is not a recent acquisition. Many churches then 
 refused to employ "learned" preachers. The only anti-Democratic Presi- 
 dential candidate who had won a smashing victory in a generation was 
 William Henry Harrison; and his triumph had been secured by using the 
 log cabin, coon skin, cob pipe, hard cider, motive. The common people 
 loved the common people. Mr. Lincoln was honest; but they do err 
 greatly who suppose he was a political innocent, or that he didn't "break 
 to win." He knew that to accomplish what he wished to accomplish, and 
 what eventually he did accomplish, he must be elected ; that to be elected, 
 he must have votes ; and that in securing votes, sentiment is mightier than 
 the pen, a fence-rail slogan more potent than arguments. Lincoln wanted 
 to be right ; he also wanted to be President. Not so modest in his ambitions 
 as Henry Clay, he would rather be both. His preference for votes over a 
 reputation for erudition was a practical endorsement of a couplet then 
 popular : 
 
 Don't send me flowers, or give me the seed ; 
 
 Flowers is pretty, but shoeses is what I need. 
 
 Had the exigencies of politics demanded, Mr. Lincoln probably 
 would have emphasized his early educational advantages instead of decrying 
 them; and it looks now as if he might have offered a very convincing 
 thesis. 
 
 After Lincoln's term in Congress, where he listened to speeches by 
 eloquent Eastern orators who valued and practiced rhetorical restraint, his 
 own style changed ; and he seems, also, to have acquired a keen appreciation 
 for what our English friends call "the value of under-statement." 
 
 Early in life, apparently, Mr. Lincoln subscribed to the dictum, "The 
 fruits of the earth drop into the laps of the meek"; and there was scarcely 
 a time after he reached Illinois when his own lap was not maintaining a 
 receptive attitude toward some rich political fruit, eventually the Presidency ; 
 and his meekness occasionally approached abasement. 5 
 
 * * * 
 If the traditions heretofore recounted are trustworthy, associates of 
 young Lincoln in Indiana attended the following, or similar, schools: 
 Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. 
 Jefferson Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. 
 Salem Academy, Bardstown, Kentucky. 
 
 12 
 
Hampden-Sidney College, Hampden-Sidney, Virginia. 
 Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana. 
 
 Owensboro, Kentucky. 
 
 * * * 
 
 While Kentucky was a bit slow in establishing an efficient common 
 school system, and her pioneer "old field" and "hedgerow" primary schools 
 are now principally famous for what they lacked, academies and seminaries, 
 both public and private, flourished in various settlements as early as in 
 1788. For their persistent efforts to establish and popularize schools of 
 higher learning, the names of Filson, Holly, Wallace, Rice, Priestley, 
 Todd, Craig, Wilson, Brooks, and others, are still revered throughout 
 the State. 
 
 Under a legislative act passed in 1798, 6,000 acres of land, each, were 
 granted to Bourbon, Winchester, Franklin, Bethel, Pisgah, and Salem, 
 Academies. Twenty county academies were established and endowed with 
 public land. It was hoped that these schools would function as feeders for 
 Transylvania University, which, with other schools, was then making Lex- 
 ington "the Athens of the West." 
 
 In co-educational schools, and schools for boys, the common branches 
 were always taught; often, the elementary sciences; sometimes, French, 
 Latin, and Greek ; with much emphasis frequently placed on higher mathe- 
 matics and surveying. Surveyors in that new country were in urgent 
 demand, and they often could supplement their professional earnings by 
 teaching primary schools. 
 
 In private schools for girls, the common branches, ornamental litera- 
 ture, poetry, elementary art, music, dancing, and fancy needlework, were 
 taught; Clark says about everything except how to manage a husband. 
 Perhaps that was instinctive. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky^ was founded in 1798 
 by the union of Transylvania College and Kentucky Academy. In addition 
 to the curriculums already in force in the merging schools, chairs of law 
 and medicine were established. During the period in which we are par- 
 ticularly interested, 1820-30, Transylvania was in the heyday of its develop- 
 ment. At its head was Horace Holley, and the school soon became his 
 "lengthened shadow." A graduate of Yale, he later studied law in New 
 York, theology in Boston. His executive ability, learning, intellectual 
 liberality, and genius for making useful friends, attracted to Transylvania 
 some of the leading educators of the country, and gave it an abler leadership 
 
 13 
 
than many of its older Virginia contemporaries. A large number of its 
 students, especially those in law, returned home to become leaders in their 
 commonwealths. 
 
 Jefferson Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, was chartered in 1798, and 
 endowed with 6,000 acres of land. By an additional act, passed the same 
 year, it was empowered to raise $5,000 by lottery for building purposes. 
 In 1813, the trustees purchased two and three-fourths acres of land, upon 
 which was erected a one and one-half story, 20 by 60, brick building, 
 with two large rooms on the ground floor. School was opened in 1816, 
 with between forty and fifty students; and with Mann Butler, the noted 
 historian, as principal. It was, from the start, a comparatively high-grade 
 institution, furnishing instructions in both regular and classical studies; 
 and it was used largely as a finishing place for more-elementary schools. 
 
 Salem Academy, Bardstown, Kentucky, owed its rapid rise after 1788 
 to James Priestley, a somewhat eccentric character, but a firm disciplinarian 
 and an outstanding teacher in mathematics and the classics. Under his 
 direction, we are told, it "became one of the foremost institutions of 
 learning in that region." Two of Priestley's students became United 
 States Senators, and five had counties named for them. Ben Hardin, one 
 of Kentucky's most famous lawyers, was educated there. There appear to 
 be no records extant which disclose when this school was discontinued. 
 
 In the period 1820-30, two good church schools functioned at Bards- 
 town. A seminary for boys which was moved there soon became St. 
 Joseph's College. By 1824, buildings costing $20,000 had been erected. 
 Jefferson Davis was a student there for two years. Nazareth Academy, for 
 girls, was established in 1814, and moved to its present site near Bardstown 
 in 1822. The thoroughness and strength of its courses gave it a widespread 
 popularity. 
 
 Hampden-Sidney College, Hampden-Sidney, Virginia, was founded 
 in 1776, chartered in 1783. Among its early trustees were Patrick Henry 
 and James Madison. Its alumni include President William Henry Harrison 
 and General Sterling Price. The land on which it stands was donated by 
 Peter Johnson, the grandfather of General Joseph E. Johnson. Its first 
 President, Samuel S. Smith, announced that its primary object was "to form 
 good men and good citizens, on the common and universal principles of 
 morality, distinguished from the narrow tenets which form the complexion 
 of any sect." In 1777, sixty-five of its students, under Captain John Blair 
 Smith, marched to the defense of Williamsburg. In the 1820's, Jonathan 
 
 14 
 
P. dishing was President. He was a practical man of business, an able 
 scholar, and an inspiring teacher. "During his administration," we are 
 told, "the spirit and standard of few colleges, North or South, were 
 superior." Hampden-Sidney College has never had a law course; but in 
 the 1820's, her students sometimes studied law under Hon. H. E. Watkins 
 or Judge Crede Taylor, both of whom lived near. 
 
 Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana, was incorporated by the 
 territorial legislature of Indiana in 1806, and received a large grant of 
 land. Its charter provided for a collegiate course of study and the right to 
 establish chairs of law, medicine, and theology. William Henry Harrison 
 was elected chairman of the board of trustees. On April 10, 1811, school 
 was opened in a large two-story brick building, with the Reverend Samuel 
 T. Scott as President. It is claimed that for a number of years this institu- 
 tion "made splendid progress." 
 
 In Indiana, during the 1820's, a private academy or seminary was 
 established at each of the following towns: Corydon, Livonia, New 
 Albany, New Harmony, Lawrenceburg, and Logansport. 
 
 Owensboro, Kentucky. No records seem to be extant regarding a school 
 of higher learning at Owensboro in the 1820's; so if James Gentry, Jr., 
 attended such a school there at that time, it was probably one of the 
 private academies then so prevalent in Kentucky. 
 
 Fortunately, the records of Rural Academy, then maintained in Green 
 County, disclose the character and scope of institutions of its kind. These 
 records came down from her ancestors to Fern Nance Pond, Petersburg, 
 Illinois; and she has graciously permitted us to copy the following para- 
 graphs from her classical study, Intellectual New Salem in Lincoln's Day. 
 
 "Nathe Owens maintained a private school at his pretentious plan- 
 tation home; and to this school came professors from Transylvania Uni- 
 versity to give instructions to his children. On invitation, Thomas J. Nance ; 
 his brother, Allen Q. Nance ; and his sister, Parthena, later wife of Samuel 
 Hill at New Salem, Illinois, became students at the Owens school. 
 
 "Shortly before Thomas J. Nance went to New Salem, Professor 
 James McElroy, Superior of Rural Academy, as the Owens school was 
 called, certified that Thomas had studied, and was qualified to teach, the 
 following subjects: geography; spelling; writing; arithmetic; grammar 
 [he owned a Kirkham] ; definition and composition ; history, ancient and 
 modern; rhetoric; logic; philosophy, natural and moral; rudiments of 
 astronomy, with the use of globes; geometry; and chemistry. 
 
 15 
 
"In a speech delivered before the New Salem Temperance Society, 
 Nance thus addressed the ladies: 
 
 'Is it not a lamentable truth that men too often prostitute their 
 boasted faculties to the destruction of female happiness? Is it not to 
 be lamented that while the father and the brother have been feasting 
 on the flowing bowl, many of your sex have drunk the dregs of bitter- 
 est sorrow, and your best endeavors have been paralized by an impor- 
 tant union with a lover of ardent spirits ? These truths authorize the 
 opinion that the success of Temperance Reform will brighten your 
 fairest prospects, and add much to your social enjoyment by a better 
 cultivation of those amiable dispositions requisite to your temporal 
 welfare.' 
 
 "More than a year later, Nance received an interesting comment con- 
 cerning his temperance speech from his old friend and schoolmate, Mary 
 Owens. In a letter to Nance, written from Green County, Kentucky, in 
 1835, she said: 
 
 "I can with pleasure say to you that the infant cause of tem- 
 perance which you left, has almost grown to manhood, shedding 
 abroad its benign influence through our land. We now and then have 
 an opposer on this subject, but they are fast hiding their diminished 
 heads before the burst of light perceptible to the most casual observer. 
 From Mr. Henry I learn of the opposition you have met with among 
 your anti-temperance friends, and some of them, I fear, art allied to 
 me by the ties of consanguinity. Patience and perseverence will accom- 
 plish wonders ; and you, I sincerely hope, will ere long reap the reward 
 of your exertions.' " 
 
 * * * 
 
 For the consideration of anyone who supposes that young Lincoln 
 did not acquire in Indiana the somewhat-stilted college style of expression 
 then current, we suggest a comparison of the above extracts with the 
 following excerpts of which he was the author. The first of those below is 
 believed to be a part of Lincoln's Indiana essay on "National Politics," of 
 which Judge Pitcher said, "The world can't beat it." 
 
 The American government is the best form of government for 
 an intelligent people ; it ought to be kept sound and preserved forever. 
 * * * General education should be fostered and carried over the 
 country; and the constitution should be saved, the Union perpetuated, 
 and the laws revered, respected, and enforced. ,; 
 
 The second is a paragraph from an announcement to voters, written 
 soon after he went to Illinois: 
 
 For my part, I desire to see the time when education — and by 
 its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise, and industry — shall become 
 much more general than at present, and should be gratified to have 
 
 16 
 
it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of any 
 measure which might have a tendency to accelerate that happy period. 7 
 
 There is another possibility. While Lincoln's statement that in 
 Indiana he "borrowed and read every book he could hear of for fifty 
 miles around," should not be taken too literally, it does indicate that he 
 made good use of all the resources that were available to him. If he secured 
 from friends who had attended different academies and colleges a variety 
 of textbooks on each subject in which he was interested, possibly on prac- 
 tically all of the branches of learning then commonly taught in such 
 schools, he probably acquired thereby a better knowledge of those sciences 
 than any of his associates who attended one school and studied a single 
 text on each subject. Years ago, the present writer knew a farmboy who 
 lived under somewhat similar circumstances, but hoped someday to study 
 medicine. This boy secured from friends who had attended colleges, and 
 the local doctor, several different textbooks, each, on Zoology, Botany, 
 Anatomy, and Physiology; and through spare time study, eventually 
 acquired a more comprehensive and accurate knowledge of those sciences 
 than was possessed by his college-going friends or local teachers. 
 
 Someone, Horace Mann I believe, once said in substance that "an 
 earnest student on one end of a log, and a competent and inspiring teacher 
 on the other end, constitutes a college." If that statement is true; if the 
 traditions that a number of young Lincoln's associates attended schools of 
 higher learning and made their textbooks available to him are factual; and 
 if the information that he was privately tutored by James Blair and others 
 is reliable, then the inference in the title selected for this study is, we 
 believe, justifiable. 
 
 Historical facts are said to have been demonstrated when the evidence 
 presented makes the assumption that they did not happen highly improb- 
 able. Whether the evidence presented herein is believed to amount to a 
 demonstration, or to afford only a reasonable hypothesis, or to constitute 
 merely a more-or-less interesting speculation, some students may be inter- 
 ested in the type of textbooks which Lincoln's youthful associates are 
 believed to have used, and which it is claimed that he studied. 
 
 A rather extensive survey among educators, librarians, and other 
 bibliophiles, indicates that, with the exception of the first one, the follow- 
 ing textbooks were at least among the most popular of those used during 
 
 17 
 
the 1820's in the academies and colleges of Kentucky, Virginia, and 
 Indiana; and that they are, in any event, typical of all the rest. 
 
 Dilworth's 
 
 Speller 
 
 Kentucky Preceptor 
 
 Reader 
 
 Pike's 
 
 Arithmetic 
 
 Murray's 
 
 Grammar 
 
 Blair's 
 
 Rhetoric 
 
 Grimshaw's 
 
 History 
 
 O'Neill's 
 
 Geography 
 
 Bonnycastle's 
 
 Algebra 
 
 Ferguson's 
 
 Astronomy 
 
 Say's 
 
 Political Economy 
 
 Paley's 
 
 Moral Philosophy 
 
 Gibson's 
 
 Surveying 
 
 Heaven is not gained at a single bound; 
 But we build the ladder by which we rise 
 From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
 And we mount to its summit round by round. 
 — Holland. 
 
 18 
 
; N E W G 11 I D E |l 
 
 T 
 
 n J 
 
 "7m FJ V Bj 
 
 •w*^ 
 
 The first textbook that Lincoln studied and the foundation 
 on which most pioneer educations were based. 
 
Dilworth's Speller 
 (1791) 
 
 A New Guide to the English Tongue, popularly known as Dilworth's 
 Speller, by Thomas Dilworth ( -1780), a schoolmaster at Wapping, 
 England, was not an academic textbook; but is included here because it 
 was the foundation on which practically all pioneer educations were based, 
 because its study usually preceded the use of academic and collegiate 
 textbooks like those mentioned on succeeding pages, and for the additional 
 reason that it is believed to have been the first book that Lincoln studied. 
 
 First printed in England in 1740, it was copied by American printers, 
 soon ranked as the leading elementary textbook of the colonies, and 
 remained in vogue for some time after the Revolutionary War. It is a 
 combination Speller, Reader, and Grammar. In addition, it contains tables 
 of homonyms, illustrated fables, and prayers for special occasions. 
 
 The first spelling lesson starts with the syllable "ba," and the last 
 one begins with the word "A-bel-beth-ma-a-cah." 
 
 Some of the homonyms, which cover several pages, indicate that 
 there have been changes since its day in both spelling and pronunciation: 
 
 Air, one of the elements. Coller, for the neck. 
 
 Are, they are. Collar, Beef Brawn. 
 
 The Reading lessons start with easy sentences. Near the end of the 
 book, they are made up of paragraphs, such as the following: 
 
 A defire to excell others in virtue is very commendable; and a 
 delight in obtaining praife deferves encouragement, becaufe it difcovers 
 an excellent mind: But he is wicked, who employes his thoughts only 
 to out-going the worft of villiany. Such a contention is diabolical. 
 Elementary Grammar is taught by means of questions and answers: 
 
 Q. What is Grammar? 
 
 A. Grammar is the fcience of letters, or the art of writing and 
 fpeaking properly and fyntactically. 
 
 The child who mastered this little book might be expected to spell 
 correctly, read with some facility, have a good knowledge of elementary 
 Grammar, and be well grounded in primary ethics and religion. 
 
 20 
 
to the engfift; Eonaue. 
 
 Words of Four Syllables. 
 
 Table I. 
 
 Note, The Accent is on the fir/} Syllable. 
 
 A 
 
 Ccept a blc ex em pla ry 
 ac cef fa ry ex qui fite ly 
 
 ac cu ra cy 
 ac cu rate ly 
 ad mi ra ble 
 ad mi ral ty 
 ad ver fa ry 
 a la ba fter 
 a mi a blc 
 a mi ca ble 
 at\ nu al ]y 
 an fwer a We 
 a po ptex y 
 ap pli ca ble 
 Ca ter pi] lar 
 ce re mo ny 
 cba ri ta ble 
 com fort a ble 
 coin ment a ry 
 com mon al ty 
 com pe ten cy 
 con quer a ble 
 con tro ver fy 
 cor di al ly 
 cour te ouf ly 
 cow ard li nefs 
 ere dit a ble 
 cri ti cal ly 
 cu (torn a ry 
 Da mape a ble 
 dif fi cttl ty 
 dif pu ta ble 
 Ef h ca cy 
 e le gan cy 
 e mi ncn cy 
 
 For mi da blc 
 Gen tie wo man 
 gil li flow er 
 go vcrn a ble 
 gra ci ouf ly 
 Ha bit d ble 
 ho no ra ble 
 I mi ta ble 
 im pu dent I7 
 in ti ma cy 
 La ment a b!c 
 li te ra ture 
 hi mi na ry 
 Ma le fac-tor 
 tna.tri mo ay 
 mea fure a ble 
 me Ian clio ly 
 me mo ra ble 
 mef ce na ry 
 mi fe ra ble 
 mo men ta ry 
 mul ti pli cand 
 mul ti pli er 
 Na vi ga tor 
 ne cef fa ry 
 nu mer a ble 
 Or di na ry 
 Pa la ta ble 
 par don a ble 
 par li a ment 
 pif fi on ate 
 pe ne tra ble 
 pen fi on er 
 
 pe rifh a ble 
 per fe cu tor 
 per fon a ble 
 pin chu (hi on 
 prac ti ca ble 
 pre fer a ble 
 po fit a blc 
 pro mif fo ry 
 pro fc cu tor 
 Rea fun a ble 
 re pu ta ble 
 Sane tu a ry 
 fca fon a ble 
 fe ere ta ry 
 fe pa ra ble 
 fer vice a ble 
 fo li ta ry 
 fo ve reign ty 
 f{ e cu la tive 
 iU ti on er 
 fta tu a ry 
 fub lu na ry 
 Tern po ra ry 
 ter ri to ry 
 ttf ti mo ny 
 tran fi to ry 
 Va lu a ble 
 va ri a ble 
 va ri ouf iy 
 vi o la ble 
 vir tu al ly ' 
 vo lun t? ry 
 Ur ur a We 
 War rant a ble 
 wca t!ici beat en 
 
 
 
The Kentucky Preceptor 
 (1812) 
 
 Before the Revolutionary War, most of the schoolbooks used in the 
 colonies were imported from the mother country. Readers were often called 
 "Preceptors," with a prefix to indicate their English origin. After the war, 
 American publishers began to supply compilations under such titles as 
 "Columbian Class Book," "Columbian Orator," and "American Preceptor." 
 Early in the 1800's, someone at Lexington, Kentucky compiled a collection 
 of "pieces" under the title of "The Kentucky Preceptor"; and it contained 
 some of the best selections in both English and American literature. The 
 names of the compiler and most of the authors are not given. In the 
 Preface the reader is assured that: 
 
 Tales of love, or romantic fiction, or anything which might tend 
 to instill false notions into the minds of children, have not gained 
 admission. Such pieces may suit the effeminancy of a corrupt nobility 
 — but that which is real and solid, can alone suit the situation of hardy, 
 virtuous, and industrious republicans. 
 
 Included in the book are a number of short essays on such subjects as 
 Credulity, Industry, Haughtiness, and Indulgence ; scores of precepts which 
 teach honor and virtue; Emitt's speech in defense of his reputation; a 
 Thomas Jefferson inaugural address; and a baccalaureate sermon by Dr. 
 Knott. In the section devoted to poetry are generous extracts from Gold- 
 smith's "Deserted Village," and all of Gray's "Elegy." 
 
 This compilation, Scott's Lessons in Elocution, The Columbian Class 
 Book, and Murray's English Reader — the four different Readers he is 
 known to have studied — gave Lincoln access to the choice compositions of 
 the best English and American authors. 
 
 Young Lincoln found a copy of The Kentucky Preceptor at the home 
 of Josiah Crawford, a young farmer by whom he was often employed. 
 Probably Crawford or Mrs. Crawford, both natives of Bardstown, Ken- 
 tucky, had used the book at one of the schools there. 
 
 22 
 

 KENTUCKY PRECEPTOR. :s 
 
 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. 
 
 DISGUISE tnyself as thou wilt, still, slavery ! still thou 
 art a bittcv draught ; and though thousands, in all 
 ages, Have been made to drink of thee, thou art no less 
 bitter on that account. It is thou, Liberty ! thrice sweet 
 and gracious goddess ! whom all, m public, or in private 
 worship ; whose taste is grateful, and ever will be so till 
 nature herself shall change. No time of words can spot 
 thy snowy mantle, or chymic power turn thy sceptre into 
 iron. 
 
 2. With thee, to smile upon him as he eats his crust, 
 the swain is happier than his monarch, from whose court 
 thou art exiled. Gracious Heaven ! grant me but health, 
 thou great bestower of it ! and give me but this fair god- 
 dess as ray companion ; and shower down thy mitres, if it 
 seem good unto thy divine Providence, upon those heads, 
 which are aching fur them. 
 
 3. Pursuing these ideas, I sat down close by my table ; 
 and, leaning my head upon my hand, I began to figure to 
 wyself the miseries of confinement. I was in a right frame 
 for it, and so I gave full scope to my imagination. 
 
 4. I was going to begin with the millions of my fellow 
 creatures born to no inheritance but slavery ; but finding, 
 however affecting the picture was, that I could not bring 
 it near me, and that the multitude of sad groups in it did 
 but distract me, I took a single captive : and, having first 
 shut him up in his dungeon, I then looked through the 
 twilight of his grated door, to take his picture. 
 
 5. I beheld his body- half wasted away, with a long ex- 
 pectation and confinement ; and felt what kind of sickness 
 of the heart it is, which arises from hope deferred. Up- 
 on looking nearer, I saw him pale and feverish. In thirty 
 years, the western breeze had not once fanned his blood — 
 he had seen no sun, no moon, in all that time — nor had the 
 voice of frend or kinsman breathed through liis lattice. — 
 His children. — But here my heart began to bleed — and I 
 was forced to go on with* another part of the portrait. 
 
 6. He was sitting upon the ground upQn a little straw, 
 in the farthest corner of his dungeon, which was alternately 
 his chair and bed. A little calendar of small sticks was 
 laid at tlic head, notched all over with the dismal days 
 -and nights he had passed there. He had one of these lit- 
 
 
Pike's Arithmetic 
 (1809) 
 
 Nicolas Pike (1743-1819), author of the Arithmetic which bears his 
 name, was a native of New Hampshire, and the son of a clergyman. After 
 graduating at Harvard, he served his community, both as a teacher and as 
 a civil engineer. His Arithmetic was originally published in 1788, and it 
 was the first textbook on that subject printed in America. An occasional 
 revision kept it abreast the times, and its popularity continued through 
 several decades. In the edition pubuished in 1809, the Preface begins: 
 
 The demand for this work ftill continuing, notwithftanding the 
 publication of other works on Arithmetick and the higher branches of 
 Mathematics, is evidence of its intrinfick merit, and has induced the 
 Proprieters of the copy-right to prefent the publick with a new and 
 improved Edition. 
 
 Numeration, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Reduc- 
 tion, Vulgar Fractions, Rule of Three Direct, Fellowship by Decimals, 
 Tare and Tret, Extraction of Roots, Interest, Barter, and Alligation, are 
 among the subjects treated. 
 
 The rules are clearly stated, and sufficient examples are worked out 
 in detail to guide the student in solving the rest of the problems in the 
 book's 300 pages of fine print. The comparatively easy problems at the 
 beginning grow difficult with enough rapidity to satisfy the most exacting; 
 and the student who mastered this book had an excellent foundation for 
 the study of higher mathematics. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln once said to Leonard Swett: 
 
 My father suffered greatly for want of an education, and he 
 determined at an early date that I should be well educated. * * * 
 We had an old dog-eared arithmetic in our house, and father 
 determined that somehow, or somehow else, I should cipher clear 
 through that book. 8 
 
 If the old dog-eared arithmetic in their home was a Pike, Thomas, 
 as has been suggested, was an ambitious determiner. And it probably was, 
 because most biographers have credited Lincoln with studying Pike when 
 a boy. 
 
 24 
 
i 9 6 GEOMETRICAL PROGRESSION. 
 
 Ex\mpi.ps. 
 I. If the fir ft trim be $, the ratio $, and the numhei 
 of terms 7, what is the lu?u ot thw lines ? 
 
 Ratioas3K5\5Xjx^\;x3=r2i87ss7th power <: 
 811 > tract 1 [the ra-.i.; 
 
 Divide by the ratio les 1=3 — 1 =2 )2 f S6 
 
 Quotient— 1093 
 Multiply by the rirtt termor 5 
 
 Sum of the feries=5465 
 
 Or, X 5=5465 An?. 
 
 3~ 1 
 
 2. What debt can he difcharged in a year, by paying 
 1 cent the firft month, 10 cents the fecond, and fo on, 
 each month in a tenfold proportion ? 
 
 10 l<i — i-T-10 — rtCissi 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 iic.jw 
 
 D.i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 lie Ans. 
 
 3. A man threfhed wheat 9 days for a farmer, and agreed 
 to receive but 8 wheat corns for the firft day's work, 64 for 
 the fecond, and fo on in an eight fold proportion ; I de- 
 mand what his 9 days' labour amounted to, rating die 
 wheat at 5s. per buihel ?* 
 
 8 9 — 1 
 
 — — X 8^=153391688 corns. Amountac^78 os. jfd. 
 
 4. An ignorant fop wanting to purchafe an elegant 
 houfe, a facetious gentleman told him he had one which 
 he would fell him on thefe moderate terms, viz. that he 
 fhould give him a cent for the firft door, 2 cents for the 
 fecond, 4 cents for the third, and fo on, doubling at every 
 door which were 36 in all ; it is a bargain, cried the fim- 
 pleton, and here is a guinea to bind it : Pray what did 
 the houfe coft him ? 
 
 36 
 
 2 — I 
 
 X 1=687 i9476735c.=D. 687 194767 35 c - Ans. 
 
 * Note, 7680 wheat or bailey corns are fuppofed to make a pin- 
 
Murray's Grammar 
 
 (1821) * 
 
 Lindley Murray (1745-1826), author of Murray's Grammar, was the 
 son of Robert Murray, who, in pre-revolutionary days, owned the largest 
 mercantile establishment in New York. 
 
 Murray studied under private tutors, and read law in an office where 
 John Jay was also a student. His health failing, he went to England and 
 turned his attention to literature. A school Reader which he compiled was 
 believed by Lincoln to be "the best schoolbook ever put in the hands of 
 an American youth." 
 
 As a teacher in a school for young ladies at York, Murray prepared 
 the Grammar for his own use. When published, it contained over 300 
 pages of fine print, and was comprehensive to a fault. As Barton said of 
 Kirkham's work, "It makes a modern language textbook seem like a treatise 
 for the feeble-minded." It maintained its popularity for half a century. 
 
 Not content with treating the science of Grammar minutely, Murray 
 added an appendix which was practically an introduction to Rhetoric. He 
 concluded the book with "An Address to Young Students," the following 
 excerpt from which is indicative of its scope and purpose: 
 
 Whatever difficulties and discouragements may be found in 
 resisting the allurements of vice, you may be humbly confident that 
 Divine assistance will be afforded to all your good and pious resolu- 
 tions ; and that every virtuous effort will have a correspondent reward. 
 You may rest assured, too, that all the advantages arising from vicious 
 indulgences, are light and contemptible, as well as exceedingly tran- 
 sient, compared with the substantial enjoyments, the present pleasures, 
 and the future hopes, which result from piety and virtue. 
 
 If Lincoln studied Dilworth and Murray in Indiana, and then took 
 a postgraduate course in Grammar by studying, or reviewing, Kirkham at 
 New Salem, it is not surprising that Jesse W. Weik marveled at the 
 grammatical accuracy of the thousands of documents that Lincoln left in 
 the court records of the circuit. 
 
 26 
 
at 
 
 off 
 
 r*ear 
 
 on or upon 
 
 up 
 
 among 
 
 down 
 
 after 
 
 before 
 
 about 
 
 behind 
 
 against 
 
 ETTMOLOGT. 113 
 
 CHAPTER VIH. 
 
 Of Prepositions. 
 
 Prepositions serve to connect words with one 
 another, and to show the illation between them. 
 They are, for the most part, put before nouns and 
 pronouns : as, " He went from London to York ;" 
 u She is above disguise;" " They are instructed by 
 him." 
 
 The following is a list of the principal prepositions : 
 Of into above 
 
 to within below 
 
 for without between 
 
 by over beneath 
 
 with under from 
 
 in through beyond 
 
 Verbs are often compounded of a verb and a preposition ; 
 a?, to uphold, to invest, to overlook : and this composition 
 sometimes gives a new sense to the verb ; as, to under- 
 stand, to withdraw, to forgive. But in English, the prepo- 
 sition is more frequently placed after the verb, and separately 
 from it, like an adverb, in which situation it is not less apt 
 to affect the sense of it, and to give it a new meaning ; and 
 may still Jbe considered as belonging to the verb, and as a 
 part of it. As, to cast, is to throw ; but to cast up, or io 
 compute, an account, is quite a different thing : thus, to fall 
 on, to bear out, to give over, &c. So that the meaning of 
 the verb, and the propriety of the phrase, depend on the 
 preposition subjoined. 
 
 In the composition of many words, there are certain syl- 
 lables employed, which Grammarians have called insepara- 
 ble prepositions : as, 6e, con, mis, &c. in bedeck, conjoin, 
 mistake : but as they are not words of any kind, tbey can- 
 not properly be called a species of preposition. 
 
 One great use of prepositions, in English, is, to express 
 tho«e relations, which, in some languages, are chiefly mar- 
 ked by cases, or the different endings of nouns. See page 
 50. The r:eces»ity and use of them will appear from the 
 follow inn; examples. If we say, M he writes a pen," •* they 
 ran the river," " the tower fell the Greeks," « Lam- 
 
 K2 
 
Blair's Rhetoric 
 (1819) 
 
 Hugh Blair (1718-1801), author of Blair's Rhetoric and Belles 
 Lettres, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of a prosperous mer- 
 chant. He entered Edinburgh University when twelve years of age, and 
 won favorable notice before he was sixteen for an essay on "The Beau- 
 tiful." Entering the ministry, he was eventually promoted to the most 
 important charge in Scotland. His five volumes of sermons were favorably 
 received by the public; enthusiastically, by such intimate friends as Dr. 
 Samuel Johnson. 
 
 His lectures on Rhetoric, which cover 500 pages, were published in 
 1783. Blair wrote these lectures at a time when Addison, Pope, and 
 Swift were recognized as the sole models in English style ; and he had much 
 to say about the literary power of each. While his book is written in a 
 flowing and elaborate style, critics have complained that it is verbose, and 
 that it shows a lack of both research and original thought. Even so, it 
 maintained its popularity for many years. 
 
 Blair's purpose in publishing his lectures and a comment on their 
 possible reception may be found in his Preface: 
 
 The following lectures were read in the University of Edin- 
 burgh, for twenty-four years. The publication of them, at present, 
 was not altogether a matter of choice. Imperfect copies of them, in 
 manuscript, from notes, taken by students who heard them read, were 
 first privately handed about; and afterwards frequently exposed to 
 public sale. 
 
 * * * 
 
 If, after the liberties which it was necessary for him to take in 
 criticising the style of the most eminent writers in our language, his 
 own style shall be thought open to reprehension, all he can say, is, that 
 his book will add one to the many proofs already afforded to the world, 
 of its being much easier to give instruction, than to set example. 
 
 Henry B. Rankin claimed that young Lincoln collaborated with Ann 
 Rutledge in a study, or review, of Blair while they were living at New 
 Salem. 
 
 28 
 

 CTURE XXV 
 
 —UHl^lIln— 
 
 ELOQUENCE, OK PUBLIC SPEAKING-HISTORY OP 
 ELOQUENCE....UREClAi\ ELOQUENCE—DEMOSTHENES. 
 
 HAVING finished that part of the course which relates to language and 
 style, we are now to ascend a step higher, and to examine the subjects 
 upon which style is employed. 1 begin with what is properly called 
 eloquence, or public speaking. * In treating of this, I am to consider the 
 different kinds and subjects of public speaking ; the manner suited to 
 each ; the proper distribution and management of all the parts of a 
 discourse; and the proper pronunciation or delivery of it. But before 
 entering on any of these heads, it may be proper to take a view of the 
 nature of eloquence in general, and of the state in which it has subsist- 
 ed in different ages and countries. This will lead into some detail ; but 
 I hope an useful one; as in every art it is of great consequence to have 
 a just idea of the perfection of that art, of the end at which it aims, and 
 of the progress which it has made among mankind. 
 
 Of eloquence, in particular, is it the more necessary to ascertain the 
 proper notion, because there is not any thing concerning which false 
 notions have been more prevalent. Hence, it has been so often,, and is 
 still at this day, in disrepute with many. When you speak to a plain man, 
 of eloquence, or in praise of it, he is apt to hear you with very little 
 attention. He conceives eloquence to signify a certain trick of speech ; 
 the art of varnishing weak arguments plausibly ; or of speaking, so as to 
 please and tickle the ear. ' Give me good sense,' says he, * and keep 
 your eloquence for boys.' He is in the right, if eloquence were what 
 he conceives it to be. It would be then a very contemptible art indeed, 
 below the study of any wise or good man. But nothing can be more 
 remote from truth. To be truly eloquent, is to speak to the purpose. 
 For the best definition which, I think, can be given of eloquence, is the 
 art of speaking in such a manner as to attain the end for which we speak. 
 Whenever a man speaks or writes, he is supposed, as a rational being, 
 to have some end in view ; either to inform, or to amuse, or to persuade, 
 or, in some way or other, to act upon his fellow-creatures. He who 
 speaks or writes, in such a manner as to adapt all his word? most effec- 
 tually to that end, is the most eloquent man. Whatever then the subject 
 be, there is room for eloquence ; in history, or even in philosophy, as 
 well as in orations. The definition which I have given of eloquence, 
 comprehends all the different kinds of it; whether calculated to in- 
 struct, to persuade, or to please. But, as the most important subject of 
 discourse is action, or conduct, the power of eloquence chiefly appears 
 when it is employed to influence conduct, and persuade to action. As it 
 is principally, with reference to this end, that it becomes the object of 
 art, eloquence may under this view of it, be defined, the art of per- 
 suasion. 
 
 This being once established, certain consequences immediately follow, 
 which point out the fundamental maxims of the art. It follows clearly, 
 that in order to persuade, the most essential requisites are, solid argu- 
 
Grimshaw's History of the United States 
 (1845) 
 
 The author, William Grimshaw (1782-1852), was a native of Ireland, 
 but came to America at an early date, settling in Philadelphia. 
 
 Grimshaw began his work with some "Reflections" of which the fol- 
 lowing is typical: 
 
 About six centuries before Christ, Pythagoras of Samos became 
 acquainted with the learning of Egypt, and defused his observations 
 throughout Greece and Italy. He taught, that the sun was the center 
 of the universe, that the earth was round, that people had antipodes, 
 and that the moon reflected the rays of the sun; a system deemed 
 chimerical, until the philosophy and deep inquiries of the sixteenth 
 century proved it to be incontestible and true. 
 
 Then follow circumstantial accounts of the voyages of the early Ameri- 
 can explorers, the growth of the colonies, the Revolutionary War, the early 
 administrations, and the Second War with Great Britain. In the succeeding 
 fourteen editions, subsequent events are briefly sketched. 
 
 Grimshaw marshaled his facts so skillfully, evaluated their importance 
 with such good judgment, and told his story with so many human-interest 
 anecdotes, that it appears doubtful that a more comprehensive and fasci- 
 nating textbook on the subject has since been published. The following 
 excerpt, taken almost at random, exemplifies the technique that Grimshaw 
 used in an obvious effort to make the subject of History interesting to 
 students : 
 
 One day, in the middle of winter, General Greene, when passing 
 a sentinal who was barefooted, said: "I fear, my good fellow, you 
 suffer much from the severe cold." "Yes, very much," was the reply, 
 "But I do not complain. I know I should fare better, had our general 
 the means of getting supplies. They say, however, that in a few days 
 we shall have a fight; and then, I shall take care to secure a pair of 
 shoes." 
 
 Murr claims that young Lincoln secured a copy of this work from 
 William Jones, at whose store near the Lincoln home Abraham sometimes 
 worked. If that is true, it would appear more than probable that Jones did 
 retain the textbooks which he used at Vincennes University, and that the 
 boy drew on Jones for such help as he might need in their study. 
 
 30 
 
THE UNITED 
 
 STATES. 185 
 
 perscd the boats, and frustrated the entire design. Thus 
 weakened by separation, the royal army was exposed to in- 
 creased danger; and orders were sent to those who had 
 passed, to return. Longer resistance would aggravate, 
 without offering the remotest probability of averting, their 
 misfortune. Lord Cornwallis, therefore, wrote a letter to 
 genera) Washington, requesting a cessation of arms for 
 twenty-four hours, and the appointment of commissioners 
 to arrange the terms of a surrender. A capitulation was 
 agreed on; by which, the posts of York and Gloucester 
 were entered by the combined forces, on the 19th of Octo- 
 ber. The honour of marching out with colours flying, 
 which had been refused to general Lincoln on his giving 
 Up Charleston, was now refused to Cornwallis: and Lincoln 
 was appointed to receive the submission of the royal army, 
 precisely in the same way in which sir Henry Clinton had 
 received his own. 
 
 The troops of every kind that surrendered, exceeded 
 seven thousand; but, so great was the number of sick and 
 wounded, that there were not four thousand capable of 
 bearing arms. The regular forces, employed in their* re- 
 duction, consisted of seven thousand French, and five thou- 
 sand rive hundred continentals with the addition of about 
 four thousand militia, 
 
 This may be considered as the closing scene of the re- 
 volutionary war. The whole project was conceived with 
 profound wisdom, and the incidents were combined with 
 singular propriety. The French and American engineers 
 and artillery merited the highest praise. Generals Du 
 Porta il and Knox, with colonel Gouviou, and captain* Roche- 
 fontaine, were promoted. Washington, Rochambeau, I)e 
 Grasse, and all the officers and men under their command, 
 Were honoured with the thanks of congress. Unusual trans- 
 ports of joy pervaded the whole people. It is asserted, 
 that the nerves of some were so agitated, as to produce 
 convulsions; and the aged door-keeper of congress, expir- 
 ed from the violence of his feelings. General Washington 
 ordered, that those who were under military arrests, should 
 be pardoned, and that divine service should be performed 
 in the different brigades of the army; at which, he recom- 
 mended the presence; of all the troops not. upon duty, to 
 assist, with a serious deportment and grateful heart, in of- 
 fering thanks to that Providence? who had so remarkably 
 extended his hand in their behalf. Moved by a similar 
 feeling, congress resolved to go in procession to church, to 
 16* 
 
O'Neill's Geography 
 (1812) 
 
 Accompanying the 386 pages of textual matter in O'Neill's Geography 
 are three maps. The first shows the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, and 
 has much the appearance of those shown in modern works. The second 
 map deliniates what is now the eastern half of the United States, including 
 the then District of Maine, and the then Northwest, Mississippi, New 
 Orleans, and Louisiana, Territories. In the expanse now comprising the 
 States of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, but four towns are shown — 
 Lexington, Frankfort, Vincennes, and Kaskaskias. 
 
 Most of the information in this book is disclosed in answers to 
 questions: 
 
 Q. What may be the population of the United States? 
 
 A. In 1810, according to the census, 7,236,868 of inhabitants, includ- 
 ing those in the newly acquired territories of Louisiana and New 
 
 Orleans. 
 
 * # * 
 
 Q. Are there any literary or humane societies established in Pennsyl- 
 vania ? 
 
 A. These are more numerous and flourishing than in any other State. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Q. What are the political divisions of South America? 
 
 A. It is divided between Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, and the 
 
 Aborigines. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Q. Which are the middle countries of Europe? 
 
 A. Prussia, Germany north and south of the Main, the Austrian 
 dominions, Great Britain and Ireland, Holland and the Nether- 
 lands. 
 
 Q. What do you observe worthy of particular remark relative to Asia ? 
 
 A. This grand division of the earth is particularly remarkable, as 
 being the theatre of almost every action recorded in the holy 
 scriptures. For in it the Almighty planted the garden of Eden, 
 in which he formed our first and common parents, Adam and 
 Eve, from whom the whole race of mankind have descended. 
 Asia, after the Deluge, became again the nursery of the world, 
 whence the descendents of Noah dispersed their various colonies 
 into all the other parts of the globe. 
 
 Following the treatise on Geography, are sixty-four pages devoted to 
 an introduction to Astronomy. 
 
 32 
 
TED STATES OF AMERICA. 159 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 Q. What is the extent and situation of New Or- 
 leans? 
 
 A. About 300 miles long from north to south, and 200 
 broad from east to west. It adjoins the Mississippi on 
 its western banks, and comprehends the islands formed 
 by the mouths of the Mississippi. 
 
 Q. How is it bounded? 
 
 A. Bounded on the west, by the district of Louisiana; 
 north, by Louisiana and the Mississippi Territory; east, 
 by the river Mobile; and south, by the gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Q. Which is the chief town? 
 
 A. New Orleans, the seat of government, situate on 
 the N.E. side of the Mississippi, in latitude 29° 56' N. 
 14° 55' W. longitude from Philadelphia, and 105 miles 
 above the mouths of the river. It is regularly laid out in 
 squares, the streets crossing each other at right angles, 
 and are about 34 feet wide. The public buildings are a 
 government house, a customhouse, a military hospital, 
 an extensive barrack calculated to contain 1400 men; a 
 market house, an assembly room, a hospital, a prison, a 
 cathedral church for Roman catholics, fcc. Population 
 about 25,000 inhabitants. The situation of New Orleans 
 being low is said to be unhealthy; it is however well si- 
 tuated for trade, and is fast rising into importance. 
 
 Q. In what does the commerce of New Orleans prin- 
 cipally consist. 
 
 A. It carries on a considerable trade with the United 
 States generally. Its exports are sugar, cotton, indigo, 
 rice, flour, tobacco, lumber, hemp, tar, pitch, horses, 
 cuttle, &c; and being advantageously situated on the Mis- 
 sissippi, is become a mart for those countries which ad- 
 join the rivers Ohio, Mississippi, 8cc. 
 
 Q. How is New Orleans governed? 
 
 A. It is at present under the jurisdiction of a govern- 
 or, appointed by the president of the United States. 
 
 Q. What is the population of New Orleans? 
 
 V In 1810, by the census it contained 76,556 inhabi- 
 
Bonnycastle's Algebra 
 (1822) 
 
 John Bonnycastle (1750-1821) was professor of Mathematics at the 
 Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, England. His Algebra was first 
 published in 1782, the thirteenth edition in 1824. He is described as "a 
 good fellow," never pedantic, a lover of Shakespeare, and a good story 
 teller. That he was something of a philosopher as well as a mathematician 
 is suggested by the first two paragraphs of the Preface: 
 
 The powers of the mind, like those of the body are increased by 
 frequent exertion ; application and industry supply the place of genius 
 and invention; 'and even the creative faculty itself may be strengthened 
 and improved by use and perseverence. Uncultivated nature is uni- 
 formly rude and imbecile, it being by imitation alone that we first 
 acquire knowledge, and the means of extending its bounds. A just 
 and perfect acquaintance with the simple elements of science, is a 
 necessary step toward our future progress and advancement ; and this, 
 assisted by laborious investigation and habitual inquiry, will constantly 
 lead to eminence and perfection. 
 
 Books of rudiments, therefore, concisely written, well digested, 
 and methodically arranged, are treasures of inestimable value ; and too 
 many attempts cannot be made to render them perfect and complete. 
 When the first principles of any art or science are firmly fixed and 
 rooted in the mind, their application soon becomes easy, pleasant, 
 and obvious; the understanding is delighted and enlarged; we con- 
 ceive clearly, reason distinctly, and form just and satisfactory conclu- 
 sions. But, on the contrary, when the mind, instead of reposing on 
 the stability of truth and received principles, is wandering in doubt 
 and uncertainty, our ideas will necessarily be confused and obscure; 
 and every step we take must be attended by fresh difficulties and 
 endless perplexity. 
 
 The rules and explanations throughout this work are unusually clear 
 and concise. On the last twenty-four of its 310 pages is a treatise on "The 
 Application of Algebra to Geometry." Of it, the author says: 
 
 In the preceding part of the present performance, I have con- 
 sidered Algebra as an independent science, and confined myself chiefly 
 to the treating on such of its most useful rules and operations as 
 could be brought within a moderate compass; but as the numerous 
 applications, of which it is susceptible, ought not to be wholly over- 
 looked, I shall here show, in compliance with the wishes of many 
 respectable teachers, its use in the resolution of geometrical problems. 
 
 A later work on Algebra, by Jeremiah Day, and containing Lincoln's 
 autograph, is owned by the Chicago Historical Society. 
 
 34 
 
580 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 
 
 7.~ Required the value of lll(h^l + ^ 3 J^ \ by 
 JogarithoM. Ads. 49.38712 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 
 
 1. A person .being asked what o'clock it was, replied 
 
 that it was between eight and nine, and that the hour and 
 
 <«Mnute bauds were exactly together ; what was the time ? 
 
 Ans 8h. 43min. 38/ T sec* 
 
 8. A certain number, consisting of two places of fig- 
 ures, is equal to the difference of the squares of its digits, 
 aod if 36 be added to it the digits will be inverted ; what 
 is the number? Ans. 48 
 
 3. What two numbers are those* whose difference, sua?, 
 and product, are to each other as the numbers t , 3, and 5, 
 respectively? Ans. 2 and 10 
 
 4. A person, in a party* at cards, betted three shillings 
 to two upon every deal, and after twenty deals found he 
 had gained five shillings ; how many deals did he win ? 
 
 Ans. 13 
 
 5. A person wishing to enclose a piece of ground with 
 palisades, found,* if he set them a foot asunder, that he 
 should have too few by 150, but if he set them a yard 
 asunder be should have too many by 70 ; how many had 
 he? Ans. 180 
 
 6. A cistern will be filled by two cocks, a and b, run- 
 ning together, in twelve hours, and by the cock a alone 
 iniwentv hours ; in what time will it be filled by the cock 
 m alone ? Ans. 30 hours 
 
 7. If three agents, a, b, c, can produce the effects a, 
 6, c, in the times e, /, g % respectively ; in what time would 
 tf*ey jointly produce the effect d. 
 
Ferguson's Astronomy 
 (1809) 
 
 James Ferguson (1710-1776), son of an English farm laborer, seems 
 as a child to have been something of a mechanical and mathematical genius. 
 He studied out principles for himself, and was later delighted to find in 
 books that he had been right. For four years while a youth, he tended sheep 
 by night and studied the stars. He entered upon his career as a teacher and 
 popular scientific lecturer in 1748, and often discussed mechanics with 
 George III. His Astronomy, first published in 1756, met with immediate 
 and complete success. English and American reprints continued to appear 
 until 1821. The first chapter begins: 
 
 Of all the sciences cultivated by mankind, astronomy is acknowl- 
 edged to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, 
 and the most useful. For, by knowledge derived from this science, not 
 only the magnitude of the earth is discovered * * * but our very 
 faculties are enlarged with the grandure of the ideas it conveys, our 
 minds exalted above the low contracted principles of the vulgar, and 
 our understandings clearly convinced, and affected with the conviction, 
 of the existance, power, goodness, immutability, and the superin- 
 tendency of the SUPREME BEING. 
 
 Having thus paid tribute to one convention of his day, Ferguson, 
 through the next 500 pages, discourses interestingly upon the universe, its 
 parts, and their relation to each other — with all the objectivity and lack of 
 emotion one might expect from a mathematician and scientist. 
 
 In 1865, while Herndon was interviewing former neighbors of the 
 Lincolns in Indiana, Kate Roby said of Abraham: 
 
 He was well acquainted with the general laws of astronomy and 
 the movements of the heavenly bodies, but where he could have 
 learned so much, or how to put it so plainly, I never could under- 
 stand. 9 
 
 That Mr. Lincoln retained his interest in the subject is indicated by 
 his carrying with him over the circuit at one time a later work on Astronomy 
 by Denison Olmsted, a professor at Yale. 
 
 36 
 

 Of the Moon's Phases. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 The Moon's Surface mountainous: Her Phases de* 
 scribed: Her Path, and the Paths of Jut iter's 
 Moons delineated: The Proportions oj the Diame- 
 ters of their Orbits, and those of Saturn's Moons % 
 to each other ; and the Diameter of the Sun. 
 
 05 2 ID Y looking at the Moon through an ordinary "*» 
 
 - * Fj telescope, we perceive that ncr surface is % u 
 diversified with long tracts of prodigious high moun- Thc 
 tains and deep cavities. Some of her mountains, by Moo n '» 
 comparing their height with her diameter (which i^^* r ^ in< 
 2180 miles,) are found to be three times as high as on*. 
 the highest mountains on our Earth. This rugged- 
 ness of the Moon's surface is of great use to us, by 
 reflecting the Sun's light to all sides: for if the Moon 
 were smooth and jx>lished like a looking-glass, or co- 
 vered with water, she could never distribute the Sun's 
 light all round : only, in some positions, she would 
 shew us his image, no bigger than a point, but with 
 such a lustre as might be hurtful to our eyes. 
 
 253. The Moon's surface being so uneven, many 
 have wondered why her edge appears not jagged as 
 well as the curve bounding the light and dark parts. 
 But if we consider, that what we call the edge of the Why no 
 Moon's disc is not a single line set round with moun- j£ ! ** *£* 
 tains, in which case it would appear irregularly in- her edge, 
 dented, but a large zone, having many mountains ly- 
 ing behind one another from the observer's eye, we 
 shall find that the mountains in some rows will be 
 opposite to the vales in others, and fill up the ine- 
 qualities, so as to make her appear quite round ; 
 just as when one looks at an orange, although its 
 roughness be very discernible on the side next the 
 eye, especially if die Sun or a candle shines ob- 
 liquely on that side, yet the line terminating the vi- 
 sible part still appears smooth 
 
Say's Political Economy 
 (1821) 
 
 Jean-Baptist Say (1767-1832) was born at Lyons, France. He began a 
 mercantile career, and clerked for a time in London. He was so intrigued 
 by Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations that he adopted the study and teaching 
 of Political Economy as his vocation. His principal work was published 
 in 1803. While not particularly original in his thought, Say wrote so 
 convincingly and entertainingly that he gained a large following. English 
 and American editions soon appeared. In the original introduction, we 
 find: 
 
 Under every form of government, a state, whose affairs are well 
 administered, may prosper. Nations have risen to opulence under 
 absolute monarchs, and have been ruined by popular councils. If 
 political liberty be more favorable to the development of wealth, it is 
 but indirectly; in the same manner that it is more favorable to gen- 
 eral education. 
 
 By the English Editor: 
 
 Political science has, in this country, become quite a necessary 
 part of education. Aided by the general advance of human intelligence, 
 and stimulated by the acute sense of individual, or the dismal scene 
 of national, calamity, its maxims have been discussed alike in the 
 counting-house and in the cabinet : in the former, with all the warmth 
 and anxiety generated by curiosity and personal interest ; in the latter 
 with that enforced attention, with which public functionaries will 
 ever regard the approach of what must necessarily tend, at every step, 
 to reduce their own importance, and to render the art of government 
 less mysterious and less voluminous. 
 
 By the American Editor: 
 
 Since the publication of Dr. Adam Smith's profound and original 
 inquiry into the nature and causes of the Wealth of Nations, no 
 work, written on the science of Political Economy, has appeared in 
 Europe that has attracted so much attention and received such dis- 
 tinguished approbation from very competent judges, as the present 
 treatise by M. Say. 
 
 The feeling by some of Lincoln's Illinois contemporaries that he gave 
 but perfunctory attention to works like this may have originated because 
 such subjects were "old stuff" to him, he having been "all through that" 
 years before — in Indiana. 
 
 38 
 

 CH. XVII. OS PRODUCTION. 205 
 
 amply provided with that material, richer than one 
 which is more scantily supplied ? 
 
 I must here take leave to anticipate a position, 
 established in chap. 21. of this book, wherein the 
 subject of money is considered: viz. that the 
 total business of national exchange and circula- 
 tion requires a given quantity of the commodity, 
 money, of some amount or other. There is in 
 France a daily sale of so much wheat, cattle, fuel, 
 property moveable and immoveable, which sale 
 requires the daily intervention of a given value in 
 the form of money, because every commodity is 
 first converted into money, as a step towards its 
 further conversion into other objects of desire. 
 Now, whatever be the relative abundance or 
 scarcity of the article money, since a given quan» 
 turn is requisite for the business of circulation, 
 the money must of course advance in value, as it 
 declines in quantity, and decline in value, as it 
 advances in quantity. Suppose the money of 
 France to amount now to 3000 millions o(francs t 
 and that by some event, no matter what, it be re- 
 duced to 1500 millions ; the 1500 millions will be 
 quite as valuable as the 3000 millions. The de- 
 mands of circulation require the agency of an 
 actual value of 3000 millions ; that is to say, a 
 value equivalent to 2000 millions of pounds of 
 sugar, (taking sugar at 30 sous per lb.) or to 1 80 
 millions of hectolitres of wheat (taking wheat at 
 20/h the hectolitre). Whatever be the weight or 
 bulk of the material, whereof it is made, the total 
 value of the national money will still remain at 
 
 
Paley's Moral Philosophy 
 (1818) 
 
 William Paley (1743-1805) was educated at Cambridge, England, 
 and later was a junior tutor there. He was too democratic for that aristo- 
 cratic age, and such pronouncements as "the divine right of kings is the 
 same as the divine right of constables" debarred him from the highest 
 positions in the church. His lectures on Locke, Clarke, and Butler became 
 the basis of his Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. This work 
 has been called "a most remarkable mixture of utilitarianism and theology" 
 because, for one reason, virtue is defined as "the doing good to mankind 
 in obedience to the will of God, and for the sake of everlasting happiness." 
 For all that, its popularity with the masses made necessary the printing of 
 fifteen editions during Paley's lifetime. He begins with a definition: 
 
 Moral Philosophy, Morality, Ethics, Casuistry, Natural Law, 
 mean all the same thing; namely, that science which teaches men 
 their duty and the reasons of it. 
 
 In a chapter headed "Of Property," is a dissertation which would 
 suggest "pinkness" even today. One paragraph reads: 
 
 If you see a flock of pigeons in a field of corn; and if (instead 
 of each picking where and what it liked, taking just as much as it 
 wanted, and no more) you should see ninety-nine of them gathering 
 all they got in a heap ; reserving nothing for themselves but the chaff 
 and the refuse; keeping this heap for one, and that the weakest, 
 perhaps the worst, pigeon of the flock ; sitting around and looking on 
 all the winter, whilst this one was devouring, throwing about, and 
 wasting it: If you should see this, you would see nothing more than 
 is every day practiced and established among men. 
 
 Paley's complete writings, including his Moral Philosophy, Evidences 
 of Christianity, Natural Theology, Tracts, Clergyman's Companion, and 
 Sermons, were eventually collected in a single volume. Lincoln's own 
 copy is still extant. 
 
 If Lincoln studied Paley's Moral Philosophy while living in Indiana, 
 he was only renewing an old acquaintance when he secured and read that 
 author's "Works" at Springfield. 
 
 40 
 
247 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OF THE Dl TV OF PARENTS. 
 
 That virtue, which confines its beneficence with- 
 in the wails of a mans own house, we have been 
 accustomed to consider as little better than a more 
 refined selfishness: and yet it will be confessed, 
 that the subject and matter of this class of duties 
 arc inferior to none in utility and importance: and 
 where, it may be asked, is virtue the most valu- 
 able, but where it does the most good? What 
 duty is the most obligatory, but that on which 
 the most depends ? And where have we happiness 
 and misery so much in our power, or liable to be 
 $o affected by our conduct, as in our own fami- 
 lies? It will also be acknowledged, that the good 
 order and happiness of the world is better upheld 
 whilst each man applies himself to his own con- 
 cerns and the care of his own family, to which he 
 is present, than if every man, from an excess of 
 mistaken generosity, should leave his own busi- 
 ness to undertake his neighbour's, which he must 
 alvva\s manage with less knowledge, convenience , 
 and success. li\ therefore, the law estimation of 
 these virtues be well founded, it must be owing, 
 not to their inferior importance, but to some defect 
 or impurity in the motive. And indeed it cannot 
 be denied, but that it is in the power of association 
 so to unite our children's interest with our own, as 
 that we shall often pursue both from the same 
 motive, place both in the same object, and with as 
 little ncusc of duty in one pursuit as in the other. 
 Where this is the case, the judgment above stated 
 
Gibson's Surveying 
 (1811) 
 
 In the short sketch of his life that Mr. Lincoln wrote for Scripps in 
 I860, he said: 
 
 The surveyor of Sangamon offered to depute to Abraham that 
 portion of his work which was within his part of the county. He 
 accepted, procured a compass and chain, studied Flint and Gibson a 
 little, and went at it. 10 
 
 Because the works mentioned were then among the most popular on 
 the subject, it seems likely that it was one or both of them that Lincoln 
 studied in Indiana under James Blair; and that he simply reviewed them "a 
 little" at New Salem before he "accepted" the position. Probably no County 
 Surveyor, certainly not one as ambitious, competent, and intelligent as 
 John Calhoun, would "depute" official work for which he must accept 
 the responsibility to anyone whom he did not know had been thoroughly 
 prepared under a competent instructor. 
 
 In 1804, The Reverend Abel Flint (1765-1825), of Hartford, Con- 
 necticut, had in manuscript a work which he called: "A System of 
 Geometry and Trigonometry; together with a Treatise on Surveying." The 
 Surveyor General of the State in a recommendation said: "The surveyor 
 who shall own this book will not be under the necessity of purchasing 
 GIBSON, which is a more expensive work." When published, Flint's 
 book contained a total of 240 pages. 
 
 Robert Gibson was an English teacher. His work on Surveying was 
 first published in 1767, and its popularity continued for many years. The 
 page of Contents shown herein was taken from the 1811 American edition, 
 and indicates its scope. That edition contained over 500 pages. 
 
 This writer believes that a person who examined the 750 pages of 
 definitions, explanations, problems, tables, and figures, in these two books, 
 and then supposed that any young man who was unacquainted with the 
 subjects discussed, could master them "in six weeks," would be, at the 
 least, a liberal supposer. 
 
 42 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Sect. 1 Decimal fractions 2 
 2. Involution and Evolu- 
 tion 15 
 % Of Logarithms 23 
 4 Elements of Geome- 
 try 3? 
 Mathematical Instru- 
 ments 74 
 5. Trigonometry g 99 
 
 PART H. 
 
 Sect. 1. The Chain 134 
 
 The Circumferentor 152 
 The Theodolite 159 
 The 9cmicircle 164 
 
 Mensuration of* An- 
 gles by these In- 
 struments 169 
 The Protractor, 171 
 
 2. Mensuration of 
 
 heights . 179 
 Of Distance* 194 
 
 3. Mensuration of Awm 200 
 
 General Method 232 
 Pennsylvania Method 246 
 
 4. Of Ofl-scts 250 
 
 5. Method of surveying 1 
 
 by Intersections 257 
 
 6. Changing* the scslc 
 
 of Maps 263 
 
 7. Method of Dividing 
 Land 27 t 
 
 •i. Maritime Sun eying 281 
 
 PART IL 
 
 Page. 
 
 Sect. 9. Levelling 284 
 
 I*romiscuous Ques- 
 tions 29o 
 
 PART m. 
 
 Sect. 1. Introductory Princi- 
 ples 298 
 2. Description of Instru- 
 ments 305 
 a. i o find the Latitude 
 by the Meridian Al- 
 titude of the Sun 316 
 4. Variation of the Com- 
 pass r.l 8 
 
 LIST OP TABLES. 
 
 Logarithms of Numbers 1 
 
 Sines, Tangents and Secants 20 
 
 Natural Sines 7l 
 
 Points of .the Compass 82 
 
 i ravcrse Tabic 83 
 
 Mean Refraction 
 
 Bttn's Parallax 1 
 
 Dip of the Horizon > 
 
 DipforDif. Distofland) 
 Semi-diameter of the Sun 
 Transit of Pole Star 
 JLhflercnce of Altitude of 
 
 Pole Star and Pole 
 Sun's Declination 
 ! Reduction Table 
 
 174 
 175 
 
 mi 
 
 iro 
 
 177 
 1 78 
 Iff? 
 
REFERENCES AND NOTES 
 
 1. Nicolay & Hay, i, 639-40. 
 
 In the short autobiography which he wrote for Jesse W. Fell in 1859, 
 
 Mr. Lincoln said: 
 
 Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still, some- 
 how, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. 1 
 
 That "but that was all" and his letter the same year to Samuel 
 Galloway, which reads in part: 
 
 Your very complimentary, not to say flattering letter of the 23rd 
 inst. is received * * * I must say that I do not think myself fit for 
 the presidency * * * I shall look for your letters anxiously," 2 
 
 would be disconcerting, and real posers, if one failed to remember that 
 Lincoln was always a practical politician, and could dissemble a bit when 
 no serious principle was involved, and the end seemed to justify the means. 
 Whitney tells of his defending criminals whom he thought guilty. 3 He 
 joined with other counsel in an effort to send a negro woman in Illinois 
 back into slavery. 4 He disliked liquor, and made temperance addresses; 
 but rather than appear censorious with his associates on the circuit, would 
 sometimes himself indulge mildly. 5 He did not refuse the nomination for 
 the Presidency because his managers, at a critical time, packed the galleries 
 of the convention hall with Lincoln claqueurs — by using counterfeit 
 tickets. Baringer says that Lincoln kept his record straight by notifying 
 these managers that he would be bound by no agreements made to secure 
 his nomination ; but after horse trading on a large scale had secured success, 
 he chose to keep the party united by paying in full debts which they had 
 contracted, even to several cabinet positons. 7 As a reward for securing the 
 nomination of Lincoln by such methods as political exigencies seemed to 
 require, Davis received an appointment to the Supreme Court — when Lin- 
 coln preferred Browning. 8 During the war, when several additional votes 
 were required to pass through Congress an act which Lincoln thought vital 
 to the country's welfare, he authorized Charles A. Dana to promise whatever 
 might be necessary to secure the votes. 9 He secured the nomination of 
 Andrew Johnson as his running mate in 1864 by methods so sly and indirect 
 that even his own secretaries did not know whom he favored for the 
 place. 10 Not one of these incidents involves moral turpitude; but they do 
 indicate that Lincoln never doubted that he could be broadly honest without 
 being narrowly sanctimonious. While his essential honesty was so patent 
 that it became proverbial, he was never afflicted with an ingrowing moral 
 
 45 
 
philosophy. His integrity was practical, not technical or emotional. He 
 promoted immutable principles by the only means that promised success — 
 practical politics. 
 
 (1) Nicolay & Hay, i, 597. (6) Baringer, 267, 278. 
 
 (2) Ibid., 537-38. (7) Ibid., 334-35. 
 
 (3) Whitney, 139-40. (8) Whitney, 86; Pratt, 171. 
 
 (4) Woldman, 56-66. (9) Dana, 175-76. 
 
 (5) Whitney, 161-62. (10) Seitz, 421-23. 
 
 Robert H. Browne, while a Civil War soldier stationed in the Lincoln 
 Country of Kentucky, spent several weeks interviewing people who had 
 known Thomas Lincoln and his family. He says that "one intelligent 
 woman" near Elizabethtown said that Abraham was always "a-studyin' " 
 when he could get a book, and "it did set everybody a-wonderin' how much 
 he knew, and him not mor'n seven." 1 In the Scripps campaign biography 
 of Lincoln, we are told that when the family arrived in Indiana, in 
 Abraham's eighth year, his "skill as a penman was put into requisition," 
 and that he thereafter acted "as an amanuensis for the neighborhood." 2 
 Joseph D. Armstrong, one of Spencer County's earliest historians, has 
 stated that Lincoln's teachers in Indiana affirmed that Abraham "could 
 read well at the age of eight years."' 5 
 
 (1) Browne, i, 70, 83. (2) Scripps, 2. 
 
 (3) Ehrmann, 33-4. 
 
 If "that was all" young Lincoln knew when he reached Illinois, and 
 he had the energy and ability immediately afterwards to master the science 
 of Grammar "in three weeks," and Surveying "in six weeks," what could 
 he have been doing during all the fourteen years he spent in Indiana while 
 associating with at least some young people who attended academies and 
 colleges? If he had been so dumb in Indiana that he could get no farther 
 than the Rule of Three (proportion) in fourteen years, what magic wand 
 enabled him, immediately afterwards in Illinois, to comprehend and master 
 Geometry, Trigonometry, and Plain Surveying, by studying "a little" for a 
 few weeks? That postulate may have been excellent political propaganda 
 in I860, but it should not be taken seriously, one might think, in this year 
 of our Lord. Some of the textbooks on Moral Philosophy in Lincoln's 
 youthful days — Paley's, for instance — taught that political exaggerations 
 are not culpable, because everyone expects them and nobody is deceived 
 by them. 
 
 46 
 
Many of Lincoln's contemporaries who became distinguished had been 
 born in log cabins, and had struggled for their educations; probably some 
 of them had split more fence rails than the whole Lincoln family; but none 
 of them, apparently, knew how to dramatize such commonplace events as 
 did Lincoln and Richard J. Oglesby. And one has a right to wonder if 
 Oglesby didn't stage the dramatic Decatur-Convention fence-rail episode 
 at the suggestion of Lincoln — who was present and keeping in close touch 
 with the proceedings. 
 
 Lincoln's genius for political finesse not only created the enthusiasm 
 which insured his election, but was invaluable to the country during the 
 war. He managed to keep radical New England and the conservative 
 Border States working together for Union; and through all the political 
 vicissitudes of the conflict, not one foreign government ever sent a minister 
 to Richmond. 
 
 2. Herndon & Weik, ii, 148. 
 
 3. Huxley, 47. 
 
 4. Letter from Charles T. Baker. 
 
 5. Throughout his entire life, Mr. Lincoln exemplified Micha's concep- 
 tion of the whole duty of man — do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. He 
 seems to have believed that from a political standpoint the greatest of these 
 is walk humbly. After he had been President and Commander-in-Chief for 
 over three years, he wrote: "I claim not to have controlled events, but 
 confess plainly that events have controlled me." 1 
 
 When a young man, the present writer once paid three dollars for a 
 not-too-good seat to hear Sir Henry Irving, then considered the best actor 
 on the stage. In a curtain speech, Irving's modesty when referring to his 
 poor talents, and his appreciation for the applause he had received from a 
 corn-belt audience, were almost pathetic in their humility. He was a good 
 actor. So was Lincoln. 
 
 (1) Nicolay & Hay, it, 509. 
 
 6. Murr, 68; Vannest, 124. 
 
 7. Nicolay & Hay, i, 3. 
 
 8. Rice, 458. 
 
 9. Herndon, i, 36. 
 
 10. Nicolay & Hay, i, 641. 
 
 47 
 
Books: 
 
 Baringer, William 
 Boone, Richard G. 
 
 Brown, Robert H. 
 
 Clark, Thomas D. 
 
 Crabb, A. L. 
 
 Dana, Charles A. 
 Ehrmann, Bess V. 
 
 Herndon & Weik 
 Howells, W. D. 
 Huxley, Thomas H. 
 
 Johnson, J. S. 
 Lewis, A. F. 
 
 McGee, Nora L. 
 Murr, J. Edward 
 
 Nicolay & Hay 
 
 Pond, Fern Nance 
 
 Pratt, Harry E. 
 
 Rice, A. T. 
 
 Scripps, John L. 
 Seitz, Don C. 
 Smith, H. M. 
 
 SOURCES 
 
 Lincoln's Rise to Power. Boston, 1937. 
 History of Education in Indiana. New York, 
 1892. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln and the Men of His Time. 
 Chicago, 1907. 
 
 A History of Kentucky. New York, 1937. 
 The Kentucky. New York, 1942. 
 fames Priestley. In "The Peabody Reflector." 
 Nashville, December, 1932. 
 Recollections of the Civil War. New York, 1898. 
 The Missing Chapter in the Life of Abraham 
 Lincoln. Chicago, 1938. 
 Abraham Lincoln. 2 vol. New York, 1920. 
 Life of Abraham Lincoln. Dayton, I860. 
 Science and Hebrew Tradition Essays. New 
 York, 1903. 
 
 Memorial History of Louisville. N.P., 1895. 
 History of Higher Education in Kentucky. 
 Washington, 1889. 
 Tales of Old Bardstown. N.P., N.D. 
 Lincoln in Indiana. "Indiana Magazine of His- 
 tory," Dec, 1917; March, June, 1918. 
 Abraham Lincoln : Complete Works: 2 vol. 
 New York, 1920. 
 
 Intellectual New Salem in Lincoln's Day. Har- 
 rogate, 1938. 
 
 David Davis. "Publications", Illinois State His- 
 torical Society. Springfield, 1930. 
 Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln. New York, 
 1889. 
 
 Life of Abraham Lincoln. Chicago, I860. 
 Lincoln, the Politician. New York, 1931. 
 Historical Sketches of Old Vincennes. Vincen- 
 nes, 1902. 
 
 49 
 
Vannest, C. G. 
 Weik, Jesse W. 
 Whitney, Henry C. 
 
 Woldman, A. A. 
 
 Letters and Extracts: 
 Baker, Charles T. 
 Clark, Thomas D. 
 Curry, Elizabeth A. 
 Davenport, F. G. 
 Earle, Mary E. 
 
 Eggleston, F. G. 
 
 Ehrmann, Bess V. 
 Gooch, R. C. 
 Grauman, Edna J. 
 Grier, Paul L. 
 
 Kinkead, Ludie J. 
 Kitchell, Jane 
 McGee, Nora L. 
 McLean, Ruth B. 
 Nichols, Clarece 
 Sites, Maud Kay 
 Van Natter, F. M. 
 Warnsing, Kitty N. 
 Watts, Alice M. 
 
 Weik, Jesse W. 
 
 Lincoln, the Hoosier. St. Louis, 1928. 
 The Real Lincoln. Boston and New York, 1922. 
 Life on the Circuit with Lincoln. (Paul M. An- 
 gle, Editor) Caldwell, 1940. 
 Lawyer Lincoln. New York, 1936. 
 History of Ohio Falls Cities and their Counties. 
 Cleveland, 1889. 
 
 Various Encyclopedias and Biographical Dic- 
 tionaries. 
 
 Grandview, Indiana. 
 
 University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. 
 Peoria Public Library, Peoria, Illinois. 
 Transylvania College, Lexington, Kentucky. 
 Library Extension Division, Frankfort, Ken- 
 tucky 
 
 Hampden - Sidney College, Hampden - Sidney, 
 Virginia. 
 
 Rockport, Indiana. 
 
 Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 Louisville Free Public Library, Louisville, Ky. 
 Hampden-Sidney College Library, Hampden- 
 Sidney, Va. 
 
 The Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky. 
 Vincennes Public Library, Vincennes, Indiana. 
 Bardstown, Kentucky. 
 
 Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Conn. 
 Centre College Library, Danville, Kentucky. 
 Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 Vincennes, Indiana. 
 Petersburg, Illinois. 
 
 Aetna Life Insurance Co. Library, Hartford, 
 Conn. 
 Manuscripts, Library of Congress. 
 
 50 
 
i'4 
 
 k 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63B3H81Y C001 
 
 YOUNG ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND LOG COLLEGE PE 
 
 3 0112 031797084