President Lincoln Earned A Dollar

Sham S. Misri

Abraham Lincoln laughed when once his wife said he could lead the country.
Lincoln was born in a cabin, in the state of Kentucky. It was a one-room house, built of logs. In this one room about fourteen feet square, the family cooked, ate, and slept. Abraham Lincoln started life in such a poor home.
When he was seven years old, his parents moved to Indiana, into a wild and wooded region, and there built a house to live in. It was still a cabin, with the roughest of furniture. A log, smoothed on one side, was used as a table. The beds were made of poles, fastened to the walls. The chairs were blocks of wood. All the cooking was done in the fireplace. Here, Lincoln spent his childhood in hardship. The family was poor, and every member had to do hard work on the farm. After laboring all day, the young boy would often lie down before the fireplace, and read by the light of the burning fire.
Abraham Lincoln had little chance to get an education. He did not go to school more than a year, and had very poor teachers. But he learned to read such books as "The Pilgrim's Progress,"  the Bible " and many stories. 
Once he borrowed a book the "Life of Washington" from a neighbor, and sat up till late in the night reading it. He kept the book in a crevice in the wall, near his bed, for safety. One night it rained, and he found the book fully soaked. The owner made him to work three days to pay for it, and then let him have it. It was the first book the boy owned. He sat under trees, reading books on law.
Once he ferried passengers up and down a river. Two men hired Abe to row them out to their steamboat. Abe thought they might pay him a quarter. Then each gave him a silver half dollar. “I could hardly believe my eyes” he said, “By honest world I had earned a dollar”.
He would love to hear every preacher that came into his neighborhood. Once, he walked fourteen miles to hear a trial in Court. When one of the lawyers finished his speech, Lincoln walked across the room bare feet, with his trousers rolled up, and said quite clearly, "I want to shake your hand. That is the best speech I ever heard." Years after, when Lincoln was President, the lawyer, grown old and feeble, came to the White House and reminded him of the incident.

"One day, a woman came into the store where Lincoln was engaged as clerk. After she had gone, Lincoln noticed that she had given him six cents more. That night, after his job was over, he walked five miles to the woman's house to return her the money.
When Lincoln was twenty-one years of age, his father and two of his neighbors moved to Illinois. Through mud and water, and over rough roads, Lincoln walked all the way, driving an ox-team. They settled at the new place and started life afresh. Lincoln helped in clearing the land, and he fenced it with rails. He helped build the cabins and plant the spring crops. Though he was of age, and could have done as he pleased, but, he stayed with the family until they had started in their new surroundings.
Once Lincoln needed some clothes, for he still wore the buckskins, he bargained with a neighbor to make him a pair of trousers out of brown jeans, agreeing to split rails in payment. He had to split fourteen hundred rails before the trousers were paid for.
Lincoln was now a grown man, six feet and four inches tall, but muscular, and in perfect health. He was much beloved by the community in which he lived, and was popular with his companions. He could out-run, out-jump, and out-wrestle anybody in the neighborhood. And, as a rail-splitter, nobody could approach him in the number he could split a day. For this, he had precision and power. Every blow fell in the right place, and with great force. To see him cut down a large tree, and split it into rails, was to witness an exhibition of rare skill.
Abraham Lincoln was also a good story-teller. All his life he had lot many funny stories to fit any occasion. He gained a reputation for honesty in all his business transactions. That is why he was called "Honest Abe.
As a lawyer, he was very shrewd and successful. Upon one occasion he defended the son of a poor person, who was accused of murdering a man at night. Lincoln was satisfied in his own mind that the person was innocent. The trial began, and the witnesses were called.
The chief witness said, "I saw him strike the man and kill him."
Lincoln inquired, "What time was it when you saw him?"
"It was about eleven o'clock," the witness replied.
"How could you see so well at night?" asked the lawyer Lincoln.
The man replied, "The moon was shining, and I could easily see by its light."
Lincoln sent for an almanac, and showed the jury that there was no moon shining on that night, whereupon the witness retired in confusion, and the man was acquitted of the crime.

Thus a farm boy, Abe could plant and harvest, catch fish in the creek, split rails for fences. And he could build a boat. Abraham Lincoln worked on a river boat, as Clark in a store and marched as a soldier (but never fought a battle). By his hard work, Lincoln began to be a leader in the town of New Salem, where he was employed. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and was elected to the Legislature. He was sent to Congress, and was a candidate for the United States Senate. In later years, Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States of America. He campaigned saying “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Work hard and be honest.