Life of Abraham Lincoln

Life of Abraham Lincoln, by John Hugh
Bowers

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Title: Life of Abraham Lincoln Little Blue Book Ten Cent Pocket Series No. 324
Author: John Hugh Bowers
Editor: E. Haldeman-Julius
Release Date: September 28, 2006 [EBook #19404]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 324 Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
TEN CENT POCKET SERIES NO. 324

Life of Abraham Lincoln
John Hugh Bowers, Ph.D., LL.B.
Dept. History and Social Sciences, State Teachers' College, Pittsburg, Kans.
HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY GIRARD, KANSAS Copyright, 1922,

Haldeman-Julius Company
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The story of Lincoln, revealing how one American, by his own honest efforts, rose from
the most humble beginning to the most high station of honor and worth, has inspired
millions and will inspire millions more. The log cabin in which he was born, the ax with
which he split the rails, the few books with which he got the rudiments of an education,
the light of pine knots by which he studied, the flatboat on which he made the long trip to
New Orleans, the slave mart at sight of which his sympathetic soul revolted against the
institution of human slavery--these are all fraught with intense interest as the rude forces
by which he slowly builded his great character.
Great suffering taught him great sympathy. His great sympathy for men gave him great
influence over men. As a lonely motherless little boy living in the pitiless poverty of the
backwoods he learned both humility and appreciation. Then from a gentle step-mother he
learned the beauty of kindness.
As a clerk in a small store that failed, as a defeated candidate for the legislature, as
Captain in the Black Hawk War, as student of Law in his leisure moments, as partner in a
small store that failed, as Postmaster at the little village of New Salem, as Deputy
Surveyor of Sangamon County, as successful candidate for the legislature, as member of
the legislature and as country lawyer, he was learning to love his fellow men and to get
along well with them, while keeping his own conscience and building a reputation for
honesty. When as a member of Congress and as a successful lawyer his proved ability
brings him a measure of security and comfort he is not elated. And when his fellow men,
reciprocating his great love for them, and manifesting their confidence in his integrity,
make him President of the Republic he still remains the humble brother of the common
people.
But fate did not decree that he should enjoy the honors he had so richly deserved. The
White House was not a resting place for him. In the hour of his election the Nation for
which he prayed was divided and the men that he loved as brothers were rushing
headlong toward fratricidal war. He who loved peace was to see no more peace except
just a few hopeful days before his own tragic end. He who hated war must captain his
dear people through their long and mighty struggle and share in his gentle heart their
great sacrifices. As the kindly harmonizer of jealous rivals, as the unifier of a distracted
people, as the sagacious leader of discordant factions, he proved his true greatness in the
hours of the nation's peril. In many a grave crisis when it seemed that the Confederacy
would win and the Union be lost the almost superhuman wisdom of Lincoln would see
the one right way through the storm. For good reasons, the followers of Lincoln came to
believe that he was being guided by God Himself to save the Union.
The genealogists of Lincoln trace his ancestry back to Virginia and to Massachusetts and

to those Lincolns who came from England about 1635. The name Abraham recurs
frequently among the Lincolns and our President seems to have been named after his
grandfather Abraham who was killed by the Indians in Kentucky in 1778, when Thomas,
the father of the President, was only ten years of age. Thus left fatherless at a tender age
in a rude pioneer community, Thomas did not even learn to read. He worked about as
best he could to live, became a carpenter, and in 1806 married his cousin, Nancy Hanks,
the daughter of Joseph