His facility for making rhymes and writing essays was the admiration
of many who considered it the more remarkable because "essays and
poetry were not taught in school," and "Abe took it up on his own
account."

[Illustration: REV. ALLEN BROONER.

A neighbor of Thomas Lincoln, still living near Gentryville. Mr.
Brooner's wife was a friend of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. The two women died
within a few days of each other, and were buried side by side. When
the tombstone was placed at Mrs. Lincoln's grave, no one could state
positively which was Mrs. Brooner's and which Mrs. Lincoln's grave.
Mr. Allen Brooner gave his opinion, and the stone was placed; but the
iron fence incloses both graves, which lie in a half-acre tract of
land owned by the United States government. Mr. Allen Brooner, after
his wife's death, became a minister of the United Brethren Church, and
moved to Illinois. He received his mail at New Salem when Abraham
Lincoln was the postmaster at that place. Mr. Brooner confirms Dr.
Holland's story that "Abe" once walked three miles after his day's
work, to make right a six-and-a-quarter-cents mistake he had made in a
trade with a woman. Like all of the old settlers of Gentryville, he
remembers the departure of the Lincolns for Illinois. "When the
Lincolns were getting ready to leave," says Mr. Brooner, "Abraham and
his stepbrother, John Johnston, came over to our house to swap a horse
for a yoke of oxen. 'Abe' was always a quiet fellow. John did all the
talking, and seemed to be the smartest of the two. If any one had been
asked that day which would make the greatest success in life, I think
the answer would have been John Johnston."]

Many others were struck by the clever use he made of his gift for