sitting on the top rail of an old-fashioned stake-and-rider worm
fence. When they came close they saw that the boy was reading, and had
not noticed their approach. His father, turning to him, said: 'John,
look at that boy yonder, and mark my words, he will make a smart man
out of himself. I may not see it, but you'll see if my words don't
come true.' The boy was Abraham Lincoln."

Captain Lamar tells many good stories about the early days: "Uncle
Jimmy Larkins, as everybody called him, was a great hero in my
childish eyes. Why, I cannot now say, without it was his manners.
There had been a big fox chase, and Uncle Jimmy was telling about it.
Of course he was the hero. I was only a little shaver, and I stood in
front of Uncle Jimmy, looking up into his eyes, but he never noticed
me. He looked at Abraham Lincoln, and 'Abe, I've got the best horse in
the world--he won the race and never drew a long breath;' but Abe paid
no attention to Uncle Jimmy, and I got mad at the big, overgrown
fellow, and wanted him to listen to my hero's story. Uncle Jimmy was
determined that Abe should hear, and repeated the story. 'I say, Abe,
I have the best horse in the world; after all that running he never
drew a long breath.' Then Abe, looking down at my little dancing hero,
said, 'Well, Larkins, why don't you tell us how many short breaths he
drew?' This raised a laugh on Uncle Jimmy, and he got mad, and
declared he'd fight Abe if he wasn't so big. He jumped around until
Abe quietly said: 'Now, Larkins, if you don't shut up I'll throw you
in that water.' I was very uneasy and angry at the way my hero was
treated, but I lived to change my views about _heroes_."

[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

From a photograph in the collection of T.H. Bartlett, of Boston,