outbursts of droll humor. But on the whole he was one of the people
among whom he lived; in appearance perhaps even a little more uncouth
than most of them,--a very tall, rawboned youth, with large features,
dark, shrivelled skin, and rebellious hair; his arms and legs long, out
of proportion; clad in deerskin trousers, which from frequent exposure to
the rain had shrunk so as to sit tightly on his limbs, leaving several
inches of bluish shin exposed between their lower end and the heavy
tan-colored shoes; the nether garment held usually by only one suspender,
that was strung over a coarse homemade shirt; the head covered in winter
with a coonskin cap, in summer with a rough straw hat of uncertain shape,
without a band.

It is doubtful whether he felt himself much superior to his surroundings,
although he confessed to a yearning for some knowledge of the world
outside of the circle in which he lived. This wish was gratified; but
how? At the age of nineteen he went down the Mississippi to New Orleans
as a flatboat hand, temporarily joining a trade many members of which at
that time still took pride in being called "half horse and half
alligator." After his return he worked and lived in the old way until the
spring of 1830, when his father "moved again," this time to Illinois; and
on the journey of fifteen days "Abe" had to drive the ox wagon which
carried the household goods. Another log cabin was built, and then,
fencing a field, Abraham Lincoln split those historic rails which were
destined to play so picturesque a part in the Presidential campaign
twenty-eight years later.

Having come of age, Lincoln left the family, and "struck out for
himself." He had to "take jobs whenever he could get them." The first
of these carried him again as a flatboat hand to New Orleans. There
something happened that made a lasting impression upon his soul: he