time he reached middle life, were to make him the sagacious, patient, and
triumphant leader of a great nation in the crisis of its fate. His whole
schooling, obtained during such odd times as could be spared from
grinding labor, did not amount in all to as much as one year, and the
quality of the teaching was of the lowest possible grade, including only
the elements of reading, writing, and ciphering. But out of these simple
elements, when rightly used by the right man, education is achieved, and
Lincoln knew how to use them. As so often happens, he seemed to take
warning from his father's unfortunate example. Untiring industry, an
insatiable thirst for knowledge, and an ever-growing desire to rise above
his surroundings, were early manifestations of his character.

Books were almost unknown in that community, but the Bible was in every
house, and somehow or other Pilgrim's Progress, AEsop's Fables, a History
of the United States, and a Life of Washington fell into his hands. He
trudged on foot many miles through the wilderness to borrow an English
Grammar, and is said to have devoured greedily the contents of the
Statutes of Indiana that fell in his way. These few volumes he read and
reread--and his power of assimilation was great. To be shut in with a
few books and to master them thoroughly sometimes does more for the
development of character than freedom to range at large, in a cursory and
indiscriminate way, through wide domains of literature. This youth's
mind, at any rate, was thoroughly saturated with Biblical knowledge and
Biblical language, which, in after life, he used with great readiness and
effect. But it was the constant use of the little knowledge which he had
that developed and exercised his mental powers. After the hard day's
work was done, while others slept, he toiled on, always reading or
writing. From an early age he did his own thinking and made up his own
mind--invaluable traits in the future President. Paper was such a scarce
commodity that, by the evening firelight, he would write and cipher on