In a few minutes Mr. Lincoln joined them. His shoes were covered with
mud; he had torn his coat on the thorny tree.

"Hello, Abraham!" said Mr. Hardin. "Where have you been?"

"I stopped a minute to give those birds to their mother," he answered.

"Well, we always thought you were a hero," said Mr. Speed. "Now we
know it."

Then all three of them laughed heartily. They thought it so foolish
that a strong man should take so much trouble just for some worthless
young birds.

"Gentlemen," said Mr. Lincoln, "I could not have slept to-night, if
I had left those helpless little robins to perish in the wet grass."

Abraham Lincoln afterwards became very famous as a lawyer and
statesman. He was elected president. Next to Washington he was the
greatest American.



ANOTHER BIRD STORY



A great battle had begun. Cannon were booming, some far away, some
near at hand. Soldiers were marching through the fields. Men on
horseback were riding in haste toward the front.