Lincoln was nine years old when his mother died, October 5th, 1818. Her
lot was hard, her horizon was narrow, her opportunities were
restricted, her life was one of toil and poverty. All through her life
and after her untimely death, many people would have said that she had
had at best but a poor chance in the world. Surely no one would have
predicted that her name would come to be known and reverenced from
ocean to ocean. But she was faithful, brave, cheerful. She did her duty
lovingly. In later years the nation joined with her son in paying honor
to the memory of this noble, overworked, uncomplaining woman.




CHAPTER IV.

IN INDIANA.


The death of his wife had left Thomas Lincoln with the care of three
young children: namely, Sarah, about eleven years old, Abe, ten years
old, and the foster brother, Dennis (Friend) Hanks, a year or two
younger. The father was not able to do woman's work as well as his wife
had been able to do man's work, and the condition of the home was
pitiable indeed. To the three motherless children and the bereaved
father it was a long and dreary winter. When spring came they had the
benefits of life in the woods and fields, and so lived through the
season until the edge of the following winter. It is not to be wondered
at that the father was unwilling to repeat the loneliness of the
preceding year.