Early in December, 1819, he returned to Elizabethtown, Ky., and
proposed marriage to a widow, Mrs. Sally Bush Johnston. The proposal
must have been direct, with few preliminaries or none, for the couple
were married next morning. The new wife brought him a fortune, in
addition to three children of various ages, of sundry articles of
household furniture. Parents, children, and goods were shortly after
loaded into a wagon drawn by a four-horse team, and in all the style of
this frontier four-in-hand, were driven over indescribable roads,
through woods and fields, to their Indiana home.

The accession of Sally Bush's furniture made an important improvement
in the home. What was more important, she had her husband finish the
log cabin by providing window, door, and floor. What was most important
of all, she brought the sweet spirit of an almost ideal motherhood into
the home, giving to all the children alike a generous portion of
mother-love.

The children now numbered six, and not only were they company for one
another, but the craving for womanly affection, which is the most
persistent hunger of the heart of child or man, was beautifully met.
She did not humor them to the point of idleness, but wisely ruled with
strictness without imperiousness. She kept them from bad habits and
retained their affection to the last. The influence upon the growing
lad of two such women as Nancy Hanks and Sally Bush was worth more than
that of the best appointed college in all the land.

The boy grew into youth, and he grew very fast. While still in his
teens he reached the full stature of his manhood, six feet and four
inches. His strength was astonishing, and many stories were told of
this and subsequent periods to illustrate his physical prowess, such