as: he once lifted up a hencoop weighing six hundred pounds and carried
it off bodily; he could lift a full barrel of cider to his mouth and
drink from the bung-hole; he could sink an ax-halve deeper into a log
than any man in the country.

During the period of his growth into youth he spent much of his time in
reading, talking, and, after a fashion, making speeches. He also wrote
some. His political writings won great admiration from his neighbors.
He occasionally wrote satires which, while not refined, were very
stinging. This would not be worth mentioning were it not for the fact
that it shows that from boyhood he knew the force of this formidable
weapon which later he used with so much skill. The country store
furnished the frontier substitute for the club, and there the men were
wont to congregate. It is needless to say that young Lincoln was the
life of the gatherings, being an expert in the telling of a humorous
story and having always a plentiful supply. His speech-making proved so
attractive that his father was forced to forbid him to practise it
during working hours because the men would always leave their work to
listen to him.

During these years he had no regular employment, but did odd jobs
wherever he got a chance. At one time, for example, he worked on a
ferryboat for the munificent wages of thirty-seven and one half cents a
day.

When sixteen years old, Lincoln had his first lesson in oratory. He
attended court at Boonville, county seat of Warwick County and heard a
case in which one of the aristocratic Breckenridges of Kentucky was
attorney for the defense. The power of his oratory was a revelation to
the lad. At its conclusion the awkward, ill-dressed, bashful but