asked, 'Who owns this?' I modestly answered, 'I do.' 'Will you take us
and our trunks out to the steamer?' 'Certainly.'... The trunks were put
in my boat, the passengers seated themselves on them, and I sculled
them out to the steamer. They got on board, and I lifted the trunks and
put them on the deck. The steamer was about to put on steam again, when
I called out: 'You have forgotten to pay me.' Each of them took from
his pocket a silver half dollar and threw it on the bottom of my boat.
I could scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up the money. You may
think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like
a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could
scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a
day; that by honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful
and thoughtful boy from that time."

The goods were sold profitably at New Orleans and the return trip was
made by steamboat. This was about twenty years after Fulton's first
voyage from New York to Albany, which required seven days. Steamboats
had been put on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, but these crafts were
of primitive construction--awkward as to shape and slow as to speed.
The frequency of boiler explosions was proverbial for many years. The
lads, Gentry and Lincoln, returned home duly and the employer was well
satisfied with the results of the expedition.

In 1830 the epidemic "milk sick" reappeared in Indiana, and Thomas
Lincoln had a pardonable desire to get out of the country. Illinois was
at that time settling up rapidly and there were glowing accounts of its
desirableness. Thomas Lincoln's decision to move on to the new land of
promise was reasonable. He sold out and started with his family and
household goods to his new destination. The time of year was March,
just when the frost is coming out of the ground so that the mud is