apparently bottomless. The author will not attempt to describe it, for
he has in boyhood seen it many times and knows it to be indescribable.
It was Abe's duty to drive the four yoke of oxen, a task which must
have strained even his patience.

They settled in Macon County, near Decatur. There the son faithfully
worked with his father until the family was fairly settled, then
started out in life for himself. For he had now reached the age of
twenty-one. As he had passed through the periods of childhood and
youth, and was on the threshold of manhood, it is right and fitting to
receive at this point the testimony of Sally Bush, his stepmother:

"Abe was a good boy, and I can say what scarcely one woman--a mother--
can say in a thousand: Abe never gave me a cross word or look, and
never refused, in fact or appearance, to do anything I requested him. I
never gave him a cross word in all my life.... He was a dutiful son to
me always. I think he loved me truly. I had a son John who was raised
with Abe. Both were good boys; but I must say, both being now dead,
that Abe was the best boy I ever saw, or expect to see."

These words of praise redound to the honor of the speaker equally with
that of her illustrious stepson.

Lincoln came into the estate of manhood morally clean. He had formed no
habits that would cause years of struggle to overcome, he had committed
no deed that would bring the blush of shame to his cheek, he was as
free from vice as from crime. He was not profane, he had never tasted
liquor, he was no brawler, he never gambled, he was honest and
truthful. On the other hand, he had a genius for making friends, he was
the center of every social circle, he was a good talker and a close