tail of the animal hanging down behind. In summer he wore a misshapen
straw hat with no hat-band. His shirt was of linsey-woolsey, above
described, and was of no color whatever, unless you call it "the color
of dirt." His breeches were of deer-skin with the hair outside. In dry
weather these were what you please, but when wet they hugged the skin
with a clammy embrace, and the victim might sigh in vain for sanitary
underwear. These breeches were held up by one suspender. The hunting
shirt was likewise of deer-skin. The stockings,--there weren't any
stockings. The shoes were cow-hide, though moccasins made by his mother
were substituted in dry weather. There was usually a space of several
inches between the breeches and the shoes, exposing a tanned and bluish
skin. For about half the year he went barefoot.

There were schools, primitive and inadequate, indeed, as we shall
presently see, but "the little red schoolhouse on the hill," with the
stars and stripes floating proudly above it, was not of that day. There
were itinerant preachers who went from one locality to another, holding
"revival meetings." But church buildings were rare and, to say the
least, not of artistic design. There were no regular means of travel,
and even the "star route" of the post-office department was slow in
reaching those secluded communities.

Into such circumstances and conditions Lincoln was born and grew into
manhood.




CHAPTER II.