prevalent,--in a ring of serious spectators, calmly and judicially
ruminant, under the shade of some spreading oak, at the edge of the
timber. Before we close our sketch of this period of Lincoln's life,
it may not be amiss to glance for a moment at the state of society
among the people with whom his lot was cast in these important years.

In most respects there had been little moral or material improvement
since the early settlement of the country. Their houses were usually
of one room, built of round logs with the bark on. We have known a man
to gain the sobriquet of "Split-log Mitchell" by indulging in the
luxury of building a cabin of square-hewn timbers. Their dress was
still mostly of tanned deer-hide, a material to the last degree
uncomfortable when the wearer was caught in a shower. Their shoes were
of the same, and a good Western authority calls a wet moccasin "a
decent way of going barefoot." About the time, however, when Lincoln
grew to manhood, garments of wool and of tow began to be worn, dyed
with the juice of the butternut or white walnut, and the hides of
neat-cattle began to be tanned. But for a good while it was only the
women who indulged in these novelties. There was little public
worship. Occasionally an itinerant preacher visited a county, and the
settlers for miles around would go nearly in mass to the meeting. If a
man was possessed of a wagon, the family rode luxuriously; but as a
rule the men walked and the women went on horseback with the little
children in their arms. It was considered no violation of the
sanctities of the occasion to carry a rifle and take advantage of any
game which might be stirring during the long walk. Arriving at the
place of meeting, which was some log cabin if the weather was foul, or
the shade of a tree if it was fair, the assembled worshipers threw
their provisions into a common store and picnicked in neighborly
companionship. The preacher would then take off his coat, and go at