Mr. Lincoln: Isn't that a little hard on the others, Sallie?
Matilda (quickly): Oh, my! we don't mind. We like to have Abe read, and we think he's mighty good to tell the rest of us all about what he reads.
Sarah: That he does. You just ought to hear him, pa, tell the story of Pilgrim's Progress.
Matilda: O, pa wouldn't like that as well as he would Æsop's Fables; just get him to tell you some of those stories some time.
John: And all about Robinson Crusoe, too, pa, and the queer times he had. You'd like that, I know.
Mr. Lincoln: Well, it may be all right, but I don't like to see a big, strapping boy like Abe spending his time over books, to say nothing of the hours he wastes running around borrowing them. Why, I'll bet he has read every book in this county.
Mrs. Lincoln: So he has! He was wishing just the other day that he knew of some more books that he could borrow: he said he had "read every book that he had heard of within a circuit of fifty miles."
Matilda: And, pa, if you could only hear him when he climbs on the table and makes speeches. I just tell you, Abe is heaps of fun.
Mr. Lincoln: I dare say he is, but that doesn't get the work done. It's all right for sickly fellows to be spending their time getting learning, but a big, strong fellow like Abe will always be able to earn his living by hard work.
Mrs. Lincoln: Of course he'll be able to, but you'll find out he'll not do it. I tell you there are other plans laid away in that big head of his.