158. The Backwoodsman Who Became President. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, February 12, 1809. His parents were so poor that they hardly knew that they were poor. When he was seven years old his family crossed the Ohio River and settled in Indiana. There they found a place in the deep, dark forest, in the southern part of the state, and began to build a cabin for a home. Abe worked hard to help build it. It was not much of a house—only fourteen feet square. One side was left out, and here they built the fire. It was not very warm in winter and not very cool in summer. The hard ground was the floor.
The father was a sort of carpenter, and out of rough timbers he made a table and some three-legged stools. He also made the bedsteads, which consisted of poles driven into the wall.
In the loft of the cabin Abe made himself a bed of leaves. Every night he climbed into the loft by means of wooden pins driven into the wall. He was busy helping cut down trees and burning them to make room for a patch of corn and pumpkins.
THE GRAVE OF NANCY HANKS LINCOLN
The lad and his sister roasted the ears of young corn over the fire. The ripe corn was ground into meal from which corn bread was made. This was baked in the ashes or on a board in front of a bed of red-hot coals.
As a hunter
The woods, great thick woods for miles on all sides of them, were broken only here and there by a "clearing." In these forests Abe went hunting with a gun on his shoulder. He often came back laden with squirrels, wild turkeys, and other game.
His mother's death