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In his time Abraham Lincoln was thought a hero to many, a mystery to more, and to this day an inspiration to men, women, and children alike. Those who he trusted said that indeed he was a man of many faces (Freedman 1-2). He usually has a sad and gloomy look (1-2). But as soon as he began to speak his expression transformed (1-2). ¨The dull listless features dropped like a mask¨ once a Chicagonewspaperman said (1-2). ¨The eyes began to sparkle, the mouth to smile, the whole countenance was weathered in animation, so that a stranger would have said, ¨Why, this man, so angular and solemn a moment ago, is really handsome!¨ (1-2).
Abraham Lincoln was different from other presidents and not only his height. He had brought his folksy manners and homespun speech to the White House (4). Hegreeted visitors with a ¨howdy¨ and invited people to ¨stay a spell¨ (4) He even greeted diplomats while wearing carpet slippers, called his wife ¨mother¨ during receptions, and told bawdy jokes in cabinet meetings (4). Abraham Lincoln was a truly interesting ¨fellow¨ as he would have said, and he traveled a harsh path to get where he got.
Lincoln was born in his parents´ dirt floor log cabin nearHodgenville, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809 (7). His mother Nancy was a thin, sad –eyed woman who labored beside her husband in the fields (9). She used to gather the children to recite prayers and Bible stories she had memorized on the evenings (9). Thomas Abraham´s father was a burly, barrel chested farmer and carpenter; after marrying Nancy Hanks he had worked hard at home steading (9). Thomaswas a sociable man who´s greatest pleasure was to crack jokes and swap stories with chums (9). Both Abraham´s parents had grown up without education, but that was common in those days (9). They lived from their own land (9).
When Abraham was seven years old in the year 1816 Thomas decided to pack up everything and move to Indiana, which was about to join the Union as the nineteenth state (9).Abraham would always remember the one hundred-mile journey as his life´s hardest experience (9). Soon after they finished their new cabin Nancy´s aunt and uncle with their adopted son Dennis followed the Lincolns to Indiana (10). Dennis Hanks became an extra help for Thomas and a big brother to Abraham, someone he could run and wrestle with (10).
At the age of eight years he was truly big for hisage, and was old enough to handle an ax (10). He now helped his father clear the land chopping trees and planting corn and pumpkin seeds.
In the summer of 1818 an epidemic of the ¨milk disease¨ (now known to be caused by a poisonous plant called white snake root) had swept through the Indiana woods (10-11). Nancy´s aunt and uncle died victims of the disease; Nancy had nursed them until theirlast breath then she too fell with the disease (10-11). Nine year old Abraham saw his mother sunk in bed with chills, fever, and pain for seven days until she died at the age of thirty-four (11). ¨She knew she was going to die, ¨ said Dennis Hanks. ¨She called up the children to her dying side and told them to be good and kind to their father, to one another, and to the world.¨ (11). Thomas built ablack cherry wood coffin with the help of Abraham, and buried Nancy next to her aunt and uncle on a windswept hill (11). Now eleven year old Sarah took her mother´s place cooking and mending clothes for her father, brother, and cousin (11).
Thomas had waited for a year then went back to Kentucky to find a new mother for his children (11). Thomas returned in a four-horse wagon with Sarah BushJohnston, a widow, her three children, and all their belongings (11). Abraham and Sarah were fortunate since their stepmother was a warm loving person (11). ¨She took the motherless children to her heart and raised them as her own¨ (11). The lonely Lincoln cabin was now shared by eight people that lived, ate, and slept in a single smoky room (11).
Abraham had become an expert with the ax working...