lks went to Il-li-nois to live; and now he helped build a home,
cleared a big field in which it stood, split rails to fence it in, and
then went off to make his own way in life.

The first thing he did was to help build a flat-boat and then take it
down to New Or-le-ans; when he came back the man who owned the boat gave
him a place in his store at New Sa-lem; and now he had a good chance to
get books to read; and you may be sure he was glad of this. He was soon
known in the place as a bright young man, and one who would not lie,
or steal, or do an-y mean thing; he was full of fun and jokes, and the
folks in the town were all fond of him; he was called "Hon-est Abe."
When the "Black Hawk War" broke out he went at the head of a small band
of men to the seat of war; he was in no great fight, but learned much of
war and how to rule the rough men who were in his care.

When he came home he was felt to be one of the first men in the town,
and in 1834 he took a high place in the state. He now took up the
stud-y of law, and was soon in ac-tive prac-tise; he had a good, kind
heart, and did much good to those who were too poor to pay him. In 1846
he was sent to Con-gress; this time he was there but one year; then came
back to Spring-field, Il-li-nois, and built up a fine law prac-tise. His
name was now known through all this great land; and in the slave strife
he was al-ways on the side of the slaves. He spoke so oft-en for the
slaves that in 1860, the South said if he was put up for pres-i-dent, by
the North and West, they would leave the Union. But he was just the man
to fill this high office at this time; and as he had the most votes he
took the of-fice of Pres-i-dent in 1861. There is a sto-ry told of these
days, which shows that Lin-coln, when a great man, had no shame for the
days when he was poor. Old John Hanks, who had helped him build that
rail fence so long a-go, came to Il-li-nois with two of those rails; and
on them was a big card which told where they came from, and who split
them. Lin-coln was just a-bout to make a speech to a big crowd; and
when he saw these rails he said that he had split them when a boy, but
thought he could do bet-ter now. Then shouts and cheers went up from the
crowd, you may be sure; and from that time Lin-coln was known in the
race for pres-i-dent as "The Rail Split-ter."

When he left his home to go to Wash-ing-ton, a great crowd came to see
him off, but he was so sad he could not say much