pened to hear. He had a funny way
of telling stories, too, so when the farmers or woodchoppers were taking
their noon rest, they always asked him to amuse them.

When Abraham was sixteen years old, he was six feet tall and so strong
that all the neighbors hired him whenever he was not working for his
father. He joked and laughed at his work, and every one liked him. He
did any kind of work to earn an honest penny. Once he had a fine time
working for a man that ran a ferry-boat, because this man owned a
history of the United States and took a newspaper, and Abraham had more
to read than ever before in his life. But he had to take the time he
should have slept to read, because when the boat wasn't running there
was farm work, housework (for he helped this man's wife, even to tending
the baby), and rail splitting. Then he kept store for a man. It was here
that he won a nickname that he kept all his life--"Honest Abe." A
woman's bill came to two dollars and six cents. Later in the day
Abraham found he had charged her six cents too much. After he closed
the store that night, he walked three miles to pay her back those six
cents. Another time when he weighed tea for a woman, there was a weight
on the scales so that she did not get as much tea as she paid for. That
meant another long tramp. But he was liked for his honesty and good
nature.

When there was trouble with the Indians, Abraham proved that he could
fight and also manage troops, so he was a captain for three months.

Abraham was so well informed that the people sent him to legislature.
They made him postmaster. They hired him to lay out roads and towns. It
became the fashion, if there was need of some honest, skilful work, for
people to say: "Why not get Abraham Lincoln to do it? Then you'll know
it's done right."

He studied law, went to legislature again, and became a circuit judge.
This meant that he had to ride all round the country to attend different
courts. He would start off on horseback to be away three months, with
saddle-bags holding clean linen, an old green umbrella, and a few books
to read as he rode along. When he came to woodchoppers, as he rode
through forests, he liked to dismount, ask for an axe, and chop a log so
quickly that the men would stare.

Abraham Lincoln settled, with his wife and children, in Springfield,
Illinois. He was a lawyer but would not take a case if he thought his
client was guilty. He was still "Honest Abe." He loved chil