d to Abraham Lincoln. His dream came true. He
was our noblest President and carried on his broad shoulders the
burdens of the slaves. It was a long road from the little log cabin in
Kentucky to the White House at Washington, but President Lincoln,
himself, tells us how he made the journey.

He was visiting, once, a hospital full of wounded soldiers. There were
several thousand of them, and each one of them loved Mr. Lincoln so
that he wanted to shake hands with him. He took and held the hand of
each. It was enough to cripple an ordinary man, but Mr. Lincoln's
kind, plain face was smiling when some one asked if he were tired.

"Oh, no," he said. "The hardships of my boyhood made me strong."

Very likely, too, it was the struggles of learning to write on bare
boards and in the earth that helped Abraham Lincoln to write his name
in letters of gold on our history pages.

THEIR FLAG

The flag had been in the family for years, and years, and years.
Great-grandfather Wolcott had carried it, and Grandfather Wolcott had
hung it on a pole in front of his farm house. Father Wolcott had taken
it to Boston to be mended when he was a young man, and it hung in
front of Billy and Betty Wolcott's piazza now every day. Father took
the flag in at night, and Billy and Betty folded it very carefully in
the old creases, and mother put it out on the piazza the first thing
in the morning.

The whole family was very proud indeed of the flag.

There was going to be a wonderful parade on Washington's Birthday.
Every one in town was looking forward to seeing it. The Home Guard,
the firemen, the policemen, the Old Veterans, the Red Cross, and the
Boy Scouts would parade. There would be several brass bands, fifes and
drums, and trumpets. Whoever had a flag would hang it as high as
possible, and the beautiful stars and stripes of Old Glory floated
from the town hall, and the school houses, and the churches.

The day before Washington's Birthday something happened at the
Wolcotts' house. The telegraph office telephoned to say that father
couldn't come home until the day after to-morrow. He was detained on
business in Boston. All day it had rained. The flag was not out on the
piazza, so it did not matter about that, but Billy and Betty were so
sorry not to have father to go with them to the parade.

The morning of Washington's Birthday something else happened.
Grandmother sent mother a letter asking if she would come over to
Greendal