arah and poor Cousin Dennis, also bereaved of his foster-parents,
and now a member of the Lincoln family.

There were tender hearts behind those hardened faces, and tears
glistened on the tanned cheeks of many in that motley assemblage of
eager listeners, while the good elder was paying the last tribute of
earth to the sweet and patient memory of his departed friend of other
days.

The words of the man of God, telling that assembled multitude what a
lovely and devoted girl and woman his mother had been, gave sweet and
solemn joy to the soul of the little Lincoln boy. It was all for her
dear sake, and she was, of all women, worthy of this sacred respect. As
he gazed around on the weeping people, he thought of the hopes and fears
of the months that had passed since he wrote his first letter to bring
this about.

"God bless my angel mother!" burst from his lonely lips--"how glad I am
I've learned to write!"

THE COMING OF ANOTHER MOTHER

All that a young girl of twelve could do, assisted by a willing brother
of ten, was done by Sarah and Abraham Lincoln to make that desolate
cabin a home for their lonesome father, and for cousin Dennis Hanks,
whose young life had been twice darkened by a double bereavement. But
"what is home without a mother?" Thomas Lincoln, missing the balance and
inspiration of a patient wife, became more and more restless, and, after
a year, wandered back again to his former homes and haunts in Kentucky.

While visiting Elizabethtown he saw a former sweetheart, the Sally Bush
of younger days, now Mrs. Daniel Johnston, widow of the county jailer
who had recently died, leaving three children and considerable property,
for that time and place. Thomas renewed his suit and won the pitying
heart of Sarah Johnston, and according to the story of the county clerk:

"The next morning, December 2, 1819, I issued the license, and the same
day they were married, bundled up, and started for home."

Imagine the glad surprise of the three children who had been left at
home for weeks, when they saw a smart, covered wagon, drawn by four
horses, driven up before the cabin door one bright winter day, and their
father, active and alert, spring out and assist a pleasant-looking woman
and three children to alight! Then they were told that this woman was to
be their mother and they had two more sisters and another brother!

To the poor forlorn Lincoln children and their still more desolate
cousin, it seemed too go