ould make it
stronger or improve it in any part, when two men with trunks came down
to the shore in carriages, and looking at the different boats, singled
out mine, and asked:

"'Who owns this?'

"I answered modestly, 'I do.'

"'Will you,' said one of them, 'take us and our trunks out to the
steamer?'

"'Certainly,' said I. I was very glad to have a chance of earning
something, and supposed that they would give me a couple of 'bits.' The
trunks were put in my boat, the passengers seated themselves on them,
and I sculled them out to the steamer. They got on board, and I lifted
the trunks and put them on deck. The steamer was moving away when I
called out:

"'You have forgotten to pay me.'

"Each of them took from his pocket a silver half-dollar and threw it on
the bottom of my boat. I could scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up
the money. You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days
it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my
life. I could scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar in
less than a day--that by honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a more
hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time."

CHAPTER VIII

MOVING TO ILLINOIS

"FOLLOWING THE RIVER"

Thomas Lincoln had become restless again. Fourteen years was a long time
for him to live in one place. Abe was seven years old when they came
over from Kentucky, and he was now nearly twenty-one. During that time
Thomas had lost his wife, Nancy, and his only daughter, who bore her
mother's name. While the land he had chosen was fertile enough, the want
of water had always been a sad drawback. The desire to try his fortunes
in a newer country had taken possession of him.

John Hanks had gone to Illinois, and had written back that everything
was more favorable there for making a living. Thomas Lincoln had not
been successful in Indiana. His children's prospects seemed to be
against them. After working as a hired hand on the surrounding farms,
Abe had served for a time as a ferryman, and, working by the river, had
learned to build the boat with which he had earned his first dollar.

As George Washington longed to go to sea, Abraham Lincoln seems to have
yearned to "follow the river." He tried to hire out as deck hand, but
his age was against him. He soon had a chance to go "down river" to New
Orleans, with his friend, Allen Gentry, the son of the man for whom
Gentryville was named. Allen a