n the loft and read
until his candle gave out. Then, before going to sleep, he tucked the book
into a crevice of the logs in order that he might have it at hand as soon
as daylight would permit him to read the next morning. But during the
night a storm came up, and the rain beat in upon the book, wetting it
through and through. With heavy heart Lincoln took it back to its owner,
who gave it to him on condition that he would work three days to pay for
it. Eagerly agreeing to do this, the boy carried his new possession home
in triumph. This book had a marked influence over his future.

But his time for reading was limited, for until he was twenty his father
hired him out to do all sorts of work, at which he sometimes earned six
dollars a month and sometimes thirty-one cents a day. Money was always
sorely needed in that household, the poor farm yielding only a small
return for much hard work. For this reason, just before Abraham Lincoln
came of age, his family, with all their possessions packed in a cart drawn
by four oxen, moved again toward the West. For two weeks they travelled
across the country into Illinois, and finally made a new home on the banks
of the Sangamon River.

[Illustration: Lincoln Splitting Rails.]

On reaching the end of the journey (in the spring of 1830), Abraham helped
to build a log cabin and to clear ten acres of land for planting. This was
the last work he did for his father, as he was now some months over
twenty-one and was quite ready to go out into the world and work for
himself. When he left his father's house he had nothing, not even a good
suit of clothes, and one of the first things he did was to split rails for
enough brown jeans to make him a pair of trousers. As he was six feet four
inches tall, three and one-half yards were needed! For these he split 1400
rails.

At times throughout life he was subject to deep depression, which made his
face unspeakably sad. But as a rule he was cheerful and merry, and on
account of his good stories, which he told with rare skill, he was in
great demand in social gatherings and at the crossroads grocery store. He
was a giant in strength and a skilful wrestler. This helped to make him
popular.

[Illustration: Lincoln as a Boatman.]

For some months after leaving his father's home Lincoln worked in the
neighborhood, most of the time as a farmhand and rail-splitter. But he
desired something different. From time to time he had watched the boats
carr