do one way, God has another for us. It's so handy to have a mill at the door. But you'll have to go to the Ferry before long for some other things."

"I've been thinkin' of it," answered Mr. Lincoln. "We must have a little tea and a few things to make our humble fare relish," continued his wife; "and it's better goin' now than it will be two or three weeks hence, when the snows come."

"I can't go for two or three days; I must get things fixed up around the cabin first, and be all ready for the winter."

"That is best; and we ought to be thankful that the snows keep off so long. We've had a fine time to prepare our new quarters. And now we're getting settled down, Abe," turning to him, “you must attend to your reading a little more, or you'll forget all you've learned."

"And we can't have that," added Mr. Lincoln, "for we'll need your readin' more in the woods here than we did in our old home."

"I wish I could have some other book to read," said Abraham, in reply to his father's and mother's words, referring to the fact that the Bible was the only reading-book in the family.

"Why, there can be no better book in the world than the Bible," answered his mother; "and you get one thing in it that you don't in any other book."

"What's that, mother?"

"Good lessons on every page, and this you may not get from another book, though I don't object to your reading other books, if you can get them."

"Perhaps some of the settlers in this region may have some books that I can borrow," said Mr. Lincoln. "I will remember it when I see any on 'em. Till then, Abe, the Bible will have to answer."

"And it will answer well, too," said his mother; "he can't read it too much, nor remember what he reads too long. Perhaps he'll never have another opportunity to go to school, and he can read now pretty well, if he don't lose what he has learned."

“I can read better now than I could when I stopped goin' to school," said Abraham, as if that was sufficient proof that he would not go backwards.

"I know that," answered his mother; "now you have got started, you can go along fast, and that's the reason I want you should read when you can."

"I don't want to read the Bible all the time; I want some other books, too."

"And I wish you had them; and perhaps the Lord will provide a way to get them." His mother was equally desirous with himself that he should read other books, but she did not want he should undervalue the Word of God. She

was more anxious that he should think well of this volume than of all others. Hence her re marks concerning the Scriptures.

Abraham had improved remarkably since he left going to Mr. Hazel's school in Kentucky. He had read under his mother's eye, and with an earnest desire to learn, so that his progress was rapid, more so than his parents' counsel would seem to imply.

During the long winter evenings of that first winter in Indiana he read by the light of the fire only; for they could not afford the luxury of any other light in their cabin. This was true, very generally, of the pioneer families: they had no more than was absolutely necessary to supply their wants. They could exist without lamp-oil or candles, and so most of them did without either. They could afford the largest fire possible, since wood was so plenty that they studied to get rid of it. Hence the light of the fire was almost equal to a good chandelier. Large logs and branches of wood were piled together in the fireplace and its mammoth blaze lighted up every nook and corner of the dwelling. Hence lamps were scarcely needed.

Once more we say to the reader, that Abraham's prospects were not very bright at that time. Living in a floorless log-cabin, beyond the limits of civilization, with poverty pressing heavily

upon him, and little expectation of changing his obscure condition for a better one, we can scarcely conceive of a more unpromising situation for a boy. Let the reader keep this in view.

THE

IX.

THE LUCKY SHOT.

HE winter passed away, and the spring brought forth the flowers. Mr. Lincoln was preparing to put his first seed into the soil of Indiana.

"I've been thinking," said his wife, "that our loss, when you upset on the Ohio River was all for the best. I think I can see it."

"Glad if you can," replied Mr. Lincoln," you're pretty good for seein' what nobody else can "; and he uttered this sentence rather thoughtlessly, as his mind was really absorbed in another subject.

"I don't know about that; but what in the world would you have done with all the whiskey, if we had not lost any of it in the river? Never could sell it all here, and what a job it would have been to get it here from the Ferry!"

"Well, if I did n't sell it, we should be about as well off as we are now."

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Except the cost of getting the barrels here." "That would n't be much."

"Then there's the danger of the evil it might do. It's dangerous stuff any way, as the case of old Selby shows."