"Don't," exclaimed Abraham, as one of the boys poked him with a stick.

"Don't what?" answered the lad, as with a punch he knocked the toad over.

"Don't treat him so," said Abraham.

"How

would you like to be poked about with a stick like that?"

"Try it, and see."

"Well, it is cruel to treat him so," added Abraham.

"Why, it's nothin' but a toad."

"Don't toads have feeling?" asked Abraham. "I don't know whether they do or not," answered the boy, giving the animal another thrust.

"You sha'n't do so," said Abraham, taking hold of the boy's arm.

"You're a chicken-hearted feller, Abe, as ever lived. I should think the toad was your brother." "Whether it is or not, there's no use in abusing

it."

"That's it," said David, who stood looking on; "I go in for Abe. He would n't hurt a fly.”

"He would if he trod on one," answered one of the number.

"He would n't tread on one a purpose," said David. A very true remark, for Abraham was known for his tenderness to animals. He could kill game for food as a necessity, and dangerous wild animals, but his soul shrunk from torturing even a fly.

Mr. Crawford had witnessed a part of this scene from his cabin, and he came out at this stage of the affair, and rebuked the cruelty of the boys who were torturing the toad, while he commended Abraham for his tenderness. It was an additional act to exalt the latter in his estimation.

"We are coming to the Rule of Three now," said Mr. Crawford to Abraham, "and that will be all you can learn of me."

"Is it hard?" asked the boy.

"It won't be for you. I think you can get through it by the time your father wants you this spring." Why is it called the Rule of Three?"

66

"I hardly know. Some call it Simple Proportion, and that is the true name for it. You will see a reason for it, too, when you come to master it." "What if I don't master it?"

"I'll risk you on that. It won't be of so much use to you as what you have been over already. Some people don't study it."

"My father never studied arithmetic," said Abraham.

"Nor mine. Not half the folks about here have studied it."

"Father never had a chance to study it when he was a boy.

"That's the case with a good many."

"Well, I can cipher now in Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division."

"Yes, you understand those rules well, and you will always find use for them."

So, encouraged by his instructor, who was a man of good sense, Abraham grappled with the so-called "Rule of Three." It was somewhat more difficult for him to comprehend this rule than it was the previous ones; yet he was not discouraged. His discriminating mind and patient labor did the work for him, and he enjoyed the happiness of understanding Proportion by the time his school-days We do not mean that he comprehended it fully, so as to be complete master of it, but he understood it, as we are wont to say that pupils understand the rules they have been over at school. At least, he made such progress that he was prepared to become master of all the rules he had studied, by devoting his leisure moments to them thereafter.

were over.

We must stop here to relate one more incident of these school-days, because it illustrates a trait of character for which Abraham was well known in his youth. We often find the key to a boy's character by observing his intercourse with companions at school.

It was near the end of his term of school at Mr. Crawford's house. Several boys were on their way home at the close of school in company with Abraham, when a difficulty arose between two of them about spelling a word.

"You did n't spell it right," said John.

"Yes I did spell it right," replied Daniel. "I spelt it just as Mr. Crawford did."

"He said you did n't spell it so."

"I know he said so, but he didn't understand me. I spelt it just as he did."

"I know you did n't," continued John.

"And I know I did," retorted Daniel. "You are a liar, if you say so."

"Don't call me a liar!" exclaimed John, doubling up his fist. "You'll get it, if you say that

"I stump you to do it, old madpiece!" said Daniel, putting himself into an attitude of defiance.

"Come, Dan, don't," said Abraham, throwing one of his arms over his neck.

"Let him come, if he wants to," said John, in a great rage; "I'll give it to him: he's a great coward."

"What's the use, John?" answered Abraham, throwing his other arm around John's shoulders, so as to bring himself between the two wrathy boys; "that ain't worth fighting about."

"Yes it is, too," answered John. "You would n't be called a liar by anybody I know, and I won't nuther." Abraham was now walking along between the two boys, with his arms over their shoulders.

"Yes I would, too; and I should n't care neither, if it was n't true."

"Nobody would think of calling you a liar," added John.

"They would n't call you so, if you did n't care anything about it," answered Abraham; and there was much truth in the remark.

By this time the two combatants had cooled off considerably, and Daniel put out the last spark of fire by adding, "I'll take it back, John.”

"That's a good fellow," said Abraham, while John was mute. Five minutes thereafter the two vexed boys were on good terms, their difficulties having been adjusted by Abraham, "the peacemaker," as he was often called. He could not endure to see broils among his companions, and he often taxed all his kind feelings and ingenuity to settle them. This trait of character has been prominent through all his life. And last, though not least, we had an exhibition of it, when, at the outbreak of the rebellion in 1861, he put his arms around the neck of both attempted to reconcile them. But his effort proved less successful than it did in the case of John and Daniel; for the Southern combatant was too far gone with madness to be persuaded.

North and South, and

With his knowledge of the Rule of Three closed Abraham's school-days. He never attended school more after going to Mr. Crawford. In all, he did not go to school more than six months in his life, and then he was under the charge of