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 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



Lincoln's background was the pioneer farming and rural life 

 which was typical of the outer edge of America's westward-moving 

 frontier. The rude log hut near Hodgenville in central Kentucky where 

 he was born had only a dirt floor, and its roof was made of rough 

 slabs held in place by poles and stones. A small square opening, pos- 

 sibly covered with greased paper, served as a window. At one end of 

 the rough interior was a wide fireplace of stone with a chimney of 

 sticks and clay. The bed in an opposite corner was made of rough 

 slabs placed on poles leading from the walls of the cabin to a crotched 

 stick. 



The tract of 300 acres on which the cabin stood could hardly 

 be called a farm. It consisted of poor land covered with tall coarse 

 grass and a few trees. Lincoln's father had bought it in 1808 for 

 $200. The chief distinguishing feature of the farm is a spring which 

 even today supplies v/ater to those who pay homage at this famous his- 

 toric spot. It flows from a horizontal cave-like channel of rocks in 

 the low hillside immediately in front of the cabin and then drops 

 abruptly into a perpendicular opening of rock where it disappears; 

 hence, the name Sinking Spring Farm. It was here that the first two 

 years of Lincoln's life were passed. 



Lincoln's early boyhood was spent near Knob Creek, about ten 

 miles northeast cf his birthplace, on a somewhat more fertile farm of 

 30 acres. Because of hills and gullies only 14 acres could be tilled. 

 Here he and his sister went to their first school for a brief period. 

 The boy attended, clad only in "a one piece long linsey shirt." 



In the fall of 1816 the Lincoln family moved again, this time 

 across the Ohio River and into the heavily wooded wilderness of south- 

 ern Indiana. Here they established themselves on a knoll surrounded 

 by marshy land, infested with malaria and with no supply of drinking 

 water within a mile. Although his father acquired an option on 160 

 acres, to be paid for in instalments at $2.00 per acre, payments on 

 only one-half this amount were ever completed. His father continued 

 to vary his hunting and farming by working at carpentering. In 1824, 

 after the family had been in Indiana seven years, 10 acres of corn, 

 5 acres of wheat, and 2 acres of oats was the extent cf the tillid 

 land on the Lincoln farm. Consequently, the boy was hired out to 

 plow, split rails, grub, make fences, etc. He also worked as a 

 ferryman on the Ohio River; for this work his father received $6.00 

 a month. During the hog-packing season, however, he received an ad- 

 ditional 31 cents a day. 



