by FRANCES CAVANAH
illustrated by Paula Hutchison
CHICAGO . NEW YORK . SAN FRANCISCO
This book is dedicated to my grandnephew
PHILIP JAN NADELMAN
WEEKLY READER Children’s Book Club Edition,
1959
Copyright (c) 1959 by Rand McNALLY
& company
BY RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
Printed in U.S.A.
By American book-Stratford Press,
Inc., N.Y.
In writing this story of Abraham Lincoln, the author
depended primarily on Lincoln’s own statements
and on the statements of his family and friends who
had firsthand knowledge of his everyday life.
In instances when dialogue had to be imagined, the
conversation might logically have taken place in the
light of known circumstances. Such descriptive
details as were necessarily added were based on authentic
accounts of pioneer times.
F.C.
[Illustration] [Illustration: Map of States
where Lincoln was born and lived]
1
[Illustration]
There was a new boy baby at the Lincoln cabin!
By cracky! thought Dennis Hanks as he hurried up the
path, he was going to like having a boy cousin.
They could go swimming together. Maybe they could
play Indian. Dennis pushed open the cabin door.
“Where is he?” he shouted. “Where
is he?”
“Sh!” A neighbor, who had come in to help,
put her finger to her lips. “The baby is
asleep.”
Nancy Lincoln was lying on the pole bed in a corner
of the one-room house. She looked very white
under the dark bearskin covering, but when she heard
Dennis she raised her head. “It’s
all right, Denny,” she said. “You
can see him now.”
Dennis tiptoed over to the bed. A small bundle,
wrapped in a homespun shawl, rested in the curve of
Nancy’s arm. When she pulled back the shawl,
Dennis could not think of anything to say. The
baby was so wrinkled and so red. It looked just
like a cherry after the juice had been squeezed out.
Nancy touched one of the tiny hands with the tip of
her finger. “See his wee red fists and
the way he throws them around!” she said.
“What’s his name?” Dennis asked
at last.
“We’re calling him after his grandpappy.
Abraham Lincoln!”
“That great big name for that scrawny little
mite?”
Nancy sounded hurt. “Give him a chance
to grow, will you?”
