So, his boyhood days, rough, hard-working days, but not devoid of fun and recreation, passed.  Abraham did not love work any more than other country boys of his age, but he never shirked his tasks.  Whether it was plowing, splitting rails, felling trees, doing chores, reaping, threshing, or any of the multitude of things to be done on a farm, the work was always well done.  Sometimes, to make a diversion, when he was working as a “hired hand,” he would stop to tell some of his funny stories, or to make a stump speech before his fellow-workers, who would all crowd round him to listen; but he would more than make up for the time thus spent by the increased energy with which he afterward worked.  Doubtless the other laborers, too, were refreshed and stimulated to greater effort by the recreation he afforded them and the inspiration of his example.

Thomas Lincoln had learned carpentry and cabinet making in his youth, and taught the rudiments of these trades to his son; so that in addition to his skill and efficiency in all the work that falls to the lot of a pioneer backwoods farmer, Abraham added the accomplishment of being a fairly good carpenter.  He worked at these trades with his father whenever the opportunity offered.  When he was not working for his family, he was hired out to the neighboring farmers.  His highest wage was twenty-five cents a day, which he always handed over to his father.

Lincoln got his first glimpse of the world beyond Indiana when he worked for several months as a ferryman and boatman on the Ohio River, at Anderson Creek.  He saw the steamers and vessels of all kinds sailing up and down the Ohio, laden with produce and merchandise, on their way to and from western and southern towns.  He came in contact with different kinds of people from different states, and thus his views of the world and its people became a little more extended, and his longing to be somebody and to do something worth while in the world waxed stronger daily.

His work as a ferryman showed him that there were other ways of making a little money than by hiring out to the neighbors at twenty-five cents a day.  He resolved to take some of the farm produce to New Orleans and sell it there.  This project led to the unexpected earning of a dollar, which added strength to his purpose to prepare himself to take the part of a man in the world outside of Indiana.  Let him tell in his own words, as he related the story to Mr. Seward years afterward, how he earned the dollar:—­

“Seward,” he said, “did you ever hear how I earned my first dollar?”

“No,” said Mr. Seward.