This week I started reading Abraham Lincoln by Carl Sandburg. It’s very well written.

In the early pages of this book, you realize that Abe was a kid just like any other kid. For example, he wrote this at about eleven (can’t you imagine your kid writing this?):

Abraham Lincoln is my nam[e]
And with my pen I wrote the same
I wrote in both hast[e] and speed
and left it here for fools to read

Abraham Lincoln his hand and his pen
he will be good but god knows When

Kids love to write poems like this one!

Earlier in the book you realize what a different world Abe really grew up in. When he was seven, his family moved from Kentucky to Indiana. Though Abe was only at that point nearly eight, he helped his father build their family a log cabin, with the help of neighbors.

Now every time my poor kids have a little chore to do and they complain about it, I can’t help but say, “Abe Lincoln helped his father build a log cabin when he was only 7 years old!”

Here’s how Sandburg described that time in Abe’s life: “It had been a hard year… They had to chop down trees, clear away underbrush, on what few acres they planted after plowing the hard unbroken sod. Their food was mostly game shot in the woods nearby… One drawback was water supply. Abe or Sarah (his sister) had to walk nearly a mile to fetch spring water… They were part of the American Frontier, many others like them breaking ground never before broken, settling a new midwest territory.”

This makes you think how different and difficult life was back then. Yet it’s part of what helped shape who Abraham Lincoln was to become as a man.

Many thanks to Lila for the drawing of Abe!