Page:Abraham Lincoln, A Story and a Play.djvu/19

  glad when the next year her father went back to Kentucky, to marry a widow whom he had known in her girlhood.

The new stepmother brought a large wagonload of furniture and clothing to her Indiana home. One of the pieces was a bureau which had cost fifty dollars. It must have seemed very wonderful to Abraham and Sarah, who had been used to rough homemade furniture all their lives.

When Mrs. Lincoln looked around her new home she said she would not be satisfied until a floor had been laid. The house must also have windows and a door. When these had been attended to, and the furniture set in place, Abraham was more comfortable than he had ever been in his life.

The stepmother had a loving heart, and though she had three children of her own, she treated Abraham and Sarah very kindly and did all she could to make them happy.

"Even if we live in these backwoods, they must have book learning," she declared. "They shall not grow up ignorant."