Page:Abraham Lincoln, A Story and a Play.djvu/47

 He planned rightly, for two years afterwards, in the year 1860, his dream came true.

The rail-splitter, Abraham Lincoln, who had spent less than one year in a school-room, was chosen by the people of the United States to be their next President. The child, born in a rough log cabin, who had lived in his early days in a two-faced camp, had by his own will reached the highest place his country could give him.

Henceforth it was for him to guide, not one small body of men, not one state, but the whole United States. When the news came to Mr. Lincoln, he said quietly, "There's a little woman who would like to hear this. I will go and tell her."

With these words he left his friends and went home to let his wife hear what had happened. Many, many years ago,—when her husband was poor and little known, she had declared that some day he would be President. The people who heard her then must have smiled at the idea.

Before Mr. Lincoln left his quiet home for Washington, he went to visit his old stepmother, whom he had always loved dearly. She cried as she bade him good-bye.