Page:Abraham Lincoln -- his life.djvu/15

THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN His Birthplace

On the south bank of Nolin Creek, three miles from what is now Hodgenville, Kentucky, was a little log cabin. About it stretched barren grass and straggly bushes. The land was slightly rolling with scarcely any foliage to break the monotony.

All about was desolate. Just why anyone would select this as a home site is hard to understand. The soil was so "poor" that only with the hardest labor could it be made sufficiently productive to repay the labor of sowing.

Here came Thomas and Nancy Lincoln and here on February 12, 1809, was born a son, Abraham Lincoln. 15