Page:Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, v1.djvu/64

34 a funeral discourse, commemorative of the merits and humble and unobtrusive virtues of this modern Mary—the mother of one charged with a mission akin to the Divine!

Meanwhile, the desolation of that little humble household aroused the sympathy of the few neighbors, who "took turns" in aiding the youthful housekeeper, but a little turned of eleven years of age, to maintain in semi-comfort this semblance of a home. Sarah Lincoln, however, possessed the heroism and resolution of her departed mother, and entered with fidelity into the duties of the little household, now increased by the presence of Dennis Hanks, whose home had been broken up by the death of his uncle and aunt.

As must be apparent, a house presided over by a child of eleven years could not be expected to be strongly suggestive of home comforts.

That Thomas Lincoln himself was not oblivious of this is evident from the fact that he gathered together what little capital he could, spruced up a little, and in the ensuing fall set off on a visit to the scenes of his youth in Kentucky, to procure a wife to solace his lonely hours and to serve as a mother to his neglected children.

As I have said, when he formed his alliance with Nancy Hanks, he had paid attention to Sallie Bush. Sallie had married one Johnston, who afterwards became the jailer of Hardin County, an office then held in higher honor than it is now. Now Mrs. Johnston was not only a rare woman, as the sequel fully attests, but she also was a most excellent housekeeper, and a faithful and devoted mother. Thomas was a shrewd observer, and the death of Johnston about the time