Page:Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, v1.djvu/75

Rh Wherever he worked, he would find his way speedily to the kitchen, where he would rock the cradle, or draw water, wash dishes, or empty slops; meanwhile amusing all present with drollery or humor. Some of the men were inimical to him, but there was not a woman but who was extravagant in her laudations, even including Josiah Crawford's wife, whose husband he had so mercilessly lampooned.

His step-mother thought quite as much of him as of her own children ; his step-brother and sisters were as devoted to him as to each other, while his own sister idolized him. The closer the attrition with Lincoln, the more ardent and close the cordiality of the friendship. He was ever the best of boys and men, and had always

When he was sixteen years old, he entered into the service of one Taylor, who owned and operated a ferry franchise across the Ohio at the mouth of Anderson Creek. Here Lincoln remained as a boy-of-all-work, for nearly a year, earning six dollars a month ; and at another time both he and his sister were hired out to Josiah Crawford, the former as a field hand, the latter as kitchen-maid. There is hardly a field within a radius of two miles of Gentryville in which the great Emancipator has not wrought at the humblest of labor for what would now be deemed insignificant wages.

It was noticeable to companions that, when Abraham had attained the age of eleven years or thereabouts, he fell into that habit of abstraction,