Page:Lives of the presidents in words of one syllable (1903).djvu/74

 him he felt he must be more than a back-woods man, so he bent his mind to find a way to learn what books could teach him.

There was so small a chance to rise in that place that scores of folks went West and found homes near Nash-*ville. Duck Riv-er was where Sam-u-el Polk made a stop, and built a log house in 1806.

The young boy, James, could not do much hard work, but he could ride and drive and so was of use on the long trips which had to be made from time to time to get food.

The life of which the boy would have been glad, was, he felt then, far off. His kin said that he "was not cut out to hunt, fight, or till the land," so his fa-ther found a chance for him to work in a store. The boy had to beg his fa-ther to let him take up books. So one Fall, when the crops were good, and the youth thir-teen years old, he was sent to live with Rev. Dr. Hen-der-son, who taught him, and, in time, made him fit for the U-ni-ver-si-ty of North Car-o-li-na. All were proud of the boy who had got so far on, and they felt sure that the sums put out on him were not lost.

GEORGE BANCROFT.

In 1820 Polk was at the Bar. Here he had such luck as falls to the lot of few. He was sent to Con-gress, for ten years, and was made head of his own State in 1839. He knew how to treat folks well though they might not be of the same mind as he was.

Polk came to be Pres-i-dent in 1845, though it was