Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance

  9

  On Sunday morning the Lincolns went to church. All except Sarah. She hada headache.

  "I'll go, Ma," said Abe. "When I come back, I'll tell you what thepreacher said."

  Sarah smiled at him fondly. Abe could listen to a sermon, then come homeand repeat it almost word for word. "I'd rather hear you preachify," shesaid, "than the preacher himself."

  Tom and his family walked single file into the log meeting house andtook their places on one of the long wooden benches. John Carter,sitting on the bench in front of them, turned and nodded. Carter hadpromised to buy the Lincolns' south field. He would have the papersready for Tom to sign on Monday. Tom needed the money, but the verythought of selling any of his land made him grumpy. He twisted andturned on the hard wooden bench during the long sermon. He hardly hearda word that the preacher was saying.

  Abe leaned forward and listened eagerly. The preacher was a tall, thinman. He flung his arms about. His voice grew louder and hoarser as themorning passed. He paused only to catch his breath or when the membersof the congregation shouted, "Amen." After the final hymn, he stood atthe door shaking hands.

  "Brother Lincoln," he said, "I want you to meet up with a new neighbor.This here is Mr. Swaney."

  Tom shook hands. Then the preacher introduced Abe.

  "Are you the new schoolmaster?" Abe asked.

  "I don't figure on starting school till after harvest," Mr. Swaneyreplied. "Will you be one of my scholars?"

  "I'd sure like to come." Abe glanced at his father.

  "I reckon not," said Tom stiffly. "Abe has had as much schooling as heneeds."

  Back at the cabin, Sarah had dinner on the table. Tom cheered up as heand Dennis started "swapping yarns." Both were good storytellers andeach tried to tell a better story than the other.

  Abe did not like being left out of the conversation. "Pa," he asked,"can you answer me a question about something in the Bible?"

  "I figure I can answer any question you got sense enough to ask."

  Johnny and Mathilda nudged each other. They knew what was coming. Oneday when the preacher stopped by, Abe had asked him the same question.The preacher had been downright flustered when he couldn't answer.

  "It's just this, Pa," Abe went on. "Who was the father of Zebedee'schildren?"

  Tom flushed. "Any uppity young one can ask a question. But can he answerit? Suppose _you_ tell _me_ who was the father of Zebedee's children?"

  "I sort of figured," said Abe, "that Zebedee was."

  Everyone was laughing except Tom. Then he laughed, too. Sarah was glad.Abe had told her that Mr. Swaney was at church. She was going to talk toher husband that very afternoon about sending the children to school,and she wanted him to be in a good humor.

  "What did the preacher have to say?" she asked.

  "Well--" Tom was trying to remember. "What he said sort of got lost inthe way he was saying it. How some of those preachers do hop and skipabout!"

  "I like to hear a preacher who acts like he's fighting bees," said Abe.

  Sarah nodded. The description fitted the preacher "like his ownmoccasin," she said.

  "You menfolks wait outside," she added. "Soon as the gals and I get thedishes done, we'll be out to hear Abe preachify."

  The afternoon was warm. Sarah fanned herself with her apron as she satdown at one end of a fallen log near the door. The rest of the familylined up beside her. Abe stood before them, his arms folded, as herepeated the sermon he had heard that morning. Now and then he pausedand shook his finger in the faces of his congregation. He pounded withone fist on the palm of his other hand.

  "Brethern and sisters," said Abe, "there ain't no chore too big for theLord, no chore too small. The Good Book says He knows when a sparrowfalls. Yet He had time to turn this great big wilderness into this hereland where we have our homes. Just think, folks, this Pigeon Creek hadno one but Indians living here a few years back. And today we got cabinswith smoke coming out of the chimneys. We got crops agrowing. We got ameeting house where we can come together and praise the Lord--"

  Abe paused.

  "Amen!" said Tom.

  "Amen!" said the others.

  "Don't forget," Abe went on, "all of this was the Lord's doing. Let uspraise Him for His goodness."

  He reached down, plucked a fistful of grass, and mopped his forehead. Inmuch the same way had the preacher used his bandanna handkerchief. TheLincoln family rose, sang "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow," andchurch was over.

  The young folks drifted away. Tom stretched out on the grass for hisSunday afternoon nap.

  "Abe tells me that new Mr. Swaney was at church," Sarah said.

  Tom opened his eyes. Before he had a chance to go back to sleep, shespoke again.

  "He's fixing to keep a school next winter."

  "So I hear," said Tom cautiously.

  "He charges seventy-five cents for each scholar. Some schoolmasterscharge a dollar."

  "Sounds like a lot of money."

  "Several of the neighbors are fixing to send their young ones," Sarahwent on. "Mr. Swaney doesn't ask for cash money. He'll take skins orfarm truck. We can manage that, I reckon."

  Tom yawned. "Plumb foolishness, if you ask me. But Johnny and Mathildaare your young ones. If you want to send them--"

  "I want Sally and Abe to go, too," Sarah interrupted. "Abe most of all.He is the one school will do the most good. He's the one who wants itmost."

  Tom sat up. "I can spare the younger ones, but I need Abe. With uspoorer than Job's turkey, you ought to know that."

  Sarah listened patiently. "I ain't talking about right now. Mr. Swaneywon't start his school till winter. Farm work will be slack then."

  "I can hire Abe out to split rails, even in cold weather," Tom remindedher. "Maybe I can get some odd jobs as a carpenter, and Abe can helpme."

  "Abe ain't no great hand at carpentry."

  "He can learn. Why, he's fourteen, Sairy. The idea, a big, strapping boylike that going to school. I tell you, I won't have it."

  "But I promised him."

  It was the first time that Tom had ever heard a quaver in his wife'svoice. He looked away uneasily. "If you made a promise you can't keep,that's your lookout. You might as well stop nagging me, Sairy. My mindis made up."

  To make sure that there would be no more conversation on the subject, hegot up and stalked across the grass. He lay down under another tree, outof hearing distance. Sarah sat on the log for a long time. Abe came backand sat down beside her. He could tell, by looking at her, that she hadbeen talking to his father about letting him go to school. He knew,without asking any questions, that his father had said no.

  Sarah laid her hand on his knee. "Your pa is a good man," she saidloyally. "Maybe he will change his mind."