Breckenridge called on him, and Mr. Lincoln reminded him of this incident. In the spring of 1828 when he was nineteen, Mr. Gentry, proprietor of the store at Gentryville, hired him to take a flat boat loaded with bacon and farm produce to New Orleans. A son of Mr. Gentry's was his companion. The boys had quite a time boating down the Ohio to the Mississippi and then down the Mississippi to New Orleans. One night when they had tied up the boat and were asleep, some negroes attacked them and tried to steal their goods, but they successfully drove the negroes away. At this time, there were a few steamers going up and down the Mississippi and the boys came home by one of them. It was a wonderful trip for these boys, Abraham was at this time, a remarkably strong young man. He grew to be six feet four inches tall, and could lift far more than any ordinary man, and could strike a heavier blow with a maul and sink an ax deeper into the wood than almost any other man. He got eight dollars a month and his board as pay for his hard trip to New Orleans. He became a very good penman in school, and was known in that neighborhood for his good writing. One of the copies in his copy-book that was a favorite was: "Good boys who to their books apply, will all be great men bye and bye." His step-mother who was fond of him, said "Abraham was a good boy, and I can say what scarcely a mother can say: Abraham never gave me a cross word or look, and never refused in fact or appearance anything I requested. I never gave him a cross word in all my life. His mind and mine seemed to run together. Abraham was the best boy I ever saw or expect to see." They used to teach politeness in school those days. One of the scholars would go outside and knock at the door and another would admit him and ask him to be seated, and the boy was to take off his hat and bow and be as careful and polite as he could. Although Abraham was very tall and awkward, he was said to be very gentlemanly in his manners, and the lady for whom he worked, said he always lifted his hat when he bowed to her. That was not common then. His sister Sarah, who was two years older than himself, was married to Aaron Grigsby in 1828 and only lived a year and a half after her marriage.