Special Days and Their Observance: September 1919 — John Shaqi
Special Days and Their Observance: September 1919Anonymous
History
Special Days and Their Observance: September 1919
Anonymous
Holidays -- United States; Schools -- Exercises and recreations -- New Jersey
"Well, Abe," said Mr. Crawford, after due deliberation, "as it's you,
I won't be hard on you. Just come over and pull fodder for me for two
days, and we will call our accounts even."
The offer was readily accepted, and the engagement literally
fulfilled. As a boy, no less than since, Abraham Lincoln had an
honorable conscientiousness, integrity, industry, and an ardent love
of knowledge.
ABE LINCOLN'S HONESTY
Lincoln could not rest for an instant under the consciousness that
he had, even unwittingly, defrauded anybody. On one occasion, while
clerking in Offutt's store, at New Salem, Illinois, he sold a woman
a little bill of goods, amounting in value by the reckoning, to two
dollars six and a quarter cents. He received the money, and the
woman went away. On adding the items of the bill again, to make sure
of its correctness, he found that, he had taken six and a quarter
cents too much. It was night and closing and locking the store, he
started out on foot, a distance of two or three miles, for the house
of his defrauded customer, and, delivering over to her the sum whose
possession had so much troubled him, went home satisfied.
On another occasion, just as he was closing the store for the night,
a woman entered, and asked for a half pound of tea. The tea was
weighed out and paid for, and the store was left for the night. The
next morning, Lincoln entered to begin the duties of the day, when
he discovered a four-ounce weight on the scales. He saw at once
that he had made a mistake, and, shutting the store, he took a long
walk before breakfast to deliver the remainder of the tea. These
are very humble incidents, but they illustrate the man's perfect
conscientiousness--his sensitive honesty--better perhaps than they
would if they were of greater moment.
YOUNG LINCOLN'S KINDNESS OF HEART
An instance of young Lincoln's practical humanity at an early period
of his life is recorded, as follows:
One evening, while returning from a "raising" in his wide
neighborhood, with a number of companions, he discovered a straying
horse, with saddle and bridle upon him. The horse was recognized as
belonging to a man who was accustomed to excess in drink, and it was
suspected at once that the owner was not far off. A short search only
was necessary to confirm the suspicions of the young men.
The poor drunkard was found in a perfectly helpless condition, upon
the chilly ground. Abraham's companions urged the cowardly policy
of leaving him to his fate, but young Lincoln would not hear to the
proposition. At his request, the miserable sot was lifted to his
shoulders, and he actually carried him eighty rods to the nearest
house. Sending word to his father that he should not be back that
night, with the reason for his absence, he attended and nursed the man
until the morning, and had the pleasure of believing that he had saved
his life.
A BIT OF HUMOR FROM THE BUSY LIFE OF LINCOLN
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