The Life of Abraham Lincoln, from His Birth to His Inauguration as PresidentLamon, Ward Hill
History
The Life of Abraham Lincoln, from His Birth to His Inauguration as President
Lamon, Ward Hill
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
The next teacher was Andrew Crawford. Mrs. Gentry says he began
pedagogue in the neighborhood in the winter of 1822-3, whilst most of
his other scholars are unable to fix an exact date. He "kept" in the
same little schoolhouse which had been the scene of Dorsey's labors, and
the windows were still adorned with the greased leaves of old copybooks
that had come down from Dorsey's time. Abe was now in his fifteenth
year, and began to exhibit symptoms of gallantry toward the weaker sex,
as we shall presently discover. He was growing at a tremendous rate, and
two years later attained his full height of six feet four inches. He was
long, wiry, and strong; while his big feet and hands, and the length
of his legs and arms, were out of all proportion to his small trunk and
head. His complexion was very swarthy, and Mrs. Gentry says that his
skin was shrivelled and yellow even then. He wore low shoes, buckskin
breeches, linsey-woolsey shirt, and a cap made of the skin of an opossum
or a coon. The breeches clung close to his thighs and legs, but failed
by a large space to meet the tops of his shoes. Twelve inches remained
uncovered, and exposed that much of "shinbone, sharp, blue, and
narrow."1 "He would always come to school thus, good-humoredly and
laughing," says his old friend, Nat Grigsby. "He was always in good
health, never was sick, had an excellent constitution, and took care of
it."
1 "They had no woollen clothing in the family until about
the year 1824."--Dennis Hanks.
Crawford taught "manners." This was a feature of backwoods education to
which Dorsey had not aspired, and Crawford had doubtless introduced
it as a refinement which would put to shame the humbler efforts of his
predecessor. One of the scholars was required to retire, and re-enter as
a polite gentleman is supposed to enter a drawing-room. He was received
at the door by another scholar, and conducted from bench to bench, until
he had been introduced to all the "young ladies and gentlemen" in the
room. Abe went through the ordeal countless times. If he took a serious
view of the business, it must have put him to exquisite torture; for he
was conscious that he was not a perfect type of manly beauty, with his
long legs and blue shins, his small head, his great ears, and shrivelled
skin. If, however, it struck him as at all funny, it must have filled
him with unspeakable mirth, and given rise to many antic tricks and sly
jokes, as he was gravely led about, shamefaced and gawky, under the very
eye of the precise Crawford, to be introduced to the boys and girls of
his most ancient acquaintance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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