but there was no road before them. However winding might be the path selected among the trees, every now and then the forest growth was in the way, and there was need of patient axework before the team could be driven onward. The trees came down, however, and when Thomas Lincoln reached his chosen location, the road to it was a new one of his own making. It was an attractive spot, that lonely opening among the woods. It promised well, for the soil was undeniably good and the timber was of the best. It was situated between Big Pigeon Creek and Little Pigeon Creek not far from their junction, and in the autumn of 1816 there were no other clearings near it. It was destitute of neighbors, as of many other advantages, but there was a sure promise of more settlers, for some of them were already on their way. The village of Gentryville was soon to make its beginning close at hand. As for immediate means of livelihood, there could be no crops raised until the axe should clear the ground, but there was almost a superabundance of game, with no wild red hunters to dispute a white man's right to take it. The first and most important consideration for a settler was that of protection from the winter weather which was so soon to set in. There was really no time for the construction of an elaborate and perfectly finished log cabin. All that could at once be provided was the kind of dwelling called by some a "pole-shelter," and by others a "half-faced camp." It was a shed, log-walled on three sides, open on the south and roofed with riven slabs. It was about fourteen feet square, with the "fire-place" out on the ground on the open side. Its floor was the earth, and it had neither window, door nor chimney. It was the poorest home to which Nancy Lincoln's husband had brought her, but there she and her little girl and boy passed the winter as best they could, while Tom plied his axe and cleared a patch to be planted with corn and vegetables in the spring. CHAPTER III. CHILD-LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS. The Log-house Home-The Pestilence-The Child Housekeepers-The Courtship of Thomas Lincoln. A" HALF-FACED CAMP," protected from sweeping wind-gusts by dense forest all around it, may not be an unpleasant winter residence for a hardy hunter, and Thomas Lincoln was more a hunter than a farmer in the winter of 1816-17. If, however, there was little hardship for him, there was much loneliness for his wife. She had failed to induce him to learn reading and writing. He simply would not attempt to rise to a higher social or mental level than that upon which he had been born. As for the children, they were somewhat protected by their utter ignorance and could endure because they knew of nothing better. A sort of industry was forced upon their father. He plied his axe fairly well, with five to help him, as is usual in such undertakings, and a pretty good clearing was made. He was all the while looking forward, of course, to the construction of a full-grown log cabin; but there was less pressing need for one after the warm weather arrived and that work was put off. The family lived in the half-faced camp about a year before the cabin was ready to receive them. It was ready then, for it had its chimney of sticks and mud, its walls of heavy logs chinked with mud; its roof of riven slabs; its floor of pounded earth; its doorless doorway; its windowless window-holes: and in it were such rude articles of furniture as Tom had been able to manufacture from the trees which he had felled. The bedstead consisted of strong stakes driven into the earth, with cross-pieces to support the bedding. There were seats and a table. There was a loft overhead, to be reached by climbing, with the aid of pegs driven into the wall-logs. The new home was about forty yards distant from the halffaced camp, and the Lincoln family entered it in the autumn of the year 1817. At least it was their own, and they were now more nearly landholders than they had ever been in Kentucky. They had actually raised a crop upon their new farm that year, and the land had proved its quality. It was a spot whereon industry might expect to win abundance, but there was never soil so fertile that it could yield prosperity as a free gift. Many settlers came to the Pigeon Creek region during that year, although none seem to have settled very near to the Lincoln clearing. There may even have been play-fellows for little Nancy and Abe, by going far enough to find them. Over in Kentucky, the Sparrow family had not prospered. They had been near neighbors on Nolin's Creek, and they had done as much for their nephew Dennis Hanks, as for their niece Nancy. They now received a cordial invitation to come over to Indiana, bringing Dennis with them, and occupy the half-faced camp. They came, and they went into it as the Lincolns went out, and there was now to be less of loneliness in that clearing. The then existing system of obtaining lands from the United States government, allowed actual sellers ample time for making the moderate payments required of them. On the 15th of October, 1817, Thomas Lincoln made a formal landoffice entry of his claim to the quarter section, or one hundred and sixty acres of land, upon which he had begun his clearing. This entitled him to unmolested occupation of his forest-farm, free of rent, but the greater part of it continued to be forest, season after season, until at last, June 6th, 1827, nearly two after the original entry, he surrendered one half of it to years CHAPTER III. CHILD-LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS. The Log-house Home-The Pestilence-The Child Housekeepers-The Courtship of Thomas Lincoln. A "HALF-FACED CAMP," protected from sweeping wind-gusts by dense forest all around it, may not be an unpleasant winter residence for a hardy hunter, and Thomas Lincoln was more a hunter than a farmer in the winter of 1816-17. If, however, there was little hardship for him, there was much loneliness for his wife. She had failed to induce him to learn reading and writing. He simply would not attempt to rise to a higher social or mental level than that upon which he had been born. As for the children, they were somewhat protected by their utter ignorance and could endure because they knew of nothing better. A sort of industry was forced upon their father. He plied his axe fairly well, with five to help him, as is usual in such undertakings, and a pretty good clearing was made. He was all the while looking forward, of course, to the construction of a full-grown log cabin; but there was less pressing need for one after the warm weather arrived and that work was put off. The family lived in the half-faced camp about a year before the cabin was ready to receive them. It was ready then, for it had its chimney of sticks and mud, its walls of heavy logs chinked with mud; its roof of riven slabs; its floor of pounded earth; its doorless doorway; its windowless window-holes: and in it were such rude articles of furniture as Tom had been able to manufacture from the trees which he had felled. The bedstead consisted of strong stakes driven into the earth, with cross-pieces to support the bedding. There were seats and a table. There was a loft overhead, to be reached by climbing, with the aid of pegs driven into the wall-logs. The new home was about forty yards distant from the halffaced camp, and the Lincoln family entered it in the autumn of the year 1817. At least it was their own, and they were now more nearly landholders than they had ever been in Kentucky. They had actually raised a crop upon their new farm that year, and the land had proved its quality. It was a spot whereon industry might expect to win abundance, but there was never soil so fertile that it could yield prosperity as a free gift. Many settlers came to the Pigeon Creek region during that year, although none seem to have settled very near to the Lincoln clearing. There may even have been play-fellows for little Nancy and Abe, by going far enough to find them. Over in Kentucky, the Sparrow family had not prospered. They had been near neighbors on Nolin's Creek, and they had done as much for their nephew Dennis Hanks, as for their niece Nancy. They now received a cordial invitation to come over to Indiana, bringing Dennis with them, and occupy the half-faced camp. They came, and they went into it as the Lincolns went out, and there was now to be less of loneliness in that clearing. The then existing system of obtaining lands from the United States government, allowed actual sellers ample time for making the moderate payments required of them. On the 15th of October, 1817, Thomas Lincoln made a formal landoffice entry of his claim to the quarter section, or one hundred and sixty acres of land, upon which he had begun his clearing. This entitled him to unmolested occupation of his forest-farm, free of rent, but the greater part of it continued to be forest, season after season, until at last, June 6th, 1827, nearly two years after the original entry, he surrendered one half of it to |