Money was always
sorely needed in that household, the poor farm yielding only a small
return for much hard work. For this reason, just before Abraham Lincoln
came of age, his family, with all their possessions packed in a cart drawn
by four oxen, moved again toward the West. For two weeks they travelled
across the country into Illinois, and finally made a new home on the banks
of the Sangamon River.
[Illustration: Lincoln Splitting Rails.]
On reaching the end of the journey (in the spring of 1830), Abraham helped
to build a log cabin and to clear ten acres of land for planting. This was
the last work he did for his father, as he was now some months over
twenty-one and was quite ready to go out into the world and work for
himself. When he left his father's house he had nothing, not even a good
suit of clothes, and one of the first things he did was to split rails for
enough brown jeans to make him a pair of trousers. As he was six feet four
inches tall, three and one-half yards were needed! For these he split 1400
rails.
At times throughout life he was subject to deep depression, which made his
face unspeakably sad. But as a rule he was cheerful and merry, and on
account of his good stories, which he told with rare skill, he was in
great demand in social gatherings and at the crossroads grocery store.
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