Dawley, T: Old Abe's Jokes, Fresh From Abraham's Bosom

Excerpt from Old Abe's Jokes, Fresh From Abraham's Bosom: Containing All Its Issues, Excepting the "Greenbacks," to Call in Some of Which, This Work Is Issued

That same Bible is still in the possession of a relative in the state of illinois.

When Abraham was about eight years old, his father, preferring to live in a free State, sold his farm for a lot of whiskey (most of which he lost in moving), and emigrated te Spencer county, Indiana. Here, miles from any neigh bor, he opened his new settlement and built himself a cabin, almost the counterpart of the one they had left in Ken tucky. About the end 0. Their first year's residence in Indiana, af¿iction came upon the household in the shape of the death of Mrs. Lincoln. About this time, too, Abra ham's literary treasures were enlarged by the acquisition of the Pilgrim's Progress and Ewp's Fables.

He read it over and over until he could repeat almost the entire contents of the volume. He was interested in the moral lesson that each fable taught, and derived there from many valuable hints that he carried with him through life. On the whole he spent more time over Esop's Fab/es than he did over Pilgrim's Progress, although he was really charmed by the latter. But there was a practical turn to the Fab/cs that interested him, and he could easily recollect the stories. Perhaps this early familiarity with this book laid the foundations for that facility at apt storv-telling which has distinguished him from his youth. It is easy to see how such a volume might beget and foster a taste in this direction.

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