This Week's Story
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Abraham Lincoln's beginnings did not predict his future!
This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.
Abraham Lincoln Outruns A.I. and Flesh and Blood Analysis! part one
It is fascinating to read in February 2023 that “about 15,000 books have been written about Lincoln—more books than have been written about any other person in world history, with the exception of Jesus Christ.”
So commented Paul Tetreault, the director of the new Ford’s Theater Center. The center is across the street from where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
Today, Daniela, Nathan, Mrs. Steiner, and I dig into the astonishing beginnings of Abraham Lincoln. He did not like being called Abe; and preferred the name Abraham.
“Daniela, it is hard for me to imagine living in Abraham’s early homes.”
“Me too. I close my eyes and try to see them. I know Abraham was born in a log cabin with one window, one door, a chimney, and a
dirt floor in Kentucky, February 12, 1809. Cold weather was in the cabin.
“His second home was a few miles away and was another pioneer log cabin. He attended a blab school a short while. It had no windows! What do you know about a blab school, Nathan?”
“A blab school is a strange way to learn. In it, students of all ages say their lessons aloud, either at the same time or separately. I tried the unison way twice in my This Week’s Story class. The second time, with difficulty, I could shut out the sound of the other students.
“Mrs. Steiner, do you know about Abraham’s third home?”
“Yes! Pitiful! His family moved to Indiana in cold December! Everything they owned was on two horses. They crossed the icy waters of the Ohio River on a rickety ferry, walked through forests, and chopped a path through underbrush.
“When they reached their homesite, there was no home in which to build a fire and make a hot meal. Abraham’s father put up a winter lean-to, three-sided. A fire was built at the open end to scare away wild animals. Wolves howled and panthers screamed. The family slept under bearskins.
“In the coming year Abraham helped his father clear land, plant corn and pumpkin seeds, and build a new log cabin, their biggest and fourth home! Abraham was eight.
“Todd, what do you know about his parents’ education or how they educated Abraham and his sister Sarah?”
“His parents could not read or write. His mother Nancy was thin with sad eyes. She worked in fields with her husband.
“In the evenings, Nancy would gather her children around her. They would recite prayers and Nancy would share Bible stories she had memorized. Her death when Abraham was nine and Sarah was eleven was very painful for them. She died from milk sickness, which was caused by a poisonous plant called white snake root.
“As she was dying, she asked her children to come to her side and told them, ‘Be good and kind to your father, to one another, and to the world.’
“Nathan, what would you add?”
“I like what Abraham said in later years. ‘All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.’”
You are invited to soon hear more of our Abraham Lincoln series on radio or the website: thisweeksstory.com.
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