climate was so warm
that a family could live there in a house of poles in comfort for most
of the year.

As Jasper the Parable came up to the log-house, which had neither hinged
doors nor glass windows, a large, rough, good-humored-looking man came
out to the gate to meet him, and stood there leaning upon a low
gate-post.

"Howdy, stranger?" said the hardy pioneer. "What brings you to these
parts--lookin' fer a place to settle down at?"

"No, my good friend--I'm obliged to you for speaking so kindly to a
wayfarer--peace be with you--I am looking for the school-house. Can you
direct me there?"

"I reckon. Then you be going to see the school? Good for ye. A great
school that Crawford keeps. I've got a boy and a girl in that there
school myself. The boy, if I do say it now, is the smartest fellow in
all the country round--and the laziest. Smart at the top, but it don't
go down. Runs all to larnin'. Just reads and studies about all the time,
speaks pieces, and preaches on stumps, and makes poetry, and things. I
don't know what will ever become of him. He's a queer one. My name is
Linkem" (Lincoln)--"Thomas Linkem. What's yourn?"

"They call me Jasper the Parable--that is my new name. I'm one of the
Brethren. No offense, I hope--just one of the Brethren."

"Oh, you be--a Tunker. Well, we'll all be proper glad to see you down
here. I come from Kentuck. Where did you come from?"

"From Pennsylvania, here. I was born in Germany."

"Sho, you did? From Pennsylvany! And how far are you going?"

"I'm going to meet Black Hawk. My good friend, I stop and preach and
teach and cobble along the way."

"What! Black Hawk, the chief? Is it him you're goin' to see? You're an
Indian agent, perhaps, travelin' for the State or the fur-traders?"

"No, I am not a trader of any kind. I am going to meet Black Hawk at
Rock River. He has promised me a young Indian guide, who will show me
all these paths and act as an interpreter, and gain for me a passage
among all the Indian tribes. I have met Black Hawk before."

"You've been to Illinois, have ye? Glad to hear ye say so. What kind of
a kentry is that, now? I've sometimes thought of going there myself. It
ain't over-healthy here. Say, stranger, come back and stop with us after
you've been to the school. I haven't any great accommodations, as you
see, but I will do the best I can for you, and it will make my wife and
Abe and the gal proper glad to have a talk with a preacher. Ye will,