nd when it goes cloppety-clop--"

Dennis swung the baby back and forth. It puckered up its face and began
to cry. Dennis caught his breath in dismay. How could such a large noise
come out of such a small body?

"Here, Aunt, take him quick!"

He looked at Cousin Nancy out of the corner of his eye. "I reckon he'll
never come to much."

"Now, Dennis Hanks, I want you to behave," said Aunt Betsy, but this
time Nancy paid no attention to his teasing. She held out her arms for
her son and cuddled him against her breast.

"As I told you," she said gaily, "you have to give him a chance to
grow."

It was almost dark by the time Aunt Betsy had tidied the one-room
cabin. She cooked some dried berries for Nancy, and fed Sally. Dennis
begged to spend the night. After his aunt had put on her shawl and left
for her own cabin, he curled up in a bearskin on the floor.

"Denny," asked Nancy, "what day is this?"

"It's Sunday--"

"I mean what day of the month."

"I don't rightly know, Cousin Nancy."

"I remember now," she went on. "It is the twelfth day of February.
February 12, 1809! Little Abe's birthday!"

Outside the wind rose, whistling through the bare branches of the trees.
There was a blast of cold air as the door opened. Tom came in, his arms
piled high with wood. He knelt on the dirt floor to build up the fire,
and the rising flames lit the log walls with a faint red glow.

"Are you glad it's a boy, Tom?" Nancy asked as he lay down beside her.
"I am."

"Yes," said Tom, but when she spoke to him again, he did not answer. He
was asleep. She could see his tired face in the firelight. Life had been
hard for Tom; it was hard for most pioneers. She hoped that their
children would have things a little easier. The baby whimpered, and she
held him closer.

Denny's voice piped up: "Cousin Nancy, will Abe ever grow to be as big
as me?"

"Bigger'n you are now," she told him.

"Will he grow as big as Cousin Tom?"

"Bigger'n anybody, maybe."

Nancy looked down at her son, now peacefully asleep. She made a song for
him, a song so soft it was almost a whisper: "Abe--Abe," she crooned.
"Abe Lincoln, you be going to grow--and grow--and grow!"

2

[Illustration]

Abraham Lincoln did grow. He seemed to grow bigger every day. By the
time he was seven, he was as tall as his sister, although Sally was two
years older. That fall their father made a trip up to Indiana.

"Why did Pappy go so far away?" Sally asked