ference were
the three outstanding factors in his popularity. The loss of either would
have been a misfortune to himself and neighbors. His ruddy cheeks and
curling locks and kindly dark eyes and large head were details of
importance. Under all were a heart with the love of men, a mind of
unusual understanding and a hand skilled in all the arts of the Kentucky
pioneer. He could grill a venison steak and roast a grouse and broil a
chicken in a way which had filled the countryside with fond recollections
of his hospitality; he could kindle a fire with a bow and string, a pine
stick and some shavings; he could make anything from a splint broom to
a rocking horse with his jack-knife. Abe Lincoln was one of the many men
who knew and loved him.

On a warm, bright afternoon early in September, Bowlin Green was going
around the pasture to put his fence in repair, when he came upon young
Mr. Lincoln. The latter sat in the shade of a tree on the hillside. He
looked "terribly peaked," as Uncle Bowlin, has said in a letter.

"Why, Abe, where have you been?" he asked. "The whole village is scared.
Samson Traylor was here last night lookin' for ye."

"I'm like a deer that's been hurt," said the young man. "I took to the
woods. Wanted to be alone. You see, I had a lot of thinking to do--the
kind of thinking that every man must do for himself. I've got the brush
cleared away, at last, so I can see through. I had made up my mind to go
down to your house for the night and was trying to decide whether I have
energy enough to do it."

"Come on; it's only a short step," urged the big-hearted Bowlin. "The
wife and babies are over to Beardstown. We'll have the whole place to
ourselves. The feather beds are ladder high. I've got a haunch of venison
buried in the hide and some prairie chickens that I killed yesterday,
and, besides, I'm lonesome."

"What I feel the need of, just now, is a week or two of sleep," said Mr.
Lincoln, as he rose and started down the long hill with his friend.

Some time later Bowlin Green gave Samson this brief account of what
happened in and about the cabin:

"He wouldn't eat anything. He wanted to go down to the river for a dip,
and I went with him. When we got back, I induced him to take off his
clothes and get into bed. He was fast asleep in ten minutes. When night
came I went up the ladder to bed. He was still asleep when I came down in
the morning. I went out and did my chores. Then I cut two venison stea