ry.

No matter where he might go, Mr. Lincoln would have been known as a
Western man. He was six feet four inches in height. His face was very
homely, but very kind.

He was cordial and friendly in his manners. There was something about
him which made everybody feel that he was a sincere, truthful, upright
man. He was known among his neighbors as "Honest Abe Lincoln."

* * * * *

XII.--THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY.

The great subject before the country at this time was skivery. It had
been the cause of trouble for many years.

In the early settlement of the American colonies, slavery had been
introduced through the influence of the English government. The first
slaves had been brought to Virginia nearly 240 years before the time of
which I am telling you.

Many people saw from the beginning that it was an evil which would at
some distant day bring disaster upon the country. In 1772, the people of
Virginia petitioned the king of England to put a stop to the bringing of
slaves from Africa into that colony. But the petition was rejected; and
the king forbade them to speak of the matter any more.

Washington, Jefferson, and other founders of our nation looked upon
slavery as an evil. They hoped that the time might come when it would
be done away with; for they knew that the country would prosper better
without it.

At the time of the Revolution, slavery was permitted in all the states.
But it was gradually abolished, first in Pennsylvania and then in the
New England states, and afterwards in New York.

In 1787, a law was passed by Congress declaring that there should be no
slavery in the territory northwest of the river Ohio. This was the
territory from which the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
and Wisconsin were formed; and so, of course, these states were free
states from the beginning.

The great industry of the South was cotton-raising. The people of the
Southern states claimed that slavery was necessary, because only negro
slaves could do the work required on the big cotton plantations.
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana were admitted,
one by one, into the Union; and all were slave states.

In 1821, Missouri applied for admission into the Union. The South
wanted slavery in this state also, but the North objected. There were
many hot debate's in Congress over this question. At last, through the
influence of Henry Clay, the dispute was settled