Lincoln's Story: The Wayfarer

By Vel

“I would never presume to know God’s will or speak God’s words.”—Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln’s Story: The wayfarer sets out to answer many questions surrounding Abraham Lincoln and history.
*Who is the Great Emancipator?
* Did Lincoln believe in God?
*Did he look for a sign when he was desperate?
*Did he follow the Divine Will?
*What was the necessity for two Emancipation Proclamations?
*What was the root cause of the Civil War?
*Could the Civil War be avoided?
*Could the slaves be freed without war as British had done?
* Who were responsible for the Lost Cause?
Lincoln’s Story: The Wayfarer is a biography all about Lincoln and an outline of the Civil War in a nutshell. Reading it is like drinking from a fire-hose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Nov 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483418087

Book preview

wisdom

A Forewarning

T hose who do not believe in God and His role in human life, and those who only want facts–not the added imaginations–may omit the first and last chapters and the in-between inserts, which are clearly marked in this book; however, by doing so you will fail to see Lincoln’s life in a different light. Even Lincoln inserted under God in his Gettysburg Address. His secretaries and his one-time co-congressman Alexander Stephens called Lincoln a native genius. Lincoln is a miracle since he continues to be an unsolved mystery, and he never stopped surprising. How can such a miracle be explained?

My grandmother once told me a story, While rounding the Earth, a Goddess dropped chewed betel-leaves into the mouth of a shepherd who was sleeping with his mouth wide open after a day’s hard work. After that, the shepherd wrote epics in Sanskrit, and he was called, ‘Great poet Kalidas.’ Sometimes, a piece needs to be added to solve the puzzle.

Appaji, a minister known for his wisdom, met three brothers fighting over their property. Their father had died and left the boys seventeen horses to divide. His will stated, Two-thirds of my property will belong to the eldest. Two-thirds of the remaining property will belong to the middle son, and half of the left over will belong to my youngest son. Appaji added his horse and gave the first son twelve horses, the second son four horses, and the third son one horse, and he rode away on his horse. Likewise, God and Goddess are introduced to explain the Lincoln miracle. Is that the missing piece of the puzzle?

Ramiah was an old time middle school teacher. He insisted his students write every day in their journals. He gave them five sentences as an example of how to write a journal entry. All the students wrote the same five sentences every day, and he corrected every one of them. On January 27th, he read a student’s diary note describing the previous day’s school proceedings, Indian Republic Day. He advised other students to write differently. That resulted in the Tamil version of Lincoln’s story, Valibokken.

Srinivasn, a high school teacher, told his students that in the olden days the students had written their own English essays unlike the current copycat students. One said he could write on his own. It resulted in the English version of Lincoln’s story, The Wayfarer. Unfortunately, the teacher is not there to correct it. So, the correction was passed on to Conception Javero who corrected the spelling mistakes with her fresh eyes. By the way, she likes the God and Goddess parts the most, and she says they are catching. She says she is an ardent believer.

Elder brother Shunmugavel and his wife sponsored the author to emigrate from India without which this book would not be possible. One time, the sister-in-law showed the author Speaking Lincoln in Disneyland and told him while she was immigrating to United States her father-in-law had told her not to miss Speaking Lincoln if she happened to visit Disneyland. Father, who was born in a remote village in India and educated up to the sixth grade, did visit United States in 1974. It is good to know Lincoln fascination is not an accident but genetic. See, Lincoln never stopped surprising as he never stopped growing.

Mother tongue Tamil is truly our mother to us. Without Her wisdom, the book will not be a different one. If any faults are to be found, they are not the author’s.

CHAPTER 1

Taller and Taller He Will Grow

I t was freezing, and a cold Northern wind was blowing. God and Goddess were rounding the Earth. They came across a crowd auctioning slaves.

A crowd! What is going on there? Goddess asked God.

Goddess, let us move.

I want to see.

Be a spectator. Please, do not interfere.

They witnessed the slave auctioning.

He is a youngster. Yes, he’s only ten years old. Look at his developing muscles. How strong! Think of the profitable future years. How much is he worth? A middle aged auctioneer was asking the crowd as he was showing a boy.

One hundred! one man yelled from the crowd.

What? Is that all? Look at his firm teeth. The auctioneer showed the boy’s teeth to the people.

Two hundred! chimed another voice.

After the boy had been auctioned, a young woman was brought to the auction block.

Look, she is in her prime youth, and the boy is her son. She could beget you ten more children in no time. Whoever is in doubt can check her front and back. How much are you willing to give for her? The auctioneer continued.

God, let us move. Please? Goddess pleaded to God.

Goddess, the auction is still going on!

I cannot watch anymore. You must answer my questions. Why is that one person is auctioning the other? Goddess questioned.

One wants to profit from another by controlling him as a slave. God said.

I do not see the difference between the master and slave. Are they not both human beings? Goddess asked.

Have you not noticed the master is pale, whereas the woman is dark? God said.

Is the boy not pale? Goddess asked.

He is the son of a pale master and a dark slave woman. Since his mother is a slave, he is also a slave. The children have to follow their mother, not their father.

Why does the master treat his own son as a slave? Goddess enquired.

Goddess, master is simply multiplying his property, answered God.

Why are they being auctioned? Goddess continued her questioning.

The family relation affects his profit because they work less.

Why have they been sold to two different people? asked the curious Goddess.

To get more money for them, God replied.

Oh God! How can they be free? Goddess asked with grief.

Oh, if the woman begets ten children she could be free.

What about the men? Goddess continued to ask.

Men are treated as slaves for their entire life!

Why don’t they run away? Goddess continued.

They will be hunted. The dogs will be sent after them.

Why do the slaves not get together and rise up against their masters? suggested Goddess.

It will happen once. Nat Turner will organize his fellow slaves, and they will kill their masters.

What will happen to them? Goddess asked.

They will be hunted and killed by other masters to make an example, God replied.

Why do they not live in peace with one another? Is there not enough land for everyone? Is slavery agreeable to you? When will this end? demanded Goddess.

Goddess, at this rate it will take many years for the slaves to be free by themselves. It takes time.

I cannot wait many years! End this condition as soon as possible! pleaded Goddess.

Goddess, I have been waiting for this order from you. Whatever happens, you should not intervene.

Whatever is going to happen could not be worse than this! agreed Goddess.

A cry from a newborn attracted them. The date was February 12, 1809.

A newborn, in this wild frontier region! God, please, bless this boy, requested Goddess.

Taller and taller he will grow.

Do not be playful. Is that a blessing? admonished Goddess.

He will grow at least one foot taller than others. Everyone will look up to him.

Why is the baby crying non-stop? asked Goddess.

In this wilderness, how long is he going to last?

I have given him many years. He will not pass away like others in sickness! What is he getting from you? prodded Goddess.

Goddess, my duty is destruction. What can I give?

Do not be evasive! Goddess continued her prodding.

I am giving him restlessness!

Restlessness! Goddess astonished.

Yes, Goddess! He will not stay in one place too long.

Is that all? He gets honesty. Goddess pronounced.

Goddess, honesty? Why do you place such a big boulder over this newborn? In this wilderness, survival itself is a struggle. Where will this baby go, carrying your honesty weight?

Honesty is dearer to him than his own life. It will carry him through thick and thin! What is next from you? urged Goddess.

Let melancholy be with him always!

Sad! Is that what you can give? chided Goddess.

Goddess, I give what I have. It is difficult to find another honest person. So, I am giving company to this lonely wanderer. What mistake did I make?

Give him knowledge, Goddess implored.

Goddess, I see only wild animals in this wilderness. There is no school nearby. How is he going to get knowledge?

I bless the baby knowledge to view and analyze in all three times! explained Goddess.

Goddess! That is wisdom!

Yes! I give him wisdom. What is your next gift? urged Goddess.

I give him transience!

Restlessness, melancholy and transience! Are you blessing or cursing? Goddess was furious.

Goddess, whatever I have, I give. Knowledge is the root cause of arrogance.

I bless him a loving nature. He will be compassionate to all living things! answered Goddess.

Goddess, that is not love. That is grace!

Yes, I give him grace. This time you should give him what is not with you, said Goddess.

I have given him an open mind to receive from thers. Goddess, we have been here too long. Let us resume our journey.

Are you going to visit him in the future? enquired Goddess.

Definitely! I will test his honesty.

He should not be approached without my presence, Goddess demanded.

If that is your condition, then you should not interfere in my actions.

I am giving him immortality! Goddess uttered.

Goddess, what are you doing? Born one will die.

It is death defying. That is glory! Goddess explained.

CHAPTER 2

A Short and Simple Annals of the Poor

"N ancy has got a baby boy!" shouted Uncle Thomas. It was the morning of Sunday, February 12, 1809. It took some time for me to understand what Uncle Thomas just said. When I understood, I ran out to Aunt Nancy. In one corner of the log cabin, pale Aunt Nancy was on the bed. A newborn with wrinkled skin was lying nearby.

What are you going to name him, Nancy?

Abraham, after his grandfather, Aunt Nancy replied.

I am Dennis Hanks. I dearly loved my Aunt Nancy. Sarah Mitchell and Nancy Hanks were first cousins. Both orphans were reared and educated by Uncle Richard Berry. Sarah had been carried off by the Indians when she was a little girl and released years later after the ‘Treaty of Greenville.’ By the time she was returned, all her relatives had passed away¹.

On June 12, 1806, Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln were married. Sarah was born in Elizabethtown, on February 10, 1807. She was named for Sarah Mitchell and nicknamed Sairy. Abe was born at Sinking Spring Farm on the south fork of the Nolin Creek which is about twenty miles from Elizabethtown, Kentucky. If one could see the neighbor’s chimney smoke, it is time to move² was a frontier doctrine. When Abraham was a two year old boy, Thomas moved from Nolin Creek to Knobs Creek, which is about ten miles away. This was the first home that Abe could remember. Lincoln later recalled, I dropped the pumpkin seed. I dropped two seeds on every other hill and every other row. The next Sunday morning there came a big rain in the hills. It did not rain a drop in the valley, but the water coming down through gorges washed ground, corn, pumpkin seeds and all clear off the field.

Six-year-old Abe was to accompany his sister to a blab school which was about four miles away from their farm. Sarah and Abe were allowed to go to school when they were not needed at home. Anywhere and everywhere lines could be drawn, there he improved his capacity to write. Sand, snow, dust, nothing escaped from his fingers. By seven, Abe knew how to read and write. He set everybody wondering to see how much he knew, and he not more than seven.³

"Abraham Lincoln is my name,

And with my pen I wrote the same.

I wrote both haste and speed,

And left it here for fools to read."

"Abraham Lincoln, his hand and pen.

He will be good, but God knows when."

Education is a tool invented by lazy people to exploit working poor was Tom’s humble opinion. He bought a farm of more than eight hundred acres at Knob Creek, but he could not get a clear title to it. He sold the remaining two hundred acres for less than the purchase price, because a family from Philadelphia brought a suit to evict him. We all left out for Indiana. Kentucky was getting stuck up with some folks rich enough to own slaves, so it seemed no place for poor folks anymore. Abe was eight years old; I was eighteen then. At that time, Thomas crossed the Ohio River and cut his way to his farm at Little Pigeon Creek, about hundred miles away from Knob Creek. He was able to get a clear title in Indiana. In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery.

The farm was in the wilderness. Thomas cleared the knoll of trees and erected a log cabin of standard eighteen by twenty feet. Millions of migrating pigeons would produce the effect of an eclipse of the sun by their flight during the day. This was the reason it was called Little Pigeon Creek. The nearest house was about two miles away. Lincoln recalled,

"When my father first settled here,

It was then the frontier line.

The panther’s scream filled night with fear,

And bears preyed on the swine."

A flock of wild turkeys approached the new log cabin, and Abraham with a rifle, standing inside, shot through a crack and killed one of them. He has never since pulled a trigger on any larger game. In 1817, I came to Little Pigeon Creek with my foster parents Tom and Betsy Sparrows. Uncle Tom welcomed us to stay in his house. It was said that he never turned even a dog from his door. Annually, Kentucky Shake shook the people. During the summer, the cows ate the leaves of the snake root plant. They convulsed and died within three days. Those who drank their milk developed vomiting and diarrhea and died in seven days.⁴ Milk sickness affected the house guests Sparrows and a neighbor, Brooner’s wife. Nancy nursed and comforted the Sparrows and visited Mrs. Brooner and eased their last days. They all died within a week. During that time, Tom was always making a coffin for someone.⁵ I wondered how we, small folks, escaped from that illness, but Aunt Nancy was not that lucky.

When she realized her time had come, she called Abraham and told him, I am going away from you, Abraham. I shall not return. You will be a good boy. Be good and kind to your father, to one another, and to the world.⁶

On October 5, 1818, Nancy Lincoln died. Abraham got his strength and intelligence from her. All that I am or hope ever to be I get from my angel mother, God bless her. Abraham was heard to say. The angel mother was superior to her husband in every way; the most affectionate I ever saw. She was calm and highly intellectual by nature. She taught Abe goodness, kindness and read The Bible to him. She taught him to read, to spell and taught him sweetness and benevolence as well.⁷ Abe made the pegs, and I helped Tom to make a coffin. A quarter mile from the house on the knoll, Nancy Hanks Lincoln was resting in peace. Sairy was a little girl, only eleven, and she would get so lonesome missing her mother; she would sit by the fire and cry. Me and Abe got her a baby coon and a turtle and tried to get a fawn, but we could not catch any.⁸ Abe tried to overcome his sorrow by reading Aesop’s Fables, The Bible and the Pilgrim’s Progress.

When a house loses its lady, it loses all, but it gets chaos in return. There was no proper food for more than a year. What could the small girl do? Fourteen months after his wife’s death, Uncle Tom went to Elizabethtown, and six months later he returned in a four horse wagon. We thought he would never return.

Goddess, what are you looking for?

I am looking for the child, born ten years earlier. The curious Goddess said.

You could see them a hundred miles away in that wilderness.

How are they here, alone? Goddess wondered.

Oh, that is a result of their restlessness.

Where is their mother? Goddess asked in a concerned tone.

Look! Their eyes are staring over that knoll. Their mother is resting under the Earth.

Why did that happen? asked Goddess.

Because of transient nature, and this, too, shall pass away.

How can they live alone? It seems that even their father left them alone in this wilderness. Goddess pitied their condition.

Do not worry, Goddess. They are not alone. I blessed him with sadness, which follows like a shadow everywhere!

Children, do not be afraid. A mother is going to come! Goddess promised.

Goddess, will she be as good as their mother?

You are going to witness that, Goddess replied.

Both Abe and Sarah were surprised to see their father was getting down from a four horse wagon, followed by Aunt Sarah with her three children from her previous marriage.

One day, Thomas Lincoln appeared before the just widowed Sarah Johnston and told her, I have no wife, and you have no husband. If you agree, I came to marry you. I have some debts, was the answer. Tom paid her debts and married her.⁹ Aunt Sarah knew Aunt Nancy when they were in Elizabethtown. She came with her belongings and three children. Elizabeth was as old as Sarah, and both became friends. Matilda was Abe’s age, and John became a baby brother to Abe.

Both Sarah and Abe in their torn dirty clothes might have looked like wild animals to Aunt Sarah. She soaped, rubbed, and washed them clean so that they looked pretty and neat. She dressed them in new clothes; once more they looked human as their own good mother left them.¹⁰ You had to be somebody in front of Aunt Sarah. She made Uncle Tom put in a wooden floor in the log cabin. The three girls slept over a bed in one corner of the house, whereas we three boys had to peg up to the wooden raft to sleep. She took the children and mixed them all up together like hasty pudding, and had not known them apart since.¹¹

Tucked between the furniture in the wagon from Kentucky, there were three volumes, which Abe eagerly seized on, and soon he made their contents his own. They were Webster’s Speller, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and The Arabian Nights. Abe would lay on his stomach by the fire and read The Arabian Nights out loud to me and Aunt Sarah, and we would laugh when he did. I reckon Abe read the book a dozen times and knew them yarns by heart. I called them a bag of lies. Mighty fine lies, was his retort.¹²

At eleven years, Abe was sent to school again by Aunt Sarah. Altogether, his schooling amounted to less than a year. My mind is like steel. It is hard to scratch, but once it is scratched it is difficult to remove. I am slow to learn and slow to forget. The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read. Abe said.

Well, books are not as plenty as wildcats in these parts of Indianny, answered his friends.¹³

Never had I seen Abe without a book somewhere around. It did not seem natural, no how, to see a feller read like that.¹⁴ Aunt Sarah never let the children pester him. She always said Abe was going to be a great man some day; she was not going to have him hindered. Aunt Sarah thought a heap of Abe, and he did of her. I reckon they had and done most anything for one another.¹⁵ There was something peculiar about Abe. It seemed strange to me that books told Abe the most, what it did not tell us.¹⁶ One day, he walked nearly twenty miles to borrow a book, which he had not read yet but had heard about. Another time, he borrowed Weems’ Life of Washington that Josiah Crawford had. He read the book at night and kept it under the roof. It got wet when it rained at that night. He pulled fodder for two days to pay for the damage assessed by its close-fisted owner. He nicknamed Josiah Crawford, Blue Nose, because he had a large nose with purple veins and lampooned him about it. Abe said,

"Being too well known as to honor in their own country,

They took a journey into a far country

And there procured themselves wives,

Chief among them all was Josiah, blowing his bugle." ¹⁷

Whenever Abe had a chance, he would stop and read. It didn’t matter if it was in the field while at work or at the house. Mrs. Crawford asked him, What is going to become of you, Abe? And with a bit of swagger, he answered, Me? I am going to be President of the United States.¹⁸ George Washington was his hero. He once told us a story about Washington. An American visited a house of his English friend. There he found a portrait of Washington kept in the outhouse. The American told Englishman, It is proper to keep the picture of Washington there because on seeing it Englishmen will have no difficulty.

Eight years old Abe was tall for his age. At that age his father gave him an axe. He used that most useful weapon until he was twenty- three. It seemed two people worked when he was cutting the trees. His neighbor told him that he did not love his work half as much as his pay; he replied that his father taught him to work but never learned him to love it.¹⁹ At sixteen, he was six feet and four inches. At eighteen, he could hold his axe by his fingers horizontally without a quiver. He outran, out jumped, and out wrestled everybody. In the middle of a fight between his brother John and Grigsby, Abe took hold of Grigsby and threw him and declared, I am the big buck of this lick.

We were Baptist Church members. But Abe refused to become a member despite or because of his father’s pressure. At times there were only potatoes to eat. When the father spoke a blessing to the Lord, the boy murmured, Those are mighty poor blessings. Whenever he heard a sermon by the preacher, came home, took the children out, got on a stump or log and would repeat it word for word. He not only would recall the sermons word for word but also would give some emphasis to the preacher’s eccentricities both of mannerism and voice.²⁰ His loving sister Matilda would do the crying. If his father arrived on the scene, they would run away.

Uncle Tom always thought his son spent too much time on his books. He would sometimes have to beat him for neglecting his work. Young Abe never balked, but dropped a kind of silent, unwelcome tear as evidence of his pain. Tom favored his stepson, John, rather than his own son. As time went by, they grew apart from each other. At one time, Abe decided to run away to work on a steam boat. But he was told, by law, he had to work for his father until he was twenty-one. Tom hired him to others for twenty-five cents a day. Abe thought it was organized robbery. He would rather do other jobs than farming or carpentry.

He sold nine bundles of fire wood to

Reviews for Lincoln's Story

[amandakerr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting PerspectiveLincoln's Story: The Wayfarer was written by Vel, an immigrant. His perspective on Abraham Lincoln's life is interesting. While I'm not sure I agree with everything in the book, it's intriguing to see other people's view of one our most famous Presidents. There is a lot of information in this 250 page book and it does explore sides of Lincoln that I never thought about. Readers who enjoy history, biographies, religion, and books on presidents might enjoy this book.