For every
yard she made, Lincoln bound himself to split four hundred good
fence-rails for her. In this way he made his axe pay for all his
clothes.
[Illustration: LINCOLN SPLITTING LOGS FOR RAILS.]
[Footnote 5: Illinois: he moved to a farm on the North Fork (or
branch) of the Sangamon River, Macon County, Illinois. Springfield,
the capital of the state, is in the next county west.]
[Footnote 6: Clearing: an open space made in a forest.]
[Footnote 7: Tow cloth: a kind of coarse, cheap, but very strong cloth,
made of flax or hemp.]
251. Lincoln hires out to tend store; the gang of ruffians in New
Salem; Jack Armstrong and "Tall Abe."--The year after young Lincoln
came of age he hired out to tend a grocery and variety store in New
Salem, Illinois.[8] There was a gang of young ruffians in that
neighborhood who made it a point to pick a fight with every stranger.
Sometimes they mauled him black and blue; sometimes they amused
themselves with nailing him up in a hogshead and rolling him down
a hill. The leader of this gang was a fellow named Jack Armstrong.
He made up his mind that he would try his hand on "Tall Abe," as
Lincoln was called. He attacked Lincoln, and he was so astonished
at what happened to him that he never wanted to try it again.
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