Jennifer Dussling - Long, Tall Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln said it himself:
He was not a pretty man.
He was long and tall.
His ears stuck out.
His clothes were usually wrinkled,
and his pants were too short.
Lincoln didnt look
like a president.
He didnt always act
like a president, either.
But that didnt matter.
Lincoln acted the right way
for the country.

Most presidents were born rich.
Lincoln was born in a log cabin.
His family was poor,
and he didnt get to school often.
There werent any schools nearby.

Instead, Lincoln chopped wood
and planted crops.
But he loved reading on his own.
Id rather read, tell stories,
crack jokes, talk, laugh
anything but work, he said.

A speaker came to town
when Lincoln was a boy.
After the mans speech,
Lincoln hopped onto a stump
and pretended to be the speaker.

His friends laughed,
and Lincoln laughed, too.
But he also found out
he liked giving speeches!

When Lincoln grew up,
he had lots of jobs.
He worked on a boat.
He became a soldier.
He owned a store....
It went broke.
He was very honest.
Once he walked miles to return
a few pennies to a shopper.
He had charged her too much!

Lincoln didnt seem like a man
who would be president one day.
But he studied hard
and became a lawyer.
He cared about people
and about justice.
Lawyers gave lots of speeches, too.
Lincoln liked that.

One night at a dance,
Lincoln met a lady named Mary Todd.
Mary was short and round.
Lincoln was tall and thin.
But they made a good match.

His heart is as large
as his arms are long, she said.
Mary married Lincoln,
and they had four sons.

At that time, in the South,
the law let white people
own black people,
just as they owned a house or a horse.
Slaves were forced to work hard.
They were paid nothing
and were often hurt by their owners.

Northern states wanted
to get rid of slavery,
but Southern states wanted to keep it.
Lincoln did not like slavery.
If slavery is not wrong,
he wrote to a friend,
nothing is wrong.

To change the law,
Lincoln had to join the government.
He won some elections.
He lost other elections.
But he kept going.
His speeches were very good.
People got to know him.

Finally, Lincoln ran for president.
He looked funny.
He talked like a country boy.
But people knew he was honest.
He won the election
and became the president
of the United States!