HONEST ABE

young man studing at desk

As a boy, Abraham Lincoln was known as “Honest Abe.” Like other boys he sometimes did wrong, but never did he try to hide his wrongdoing. He was always ready to own up and tell the truth. So his neighbors called him “Honest Abe.”

In this way he was like young George Washington. The American people are fond of that kind of boy. That is one of the reasons why Lincoln and Washington were each twice elected President of the United States.
I. The Broken Buck-horn

When he was fourteen years old, young Abraham[24] attended a log¹ cabin² school during the winter.

Nailed to one of the logs³ in the schoolhouse was a large buck’s head, high above the children’s reach.

A hunter had shot a deer in the forest, and presented the head, when mounted⁴, to the school. It had two unusually fine horns.

One day the teacher noticed that one of the horns was broken off short.

Calling the school to order he asked who had broken the horn.

“I did it,” answered young Lincoln promptly⁵. “I reached up and hung on the horn and it broke. I should not have done so if I had thought it would break.”

He did not wait until he was obliged⁶ to own up, but did so at once.
Dare to be true; nothing can need a lie.
A fault which needs it most grows two thereby⁷.
—Herbert.
II. The Rain-soaked⁸ Book

There were no libraries on the frontier⁹ in those early days. When the boy Lincoln heard of[25] anyone who had a book, he tried to borrow it, often walking many miles to do so. He said later that he had read through every book he had heard of within fifty miles of the place where he lived.

When living in Indiana he often worked as a hired boy for a well-to-do farmer named Josiah Crawford. Mr. Crawford owned a “Life of George Washington,” a very precious book at that time. The book-hungry boy borrowed it to read.

One night he lay by the wood fire reading until he could no longer see, and then he climbed the ladder into the attic¹⁰ and went to bed under the eaves. Before going to sleep he placed the book between two logs of the walls of the cabin for safe-keeping.

During the night a heavy rain-storm came up. When young Lincoln examined the book in the morning it was water soaked. The leaves were wet through and the binding¹¹ warped¹².

He dried the book as best he could by the fire and then in fear and trembling took it home to Mr. Crawford. After telling the story he asked what he might do to make good the damaged property.

To his relief, Mr. Crawford replied: “Being[26] as it’s you, Abe, I won’t be hard on you. Come over and shuck corn for three days and the book is yours.”

Shuck corn for three days for such a book as that! It was nothing! He felt as if Mr. Crawford was making him a wonderful present.

After reading the book he often talked about what he was going to do when he grew up.

Mrs. Crawford, who was very fond of him, would ask, “Well, Abe, what do you want to be now?”

“I’ll be president,” he would declare.

She would laugh at him, and say, “You would make a pretty president with all your tricks and jokes, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh, I’ll study and get ready, then the chance will come,” he would reply.
Truth is the highest thing a man may keep.
—Cervantes.
III. The Young Storekeeper

At the age of twenty-one Abraham Lincoln became a store clerk for a short time. He was then six feet four inches tall and very strong. He could out-run, out-jump, out-wrestle, and[27] out-fight any man in the rough pioneer country where he lived.

While the people respected his great strength, they liked him still more for his honesty in little things.

One evening, on reckoning¹³ up his accounts, he found that in making change he had taken six cents too much from a customer. On closing the store he immediately walked three miles to the farmhouse¹⁴ where the customer lived and returned the six cents. Then he walked the three miles back.

On opening the store one morning, he discovered a four-ounce weight on the scales. He remembered that his last customer the evening before had purchased half a pound of tea. He saw at once that he had given her short weight. He measured out the four ounces¹⁵ still due, locked the store, took a long walk to the customer’s house, and explained the shortage¹⁶.

These were little things, but Honest Abe could not rest until he had made them right.
This above all: to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
—Shakespeare.

1 log   

n.记录，圆木，日志；v.伐木，切，航行

参考例句：

• They log for a living.他们以伐木为生。
• And then what do you do with that log?然后你要拿那些记录做什么呢？

2 cabin   

n.(结构简单的)小木屋；船舱，机舱

参考例句：

• They threw up a new cabin in a couple of hours.在几小时之内他们就建起了一座新的小屋。
• It's very hot in the cabin;let's go on deck.舱室内很热，我们到甲板上去吧。

3 logs   

n.练习用球瓶；原木，木材，木料( log的名词复数 )；航海[飞行]日志

参考例句：

• logs for the fire 烧火用的木材
• The logs were knocked together as they floated down the stream. 圆木顺流而下时互相碰撞着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 mounted   

adj.骑在马[自行车]上的；安装好的；裱好的v.登上，骑上( mount的过去式和过去分词)；增加，上升；上演；准备

参考例句：

• He mounted his horse and rode off. 他跨上马骑走了。
• He saddled his horse, mounted, and rode away at a gallop. 他给马套上鞍子，跨上马背疾驰而去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

6 obliged   

adj.感激，感谢v.迫使做( oblige的过去式和过去分词 )；使负义务；满足请求；施惠

参考例句：

• We were obliged, faute de mieux, to drink the local beverage. 因为没有更好的饮料，我们只好将就着喝当地的。
• Parents are obliged by law to send their children to school. 法律规定父母必须送子女入学。

7 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

8 soaked   

adj.被湿透的，浸泡的；淋透的v.浸( soak的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• He woke up soaked with sweat. 他醒了，浑身大汗淋漓。
• He soaked himself in the atmosphere of the place. 他沉浸在那一场合的气氛中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 frontier   

n.国境，边境；尚待开发的领域

参考例句：

• The frontier station was starved for food and water.边防站急需食物和水。
• Areas near the frontier were rough and lawless in the old days. 过去边远地区混乱不堪，而且没有法律。

10 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

11 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

12 warped   

adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾，

参考例句：

• a warped sense of humour 畸形的幽默感
• The board has warped. 木板翘了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 reckoning   

n.结帐；(喻)算帐；惩罚

参考例句：

• Phelan is fit again and could come into the reckoning. 菲兰已经恢复了体力，有可能获胜。
• The reckoning up of revenue and expenditure shows a small surplus. 收支相抵，略有剩余。

14 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

15 ounces   

n.盎司( ounce的名词复数 )；少量，一点儿

参考例句：

• Six ounces of cheese, please. 请称6盎司的乳酪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Xiangzi bought four ounces of liquor and three coppers worth of peanuts. 祥子要了四两白干，三个大子儿的落花生。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

16 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。