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24 • LINCOLN THE UNKNOWN<strong>the</strong> summit of a thickly wooded hill, a quarter of a mile away,and buried her without service or ceremony.So perished <strong>the</strong> mo<strong>the</strong>r of Abraham <strong>Lincoln</strong>. We shall probablynever know what she looked like or what manner ofwoman she was, for she spent most of her short life in <strong>the</strong>gloomy forests, and made only a faint impression upon <strong>the</strong>few people who crossed her path.Shortly after <strong>Lincoln</strong>'s death one of his biographers set outto get some information about <strong>the</strong> President's mo<strong>the</strong>r. She hadbeen dead <strong>the</strong>n for half a century. He interviewed <strong>the</strong> fewpeople living who had ever seen her, but <strong>the</strong>ir memories wereas vague as a faded dream. They were unable to agree even asto her physical appearance. One described her as a "heavy built,squatty woman," but ano<strong>the</strong>r said she had a "spare, delicateform." One man thought she had black eyes, ano<strong>the</strong>r described<strong>the</strong>m as hazel, ano<strong>the</strong>r was sure <strong>the</strong>y were bluish green. DennisHanks, her cousin, who had lived under <strong>the</strong> same roof with herfor fifteen years, wrote that she had "lite hair." After fur<strong>the</strong>rreflection, he reversed himself and said her hair was black.For sixty years after her death <strong>the</strong>re was not so much as astone to mark her resting-place, so that to-day only <strong>the</strong> approximateposition of her grave is known. She is buried beside heraunt and uncle, who reared her; but it is impossible to saywhich of <strong>the</strong> three graves is hers.A short time before Nancy's death Tom <strong>Lincoln</strong> had builta new cabin. It had four sides, .but no floor, no windows, nodoor. A dirty bearskin hung over <strong>the</strong> entrance, and <strong>the</strong> interiorwas dark and foul. Tom <strong>Lincoln</strong> spent most of his time huntingin <strong>the</strong> woods, leaving his two mo<strong>the</strong>rless children to run <strong>the</strong>place. Sarah did <strong>the</strong> cooking, while Abraham kept <strong>the</strong> fire goingand carried water from <strong>the</strong> spring a mile away. Having noknives and forks, <strong>the</strong>y ate with <strong>the</strong>ir fingers, and with fingersthat were seldom clean, for water was hard to get and <strong>the</strong>y hadno soap. Nancy had probably made her own soft lye soap, but<strong>the</strong> small supply that she left at her death had long since vanished,and <strong>the</strong> children didn't know how to make more; andTom <strong>Lincoln</strong> wouldn't make it. So <strong>the</strong>y lived on in <strong>the</strong>ir povertyand dirt.During <strong>the</strong> long, cold winter months <strong>the</strong>y made no attemptto wash <strong>the</strong>ir bodies; and few, if any, attempts to wash <strong>the</strong>irsoiled and ragged garments. Their beds of leaves and skinsgrew filthy. No sunlight warmed and purified <strong>the</strong> cabin. The