From Rags to Suits: A Story of a “Ragged Nine-Year-Old” Boy
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Here's an inspiring story of a “ragged nine-year-old” boy who had grown up to be one of the most influential persons in the history of mankind.
This boy had lived a life with less of what other kids of his age had enjoyed. His father was the descendant of the weaver's apprentice, though he had much less than his other relatives, he managed to provide for the family with his indomitable spirit. His mother on the other hand was described by many as “stoop-shouldered, thin-breasted, sad,” but had strong religious beliefs.
There was a time when his father faced charges challenging the title of their farm in Kentucky. They moved out of their land, and found a place in southwestern Indiana. They squatted a public land and put up a half-faced camp, structured with logs and boughs. Later, they were able to build a cabin and bought the land where their shelter stood. To make ends meet, the boy had to help his father in farming, hunting, and fishing.
Life may have been so hard for this boy because he lost his mother in the autumn of 1818 when he was only nine years old. “He saw his mother buried in the forest”, leaving him to endure the coldness of the winter “without the warmth of a mother's love”. But later on, before the next winter could come, his father found himself a new wife and a new mother to this boy and his other sibling.
Luckily, his new mother is as loving as his late mother. Though his stepmother also had children of hers, she treated everyone in the family as her own. Eventually, his stepmother had shown special fondness of him and him of her.
Due to his parents’ lack of literacy, this boy also had little exposure to education. It’s really interesting that despite the lack of educational materials at home, this boy showed a fervent appetite for reading. He had to go for miles just to borrow a book. He once said that, he had grown up to a place that provided “absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three; but that was all.”
In March of 1830, his family once again moved to a new place in Illinois. And when he was 21 years old, he started to make a life of his own. His lack of interest in farming, made him try different occupations, as a rail-splitter, flat-boatman, storekeeper, postmaster, and surveyor. He even enlisted as a volunteer during the Black Hawk War in 1832 and was elected as the company captain. He got lucky though that he never faced actual combat with the enemies, just a little bloody war with the mosquitoes.
Though he had not much experienced formal education in his younger years, he persevered in learning grammar and Mathematics, and then pursued studying the law books. With his determination, he passed the bar examination in 1836. He then began to practice law, won several cases, and became one of the most successful lawyers in Illinois.
Who would have thought that the ragged-looking boy in this story would grow up to a man with many notable achievements? He didn’t just win many cases, but also excelled well in the field of politics. He was elected four times as a Whig member of the Illinois State Legislature and over a decade later, entered the US House of Representatives.
During his political career, he proposed a bill that would end the institution of human enslavement among native Africans and African Americans in the District of Columbia. The bill was never taken into action because of the disapproval of the “free white citizens” of the district. It also roused negative responses from the abolitionists and slaveholders.
He may have failed on his first attempt to liberate those who are chained but still succeeded to end slavery when he took the seat as the president of the country. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January first of 1863. He declared that “slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, in rebellion, shall be then, henceforward, and forever free."
There are many great things that he had done for his country. This is just a brief narrative of his life. But the most important thing that we want to emphasize here is that success is never limited to those who have the advantages in life. Attaining knowledge and wisdom is always free, having such would lead you to somewhere.
Do you have now any idea who was the boy in the story?
He was Abraham Lincoln, also known as the Honest Abe, the one who defied the odds of life, from a ragged nine-year-old boy, the Rail-Splitter, to the Great Emancipator of the slaves, and the president of the United States.
Here’s one of the best quotes he had left for us:
“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe the government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.”
Story source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-Lincoln
