Abe Lincoln's Hat Read online

  Text copyright © 1994 by Martha Brenner.

  Illustrations copyright © 1994 by Donald Cook.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  www.stepintoreading.com

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Brenner, Martha. Abe Lincoln’s hat / by Martha Brenner ; illustrated by Donald Cook.

  p. cm. — (Step into reading. A step 3 book)

  SUMMARY: Frontier lawyer Abraham Lincoln cures his absent-mindedness by placing letters, court notes, contracts, and his checkbook in his tall black hat.

  ISBN 0-679-84977-7 (trade) — ISBN 0-679-94977-1 (lib. bdg.)

  1. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865—Juvenile literature. 2. Presidents—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature. 3. Hats—Juvenile literature. [1. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865. 2. Presidents. 3. Lawyers. 4. Hats.]

  I. Cook, Donald, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Step into reading. Step 3 book.

  E457.905.B74 2003 973.7'092—dc21 [B] 2002151579

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37284-8

  Trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-679-84977-3

  STEP INTO READING, RANDOM HOUSE, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  v3.1

  For Daniel and David

  —M.B.

  Photograph credits: Duff Armstrong: Lincoln’s New State Historic Site and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency; Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Judge Davis: Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield, Illinois.

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Abe Lincoln didn’t have much money.

  But when he became a lawyer,

  he wanted to look his best.

  He bought a long black coat

  and a tall black hat.

  Every day Abe wore his hat

  to his new job.

  People noticed the tall man

  in the tall hat.

  He was friendly to everyone.

  When they needed a lawyer,

  they remembered him.

  Abe lived in Illinois.

  His state was mostly wilderness.

  Then more and more settlers came.

  They built houses and farms

  and new towns.

  Sometimes they didn’t get along.

  They argued over land

  and animals and money.

  Lawyers like Abe could help people

  settle their arguments.

  They could help people get

  a fair trial in court.

  Abe Lincoln was a smart lawyer.

  People came to him

  with all kinds of problems.

  He helped them all.

  But he had one problem himself.

  He forgot to answer letters.

  He forgot where

  he put important papers.

  A good lawyer cannot forget.

  Abe wanted to be a good lawyer,

  but he was not a good paper-keeper.

  What could he do?

  Abe had an idea.

  His tall hat!

  He could push letters deep inside it.

  He could stuff notes

  into the leather band.

  When he took off his hat,

  the papers would remind him

  what he had to do.

  The idea worked, most of the time.

  One day some boys

  played a trick on Abe.

  They tied a string across the street.

  They strung it way up high.

  Everyone in town could walk under it.

  Everyone except Abe.

  When Abe walked down the street,

  the string knocked off his hat.

  Papers flew everywhere!

  He bent over to pick them up.

  The boys ran out of hiding.

  They jumped all over him.

  Abe laughed.

  He was not mad at the boys.

  He liked a good joke.

  But the trick did not stop him

  from carrying papers in his hat!

  Once a lawyer sent Abe a letter.

  Abe stuck it in his hat.

  The next day, Abe bought a new hat.

  He put away his old one.

  Weeks later the lawyer wrote again:

  “Why didn’t you answer my letter?”

  Then Abe remembered.

  The letter was still in his old hat!

  Many towns in Illinois

  had no lawyers and no judges.

  So every spring and fall,

  a judge and some lawyers traveled

  from town to town.

  Abe went too.

  He packed his hat with papers,

  his checkbook, and a handkerchief.

  At the head of the parade

  of lawyers rode the judge.

  No one could miss him.

  He weighed over 300 pounds.

  Two horses pulled his buggy.

  Abe’s horse was skinny and slow.

  His name was Old Buck.

  Abe and Old Buck traveled

  lonely country roads.

  In the snow.

  In the rain.

  In the mud.

  Traveling made Abe very tired.

  He dreamed of a soft bed

  and a good meal.

  But the lawyers had to stay

  at poor country inns.

  The food was bad.

  The rooms were cold.

  The beds were crawling with bugs.

  The lawyers had to share beds.

  Except the judge.

  He had his own bed.

  Early in the morning

  the courthouse bell would ring.

  Abe hurried to court.

  Pigs lived under one courthouse.

  Abe had to talk loudly

  over the grunts and squeals.

  People came from near and far

  to hear Abe.

  He made trials easy to understand.

  He told jokes and stories.

  People said he could make a cat laugh.

  Once Abe whispered a joke

  to another lawyer.

  The lawyer laughed out loud.

  “Quiet!” the judge yelled.

  “You are fined five dollars.”

  When the trial was over,

  the judge asked to hear the joke.

  He laughed as hard as the lawyer.

  “That was worth five dollars,” he said.

  “Forget the fine.”

  At another trial

  two men argued

  over who owned a young horse.

  Each said he owned

  the mother of the colt.

  Abe led everyone outside.

  He put the two grown horses

  on one side of the lawn.

  He held the colt on the other side.

  Then he set the colt free.

  It headed straight to its real mother!

  One day Abe got a letter.

  It was from Hannah Armstrong.

  Years before, Abe had lived

  with her family.

  Mrs. Armstrong cooked for Abe.

  She sewed up the holes in his pants.

  Now she begged Abe for help.

  Her son Duff was in jail—for murder!

  Abe did not stick this letter in his hat.
/>
  He wrote back right away:

  “Of course I’ll help you.”

  Duff had been in a big fight.

  It was very dark.

  But a man said

  he saw Duff

  kill someone.

  Duff said he did not do it.

  Abe believed Duff.

  But how could he prove that

  the man was wrong—

  or lying?

  “How could you see in the dark?”

  Abe asked the man.

  “The moon was full,” the man said.

  “It was bright as day.”

  “Are you sure the moon was full?”

  Abe asked again and again.

  “Yes,” the man repeated.

  Then Abe held up

  a famous book of facts.

  It said there was NO moon

  in the sky at the time of the fight!

  Now no one believed

  the man anymore.

  The judge set Duff free!

  Abe believed slavery was wrong.

  His state had laws against it.

  But the laws were not clear.

  Many blacks were treated like slaves.

  Nance was one of them.

  She worked for a storekeeper

  who sold her to another man.

  This man treated Nance badly.

  So she would not work for him.

  Abe argued for Nance in court.

  Illinois was a free state, he said.

  All its people were free,

  whatever their color.

  The judge decided Abe was right.

  From then on, no one could be

  bought or sold in Illinois.

  Abe had saved Nance.

  But half the states in America

  still had slaves.

  In a few years there would be

  new states out west.

  Abe did not want slavery to spread

  to these states.

  Abe tried to get elected

  to the U.S. Senate.

  If he won, he could make laws

  to stop slavery.

  He ran against Stephen Douglas.

  Douglas argued that each state should

  decide for itself if it wanted slaves.

  They gave speeches all over Illinois.

  Thousands of people heard them.

  Abe lost the election but became famous.

  In 1860, Abe ran for president.

  Stephen Douglas ran too.

  This time Abe won.

  Abe grew a beard for his new job.

  He took his family to Washington.

  At every train station,

  crowds cheered the new president.

  Abe was ready to make

  his first speech as president.

  He carried a cane, a tall silk hat,

  and his speech.

  He looked for a place

  to put his hat.

  Stephen Douglas stepped up.

  “If I can’t be president,” he said,

  “I can at least hold his hat.”

  Abe Lincoln was a great president.

  He freed the slaves.

  He worked for fair laws.

  He helped unite the nation

  after a long war.

  But he never changed his ways.

  He always kept important papers

  in his tall hat!

 

 

  Martha Brenner, Abe Lincoln's Hat

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