Just Like Abraham Lincoln

Just Like Abraham Lincoln

Every February, I read a great picture book, Just Like Abraham Lincoln by Bernard Waber, to my second graders. In the story a young boy notices that his neighbor bears a remarkable physical resemblance to Abraham Lincoln. Like Lincoln, his friend is a lawyer who helps people. Like Lincoln, he likes to read and discuss ideas. He also teaches the boy and his classmates about the real Lincoln.

As a boy Abe liked to read and learn. You may know stories about his reading by firelight and walking many miles to borrow and return books. Although he lacked a formal education, he valued learning and read everything he could get his hands on. He also liked to have fun and played many practical jokes on his family, including putting his footprints on his mother’s freshly white-washed ceiling.

Abe was a hard worker. There were many chores to do on his father’s farm and Abe was needed at a young age to help. He often plowed a field with a book propped in front of him. This didn’t help keep the rows very straight. As a young man he held many jobs, including splitting rails, and he always worked hard and responsibly.

Abe was honest. As a young man he was partner in a general store. He was not a very good businessman, but he built a reputation for honest dealings. His honesty is highlighted by the story about his walking miles to return two cents a widow who had overpaid him. He traded groceries for a barrel of books in which he found Blackstone’s Commentaries, a legal compendium, which became the basis for his law career. 

Abe knew the laws and he kept them. Abe was an militia captain during the Indian wars. Once, his men captured an Indian messenger. The rules of war stated that all messengers were to be given safe passage. Abe’s men wanted to kill him anyway. Abe would not allow it, even though his decision made him very unpopular with his men.

Abe was kind. He found time to help children, animals and people in trouble. Once he helped free a pig stuck under a fence, getting himself very muddy in the process. In his law practice he often defended the underdog -- free of charge.

Abe liked people. He sat for hours swapping tales with travelers and friends. He loved a good joke. A judge once fined him $5.00 for telling a joke that disrupted the court. Later, the judge asked Abe what he had been whispering. After hearing the joke, the judge repealed the fine.

Abe loved his family. Even after he was president he took time to play with his children. His boys often played around the feet of Abe’s Cabinet members.

Abe hated war. During the Civil War, he was grief stricken about the tragic loss of lives. He wrote many condolence letters to families who had lost sons, fathers and brothers. Even his face displayed his agonizing, aging visibly as the war dragged on.

When my students read about the life of Lincoln, they learned about a good man who knew what was important in life and who lived by his principles. 

They also learned that by helping others and living by our principles, we too can be “just like Abraham Lincoln.”