What Did Lincoln Do... In 1832? In 1842? In 1862?

January 1832

Happy New Year!” called Mother to Nancy and Peggy. “Come on, sleepyheads, get up and push your little trundle bed under the big bed. Then pull the covers up smooth and nice. It’s 1832, so let’s start off the new year right!”

“Happy New Year,” Mother then repeated to every guest as he came down the ladder at the Rutledge Inn. “Happy New Year to you, too, Mrs. Rutledge,” said the men. Though it was still early in the morning, Mother had been up before anyone else, cooking breakfast for the family and the boarders.

Nineteen-year-old Ann Rutledge, quickly tied her clean apron over her not-so-clean dress and stepped into the kitchen to help. She put on her white day cap to keep the soot out of her hair. The young girls were a bit slower getting out of bed and rubbed their eyes and yawned.

Ten-year-old Nancy and eight-year-old Peggy peered at each other from under their white nightcaps. “Let’s make a wish for the new year before we get up,” said Nancy.

Peggy giggled. She was always wishing for things that couldn’t possibly come true, but today she would wish for something that just might. “I wish that we could have some white sugar today!”

Nancy smiled. “Oh, that would be lovely on the first day of the new year!” she agreed.

The girls tucked in their blankets and pushed their bed under the high bed. Then they tied each other’s apron bows in the back and quickly washed their faces in the bowl of chilly water. They skipped into the kitchen to see who was eating breakfast. Mother and Ann were busy cooking and serving about five boarders. Father and the older boys were out doing chores and William was getting in everyone’s way. “Mind your little brother for me girls,” said Mother.

Nancy and Peggy put William in his chair, and politely greeted the men. They were used to having lots of people around in their log house in New Salem. After all, there were nine children in their family! And, since their parents ran the only inn in the town, there were always extra guests upstairs in the loft.

One fella had been boarding with them a lot recently. He was tall and thin, and laughed easily. The way he played with little William, they figured he missed having his own family around quite a bit. His name was Mr. Lincoln, but he told them they could call him Abraham. He slept in Mr. Offut’s store where he was clerking, but he sometimes took his meals at the Rutledge Inn.

While Nancy and Peggy ate their mush (corn meal soaked in milk), the door opened and in came their brothers, David and Robert. The cold January wind blew in with them. They carried arm loads of wood and with their red cheeks and laughing eyes, they filled the room with energy.

“The well’s froze up, ma, so after breakfast we’ll go down to the river to get a bucket water,” said David. “It’s getting right cold out there.”

“Well, I guess we can stand the cold,” said Mother, “as long as we don’t have a big snow like last winter. It wasn’t fit for man or beast.”

“I reckon you’re right, ma’am” said Abraham. “We was trying to get a flatboat down the Sangamon River last spring and the melting water and flooding held us up.”

Ann interrupted, “You mean, we WERE trying to get the boat down the river.”

“You’re right, we WERE!” laughed Abraham. “I am studying on my grammar and I thank you, ma’am for your help.”

“Any way you say it, it means the same thing,” said Mother. “That was a real bad winter. But this year seems different. No snow at all yet. Maybe we’ll get lucky and have a nice easy winter for a change.”

“Can Nancy and I go down to the river with the boys, please, Ma?” asked Peggy.

“If you do your chores first and bundle up real good, I don’t see why not. Go ahead,” answered Mother.

The girls hurried with their chores while their brothers, David and Robert, ate breakfast. Nancy and Peggy cleared the table and swept the floor. They helped William and Sallie finish their breakfasts, and then they hurried to bundle up.

Each girl put on a second pair of stockings, a second flannel petticoat, a second dress, their coats, bonnets, scarves and mittens. Wearing so many clothes made it hard to bend over but the sisters laughed and skipped out the door with their brothers.

“Race you to the river,” teased Robert. “Last one there has to carry the bucket home!”

“No fair!” cried the girls, but they ran as fast as they could anyway.

The river was not far but it was down a big hill. They ran faster and faster, no one wanting to be the last one there. The older boys won easily, and as the girls caught up to them, the brothers handed them the bucket. Robert had the axe to chop the frozen edge of the ice, and soon there was a hole big enough for the bucket. But as Peggy leaned over, her foot slipped on the icy rocks and before she knew it, she was up to her knees in freezing cold water!