GREAT MEN'S BODIES
helped him to do a life's work of vast importance to mankind.
"Leonard Swett says: 'During Lincoln's youth he had everywhere been distinguished as the crowning athlete in the neighborhoods in which he lived. Everywhere along the frontier, since that frontier has marched from the east westward, some fellow has been "cock of the walk" who could out-wrestle and out-run, and out-jump everybody. Lincoln was that person wherever he lived. He was that boy when young in Indiana; and afterwards in New Salem he made a hero of himself, wrestling, running, jumping, lifting, and in other innocent amusements of that character. He was six feet three and a half inches tall; long-armed; long-limbed; brawny-handed; with no superfluous flesh; toughened by labor in the open air; of perfect health; and his grip was like the grip of Hercules. Together with the talk of organizing a company in New Salem began the talk of making Lincoln the captain of it. His characteristics as an athlete had made something of a hero of him. Turning to me with a smile at the time, he said: "I cannot tell you how much the idea of being the captain of that company pleased me."'—Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, by Allen Thorndike Rice.
"His agility and strength were remarkable, and no one in the vicinity could throw him in a wrestling-match. He is said to have been able to carry a load which three men could hardly lift; and he once picked up a hen-house weighing over six hundred pounds and carried it a considerable distance. He could strike a maul a heavier blow than any other man. He could sink an axe deeper into the wood than any other man I ever saw."—French's Lincoln.
"The Clary's Grove boys (roughs) at New Salem twice a week had horse-play. They would nail any
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