Abe lay between them,
wide awake, staring into the darkness. The new Mrs. Lincoln was good and
kind. He knew that. She had seemed pleased when Sally called her
"Mamma." Somehow he couldn't. There was still a lonesome place in his
heart for his own mother.
Something else was worrying him. Before going to bed, Sarah Lincoln had
looked at him and Sally out of her calm gray eyes. "Tomorrow I aim to
make you young ones look more human," she said. Abe wondered what she
meant.
He found out the next morning. Tom and Dennis left early to go hunting.
Abe went out to chop wood for the fireplace. When he came back, he met
the three girls going down the path. Sally was walking between her two
stepsisters, but what a different Sally! She wore a neat, pretty dress
that had belonged to Betsy. She had on Sarah's shawl. Her hair was
combed in two neat pigtails. Her face had a clean, scrubbed look. Her
eyes were sparkling. She was taking Betsy and Mathilda to call on one of
the neighbors.
"Good-by, Mamma," she called.
Sarah stood in the doorway, waving to the girls. Then she saw Abe, his
arms piled high with wood.
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