I can't help it, Ma, I want to get away."
Sarah looked at him fondly. She wished that she could find some way to
help him.
Abe found ways to help himself. He was never to go to school again, but
he could walk to Rockport to attend trials in the log courthouse. He
liked to listen to the lawyers argue their cases. Sometimes he would
write down what they said on a piece of paper. Now and then he had a
chance to borrow a book that he had not read before from some new
settler. He read the old books over and over again. He liked to read the
newspapers to which Mr. Gentry, Allen's father, subscribed. The papers
told what was going on in the big world outside of Pigeon Creek.
James Gentry owned the log store at the crossroads, where the little
town, Gentryville, had grown up. His partner, William Jones, was one of
Abe's best friends, and Abe spent nearly every evening at the store. It
became the favorite meeting place for the men and boys who lived close
by.
"Howdy, Abe!" Everyone seemed to be saying it at once when he came in.
"The Louisville paper came today," William Jones might add.
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