One day a woman
bought several yards of calico. After she left, Abe discovered that he
had charged her six cents too much. That evening he walked six miles to
give her the money. He was always doing things like that, and people
began to call him "Honest Abe."
Denton was so proud of his clerk that he could not help boasting. "Abe
is the smartest man in the United States," he said. "Yes, and he can
beat any man in the country running, jumping, or wrastling."
A bunch of young roughnecks lived a few miles away in another settlement
called Clary Grove. "That Denton Offut talks too much with his mouth,"
they said angrily. They did not mind Abe being called smart. But they
declared that no one could "out-wrastle" their leader, Jack Armstrong.
One day they rushed into the store and dared Abe to fight with Jack.
Abe laid down the book that he had been reading. "I don't hold with
wooling and pulling," he said. "But if you want to fight, come on
outside."
The Clary Grove boys soon realized that Denton's clerk was a good
wrestler. Jack, afraid that he was going to lose the fight, stepped on
Abe's foot with the sharp heel of his boot.
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