For a while he was postmaster. A man on horseback brought the mail twice
a week, and there were so few letters that Abe often carried them around
in his hat until he could deliver them. He liked the job because it gave
him a chance to read the newspapers to which the people in New Salem
subscribed. But the pay was small, and he had to do all sorts of odd
Jobs to earn enough to eat. On many days he would have gone hungry if
Jack Armstrong and his wife, Hannah, had not invited him to dinner. When
work was scarce he stayed with them two or three weeks at a time.
He knew that he had to find a way to earn more money, and he decided to
study surveying. It was a hard subject, but he borrowed some books and
read them carefully. He studied so hard that in six weeks' time he took
his first job as a surveyor.
Sometimes when he was measuring a farm or laying out a new road, he
would be gone for several weeks. People miles from New Salem knew who
Abe Lincoln was. They laughed at him because he was so tall and awkward.
They thought it funny that his trousers were always too short. But they
also laughed at his jokes, and they liked him.
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