MOTHER : THE BEST TEACHER, HOME : THE BEST SCHOOL

Thomas and Nancy Lincoln lived in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky’s wilderness. Mr. Lincoln was a hunter, but an extremely poor man. In this cabin Sarah was born in the year 1807 and two years later her brother Abraham, the future President of the United States of America.

Although she had grown up in the backwoods and knew neither comfort not luxury, Nancy Lincoln was refined and gentle. Though poor, her home was the neatest in the neighbourhood. She made all the clothes for her family, even spinning and weaving the cloth. She was as handy with a rifle as any man. At times she herself had to go out and kill the wild game which was the principal portion of their diet. She would skin and dress it and prepare it in the large fireplace of rough stone and clay. She could wield an axe and a hoe. Often neighbours saw her in the field clearing the land and working the farm.

Their cabin had no floor, only the bare earth, tramped level and hard. There was no door, and practically no furniture. A square hole in the wall was their sole window.

In this unpromising place grew up Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest men of all times. His mother was one of the few pioneers who could read and write. By the light of the fire – they could read and write. By the light of the fire – they could not afford candles- she read to Sarah and Abraham from the one book in their home, the Bible. From it, Mother Lincoln taught her children to read and spell. There were no schools; only an occasional travelling teacher, who would stop in a settlement for a few weeks to instruct everyone, adult as well as child. There Lincoln began the training of his mind and heart that made him the outstanding man that he became.

Today, all over the world, schools and educational institutions of higher learning dot Mother Earth. These institutions are considered as the parameters of learning and education. But without a doubt the best educational institutions is the HOME – when both the MOTHER and the HOME are what they should be!

Adopted by – Ms.Shalini Samuel

Coordinator Grade 5,6