From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst
June 3
Lincoln had a voracious curiosity.
Since he had virtually no formal schooling he learned early in life that
satisfying his curiosity was going to be his job and his job alone.
Consequently, as a child he taught himself to read and write; he also taught
himself Euclidean geometry, then surveying, then the law. He was a lifelong
student of literature having memorized long passages from both Shakespeare and
the Bible. As if all that were not enough, in 1849 he applied for a patent on
his design for ‘a new and improved manner of combining adjustable buoyant
chambers with steam boats’ [these chambers were designed to lift steam boats
above sand bars]. He is the only president in American history to have been
granted a patent. Then as President he taught himself how to be a Commander in
Chief.
‘Never does nature say one thing
and wisdom another.’
- Juvenal
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