Encounters
''assiduous'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜encounter｜ENC｜20260904120411-24-•
Lincoln mastered grammar easily and quickly, obtaining a working knowledge of the subject in a few weeks. Though Greene provided only a little help, his brother Lynn, who had attended Illinois College, spent several days instructing him. Years later, Lincoln told Jonathan Baldwin Turner, who served on the faculty at Illinois College from 1833 to 1848, that his “only instruction in the English language had been from me, through the Green brothers of Tallula, Illinois, while they were students at Illinois College and he was a hired hand working for their mother in the harvest-fields.” Another helpmate for Lincoln, Dr. Jason Duncan, modestly stated that “Abraham requested me to assist him in the study of English Grammer, which I consented to do to the extent of my limited ability.” Lincoln’s rapid progress amazed Duncan: “his application through the winter [of 1831–1832] was assiduous, and untiring, his intuitive faculties were Surprising. [H]e seemed to master the construction of the english language and apply the rules for the same in a most astonishing manner.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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