A Day With the Lincolns

A Day With the Lincolns. . The Lincolns were a family with the same hopes and challenges as many others in the neighborhood. , The Lincolns lived a middle-class family lifestyle in nineteenth century Springfield. Abraham Lincoln spent long periods away from home on the Eighth Judicial Circuit. For Mary, that meant running a household on her own. On days when the whole family was at home, one could see movement from all windows of the house. Straight ahead is the kitchen window. Mary and the hired girl would have been cooking a delicious meal, maybe for Willie's ninth birthday party. Look up! Willie and Tad might have been running on the second-floor hallway. , It wasn't uncommon to see Abraham Lincoln smiling and telling stories while walking down the sidewalk with one of his sons on his shoulders or holding on to his coattails. A neighbor, who lived to the east of the Lincolns, commented that "Lincoln would take his children and would walk out on the rail way out in the country would talk to them-Explain things carefully particularly." Years later, Mary described her husband saying "It is my pleasure that my children are free, happy and unrestrained by parental tyranny. Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents." , Captions , Lower Right: This is the first known image of the Lincoln backyard, dated around 1865. National Park Service