John Hanks said, "When Abe and I returned to the house from work he would go to the
cupboard, snatch a piece of cornbread and sit down and read. We grubbed, plowed, mowed and worked together barefooted in the fields. Whenever Abe had a chance in the field while at work, or at the house, he would stop and read. He kept the Bible and Aesop's Fables always in reach and read them over and over again."