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In the fall of 1816, after chaotic land laws caused the Lincolns to lose three different farms in Kentucky, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln moved with their two children - Sarah, 9, and Abraham, 7 - to southern Indiana. Abraham became skilled with the plow and axe as he assisted his father in the work that had to be done to survive on the frontier. In October of 1818, when Abraham was 9 years old, his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died of milk sickness.

Nancy had encouraged young Abraham to read and explore the world through books, which he did voraciously. Although the demands of life on the frontier left little time for formal schooling, Abraham educated himself and could often be seen carrying a book as well as an axe.

As he grew from a boy to a young man, Abraham was popular at community gatherings such as corn shuckings, logrollings, grubbings, and play parties. Play parties were a popular form of entertainment in frontier communities, especially ones in which religious beliefs did not permit "dancing" and considered the fiddle to be the "devil's instrument." Though based on European and English antecedents, play parties were truly an American phenomenon.

Abraham's favorite play-party game was Old Sister Phoebe , in which boys and girls join hands and circle around one girl in the center of the ring who holds in her hands a hat or coonskin cap. In keeping with the lyrics to the song, she places the cap on a boy's head and kisses him. She then takes the boy's place in the circle and he moves to the center. The game and song sometimes went on for hours.

Old Sister Phoebe, as recorded here, includes a Jew's harp, an instrument Lincoln once told a group of schoolchildren that he played as a boy.

lyrics

Old Sister Phoebe, how happy were we
The day we sat under the juniper tree
The juniper tree, hi ho, hi ho!
The juniper tree, hi ho!

Place this had on your head, it will keep your head
And take a sweet kiss, it will do you no harm
But a great deal of good, I know, I know
A great deal of good, I know

Old Sister Phoebe, how happy were we
The day we sat under the juniper tree
Now around and around we go, we go
Around and around we go

credits

from Ballad of America Volume 3: Songs in the Life of Abraham Lincoln, released February 12, 2009

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Matthew Sabatella and the Rambling String Band Florida

With vocals, guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and bass fiddle, Matthew Sabatella and the Rambling String Band bring to life music that is woven into the fabric of the United States: traditional folk songs, fiddle tunes, old-time country, bluegrass, Appalachian music, ragtime, blues, spirituals, railroad and cowboy songs, work songs, sea shanties, reels, breakdowns, ballads, and more. ... more

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