On one occasion she said: "He never gave me a cross word or look, and never refused, in fact or appearance, to do anything I requested of him." The child had enjoyed a little irregular schooling while living in Kentucky, getting what instruction was possible of one Zachariah Birney, a Catholic, who taught for a time close by his father's house.

He also attended, as convenience permitted, a school kept by Caleb Hazel, nearly four miles away, walking the distance back and forth with his sister.
Soon after coming under the care of his step-mother, the lad was afforded some similar opportunities for learning.

His first master in Indiana was Azel Dorsey.

The sort of education dispensed by him, and the circumstances under which it was given, are described by Mr.Ward H.
Lamon, at one time Lincoln's law-partner at Springfield, Illinois.

"Azel Dorsey presided in a small house near the Little Pigeon Creek meeting-house, a mile and a half from the Lincoln cabin.