From the time Abraham was eighteen years of age, his physical strength was remarkable. Some of the stories about his strength, told by the neighbours, are almost incredible. He was not only a giant in stature, but a giant in strength. Observers looked on amazed at the exhibition. Richardson, a neighbour, declares that he could carry a load to which the strength of three ordinary men would scarcely be equal. He saw him quietly pick up and walk away with “a chicken-house, made of poles pinned together, and covered, that weighed at least six hundred, if not much more.” At another time the Richardsons were building a corncrib; Abe was there; and, seeing three or four men preparing “sticks” upon which to carry some huge posts, he relieved them of all further trouble by shouldering the posts, single-handed, and walking away with them to the place where they were wanted. “He could strike with a mall,” says old Mr. Wood, “a heavier blow than any man. … He could sink an axe deeper into the wood than any man I ever saw.”¹