The Lincolns lived a middle-class family life in nineteenth century Springfield, with Abraham Lincoln often away from home for long periods on the Eighth Judicial Circuit and Mary Lincoln managing the household on her own. When the whole family was home, the house was active, with Mary and a hired girl cooking in the kitchen, perhaps for Willie’s ninth birthday party, and Willie and Tad running in the second-floor hallway. Neighbors could also see Abraham Lincoln walking down the sidewalk smiling and telling stories, sometimes with one of his sons on his shoulders or holding his coattails. A neighbor to the east recalled that Lincoln would take his children out on the rail far into the country, talking to them and explaining things carefully. Years later, Mary said that her husband believed it was his pleasure that his children be free, happy, and unrestrained by parental tyranny, and that love was the chain that bound a child to its parents.
