Enabling Abe. Macon man’s celebration of Abraham Lincoln emulates his own life.

Trying to sneak an Abraham Lincoln trivia question past Benjamin Marsh is like trying to sneak a puddle past a child on a rainy day.

Ben is as able an Abe as we have in these parts. He talks the talk and walks the walk.

Dressed in Lincoln’s trademark dark suit and stovepipe hat, he regularly visits local schools, libraries and other organizations. He tells them Lincoln was an avid reader and was the first president to sport a beard. He lets them know Lincoln did not have a middle name and was assassinated on a Good Friday.

He might ask whether they were aware that Lincoln has no direct living descendants, although actor Tom Hanks is distantly related to Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks. (Yes, the same Nancy Hanks they named the famous passenger train after, the one that traveled through Macon on its way to Atlanta and Savannah.)

While other mothers were reading nursery rhymes to their children, Gina Marsh was turning the pages of “Meet Abe Lincoln.’’ Young Ben absorbed every page like a sponge. In the second grade, he could recite the list of all U.S. presidents, with Abe coming in at No. 16. By the time he was in the fourth grade, he had memorized the Gettysburg Address.

Ben has visited Lincoln’s birthplace in Kentucky, his boyhood home in Indiana, the Ford Theatre in Washington where he was shot, and the Lincoln Tomb where he is buried in Springfield, Illinois.

He has been climbing into character as Lincoln since he was in the seventh grade. Three times a year, he makes scheduled appearances. The week of President’s Day always is one of them, which is why Ben made his traditional visit to Heard Elementary this past Wednesday, Feb. 12, for Lincoln’s birthday.

He also makes the rounds on April 15, the date Lincoln was assassinated, and on Nov. 19, the anniversary of when he delivered the Gettysburg Address, one of the world’s most famous speeches.

Many of the children hang on every word. Others interrogate him, as if they are tugging on Santa’s beard to see if he is for real.

“You’re not really Abraham Lincoln,’’ they sometimes say.

“I have to tell them the truth, so I say, ‘You’re right, I’m not,’ ’’ Ben said. “But a lot of times, I’m in character, so I pretend I am.’’

Mr. Lincoln, one of our country’s greatest presidents, would be 211 years old if he were still alive, so he would be a ripe old man.

Ben will celebrate his birthday next month, and it will be a milestone No. 30.

I have known Ben since he was a junior at Rutland High School. He is a nice young man and one of those kind souls his mother describes as always seeing the glass half full. Often, my day would not be complete without Ben texting me with some relevant historical note.

He also is the answer to a local trivia question. Eleven years ago, he became the first player to hit a home run over the fence at Macon’s Miracle League, a program for young people with special needs and developmental disabilities at West Macon Park.

That legendary “tape-measure” shot of 150 feet has grown to epic proportions over the years. I imagine the stories now have it bouncing off the roof at Capitol Cycle, hopping across the median at I-475 and is on its way for a splashdown in Lake Tobesofkee.

Ben has remained active in the Miracle League and is a fixture in the press box announcing the games. He’s a miracle himself, and he has beaten the odds to reach his 30th birthday.

He has cerebral palsy. He was born 16 weeks premature, and weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces. He spent 20 weeks in neonatal intensive care. Doctors gave him a less than 10 percent chance of surviving.

When the only child of Alan and Gina Marsh was released from the hospital in late July, The Telegraph ran a front-page story with the headline: “The Little Fighter: Emotions run high as miracle baby goes home.’’

Lincoln’s personal story resonates with Ben and is why Honest Abe is one of his heroes, along with Billy Graham, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Walt Disney.

“He never gave up,’’ Ben said. “He never gave in and said, ‘This is too hard for me.’ He just trusted in the Lord and said, ‘I’m here for a reason, and I’m going to do it.’ ’’

Ben credits his parents for instilling in him his love of history. His mother is a retired teacher and his father is retired from the National Park Service, where he worked at both the Ocmulgee National Monument and Andersonville National Cemetery. (He also was a Department of Defense historian with the Air Force, 116th Air Control Wing).

Gina said her son grew requesting biographies and videos of presidential history for his birthday and Christmas. He challenged his fifth- and sixth-grade classmates at Heard to learn the Gettysburg Address, then asked them to recite it with him at the Lincoln Memorial on a class trip to Washington, D.C.

“He has been blessed to be able to retain so much knowledge about history,’’ Alan said. “I believe Benjamin’s interest in Lincoln developed because he admires many qualities of Lincoln such as honesty, integrity, perseverance and love of people. I’d say it is only natural because those same qualities are evident in Benjamin. I am very grateful for that and very proud of my favorite historian.’’

Ed Grisamore teaches journalism at Stratford Academy in Macon and is the author of nine books. His column appears on Sundays in The Telegraph.