The Portland daily press., 1867-03-26
Pleasing Miscellany.
IFrons the atlantic Monthly for DRILL

IFrOm the atlantic Monthly for 4pral
Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rusiedge.
We left Herudon killing snakes, hunting
bears, and smoking cattle in the bog at
Springfield. There he waited from his thlr-
teenth to his fifteenth year, for the coming of
Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, born ih the class
OF poorest emgrants, was trained to far dlt-
1erent life, in his early home, rom that winch
the books describe. L do not n1lLk That IL
was upon slavery that Thomas Lincoln turn
ed his back, when he went to Indiana. IL was
upon brawing, reckless neighborhood, mat
made lie uncomfortable. The pious care OF
good, poor parents, SO touchin5ly described In
our books only to be ridiculed in Illinois,
Abraham certainly never had. His sttp-moth-
era woman far superior to any whom
Thomas Lincoln could have hoped to win in
anv state of society but one which made
man a necessary protector to every woman
seems to have been his first and best friend.
TO her he was always grateful, and to the last
stood between her and trouble. Among the
most touching relics which L saw at SPRING
field was ar old copy-book, in which at the age
Of fourteen, Lincoln had taught himself to
write and cipher. Scratched in his boyish
hand on the first page were these lines:
..'Tis Abraham Lincoln holds the pen;
He aoat be good, but God kaopS ,citen,''
am not ashamed Of the tears that started as
read, with instructed eyes, that hall-despair-
ing prayer. He never carried from home the
LAUGHING face" which Charles Sumner once
ascrlbed to him. His life had been sad, there
was nothing pleasant to remember in any
tn,ns connected with the past-many things
he would Ave gwen the word to forget. 81
must make Mans for myself he began to
think: and, turning his back on the home
which he had no desire to see again, he went
TO New Salem, and opened his life as a shop
keeper and surveyor. Here he met a Woman
more cultivated and refined than could have
been expected among the people 1 have de,s-
crbed. Once-about the time Of his arrival
there-he was wrestling, in Illinois fashion,
with his sister Sarah and some neighbours
girls. He threw one OF the latter roughly, and
his sister turned upon him with sharp words.
What do you ever expect to be" she asked,
"if you treat women like thatw A sort Of
shadow settled over him; the exhilaration OF
the gymnast disappeared, and, putting hand
on each OF her shoulders, he ans ered seriously,
Il am TO be great man, Sarah, and to have a
sad destiny" then turned and left her. Wheth-
er this great sad destiny" encompasSed him
even then-whether those dark, sad eyes told
his STORY without words,-or whether as was
natural, Mr.. Lincoln told to the only girl ne
ever loved tale OF sorrow, such as he after
wards admitted to his best triendS among men
we shall never know. 1t is enough that the
the hearts of Ann Rutledge and Abraham
Lincoln drew together, ana that the key to
his whole life will one day be shown to lie in
the facts OF this love, and those facts of his
history which TRANSFERRED before his own
birth.
Ann Rutledge was lady-one of the very
few that had penetrated TO Illinois as early as
1885, Ola family educated and aristocratic,
but broken down, she was betrothed, before
Mr.. Lincoln ever saw her. to a Scotch mer-
cnant. In these days Illinois was as far from
New York as Kamtchatka now is. They
were soon to be married, when the Scotch
man went for business purposes to that city.
For months nothing was heard of him. 1t
was supposed that he was dead, or had
wickedy dserted Ann. The truth was, that
he lay i'll of delirious fever, in a small way
side town. LII this state of things while
AIMS mind was tortured by suspense and
disappointment, Mr.. Lincoln went to her
fathel house to board. Here he first learned
to read Shakespeare and Burns. Can we
doubt whose memory made their poems prec-
ious during those last few months of his life,
in which he was once heard to say my heart
lies buried in the grave of that girl ?" In
time sort OF provisional engagement ensued
There were circumstances in both lives which
depressed and panied. They learned to hold
each other very dear. Upon this state OF
things broke the rumor ofithe recovered Scotch
mans return, after an absence of more than
two years. The delicate nature of the wo-
man sank under it. Betrothed to two, both
of whom she had loved, she had nc
choice but to die. Under The conf let
OF feeling Mr. Lincoln's own reason gave way
He pleaded in his despair tor one lastinterview
which, long refused, was at last granted, before
she died, in August 1895. That the shocl,
given to his powerful mind was a severe one,
SnhSpnuppt ia wa 10 T,.,ioa II,
crises OF great suffering, the unreasoning des-
pair returned, and from that moment he lost
his moral pciSe for years. All the resources
OF the nelghborhood were exhausted TO restore
him to himself How he who had been alb
sent loved Ann, let the sequel show. He
bought the farm for her sake, and lives there
still bachelor. His quveling hand pointed
out not long ago, the very spot where she
died.
Mr.. Lincoln's tastes Were quiet and domes-
lie. Had he married Ann Rutledge it is not
likely he would have continued in politi
cal lite. III would have tasted the cup OF happi-
ness and it would have been enough. 1.-The
love and death of this girl" sad Mr.. Herndon
shattered Lincoln's purposes and tendencies
He threw Oft his infinite sorrow only by leap
ing wildly into the political arena" Gle
needed" said another, whip and spur to save
him from despair"
For myself go farther and deeper. Up to
this period his habits had been simple and
pure. But trial unhinged him, made his own
life a matter of indifference to hm,-made
him tor years reckless, despairing and atheis-
tic. His strength and his weakness came to
him in this hour; for the death of this girl
was, as Charles Sumner said, mo accident y
Through it he learned to understand himself,
and then to understand others. 1t was very
gradually that he came to conquer the revolt
OF his own soul. 1t was that work well done
which finally fitted him to conquer other men.
1t was in 1924 that he said he Mould be good
Now, in 1885, he left New Salem, and deter
mined, with an evident personal ambition that
have never seen ascribed to him, that he
ocoutd begreGt, but in essential and absolute
respects, goodness, though dropped QUIT of
sight was the necessary law of his mind 1t
Was from his associatIng his favorite poem,
so, why should the spirit OF mortal be
proud?" with the life and death OF Ann Rut-
ledge that il kept its mower over him