Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1867-05-17

lnOmas Lincoln cOuiu nave nopeu 10 WIN IN /
any state OF society but one which made a |
man necessary protector Of 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 I saw at
Springfield was an cd 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 words -
s'' IT'S Abrhaam Lincoln holds the pen
He will be good, but God knows when 4"
! am not ashamed of the tears that |
started as l read, with instructed eyes, that
half desparing prayer He never carried
from home the "laughing face Charles
Sumner once ascribed to him. His life |
had been sad I; there was nothing pleasant
to remember in anything connected with
the past-many things he would have giv-
en- The world to forget. /" / must make a
name 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 bis life as shopkeep-
er or surveyor. Here he met with wo-
man more cultivated and refined than
could have been expected to be found
among the people have described. Once,
about the time Of his arrival there, he was
wrestling, in Illinois styls, with his sister
Sarah and some neighbor's 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 that 2" A
sort of shadow settled over him the ex-
hlaration of the gymnast disappeared, and
putting hand on each of her shoulders,
he answered seriously, am to be great
man, Sarah, and am to have sad destiny;"
then turned and left her. Whether 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. he ever loved a tale of sorrow, such
as he afterwards admitted to his best
friends among men we shall never know.
1t is enough to know that the hearts of
Ann Rutledge and Abraham Lincoln drew
| together, and 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 his ory
which transpired before his birth.
Ann Rutledge was lady--one of the
very few that had penetrated to Illinois as
early as 1888. OF family educated and
aiistocra,ic, she was betrothed, before Mr..
Lincoln ever saw her, TO Scotch mer-
chant. In those days Illinois was as far
from New York as Kamstchatka now is.
They were soon to be married, when the
Scotchman went on business to that city.
For months nothing was heard of him. It
was supposed that he was dead or had
wickedly deserted Ann. The truth is that
he lay ill of delirious fever, while Anus
mind was tortured with suspense and dis
appointment, Mr.. Lincoln went to her f;ah-
er's house to board. Here be first learned
to read Shakespeare and Burns. Can we
doubt whose memory made these poems
precious during those few months Of his
life, in which he was once heard to say,
"My hear, lies buried in the grave of that
grill" In time, sort of provisional tn
cacement ensued. There were circum-
stances in both lives which depressed and
panied. They learned TO hold each other
very dear. Upon this state of things
broke the rumor of the recovered Scoth
mans return, after an absence of more than
two years. The delicate nature of the
woman sank under it. Betrothed to two,
both of whom she loved, she had no choice
but to die. Under the conflict of feeling,
; Mr. Lincoln's own reason gave way. He
pleaded in his despair for ole last inter-
view, which, long refused, was at last
granted, before she died, in August, 1886.
That tie shock given to his powerful mind
was severe one, his subsequent life was
to show. Twice, in crises Of great suffer-
ing the unreasoning despair returned, and
from that moment he lost bis moral poise
. for wears. All the resources of the neigh
borhood were exhausted to restore him to
himself. How he who had been absent
loved Ann, let the sequel show. He bought
the farm for her sake and lives there still
: an old bachelor. His quivering hand
pointed out, not long ago, the very spot
Il where she died. M