Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-09-06

~eeNS
and whittier during the narration, crept
close to her mother, and twined her
arms around her neck, in token of as
sent. My readers, will you not make
the same resolve?
From the Atlantic Monthly.
Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge.
We left Herndon killing snakes,
hunting bears, and smoking cattle in
the bog at Springfield. There he
waited, from his thirteenth to his fif-
teenth year, for the coming of Abra-
ham Lincoln. Lincoln, born in the
class of poorest emigrants, was trained
to a far different life, in his early
home, from that which the books des-
cribe. do not think that it was up
on slavery that Thomas Lincoln turn
ed his back when he went to Indiana.
1t was upon brawling, reckless neigh
borhood that made life uncomfortable.
The pious care of good, poor parents,
so touchingly described in our books,
only to be ridiculed in Illinois, Abra-
ham certainly never had. His STEP
mother-a woman far superior to any
whom Thomas Lincoln could have
hoped to win in any state of society
but one which made man a necessary
protector of every woman-seems to
have been his first and best friend.
To her he was alway grateful, and to
the last stood between her and trouble.
Among the most touching relics which
| saw at Springfield was an 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
words =
"'Tis Abraham Lincoln holds the pen;
He will be good, but God knows when !"
| am not ashamed of the tears that
started as | read, with instructed eyes,
that half despairing prayer. He nev-
er carried from home the laughing
face" Charles Sumner once ascribed to
him. His life had been sad there was
nothing pleasant to remember In any
thing connected with the past-many
things he would have given the world
to forget. II must make a name for
myself, " he began to think and turn
ing his back on the home which he
had no desire to see again, he went to
New Salem, and opened his life as a
shopkeeper and surveyor. Here he
met with a woman more cultivated
and refined than could have been ex-
pected to be found among the people
have described-about the time of
his arrival there-he was wrestling,
in Illinois style, with his sister Sarah
and some neighbors' girls. He threw
one of the latter roughly. and his sis
ter turned upon him with sharp words,
."What do you ever expect to be, she
asked, ''il you treat women like that p
A sort of shadow settled over him
the exhilaration of the gymnast disap.
peared, and putting a hand on each of
her shoulders, he answered seriously
al am to be great man. Sarah. and
am to have a sad destiny;' then turn
cd 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 tc
his whole life will one day be shown
to lie in the facts of this love, ant
those facts of his history which trans
pired before his birth.
Ann Rutledge was a lady-one of
the very few that had penetrated tC
Illinois as early as 1888. OF fami
ly educated and aristocratic, she was
betrothed, before Mr. Lincoln ever
saw her, to a Scotch merchant. II
those days Illinois was as far frou
New York as Kamstchtka now is
They were soon to be married, wher
, the Scotchman went for business pur
poses to the city. For months, moth
ing was heard of him. 1t was sup
posed that he was dead, or had wick
edly deserted Ann. The truth is tina
he lay i'll of a delirious fever, while
. AIMS mind was tortured by suspcns,
and disappointment, Mr.. Lincoln wen
, to her fathers house to board. Here
| he first learned TO read ShakSpear,
and Burns. Can we doubt who's,
memory made these poems precious
during those few months ofhi life, il
, which he was once heard to say, "My
, heart lies buried in the grave of tina
girl" In time, sort of provisiona
engagement ensued. There were cir
, cumstances in both lives which de
pressed and panied. They Learned
to hold each other very dear. Upol
, this state of things broke the rumo
! Of the recovered Scotchman's return
, after an absence of more than tw'
!. years. The delicate nature of th
woman sank under it. Betrothed t,
: two, both Of whom she loved, she hat
no choice but to die. Under the con
fiict of feeling, Mr.. Lincoln's own rea
t son gave way. He pleaded in hi
E despair for one last interview, whic
: long refused, was at last granted, be
E fore she died, in August, 1886. Tha
b the shock given to his powerful min
; was severe one, his subsequent lif