The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1872-06-11
THE LOVES OF LINCOLN
THE COMPLICATED STORY OF
HIS SEVERAL COURTSHlPS
AND FINAL MAR
RAGE.

pby OF LINCOLN, Oy tue DOston corresponds
ent Of the New York Tribune:
| Late in 1882, or early in 1893, Mr.
Lincoln went to board Mt a tavern in New
Salem, Illinois, kept by james Rutledge
Ann Rutledge, the third daughter of this
family, was ut that time about nineteen,
and was probably the most refined woman
| conversed-a modest, delicate creature, fas.
with the rude people by whom both were
surrounded. All witnesses unite in praising
her. Mrs. Hardin Bale, q woman of the
neighborhood who knew her well, said A:
"She had auburn hair, blue eyes, fair com.
plexion, was a pretty, kind, tender, good.
| hearted woman, beloved by all who knew
her. McNamar, Hill and Lincoln al
courted her at the same time" The men
who spoke of her described her with We,
more enthusiasm.
SHE HAD A SAD STORY.
When little more than seventeen she be-
came engaged to McNamar. He left her
to 60 to the assistance of his parents in the
State Of New York, promising to return
as soon as possible; but weeks grew into
months and even years, and still he did
not come. She had loved him at first, but
the love seems to have cooled with his
long absence and at length she responded
to the passionate and impetuous attach
ment Of young Lincoln. But she felt that
she must not marry until che could obtain a
release from McNamar. She wrote to him
in vain, as she had waited in vain for his
coming; and in 1888 she died, as some say
Of brain fever, induced by her anxiety Of
mind. In her grave Lincoln was wont to
declare
HIS HEART LAY BURIED.
A few days before her death he was
summoned to her bedside; but what hap.
pened in that solemn conference was
known only to him and the dying girl.
But when he left her and stopped at the
house of John Jones, on his way home,
Jones saw signs Of the most terrible dis.
tress in his face and his manner. When
Ann actually died and was buried, his
grief became frantic he lost all self-con-
troll, even the consciousness Of his own
identity, and all his New Salem friends
pronounced him insane. "He was watch
ed with especial vigilance during storms,
fogs, damp and gloomy weather, for fear
Of AN accident. AT such times he raved
piteously, declaring, among other wild ex-
pressions of his woe, Il can never be rec
onciled to have the snow, rain, and storms
beat upon her grave" His friend, Bowln
CT Gene took charge Of him, and it was
several weeks before it was considered
safe to let him 90 back TO his old haunts
and his old employments. He was never
precisely
THE SAME MAN AGAIN.
He had always been subject to periods
of great mental depression, but after this
they were more frequent and alarming.
II was then that be began to repeat the
poem which, poor in itself, is immortal
lied by his adoption of it: "Oh why
should the spirit Of mortal be proud p A
few weeks after the death Of Ann Rut.
ledge, her other lover, McNamar, returned |
TO New-Salem; and he seems 10 have |
mourned for her as deeply If not as wildly |
as did Lincoln, as passionate constancy;
but dead is dead. If his heart was in |
AIMS grave, himself walked the earth, |
IN those immense boots Of his, q very real
and not an ideal man. In 1886, a little |
more than year after Ann Rutledge's
death, he saw again
MISS MARY OWENS,
whom be had met and somewhat admired
three years before. She was large +,
handsome, MISUNDERSTANDING woman of
heavyweight or twenty.nine-a very
different type of person from the gentle,
sensitive Ann. Miss Owens seems TO
have prldcd herself much on her "educa.
ton, which she says was different
from that of Lincoln; but her letters
are written in high-hown, inflated style,
which Is far from conveying an impress.
Ion of superior intellectual power. Lin.
coin asked her to marry him, but she
waited awhile, in order to become thor
oughly acquainted with him. and then
refused him. She did not think him
coarse or cruel, but she did think him
thoughtlcss, careless, not altogether as
| polite MS he might be in short, as she
herself expresses it, "dehcient in those
little links which make up tho great chain
of womans happiness" The "lttle
links being OF SO great Importance to
her, she doubtless decided wisely. After
this decision, Lincoln was guilty of
THE ONE MEASHEss or HIS LIFE
of which, but for the researches of the
biographer, we should have been spared
the knowledge. He wrote letter to Mrs.
o. ii. Browning, telling the story of his
acquaintance with Miss Owens, in man.
ner most unfair and most humilating To
the lady Mr.. Lamon speaks Of its pub.
LEGATION Ms IA painful duty 1t would
have been, think, more honorod in the
! breach than in the observance; but let Us
. tell the truth IL the heavens fall, seems tc
n have been his motto. MIR. Lincolns fna
, conclusion was that he should never marry
= since he SHOULD never be satisfied with
: any one who would DO bockhead enough
r to have him. But neither buried hear,
/ nor wounded pride sufiiced to keep him
very long from the coils spread by
feminine fingers. In 1899,
MISS MARY TODD
came to live with her sister, Mrs. Niniar
w. Edwards, at Springfield, where Mr.
Lincoln was then established. She wa
young, just twenty.one, well connected
and, according TO Mr.. Lamon, "hgh.bred
proud, brilliant witty, and with viii
that bent every one else to her purpose.
She seems 10 have taken captive the futur,
president the moment she made up hel
mind It would DO expedient to do so.
Mr.. Lincoln was q rising politician
fresh from tho people and possessed o