The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-06-13

sion seemed 10 DC ttiat Soh"i''
Caroline. , c,r,,ors
for want Of rain.
The Richmond Dispatch (perhaps the most
, critical sheet IN the State) will please come
TO the book and inform us where it gets its
authority for invariably spelling hyne-
neaIn with an ii" instead OF IN Ia
the nen,IIt of that word.-LOuoto"n hepao-
Hcan.
From the composing.room If from any
where. Certainly we never 80 wrote the
word. But our proof-reader indignantly
denies that he spells the word rs the Reps"-
hcan says it is invariably spelled in the D's-
patch.]
Tho Loves Of Lincoln--Mr. lannon's
Story OF His COuFtship and Marriage
nv Told in His biography.
From the Boston Correspondence Of the New York
Tribune.
Late in 1882, or early in 1885, Mr. Lincoln
went to board ut tavern in New Salem, ILL.,,
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 with whom Mr.. Lincoln
had then ever leen conyersant--a modest,
delicate creature, fascinating, were it only by
force of contrast with the rude people by
whom both were surrounded. All witnesses
unite in praising her. Mrs. Hardin Bale.
woman OF the neighborhood who knew her
well. said: "She had auburn hair, blAe
ewes, fair complexion; was pretty, KIND,
tender, good-hearted woman, beloved by all
who knew her. McNamar, Hill, and Lincoln
all collrted her at the same time" The
inch who spoke of her described her with
vet more enthusiasm. She had sad story.
When little more than seventeen she became
engaged to McNainar. He left her to go TO
the assistance of his parents in the State OF
New York, promising to return as soon us
possible; but weeks grew TO months, and
even years, and still he did not come. She
had loved him ut first, but the love seems
to have cooled with his long absence, and
at last she responded to the passionate and
impctuous attachment of young Lincoln.
But she felt that she must not marry until
she could obtain Il release from McNamar.
She wrote to him in vain, as she had waited
in vain for his coming, and in 1880 she
died. as some say, Of brain fever, induced
by her anxiety of mind. In her grave
Young Lincoln was wont 10 declare his
heart was buried. rev uhyS DrruIt nrr
death he was summoned 10 her bedside !;
but what happened in that solemn confer
ence was known only to him and the dying
girl. But when he left her and stopped ut
the house Of John Jones, on the way home,
Jones saw signs of the most terrible distress
in his face and his manner. When Ann ac-
tllally died and was buried, his grief became
frantic he lost all self-contrOl, even the con-
seriousness OF his own identity, and all his
Nau tnnn frian6s ,rnnnunnnd him ir,ano
He was watched with especial vigilance
during storms, fog, damp, and gloomy wea-
fher, tor fear of al accident. At such times
he nved piteollsly, declaring, among other
wild expressions OF his woe, | can never be
reconcied to have the snow, rains, and storms
beat upon her grave" His friend Bowin
Greene took charge Of him, and it was seve-
raj weeks before it was considered safe TO let
him 60 back to his old haunts and his old
emplOyments. He was never precisely the
same man again. He had always been sub
ject to periods Of great mental depression,
but after this they were more frequent and
alarming. 1t Was then that he hesan to re-
peat the poem which, poor in itself, is inn
lnortalized by his adoption Of it, ''Oh, why
should the spirit of mortal be proud2" A
few weeks after the death Of Ann Rutledge,
her other lover, McNamar, returned to New
Salem; and he seems to have mOurned for
her rs deeply, if not rs wildly, as did Lin
coin. One would perhaps expect Of grief,
like that Of Lincoln, rs passionate con-
stancy; but dead is dead. II hi, heart
was in AIMS grave he, himself, walked the
earth, in those immense boots of his, u very
real and not IN ideal man. I'm 1886, little
more than year after Ann Rutledge's
death, he saw again u Miss Mary Owens,
xYyhnp, ha haA and b,f i
three years before. She was large, hand
some, MISUNDERSTANDING woman Of 90
and ga very different type Of per-
son from the gentle, sensitive Ann.
Miss Owens seems to have prided herself
much Oh her "education," which, she says,
was different from that Of Lincoln; but
her letters are written III u high-tiown, in
Hated style, which is far from conveying an
impression Of superior intellectual power.
Lincoln asked her to marry him, but she
waited awhile, In order to become thoroughly
acquainted with him, and then refused him
She did not think him coarse or cruel, but
she did think him thoughtless, careless, not
altogether Is polite as he might be; in short,
US she herself expresses II, i" deficient in those
little links which make up the great chain of
wonnRs happiness" The "little links"
being OF SO great importance to her, she
oa"'i4". uec'oeo "tseiy. After THIS de-
cision Lincoln was guilty Of the one mean
hess Of his life, Of which, but for the re-
searches Of the biographer, we should have
been spared the knowledge. He wrote a
letter to Mr.. o. III. Browning telling the
story Of his acquaintance with Miss
owens IN manner most unfair and
most hunliliating TO the lady. MIR. La
mon speaks OF. its publication as a
painful duty" 1t would have been, ]
think, more hopored In the breach than in
the observance; but let us tell the truth. II
the heavens fall, seems to have been his
motto. Mir. Lincoln's tina, conclusion WAY
that he should never marry, since he
should never be satisfied with any one who
would be bloekbead enough to have him..
But neither buried heart nor wounded
pride sutfieed to keep him very long from
the tolls spread by feminine fingers. In
1889 Miss Mary Todd came to live with her
sister, Mrs. Ninisu w. Edwards, at Spring
field, where Mr. Lincoln was then estab-
lished. She was young, Just tWenty-one,
we'll connected, aud, according to MIR. La
mon, "high-bred, proud, brilliant, witty,
and With will that bent every one else to
her purpose" She seems to have taken cap
tive the future President the moment she
made up her miad 1t would be expedient to
do 30.
Mr.. Lincoln was q rising politician, fresh
from the people, and possessed or great power
among them; Miss Todd was OF aristocraticl
and distinguished family, able TO lead |
through the awful portals of "geod society"
wh0msoeYer they choose to countenanee.
It WAS thought that q union between them
could not fail OF numerous benefits TO both /
parties. NJ. Edwards thought 30; Mrs. Ed