Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-06-09
The Lincoln Sorrows.

Colonel John Hay, formerly private
Secretary of Abraham Lincoln, is a
member of the New York Tribune edi-
torial staff, which probably gives rise
to the supposition that the following, a
Tribune editorial, concerning the great
sorrows of the Lincolns, especially
those of Mrs. Lincoln, is from the pen
Of that gentleman:
The sympathy of the Nation, which
has been too grudgingly given to the
widow of Abraham Lincoln, will GER
tainly be no longer withheld now that
court of justice has declared her be-
reft of reason. It has long been known
to those nearest to her that her mind
never entirely recovered from the shock
of the Presidents assassination. It
would have been brain of e2traordi-
nary force which could have withstood
that night of horrors. Her hus-
band, to whom, in spite of al gossip to
the contrary, she was devosedly attach
ed, was shot down at her side in perfect
health and strength. Her dress was
stained with his blood. She passed the
long hours of his agony at his bedside,
refusing to belive the sentence of his
surgeons, and in the mo1aing, when all
was over, she confronted a loss such as
has been experienced by but few wo-
men. For the next few weeks it was
doubtful If she would ever emerge from
the shadow of death In which she lay.
But everything she said or did in that
delirium of despair was wickedly and
shamefully used against her atterward.
1t was the duty of the country, out of
regard to its own honor and dignity, to
provide for her future. This Congress
for years refused to do. Not cent was
raised for the purpose by public
Sumner forced a bill through Congress
giving her the pitifEl pension of So 900,
it only passed after malicious and sour
rilous opposition. in the course of which
her enemies quoted her utterance and
act which had proceeded, after troubles,
from her disordered brain. She was
entitled to the gentlest and most tender
consideration from every decent man;
but she was attacked by Congressman
and villifed by portion of the press,
as if she had been an able bodied poll
tician, counting votes and criticism.
There is no doubt that the treatment
had It's effect IN preventing her recovery
from the great shock which had shat
tered her life. The death of her
young boy, whom she idolized,
filed up the measure of her sorrows,
and finished the wreck OF her intellec-
tual faculties. As long as it was posi-
BILE her son, the worthy inheritor of his
fathers character, bore with touching
patience and devotion the consequences
of this misfortune. We deem it not in
trusive to say, also, that tho only sur
viying son of Mr.. Lincoln deserves, in
this calamity, the respect and consid-
Grafton of every one He has borne him
self always with irreproachable dignity
and deoorum. He has asked nothing
from the country which was SO deeply
indebted to his father. He has gained
an enviable position in his profession
and in society by his own merit and in
dustry. He is not man to give way to
misfortune, however sorely txied. But
he ought not to be left to meet this last
affection without the assurance of re-
spect and goodwill which his character,
no less than his name, deserves.