Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-06-17
The Lincoln Sorrows.

Colonel John Hay, formerly pri-
yate secretary of Abraham Lincoln, is
member of the New York Tribune
editorial staff, which probably gives
rise to the supposition that the fol-
lowing, a Tribune editorial, concern
ing 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 bereft of reason. 1t has long
been known to those nearest to her
that her mind never entirely recover
ed from the shock of the Presidents
assassination. 1t would have been a
brain of extraordinary force which
could have withstood that night of
horrors. Her husband, to whom, in
spite of all gossip to the contrary,
she was devotedly attached, was shot
down at her side in perfect health
and strength. Her dress was stained
with bis blood. She passed the long
hours of his agony at his bedside, re-
fusing to believe the sentence of his
surgeons, and in the morning, when
all was over, she confronted a loss
such as has been experienced by but
few women. 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 afterward.
cit was the duty of the country,
out of regard to it's own honor and
dignity, to provide for her future.
This, Congress for years refused to
do. Not cent was raised tor the
purpose by public subscription.
When at last Mr.. Sumner forced
bill through Congress, giving her the
pitiful pension of $1,000, it only pass
ed after malicious and scurrllous OPP
opposition, in the course of which her
enemies quoted her utterances and
acts which had proceeded, after
troubles, from her dsordered brain
She was entitled to the gentlest and
most tender consideration from every
decent man.; bat she was attacked
by Congressman and vilified by por-
ton of the press as if she had been
an able-bodied politician, counting
votes and criticism. There is no
doubt that the treatment had its ef-
feet in preventing her recovery from
the great shocks which had shattered
her life. The death of her young
boy, whom she idolized, filled up the
measure of her sorrows and finished
the wreck Of her intellectual faculties.
AS long IS it was possible, her son,
the worthy inheritor of his fathers
oho~na. NJ, bora with tnnohino pa
thence and devotion the consequences
of this misfortune. We deem it not
intrusive to say, also, that the only
surviving SON of Mr.. Lincoln deserves,
in this calamity, the respect and con-
sideration of everyone. He has
borne himself always with irreproach-
able dignity and decorum. He has
asked nothing from the country which
was so deeply indebted to his father.
lie has gained an enviable position in
his profession and in society by his
own merit and industry. He is not
man to give way to misfortune, how
ever sorely tried. But he ought not
to be left to meet this last affection
without the assurance of respect and
good will which his character, no less
than his name, deserves.