Daily Republican., 1881-07-23
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, SATURDAY
MRS. LINCOLN's HEALTH.

MRS. LINCOLN's HEALTH.
An Accurate Statement Conc eerninI
L Her ssensricitles and whims.
A correspondent from Springfield, tn
home of Mrs. Lincoln, writes to the Chi
Icago News concerning that lady
health, and eccentricities as follows:
Oflate the newspapers have containet
An almost countless number of para
graphs relative to the serious illness O
Mrs. Lincoln, the widow of the mar
2 tyred President. These have not origin
: ated with the newspaper correspondents
or Springfield, who have been familiar
with the rue condition of affairs. but
from outside and irresponsible sources,
lnasmuch, however, a. they have done
no harm, and have gratified no one
more than Mrs. Lincoln herself, they
have been allowed to pass uncontradict-
ed. Mrs. Lincoln came to Springfield
on Nov. 8, 1880. and has since made her
home at the residence of the Hon. Mini.
an Edwards, whose wife is her sister.
where she has been tenderly cared for.
The most noticea BILE feature connected
with the arrival was the amount of
baggage which she brought with her.
This consisted of over 80 trunks, which,
according to the railroad officials.
weighed about 5000 pounds. In these
trunks is contained remarkable col.
lection Of ordinary possessions of the
most miscellaneous character, compris-
ing almost everything in the shape of
clothing, trinkets, &c, that she has ac-
cumulated since childhood, all of which
she treasures with Jealous care. 1t has
been well known to the public that Mrs.
Lincoln has never fully recovered from
the terrible shock, shared with her by
the country, occasioned by the fatal
bullet Of Wilkes Booth. Under such
trying circumstances as those she then
encountered, it would not have been
surprising If her mind had been shat
tered and reason had lost its way.
Fortunately, however, the result was
avoided, but the effects of that terrible
ordeal have since been manifested in
the development of certain peculiarities
and eccentricities, which, while they
have been mainly Of a harmless charac. |
ter, have been the source of great ankle !
ty and constant trouble to her ilnmedi- |
ate friends.
Since coming to Springfield it has
been Mrs. Lincoln's s pleasure to consid. |
or herself hopelessly lila confirmed
invalid, without the slightest chance of |
recovery. About a month after her ar
rival She shut herself up in her room,
protesting to be unable even to 90 down
stairs. And there she remained per-
Slstently from last Christmas until
wednesday of this week. The burden
OF her conversat ion was about her suf.
ferings. No one could live a week and
suffer the pains which she described as
affecting her. She constantly com
planned of severe pains in her back and
limbs. Her most frequent expressions
were that she was ION fire" and that
she felt rs though she was being "cut to
pieces by knives" Many times a day
would sne reiterate the statement that
she did not expect to live another day.
Her greatest qualification was to read
the newspaper statements that she was
lying at the point OF death. These
were carefully collected for her, and !
she seemed to desire that the news
should be circulated as widely az possi
Bile. This desire has certainly been
gratified to the fullest extent bv the
press of the country, and it was on Mrs.
Llncoin's account that the statements
were not sooner corrected. c
While undergoing the self-imposed {
Imprisonment already described
Mrs. Lincoln often spent the morning t
looking through her collection oftrunks
fishing out some dilapida- d
,ed garment and mending it carefully. t
She received but few visitors, and seem 8
Nj to care but little for reading anything |.
xcept the newspaper paragraphs al r.
eady mentioned. She is constantly in O
eceipt of % large correspondence, large. u
y from autograph hunters, though II
lumber offriends write to her regularly. Ii
'hese letters she seldom answers, as she
oes not like to rite, but occasionally
he requests some of the family to
nswer them for her All her business m
! transacted by Mr.. Jacob Bunn...I In the a
fternoon it has been Mrs. Llncolns' Il
abit to larken her room as much as nj
ossibe. She has declined to use gas m
kept when visitors called, and has
referred to obtain what little light she st
eeded from ordinary candles, or from re
lperS floating in water. During all the th
inter, at her desire, sisters from the h,
ospital remained with her through the g,
light. During all these imaginary ia
'oubles Mrs liucoln's appetite has d
cen good, but she has Insisted that she "A,
rs always been n good eater, that her
oonnot he judged by her appe- =:
te, and that her disease is of IA nature Of
llt rHHiIjraS h.r IN
BAL of food. sa
through all theSe months she had al til
ays slept well, and great deal, kr
lough she has streuuously insisted NJ
lat she has not. Recently she sent for th
pr physician and said she wanted to sl
eep; that she had hardly slept all ne
Inter. She wanted something 10
AXE her sleep, hut did not want any Al
ling that had ali cpiate in it. The ha
Dctor complied with her request, and le
le slept nearly all the time for three
,ys, being very drowsy during the ba
lort intervals which she was awake. Il,
nee then she has admitted that she
1t better. For some time the doctor he
rs advised her to take drive as soon CA
! she was able to get out After sit 90
ng several days for making the at
mpt, she felt enough better after her or
ng sleep to 60, and not only took tn
i've ON Wednesday of this week, but wi
ants soon TO take another.
Mrs. Lincoln is not really sick She IT.
yes suffer from slight trouble, caus- in,
< this hysterical condition, and Of st,
urse her general health has not been ST,
lproved by her six months contine- 40
ent to her room and her general mode
life. But her sufferings are almost
holly imaginary, and she may at any
NE conclude that she has recovered. Fr
II of hsr fancies and whims are in
llged to the fullest extent by her I'M
lends, and this may bo said to com ri,
Use the whole course Of treatment ha
lopted. 1t will be seen from the facts ca
,rewith given that there is nothing in Dt
g condition of this lady, who occu- lla