Morning journal and courier., 1881-07-28
Mrs. LincOln's Real Condition.
 From the Chicago News.l

Mrs Lincoln came to Springfield, H., Nov ember 3, 1880, and has since made her home at the residence of Ninian Edwards, whose wife is her sister, where sheh been tender ly cared for. The most noticeable feature connected with her arrival was the extraordi- nary amount of baggage which she brought with her. This consisted of over 60 trunks, which, according to the railroad officials, weighed about g, 1000 pounds. In these trunks is contained a remarkable collection of ordi- nary possessions of the most miscellaneous character, comprising almost everything in the shape of clothing, trinkets, etc., that she has accumulated since childhood, all of which she treasures with zealous care.
 It 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 circum- stances as those she then encountered it would not have been surprising if her mind had been shattered and reason had lost it's sway. Fortunately, however, this result was avoided; but the effects of that terrible ordeal have since been manifested in the de-
 velopment of certain pecuiarities and eccen- tricities, which, while they have been mainly of perfectly harmless character, have been the source of great anxiety and constant troub- le to her immediate friends Since coming to Springfield it has bean Mrs Lincolns pleasure to consider herself hopelessly i'll, confirmed invalid, without the slightest chance of recovery. About month after her arrival she shut herself up in her room, protesting to be unable even to go down. stairs. And there she remained consistently from last Christmas until Wednesday of this week The burden of her conversation was about her sufferings. She constantly com plained of servere pains in her back and limbs. Her most frequent expressions were that she was Ion fire,' and that she felt as fI1oT Ina hainO Scrt fn bv knives" Many times day would she reite- ate 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 edi6cation, and she seemed to desire that the news should be circulated as widely as possible. This de sire has certainly been gratifed to the fullest extent by the press of country, and 1t was on Mrs Lincoln's account that the statements were not sooner corrected.
 While undergoing the self-imposed impris- onment already described. Mrs Lincoln often spent the morning looking through her immense collection of trunks, occasion ally fishing out some dilapidated garment and mending it carefully. She received but few visitors, and seemed to care but little for reading anything except the newspaper par agraphs already mentioned She is constant l ly in receipt of large correspondence, largely from autograph-hunters, though a number of friends write to her regularly. These letters she seldom answers, as she does not like to write, but occasionally she re- quests some of the family to answer them for her All her business affairs are transacted by Jacob Bum. In the afternoon it has been Mrs Lincoln's habit to darken her room as much as possible She has declined to use gas except when visitors called, and has pre- ferred to obtain what little light she needed | from ordinary candles, or from tapers float | ing in water. During the winter, at her de- | sire, sisters from the hospital remained with | her through the night During all these i'm ! aginary troubles Mrs Lincoln's appetite has | been good, but she has insisted that she has always been good eater, that her condition cannot be judged by her appetite, and that her disease is of nature that requires her to ! consume great deal of food. Through all \ these months she has always slept well, and | great deal, though she has strenuously in- \ sisted that she has not Recently she sent | for her physician, and said that she wanted | to sleep that she had hardly slept all winter
 She wanted something to make her sleep, 1 but did not want anything that had an opiate
 in it. The doctor complied with her request,
 and she slept nearly all the time for three
 days, being very drowsy during the short in | tervals when she was awake Since then she
 has complained of feeling better. For some
 time the doctor has advised her to take g
 drive as soon as she was able to get out. Af ter setting several days for making the at-
 tempt, she felt enough better after her long | sleep to go, and not only took drive on ! Wednesday of this week, but wants to soon l take another. ss==-=
 Mrs Lincoln is not really sick. She does
 suffer from slight trouble, causing this hys-
 terical condition, and of course her general