Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-08-30

Thirteen months passed. Inc Will
war. who was not disposed to be both
father and mother, started for his native
Kentucky in quest or Il wife, and there
he found Sally Bush. who had once re-
iected his suit. and had married his
rival tombstone and was now n widow
with three children. He called upon her
and proposed without beating about the
bush.
well, Mrs. Johnstone, =" said Thomas,
Il have no wife and YOU no husband. l
came TO propose to marry you. |
knowed you from gal and YOU knOwed
me from boy. l have no time to lose,
and if you are willing, let it be done
straight of, "
Tommy" was her reply, L know
you we'll, and have no objections to
marrying you; but | cannot do it
straight off, rs [ owe some debts that
must be paid first"
The ceremony was performed the
next morning, the debts having been
paid in the meantime, and very speedi-
ly the married pair and all the goods
that the widow possessed were placed
upon wagon and drawn by four
horses, 4 journey of some days, to
Thomas Lincoln,s cabin in Indiana.
These goods were of considerable value.
There was Il bureau that cost forty dol
lars, and which Thomas considered sin
fully magnificent, and urged her to sell
it. But she was no Lincoln, and she
refused TO do this There was 4 table,
set of chairs, y large clothes chest,
some cooking utensils, knives and forks,
bedding and other articles essential to
civilized living.
Abraham Lincoln never forgot the
wonder and delight with which he be-
held the arrival and unpackiDg of this
wagon load Of unima@ined treasure.
Neither he nor his sister had ever heard
Of such things. The mother, on her
part, was wofuly disappointed on see
ing the wretched cabin in which she
was to pass her days; for it seems that
Thomas Lincoln had drawn on his ina
gination in describing his abode; and, in
deed, the rude howell was u great adj
vance upon the half-inclOsed wigwam
in which he had lived during his first
years residence in the wilderness.
Sally Bush, unlettered rs she was,
had in her some of the best qualities of
u civilized being. She was natural
enemy of chaos and all disorder. She
was woman of high principle, genu-
inc intelligence and good sense. She,
therefore. accepted the dismal lot to
which Thomas Lincoln had brought her
and at once set about making the best
Of it.
She made her idle husband put a
floor in the cabin; then windows and
doors, welcome appendages in that cold
month of December. She made up
warm beds for the children, now five in
number by the addition of her three.
The little Lincolns, even in that wntry
season, were half naked, and she cloth
ed them from fabrics saved from he
own wardrobe. They never had been
used to cleanliness; she washed them,
and taught them how to wash them
selves. They had been treated to hard
ness; she opened her heart to them,
treated them as she did her own chill
dren, and made them feel that they had
a mother. Moreover, she had a talent,
not merely for industry, but for making
the most of everything. She was
good economist, a good manager, very
neat in her own person, orderly and
regular in her housekeeping. The
whole aspect of the home, within and
without, was changed; even the land
was better cultivated, and Thomas Lin
coin was somewhat less dilatorv pro-
wider.
Happily, too, she took particular
liking to Abe, then nine years old, ut
terly ignorant. wholly uniformed, but
good-humored and affectionate. He be-
came warmly attached to her, and, as
she often said, never once disobeyed her
or gave her disrespectful reply. She
had him nicely dressed in new clothes
from head to foot, and it appeared to
make new boy of him. Being now
decently clad he could attend school,
which he had never previously done,
and very soon he showed those indica-
tions of intelligence which led to his
entering the profession of the law.
Sometimes the boy had to walk four
miles and a half to school, and when he
reached it, the instruction given was not
of very high quality. Every winter,
however, added something to his knowl-
edge and widened his views.
His gratitude to this excellent woman
was pleasing to witness. He used to
speak of her rs his ''saintly mother"
of his 'angel of q mother" of ''the
woman who first made him feel like
human being" who taught him that
there was something else for him in the
world besides blows, ridicule and shame.
After his fathers death he paid 4 mort
gage on the farm assisted her children,
and sent her money as long rs he lived.
After he was elected to the presidency
and before he started for Washington,
he paid her visit. She was then very
old and infirm, and he marked the
change in her appearance. She had
been q very tall woman, straight as an
Indian, handsome, sprightly, talkative,
with beautiful hair that curled natural
"; she was now bent and worn with
labor and sorrow, and he babe her fare
well, with presentiment that hewould
see her no more. She, too, was OPP
pressed with a vague fear of the future.
When Mr.. Herndon, the law partner of
Mr.. Lincoln, visited her after the assas-