Daily Republican., 1883-06-23

She. therefore, accepted the ulslnal lot
to which Thomas Lincoln had brought
her. and at once set about max
ing the best of it.
She made her idle husband put floor
to the cabin then windows and doors,
welcome appendages in the cold month
of December. She made up warm beds
for the children, now five i'll number by
the addition of her three. The little
Lincolns even in that wiDtry season
were half naked, and she clothed them
from fabrics saved for her own ward
robe. They had never been used to
cleanliness she washed them and
taught them how to wash themselves.
They had been treated with harsh
| ness; she opened her heart to them,
treated them AZ she did her own chill
dren, and made them feel that they had
a mother. Moreover, she had talent,
not merely for industry, but for making
the most of everything. She was a
good manager, a good economist, very
neat in her own person, orderly ard
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 dilatory pro
wider.
Happily, too, she took particular
liking to Abe, then nine years old, ut
terly ignorant, wholly uniformed, but
i good -humored and atfectionate. He
became warmly attached to her, and,
az she often said, never once disobeyed
her, or gave her disrespectful reply
She soon had him nicely dressed in new
|clothes from head to foot, and it ap
pe.lred to make a new boy of him
Being now decently clad, he could at
tend school, which he had never pre-
viously done, and very soon he showe,
those indications of intelligence which
led to his entering the profession OF the
law. Sometimes the boy had to walk
four miles and half to school, and
when he reached it the instruction
given was not of "a very high quality
Every winter, however, added some
thing to his knowledge and widene1
his view.
His gratitude to this excellent woman
was pleasing to witness. He used to
speak of her as his ".aintly mother,
of his "angel of a mother of " the
woman who first made him feel like
human being" who taught him tina
there was something else for him in th'
world besides blows, ridicuie ant
shame After his fathers death ht
paid the mortgage on her farm, assist
I'd her children, and sent her money a
: long az he lived.
After he was elected to the Presiden
CIV, and before he started for Washing
ton, he paid her visit. She was the
very old and infirln, and he marked tn
change in her appearance. She ha'
;, been very tall woman, straight as a.
Indian, handsome, sprightly, lkative
with beautiful hair that curled natural
lv; she was now bent and worn wit
labor and sorrow, and he bade her fare
we'll with presentiment that he should
seelher no more. She, too, was op
pressed witha vague fear of the future
When Mr.. Herndon, he law partner
: Mr.. Lincoln, visited her after the as
: sassination of the President she was no
3 able to speak to him without tears.
, "Abe," said she, "was Il poor boy
and l can say what scarcely one woman
can say in a thousand : Abe neve
, gave me cross word or look, and neve
. refused, in fact or appearance, to It
2 anything l requested him. His min'
and mine, what little had, seemed t
: run together. l had son John, VIII
was raised with Abe. Both were goo
g boys, but must say, both now bein
1 dead, that Abe was the best boy that
ever saw. did not want Abe to ru
l for President: did not want him eleC'
:, ed was afraid somehow ; and when h
> came down to see me after he was cleo
# ed President, still felt that somethin
t would befall Abe, and that l should Sc
s him no more
y She died soon after, and lies burie
d in an obscure grave, while the so
G whom she rescued fron squalor, ignol
e ance and degradation has a monumen
II which pierces the skies. The muc
IS maligned sisterhood of step mother
If might we'll co;nbine to place a mem'
If rial over her tomb.