The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-06-21


have To relate some that happened before.
II was, then, in the autumn OF 1880 that n
c-arr:sN lady Of my acquaintance and who was
q great friend Of mine, being about To pay a
visit 70 hcr father and other relatives residing
in Kentucky, proposed 10 me that ON her re- |
turn she would bring sister Of hers with her
on condition that would engage To become
her brOtner-in-law with al convenient dis (
patch. l Of course accepted tAe proposal, for
you Elow could not have COila otherwise had
! really been averse 20 1t; but, privately, be- /
tween you and rae, was most confoundodly
wen pleased with the project. had seen the
sal sister some three yc.rs before, thought
her intelligent and Agreeable, and saw no good
objection to p;odding Ice through hand in hand
with her. Time passed en-, tine lady took her
journey and in due time returned, sister in
contrary sure enough. This astonished me
little, for IL appeared to ine that her coming
rCaCily showed that she was trihe too
within Lat on reflection IL occurred to me
that Sic Light have been prevailed on by her
married sister TO come without anything con
cerni.g ever having been mentioned 10
her, and 80 concluded that, IL no other objec
ton pre- sonted itself, would consent TO waive
this. Al this occurred TO me on hearing of her
arrival in the neighborhood, for, be it remem-
bered, i bad not yet seen her, except about
three years previous, as above mentioned. IN
a few days we had an interview, and although
/ had seen her lefore she did not look as my
imagination had pictured her. knew she
was oversize but she now appeared fair
match for Falstaff. knew she was called an
'old maid, " and felt no doubt of the truth OF
at least half of the appellation, but now, when
] beheld her, could not for my life avoid
thinking of my mother, and this not from
withered features, for her skin was too full of
fat TO permit of its contracting into wrinkles,
but from her want of teeth, weather beaten
appearance in general. and from kind Of no.
ton that ran in my head that nothing could
have commenced
reached her present bulk in less than Us or 10
years, and, in short, was not at all pleased
with her. But what could / dor had told
her sister would take her for better or for
worse. and / made point of honor and con-
science in all things TO stick to my word, espe-
cialy If others had been induced to act on il,
which in this case had no doubt they had,
for was now fairly convinced that no other
man on earth would have her. and hence the
conclusion that they were bent on holding me
to my bargain. "Well,' thought !, ~ have
said II, and, be the consequences what they
may, it shall not be my fault If fail to do it.
At once determined To- consider her my wife.
and, this done, all my powers OF discovery
were put to work in search of PROJECTIONS in
her which might be fairly set off against her
defects. i tried TO imagine her handsome,
which, but for her unfortunate corpulency was
actually true. Exclusive of this, no woman
that have ever seen has finer face. also
tried TO convince myself that the mind was
much more to be valued than the person, and
in this she was not inferior, as could discov
err, TO any with whom i had been acquainted.
Shortly after this, without coming to any
positive understanding with her, set out for
Vandalia, when and where you first saw me.
During my stay there i had letters from her
which did not change my opinion Of either her
intellect or intention, but, on the contrary,
confirmed il in both.
All this while, although was fixed, "firm as
the surge repelling rock, " in my resolution, ]
found / was continually repenting the rash
ness which had led me to make II. Through
life have been in no bondage, either real or
imaginary, from the thraldom of which so
much desired 70 be free. After my return
home saw nothing to change my opinion of
her in any particular. She was The same, and
so was !. i now spent E.y time IL planning
how might get along through life after my
contemplated change Of circumstances should
have taken place, and how might procrasti-
nate the evil day for "a time, which ] really
dreaded az much, perhaps more. than an Irish
man does the halter.
After all my suffering upon this deeply in
teresting subject here am, wholly, uneXpect-
eddy, completely, out of the "scrape, and now
want to know if you can guess how got out
of IL, out, clear, in every sense of the term,
no violation of word, honor or conscience.
don't believe you can guess, so / might as well
tell you ut once.
As the lawyer says, il was done in the man
ner following-to wit: After had delayed the
matter as long az / thought i could in honor
do-which, by the way, had brought me round
into the last fall concluded l might as well
bring il 70 "A contamination without further
delay, and so / mustered up my resolution and
made the proposal TO her direct but, shocking
to relate, she answered no. AT first i sup
posed she did il through affectation Of mod
esty, which thought but i'll became her under
, the peculiar circumstances of her case, but on
my renewal OF the charge found She repealed
il with greater frmness than before. / tried
ii again and again, but with the same success,
or rather with the same want of success.
finally was forced 10 give il up, at which l very
unexpectedly found myself mortified almost
beyond endurance. l was mortified, il seemed
TO me, in a hundred different ways. My vani-
" was deeply wounded by the reflection that
had been too stupid 10 discover her intcn
tions, and at the same time never doubling
that / understood them perfectly, and also
that she, whom had taught myself to believe
nobody else would have, had actually rejected
me with all my fancied greatness And, to cap
the whole. then for the first time began to sus-
pect that was really little in love with her.
But let il all go. III try and outlive it. Others
/ have been made fools of by the girls, but this
can never with truth be said OF me. ! most
! emphatically in this instance made n fool Of
myself. l have now come to the conclusion
never again to think of marrying, and for this
reason-l can never be satisfied with any one
who would be blOckhead enough TO have me.
When you receive this, write me n long yarn
about something to amuse me. Give my re-
spects to Mr. Browning. Your sincere friend,
A. LINCOLN.
Mrs. o. H. Browning.
As before mentioned, Miss Owens was
afterward married and became the
mother Of five children. Two of her
sons served I'm the Confederate army
She died July 4, 1877. Speaking of Mr.
Lincoln short time before her death,
she referred to him as "a man with q
heart full of kindness and head full Of
sense. "
Not Accord;ny IN Tho Code