The herald., 1895-06-09
Incidents of His Home and
Office Lie
RIPPLES ON DOMESTIC SEA
Sunday III the Office With the Boys.
The Servant Question Sympathy
for Mrs. Lincoln "A Badly
Matched Pair - nary
Ovens Opinion

j.
Herndon and Jesse ". WcilS. Copyright, 1888,
by Jesse W. Weik. Copyright, 1892, by D. Ap.
pleton g. Co.
XIX.
A knowledge Of Lincoln's personal
views and actions a glimpse through the
doorway of his home and d more thorough
acquaintance with his marked and strong
points as they developed will aid us great
ly in forming our general estimate of the
man. When Mr.. Lincoln entered the do
main of investigation, he was a severe and
persistent thinker and had wonderful en-
durance; hence he was distracted and for
that reason at times was somewhat unso--
cial, reticent and uncommunicative. Aft
er his marriage it cannot be said that he
liked tho society of ladies-in fact, it was
just what he did not like, though one of
his biographers says otherwise. Lincoln
had none Of the tender ways that please a
woman, and he could not, it seemed by
any positive act of his own, make her hap
py. If his wife was happy, she was nat
urally happy or mado herself so in spite
of countless drawbacks. He was, however,
a good husband in his own peculiar way,
and in his own way only.
Conjugal Infeiicity.
If exhausted from severe and long con-
again to renew his strength When this
weariness set in, he would stop thought
and get down and play with little dog or
kitten to recover, and when the recovery
came he would push it aside to play with
its own tail. He treated men and women
in much the same way. For fashionable
society he had a marked dislike, although
he appreciated its value in promoting the
welfare of a man ambitious to succeed in
politics
If he was invited out to dine or to min
gle in some social gathering and came in
contact with the ladies, he treated them
with becoming politeness, but the con-
sciousness of his shortcomings as IA society
man rendered him unusually diffident,
and at the very first opportunity he would
have the mon separated from their ladies
and crowded close around him in one cor
ner of the parlor, listening to one of his
characteristic stories. That IA lady as proud
and as ambitious to exercise the rights of
supremacy in society as Mary Todd should
repent of her marriage to the man l have
Just described surely need occasion no sur
prise in the mind of any one. Both she
and tho man whose hand she accepted act
ed alone the lines of human conduct, and
both reaped the bitter harvest Of conjugal
infelicty. In dealing with Mr.. Lincoln's
| home life perhaps l am revealing an e!e-
ment of his character that has heretofore
been kept from the world, but in doing SC
I feel sure ] am treading on no PERSONS
toes, for all the actors in this domestic
drama are dead and the world seems
ready to hear the facts. AS his married
| life, in the opinion of all his friends, ex-
erted peculiar influence over Mr. Lin.
,'e t,r s,,,-
propriety, apprehend, in throwing the
| light on it now. However cold and alb
stracted her husband may have appeared
to Others however impressive, when
aroused, may have seemed his indignation
in public, he never gave vent to his feel
ings at home. He always meekly accepted
as final the authority of his wife in all
matters of domestic concern. This may
explain somewhat the statement of Judge
Davis that, "as a general rule, when all
the lawyers of a Saturday evening would
go home and see their families and friends
Lincoln would find some excuse and re-
fuse to go. We said nothing but it seemed
to us all he was not domestically happy"
He exercised no government of any kind
over his household. His children did much
as they pleased. Many of their antics he
approved, and he restrained them in moth
ing. He never reproved them or gave
them fatherly frown. He was the most
indulgent parent have ever known.
Sunday at the Office.
He was in the habit, when at home on
Sunday, of bringing his two boys, Willie
and Thomas--or ''Tad''-down to tho
office while his wife attended church. He
seldom accompanied her there. The boys
were absolutely unrestrained in their
amusement. If they pulled down all the
books from the shelves, bont the points of
all the pens, overturned inkstands, scat
tered law papers over the floor or threw
the pencils into the spittoon, it never dis
turbed the serenity of their fathers good
nature. Frequently absorbed in thought,
he never observed their mischievous but
destructive pranks-as his unfortunate
partner did, who thought much, but said
nothing-and even if brought to his at
tention he virtually encouraged their rep
etition by declining to show any substan-
tial evidence Of parental disapproval. Aft
! or church was over the boys and their IA
ther, climbing down the office stairs, rue
fully turned their steps homeward. They
mingled with the throngs of well dressed
people returning from church, the major
ity of whom might well have wondered II
tUe tTlO lIGy pstsSSu WVIO sOiif5 " - iAO-
side where love and white winged peace
regned supreme A near relative of MIS-
Lincoln, in explanation of tho unhappy
condition Of things in that lady's house
hold, offered this suggestion: Mrs Lin
coin came Of the best stock and was raised
like lady. Her husband was her oppo
site in origin, in education, in breeding
in everything, and it is therefore quite
natural that sho should complain II he an
swered the doorbell himself instead of
sending the servant to do so. Neither is
she to be condemned if, as you say, she
raised merry war because he persisted in
using his own knife in the butter, instead
of the silver handled one intended for that
purpose" Such want of social polish on
the part of her husband of course gave
Mrs. Lincoln great offense, and therefore
in commenting on it she cared neither for
time nor place. Her frequent outbursts OF
temper precipitated many an embarrass-
ment from which Lincoln with great diff
Guilty extricated himself.
Mrs. Lincoln, on account of her peculiar
nature, could not long retain a servant in
her employ. The sea was never SO placid
but that breeze would ruf1le its waters.
She loved show and attention, and If,
when she glori1ed her family descent or
INDUCED in one of her strange outbreaks,
the servant could simulate absolute obse-
ouiousness or had tact enough to enCour-
age her social pretensions. Mrs. Lincoln
A. at, l, fan, ,nstf frin nv,n