The herald., 1895-06-09
SKETCHES FROM THE LIFE OF LINCOLN

the time Of tho debate between Douglas
and Lincoln she often heard tho latter's
wife boast that she would yet be mistress
of the White House The secret of her
ability to endure the eccentricitieS of her
mistress came out in the admission that
Mr.. Lincoln gave her an extra dollar each
week on condition that she would brave
whatever storms might arise and suffer
whatever might befall her without com
plant. 1t was a rather severe condition,
but she lived rigidly up to her part of the
contract. The money was paid secretly
and without the knowledge of Mrs. Lin
coin. Frequently after tempestuous scenes
between the mistress and her servant Lin
CON at the first opportunity would place
his hand encouragihgly on the latter's
shoulder, with the admonition, MARY,
keep up your courage" 1t may not be
without interest to add that the servant
afterward married a man who enlisted in
the army. In the spring Of 1865 his wife
managed to reach Washington to secure
her husbands release from the service
After some effort she succeeded in obtain
ing an interview with the president He
was glad to see her, gave her q basket OF
fruit and directed her to call the next day
and obtain pass through the lines and
money to buy clothes for herself and chill
dren. That night he was assassinated.
man once called ut the house to learn
why Mrs. Lincoln had so unceremoniously
discharged his niece from her employ.
Mrs. Lincoln met him at the door, and be-
ing somewhat wrought up gave vent to
her feelings, resorting to such violent gesr
lures and emphatic language that the man
was glad to beat hasty retreat. He at
once started out to find Lincoln, deter
mined to exact from him proper satisfac-
ton for his wifes action Lincoln was
entertaining crowd in store at the
time. The man. still laboring under some
agitation, called him to the door and mado
the demand. Lincoln listened for mo-
ment to his story my friend" he in
terrupted, II regret to hear this but, let
me ask you in all candor, can't you en-
dure for a few moments what have had
as my daily portion for the last 15 years?"
These words were spoken so mournfully
and with such look of distress that tho
man was completely disarmed. 1t was a
case that appealed to his feelings. Grasp
ing the unfortunate husbands hand, he
expressed in no uncertain terms his sym
pathy and even apologizod for having ap
preached him. He said no more about the
infuriated wife, and Lincoln afterward
had no better friend in Springfield.
In Time of Storm.
Mr.. Lincoln never had a confidant, and
therefore never unbosomed himself to
Others He never spoke of his trials to me
or, as far as knew, to any Of his friends.
1t was great burden to carry, but he bore
it sadly enough and without a murmur.
could always realize when he was in dis
tress without being told He was not OK
actly an early rser-that is, he never usu-
ally appeared at the office till about 9
O'Clock in the morning. / usually preced
ed him an hour. Sometimes, however, he
would come down as early as 7o'clock-in
fact, on one occasion l remember he came
down before daylight. If, ON arriving at
the office, found him in, knew instantly
that breeze had sprung up over the do
mestic sea, and that the waters were trou-
bled. He would either be lying on the
lounge looking skyward or doubled up in
chair with his feet resting on the sill Of
back window. He would not look up OH
my entering and only answered my GOOD
morning" with n grunt I at once busted
myself with pen and paper or ran through
the leaves of some book, but the evidence
of his melancholy and distress was SO plain
and his silence so significant that l would
grow restless myself, and finding some ex
cuse to go to the courthouse or elsewhere
would leave the room.
The door of the office opening into q
narrow hallway was half glass, with q
curtain on it working on brass rings
strung on wire AS passed out on these
occasions l would draw the curtain across
the glass, and before reached the bottom
of the stairs l could hear the key turn in
the lock, and Lincoln was alone in his
gloom. An hour in the clerks office at
the courthouse, an hour longer in neigh
| boring store having passed, would re-
turn. BY that time either a client had
dropped in and Lincoln was propounding
tho law, or else the cloud of dependency
had passed away, and he was busy in the
recital of an Indiana story to whistle off
the recollections Of the mornings gloom.
Noon having arrived would depart home
ward for my dinner. Returning within
an hour, would find him still in the of
flee, although his house stood but few
squares away, lunching on slice of
cheese and a handful of crackers, which,
in my absence he had brought up from
store below. Separating for the day at
or O'Clock in the evening, 1 could still
leave him behind, either sitting on q box
at the foot of the stairway, entertaining
few loungers, or killing time in the same
way on the courthouse steps A light in
the office after dark attested his presence
there till late along in'tho night when,
after all the world had gone to sleep, the
tall form of the man destined to be tho
nations president could have been seen
strolling along in the shadows Of trees
and buildings and quietly slipping in
through the door of modest frame house,
which it pleased the world, in oonven-
tional way, 10 call his home.
In her domestic troubles L have always
sympathized with Mrs. Lincoln. The
world does not know what she bore or how
i'll adapted she was to bear it. Her fearless,
witty and austero nature shrank instinc-
lively from association with the calm, i'm
perturbablo and simple ways of her
thoughtful and absentminded husband.
Besides, who knows but she may have
acted out in her conduct toward her hus-
band the laws of human revenge? The
picture of that eventful evening in 1S4l,
when she stood at the Edwards mansion
clad in her bridal robes the feast prepared
and the guests gathered, and when the
bridegroom came not may have been con
stantly heforo her and prompted her to q
course of action which kept in the back
ground the better elements of her nature.
In marrying Lincoln She did not look so
far into the fIltil,e rs Mary Owens who