The Monitor-register., 1897-04-02
Befriended by Mrs. Lincoln.

Betr1ended by mrs. Lincoln.
81 have a letter you would like to Sc,
! guess" said Assemblyma James H.
Agep, of West Superior.
"With you {"
mo. 1t is too precious to carry around
10 a grip or pocket"
"Who wrote it and what does it con.
tain P"
"Let me tell you a story before answer
ing your double question. In 1864, while
following Grant toward Richmond, and
when we had come so close to it that they
could hear our muskets and We their
church bells, l was stricken with a fever
and sent to the hospital. 10 time they
landed me, more dead tnan alive, in one
of the great hospitals at Washington. l
was a very sick boy. Boy is right, for
that was all l was-sweet sixteen, as a
girl of that age would be. For three
weeks l had no ambition to live.
'One day, after l had passed the danger
point and was taking a little notice of
what was going on, a number of ladies
came through the hospital. They had
baskets containing delicacies and bou-
quets of beautiful flowers. One of them
stopped at each cot as they passed along.
A bunch of blossoms was handed to each
sick or wounded soldier, and, if he de-
sired it, a delioacy of some kind was also
distributed. Every now and then one of
the women sat in a camp chair and wrote
a letter for the poor fellow who hadn't
the strength to write himself.
Il wanted nothing to eat or drink, but
those pretty posies held my attention.
One of the ladies stopped at my cot. l
hadn't yet got my full growth, and 10 my
then emaciated, pale condition l must
have looked like a child. She seemed
surprised as she looked at me.
"'You poor child; what brought you
here? p
"'They sem me here from the Army of
the Potomac
"'But you are not a soldier
"'Yes, ma6am; l belong to a New
York regiment. The surgeon bere has
the record
Can l do something for you? Can
you eat something or take a swallow of
wine?'
81 am not hungry or thirsty
"'Can l write q letter for you?'
"'Not to day; I'm too weak
"'Then l will leave some of these
flowers with you. President Lincoln
helped to Gull them. l will come again
in two or three days. Keep up your
courage. You are going to get well; you
must get WE'LL
"She was the first oma who had
spoken to me since l reached the army.
Looking at the flowers which Mr.. Lincoln
had helped to Gull, and thinking of the
dear woman who had spoken so kindly
and hopefully, had more effect in bright
ening my spirits than all else that had
occurred in the hospital.
"Three days later the same lady came
1S"iht ohN NihCOo W ny OObs
elbow is my little soldier boy to day p
she asked in a way so motherly that it
reminded me of my good mother back in
New York, the patriotic mother who had
given her consent to my going to the war
after praying over the matter many times.
That hospital angel-that is what we
learned to call those noble women-after
giving me a taste of chicken and jelly,
asked if l had a mother. She saw by the
tears in my eyes that l had.
"'Now, we will write mother a letter.
the Tsttsr:sh1 h4ob't 'BBehi9su fgdu write
for a month.
"'I have told your mother that | am
near her soldier boy, and nave talked
with him What shall l tell her for you?
That you are still too wesk to write your.
selfP'
"'Please don't tell her that; it will
make her worry. Tell her l am fast get
ting WE'LL
"The first day 1 got home my mother
asked me how l liked Mrs. Lincoln, the
Presidents wife.
81 never met Mrs. Lincoln. What
made you think 1 had p
"Tben she took from a box closely
guarded in the old bureau, a letter. 1t
read like this:
"'DEAR MRS. AGEN: | am sitting by
the side of your soldier boy. He has
been quite sick, but is getting we'll. He
tells me to say to you that he is all right.
With respect for the mother of the young
soldier. MRS. ABRAHAM LINCOLN
THAT was the first l knew it Vas the
Presidents wife who had made those Two
visits. l begged mother to give me the
letter. You can have it when l am
gone When she died a box and an old
letter folded in a silk handkerchief ere
among her gifts to me.
"The box, 'kerchief and letter will
lass along the Agen line as mementos
too sacred for everyday display.
"Last fall, when Capt. Robert Lincoln,
ex.Secretary of War and ex Minister to
England, passed through West Superior
Oh his way to Duluth to speak for
Mckinley. one of his fathers soldiers in
the early sixties, 1 took a seat in the same
car. He was surrounded by a crowd,
and l could not get very close to him.
Holding up the old letter and asking him
to take it, lie complied, read it, dropped
his head for a moment, and reached over
and took me Dy the hand and drew me to
him. His lips were trembling as be
pointed to the letter and said:
"'My dear mothers writing
~ then told him how Mrs. Lincoln
happened to write it. He said his mother
fire. quently visited the hospitals, and on
many occasions his father and himself
had accompanied her. He had many
times helped his father cut flowers to be
sent to the hospitals. ~ Chicago Times