The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-02-18


Washington In 1861 was essentially
Southern In ell its rsmidcations. In
politics and social life the capital was
decidedly, even aggressively, rro-sIavcry.
Under these conditions the occupsnc y
Isaf-ths White housss by "Black Republii
can" President snd his wife was pecu :
iiarly hateful event to . large proportion
\ of f,its.society. Society was, In fact, torn
up root and branch by the impending
civil war; everything was chaos, and had
to be recognized from the found alton.
1t was under these adverse circum-
stances that Mrs. Lincoln became mis-
tress Qf the White House. Every ingenu-
ty OF malice wss resorted to to discredit
the new regime. Both the Presiden, and
his wife were merciiessly ismpooned; and
yet Mrs. Lincoln was the peer of any
woman in Washington In education and
character, as well as the "barrcn ideality"
OF birth. W. d. Stoddard-one of the
private secretaries, and a keen observer
in his little book, "Inside the White House
In War says that Mrs. Lincoln was
prepared TO assume q loading part. AS
he noted that she was an authoritative
mistress, but listened patiently TO sensi-
bic representation and oftentimes yielded
her Judgment; that her instructions
were given in q kindly and vivacious
manner; that she was pleasant looking
woman" brig ht, cheerful, almost merry"
sometimes. Ibe servants always spoke
of her as "the madam" Says Stoddard,
"As You look at her and talk with her,
the fact that she has so many enemies
strikes you as one OF the moral curl iosiiies
Of this venomous time"
She dressed well, even extravagantly.
In her little book, "Bebind the Scenes, ,,
Mrs. Keckley, who was Nrs Lincoln's
dressmaker, speaks Of having made fif
teen dresses for her Ia three or four
months. This authority says no queen
could have comported herself with more
dignity than Mrs. Lincoln ut all public
functions.
Yet this woman was stigmatizei by
certain class of Washington society as
low, vulgar, and even ignorant without
any qualifications for the high station to
which she had been called.
The calumny which wounded her most
deeply was her alleged sympathy with
the Rebellion, which had its sole founda-
tion in the fact that her Kentucky half
brothers were Confederates, although she
had held no intercourse with them since
their childhood. II was said aud believed
that she hampered her husband In every
possible way In the prosecution of the
war. In self-protection she wished Mr..
Stoddard to examine all her correspon-
dence. 1t Is certain that she Loyalty de-
sired the success of her husband and the
great cause he so ably di ectsd. In a
printed letter to Mrs. KsckIey, Mrs. LA
coin asserts positively that her sympa-
thies were strongly with the North DUR
Ing the war, and always. 81 have never
failed TO urge my husband to be an ex-
treme Republican" As Lincoln always
and relied upon her judgment,
it is hardly probable he would have taken
the advanced Republican ground against
slavery in his house-di led al inst itself |
speech in 1858 without her approval, |
which strongly corroborates her claim
From "Lincoln's Home Life in Washing-
lop," by Leslie J. Perry, in Harper's Mag
azine for February.