The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1903-07-22

One Of the most ronantic episoIas
in the life Of Prebidsn6 Abraham Lin.
coin Has recently been brought 10 light
by Norman Hapgood ID; an old letter,
dated Springfield, Ills. April 4, 1893,
and written BY Mr.. Lincoln 10 Mrs. O.
a. Drowning. From this saeient
document whoae genuinensss is undis.
puted, tseems that Mr. Lincoln, as
the result Of 5 rash promise, smsdes TO
the sister Of q young lady whom he
had not seen since his formal intro
duotion TO her some three years pre-,
vious, became tine dupesof matrimcn-
ial entanglements which might have
changed materially the whole course
Of his career had he not been fortu-
nate enough to extrioate himself from
them in the most unexpected manney.
At the time Mr. Lincoln was an OBJ
scure young barrister still short Of
thirty. But the story is best told by
the letter, itself which lie full Of the
whimsical touches Of humor SO CHAR
acteristio of Mr.. Lincoln.
Springfield, Ills, April 4. 1885.
Dear Madam- Without apologizing
for being egotistical ! shall make the
history Of 30 much ofmy life as has
elapsed since I saw you the subject Of
this letter. And, by the way, i now
discover that in order to give you an
Ineligible account Of. the things {
have done and suffered Ishall necss-
sarily have TO relate some that hap
pened before. .Ig5,5.
st was. then, in the autumn Of
1886 that . married lady OF my ao-
quaintance who was great friend of
mine, being about to pay 8 visit to her
father and other relatives residing i1
Kentucky, proposed TO me that ON her
return shewould bring 8 sister Of hers
with her on condition that I would en-
gage to become her brother.;n.law
with all convenient dispatch. or
course, I accepted the proposal. You
know / could rot have done otherwise
had been realls averse to it; but
privately, between you and me, i was
most confoundedly Hell pleased with
the project. I had eeen che said sister
some three years before. thought her
intelligent and agreeable and saw no
objection 90 plodding through life,
hand in hand, with her.
"Time passed on, the lady took her
journey and in due time returned, sis.
ter in company sure enough. This as
toniahed me q little; FOR it appea-ed'to
me that her coming so readily showed
she was Q tribe too willing, but. on
reflection its occurred to ME shat she
might have been prevailed on BY her
married sister to come, aaithout any-
thing concerning me ever having been
mentioned TO her; and 80 I Iconcladed;
that, if no oth hsrobject presented ii.
self, would waive this.
"Thisfali occurred to me on hearing
Of her arrivalin fhe neighborhood, for,
be itremembered + had NOT yet seen,
her, except about three years previous,
as above mentioned. III . few days
We had an interview; and, !, although i
had eenaher before, shs did not look.
as my Imagination had pictured her,.s
l knew she was over size, but she ap-
peared q fair match for FalstsR. I
knew she was nm s.old maid, \ and / felt
no doabtof the truth Of at least half
OF the citation; but now, when i
beheld her. 4 could not for my life
avoid thinking OF my mother; and
this, not from Withered 9eatures, fer
her skin was too full Of Fat TO permit
Of it's contracting into wrinkles, but
from her want Of teeth, weather. beat.
en- appearance ID general and from a
kind os notion that ran id 81, my head
that nothing could ssvs eomniencedi
at the Hize OF nfanSy and resehed her
present bulk in less than thirty.five
or forty years; anil { in short, Ives not
pleased with her.
But what could + do2 had told
her sister chat 4 would take her for
better! or for Vorse; and made q point
OF honor and conscience in All thines'
to stick 20 My word espee alIy ;;e csN &
ers had been induced to act On ii, !,
which in this ease ! had 40 donbt,
they had; FOR { was nov fairly co,..-
vinced that no other man On earth
would have her and hence The conolu-i
sion sllat they ssre bent On holding
me 70 fpy bsrgain. Vol. thought L,
I have said il and bo the conae..