Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1907-02-21

Love Affairs
And His Early Expert
ences as a Lawmaker
BY WARD HILL LAMON,
Lincoln's Friend and Bodyguard
Curious Confession From Lincoln O,
Mary Owens Affair.
Lincoln's Friend and Bodyguard
CHAPTER V.

Curious Confession From Lincoln OF
Mary Owens Affair.
FTER his second meeting with
IA Mary Mr.. Lincoln had little
time to prosecute his addresses
in person, for early in Decem.
Der he was called away to his seat in
the legislature; but, If his tongue was
silent in the cause, his pen was busy.
8 During the session Of the Legislature
OF 1869 Mr.. Lincoln made the &C.
quaintance Of Mrs. o. 81. Browning
whose husband was also a member
THE acquaintance ripened into friend.
ship, and that winter and the next Mr.
Lincoln spent a great deal Of time in
social intercourse with the Brownings
Mrs. Browning knew nothing as yet OF
the affair with Miss Owens, but as the
latter progressed and Lincoln became
more and more involved she noticed
the ebb Of his spirits and often rallied
him as the victim Of some secret but
consuming passion. With this for his
excuse, Lincoln wrote her after the
adjournment Of the legislature a full
{ and connected account Of the manner
in which he had latterly been making
"a fool Of" himself. For many reasons
the publication Of this letter is an ex-
tremely painful duty. If 1t could be
Z withheld and the act decently recon
ciled to the conscience Of a biographer
processing to be honest and candid it
should never see the light in these
pages. Its grotesque humor, it's coarse
exaggerations in describing the person
Of lady whom the writer was willing
to marry, it's imputation Of toothless
and weather beaten old age to wo-
man really young and handsome, it's
.utter lack of that delicacy Of tone and
sentiment which one naturally expects
a gentleman to adopt when he thinks
proper to discuss the merits Of his late
mistress-all these and it's defective
>'orthography it would certainly be more
agreeable to suppress than to publish.
But if we begin by emitting or mutt
lating document which sheds so
broad light upon one part Of his life
and one phase Of his character why
may we not do the like as fast and as
often as the temptations arise? And
where shall the process cease? A BIZ
ography worth writing at all is worth
writing fully and honestly, and the
writer who suppresses or mangles the
truth is no better than he who bears
false witness in any other capacity
In April, 1888. Miss Owens finally
{. departed from Illinois, and in that
same month Mr.. Lincoln wrote Mrs.
Browning:
Springfield. April 1, 1888.
Dear Madam-Without apologizing for
being egotistical, I shall make the history
of so much of my life as has elapsed
since saw you the subject of this letter.
And by the way, 1 now discover that, in
order to give full and Ineligible ac-
count of the things I have done and suf
fered since I saw you, I shall necessarily
have to relate some that happened before.
It was, then, in the autumn Of 1886 that
a married lady Of my acquaintance and
who was a great friend Of mine, being
{, about to pay visit to her father &
other relatives residing in Kentucky, pro-
posed to me that on her return she would
bring a sister of hers with her on cond-
ton that would engage to become her
brother-in-law with all convenient dis
patch. I, of course, accepted the pro-
, posal, for you know could not have done
Z" otherwise had I really been averse to it,
but privately, between you and me- was
most confoundedly well pleased with the
project. I had seen the said sister some
three years before, thought her intelli-
gent and agreeable and saw no good OBJ
lection to plodding life through hand in
hand with her. Time passed on, the lady
took her journey and in due time re-
turned. sister in company, sure enough.
This astonished me little, for it ap-
peared to me that her coming so readily
showed that she was trife too willing;
but on reflection it occurred to me that
she might have been prevailed on by her
4 married sister to come without anything
: concerning me ever having been mention
ed to her, and so I concluded that if no
other objection presented itelf, I would
consent to wave this. All this occurred
to me on hearing Of her arrival in the
neighborhood for be it remembered,
i had not yet seen her except about three
years previous as above mentioned In
A few days we had an interview, and, al
Il though I had seen her before, she did
not look as my imagination had pictured
her I knew she was oversize, but she
now appeared a fair match for Falstaff.
/. knew she was called an "old maid" and
VI felt doubt of the truth Of at least
half of the appelation, but now. when
beheld her. l could not for my life avoid
VI IOlHeI, anu ILLS llOl lFOIU
withered features. for her skin too
full Of fat to permit of its contracting
i into wrinkles. but from her want Of teeth,
weather beaten appearance in general and
from a kind of notion that ran in my
head that nothing could have commenced
at the size of infancy and reached her
present bulk in less than thirty-five or
forty years. and. in short, I was not at
all pleased with her. But what could
do? I had told her sister that I would
take her for better or for worse, and I
made a point of honor and conscience In
all things to stick to my word, especially
If others had been induced to act on it,
which in this case I had no doubt they
had for I was now fairly convinced that
no other man on earth would have her,
and hence the conclusion that they were
bent on holding me to my bargain.
''Well," thought I, II have said it, and
be the consequences what they may, 1t
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