The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-02-12

Here is a story of Abraham Lin
coin never before told. 1t illus
trates how the heart of the great !,
rugged man could open with SYM
pathy for the griefs of others,
Especially for the violent, hope
less griefs Of children.
The woman who tells the story
is old now. Blooming cheeks have
long since fallen into saffron fur
rows, and from underneath her
eyes depend dark pouches. Yet
when she tells the story she weeps
and gentle tears course down the
wrinkles.
She does not weep because of
her childhood sorrow. Time long
ago healed the smart of that. She
weeps because the great-hearted,
human tenderness of Abraham
Lincoln shall bring tears to the
eyes of youth and age alike as
long as hearts shall beat.
She is Mrs. Eliza Wells, but at
the time the grief that brought her
such a rare memory of Lincoln
came to her she was Eliza Taylor,
a flippant, inconsequential school
girl of 16, living in Springfield,
ILL.,, where her stepfather (the
only father she ever knew was an
overworked family doctor, with an
office across the hall from Lin
coins law office.
DR.. Taylor was a rigid New
Highlander, sprung from long line
of Puritan ancestors and proud of
his blood. But between him and
Lawyer Lincoln, whose birthplace
was a lowly cabin in Kentucky,
there sprung up a fine friendship.
The doctors discriminating
glance went past the uncouth ex-
terror of the man, pierced the
mask of drollery and anecdote
with which Lincoln was wont to
surround his personality, and saw
the rare and beautiful soul under
meath.
The doctors pert daughter,
however, was not to be won by
the warmth of the country law
yer's good-natured advances. She
put down his funny stories as. the
attempts of a boorish sort of fell
low to be kittenish, and had ever
a word of criticism for his rough
ness of dress:
81 didn't like him-then-that
was ALL" says Mrs. Wells now. "I
thought he was SO ugly" which
perhaps was a very good reason
for girl of 16.
That was "a years ago. Present
ly the country was scourged with
a fatal epidemic-cholera 1t
seemed to be in every home. If
DR.. Taylor had been overworked
before, he knew not the meaning
of rest then. Night and day he
was up and about.
1t was then the undefiled cour-
age that DIR. Taylor knew was in
Lincoln's soul showed itself. With
a story, word of appreciation, a
bit of cheer now and then he
heartened the doctor to his work.
When medicine was needed and
the patient had no money, Lin
coins lean purse was open. He
appeared unwilling that his doc
tor friend should bear all of the
responsibility alone, and himself
made the rounds with the physi-
clan, doing what he could.
The schoolgirl, Eliza, knew
none of these things until later,
for DR.. Taylor was a silent man.
There were other brave men
shoulder to shoulder with Lincoln,
and by and by the disease was
conquered.
But the sleeplessnes and
Istrain were too much for DR.. Tay-
lor. Two weeks later he was
stricken with a fatal attack of
typhoid fever. He fought a game
fight to the end. And the man
most constantly at his bedside,
radiating the same inexhaustable
cheer, was Abraham Lincoln.
The New Highlander and the
humble Kentuckian had passed
through fire together and it was
doc" and ABE" with them. And
even when the doctor stepped into
the Valley of the Shadow, it was
Lincoln who leaned over the bed
and spoke with steadfast cour-
age.