The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1911-11-08
III MA


5-.-4
was the only. as he certainly was
the last. intimate friend that Linz
coin ever had They knew
the Inmost thoughts OF each other e
hearts and each depended upon the
honesty and loyalty of the other.
The story of the way their intt-
macy, began and how they came 70
abide together relates that, entering
Speeds store in Springfield, saddle
bags on arm. the just-arrived I4in=
coin ascertained that the domestic
outfit he required would cost the
enormous sum OF seventeen dollars
II had no idea It would cost the half
OF that said he, ''and haven't the
money to pay for it; but If you will
walt on me till Christmas, and l
make anything, I'll pay. and II 1
don't, Il can't Then said Speed.
II can do better for you than that
II have all the things you want and
n sleep on a bed that's big enough
for two. You just come and bunk
with me and it shah cost you moth
ing He pointed the way around
a pile of boxes and barrels and up
Ia flight of stairs. Lincoln went az
directed and quickly returned. buS
without the saddle, tags. Speed
said he. GIVE moved
Conscience and destiny had joined
forces to write drama such as maH
not be found elsewhere outside the
pages of romance; as compact and
unified as a Greek tragedy; mystical
and weird, but real. Speed was
short. OF stout build. not given to
loQuacity, a little abrupt in speech
to the end of his days. Lincoln was
very tall and angular. conciliatory,
patient, not ever wanting the pur-
suasfve word He might have de-
scribed himself and his friend as he
once described himself and his wife,
as "the long and the short of It. .
The first and. most serious affair
OF life to them was marriage. The
amatory matters which engaged and
ergrossed them were not many, but
ithey cut deep. Lincoln had already
! had what he thought was his finish
ing stroke in the death of Ann Rut-
ledge, when he met Mary Todd
speeds love passage with Fanny
Henning was to come later Each
as the sequel showed suffered the
common lot OF heartache. as each in
turn and in the hour. OF trouble de-
livered to the other fraternal wis
dom and comfort.
"ln the year $780," Il quote from
the Hay-Nicolay biography. "Abra-
ham Lincoln became engaged to be.
married to Miss Mary Todd, of Lex
fngtor, Ky. The engagement
was not in all respects a happy one.
as both parties doubted their COM
patability His affection for
his bethrothed, which he feared was
rot strong enough to make happi-
ness with her secure; his doubts
which yet were not convincing
enough to induce him to break OFF
all relations with her; his sense OF
honor which was wounded in his
own eyes by his own act; his sense
Of duty which condemned him in
ore course and did not sustain him
in the opposite course, combined to
make him profoundly and passion
atey wretched. To his friends who
were unused to such finely wrought.
and even fantasies sorrows, his
troubles seemed so exaggerated that
they could only account for it on the
ground of insanity"
But he was not mad. Speed
picked him up bodily, as it were, and
carried him off to Kentucky and into
the bosom Of his own happy and
pious family circles. where he quick
,ly recovered his equanimity, re-
turning to Springfield himself
again. 1t was Speed. who on his
home visit, met his fate, and, in
perturbation OF spirit. exchanged
places with Lincoln Lincoln, who
became the physician OF his friend.
and, out OF his own experience adj
mnigtered the needed medicine OF
thought and tender sympathy.
The correspondence is yet extant
revealing the innermost thrOes Of
two natures |exquisiteIy strung and
stretched to their tension, neither
Hamlet. nor Werther. closer upon
the edge OF the precipice, which
hapDfly was withheld from them .