The Washington herald., 1913-02-09
CURIOUS STORIES OF LINCOLN
TOLD BY HIMSELF AND FRIENDS

guests were waiting. Not until = year
later did It actually come on.
But Lincoln had had q previous ro-
nance, when only twenty-four years OF
age-the young lady IN this instance be-
ing a dainty and golden-haired little
creature named Anne Rutledge. She died
not long after they became engaged, and
the young man was thrown into such
despair by her loss that he may be said
never to have entirely recovered from 1t.
His friends thought for a while that he
was going insane, and in stormy weather
he would rave and cry that he could
never be reconciled to have the snow
and rain beat upon her grave.
A most admirable description OF the
Dartyred President was given by Ma
thaniel Hawthorne in an article which
he wrote for the Atlantic Monthly, en-
titled Chiefly on War Matters" The
editor of the magazine deeming that II
might offend his admirers, blue-penciled
il out. 1t read as follows:
"Unquestionably, Western man though
he be. and Kentuckian by birth, Presi-
dent Lincoln is the essential representa-
tive of all Yankees. and the veritable
specimen. physically, of what the world
seems determined to regard as our
scribing his lengthy awkwardness, nor
the uncCuthness of his movements; and
yet 1t seemed as if / had been in the
habit of seeing him daily. and had shaken
hands with him a thousand times in
some village street, so true was he to
the aspect of the pattern American
though with a certain extravaganza
which possibly I exaggerated still fur
ther by the delighted eageness with
which I took it in.
He was dressed in a rusty black
frock-coat and pantaloons. unbrushed
and worn so faithfully that the suit
had adapted itself to the curves ana
angularities of his figure, and had grown
to be an outer skin of the man. The
whole physiognomy is as coarse a one
Us you would meet anywhere in the
length and breadth of the States; but
withal, it is redeemed, Illuminated. soft
ened and frightened by a kindly though
serious look out of his eyes and an ex-
preston of homely sagacfty that seemed
weighted with rich results of bitter ex-
perience-a great deal of native sense.
no bookish cultivation, no refinemen,
honest at heart and thoroughly so. and
yet in some sort sly. or at least en-
dowed with a sort OF tact and wisdom
that are akin to craft and would i'm
pei him, / think, to take an antagonist
in flank rather than to make a bull run
at him right in front. But. on the whole
liked the sallow, queer, sagacious Wis
age. with the homely human sympathies
that warmed it. and for my small share
in the matter would as lief have Uncle
Abe as a ruler as any man whom il
would have been practicable to put in
his place"
Was n Postmaster.
Abraham Lincoln was postmaster at
Salem, H., during the jackson admins
tration. When he relinquished the office,
he sent in his accounts to Washington,
which showed a balance of $50 due from
him to the government.
No official attention was paid to the
matter, however, and 1t was not until
about three years later that the Post
office Department made a demand upon
him for the amount. In the meantime,
he had moved to Springfield.
Friends, knowing that he was rather
poorly OF, offered to help him. But, in
response, he went to a battered old trunk.
took therefrom q sewn-up pocket (orig-