The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-03-27
AN OLD MAID IN
L|NC0LN'S EYES
Remarkable Letter EmancipatOr
Wrote To Be Sold.
WOOING THRUST UPON HIM

Placed In an Embarrassing Position as
Later Penned Grotesque Account Of
the Lady and Unexpected Outcome Of
the Strange Romance.
Major William IL. Lambert. civil war
veteran. who died in Philadelphia June
l. 1912. owned the finest Abraham Lin
coin and William NJ. Thackeray collec-
tions in existence. Owing to his death
they have come into the public market
and will be sold at auction.
Perhaps the item of greatest general
interest in part one Is the five page
quarto letter written by Lincoln to
Mrs. Orvllle H. Browning. telling how
he made love to Mary s. Owens. after
ward Mary S. Vineyard. asked her to
marry him and was rejected. The let
ter. which is worn at the folds. is
dated Springfield. April |. 1888. Lin
coin first met Miss Owens In 1893 at
the house of Mrs. Bennett Able. her sis
ter. The letter reads in part:
1T was then, In the autumn of 1886.
that married lady Of my acquain-
lance (Mrs. Able, and who was great
friend of mine being about to pay
visit to her father and other relatives
residing in Kentucky proposed to me
that on her return she would bring
sister of hers with her on condition
that would engage to become her
brother-in-law with all convenient dis
patch. had seen the said sister some
three years before. thought her intelli-
gent and agreeable and saw no good
objection to plodding through life hand
in hand with her.
"A TrifIe Too Willing"
Thine passed on. The lady took her
journey and in due time returned, Sis
ter In company. sure enough. This
stomached me little. for it appeared
to me that her coming so readily show.
ed that she was tritle too willing. but
on reflection it occurred to me that she
might have been prevailed on by her
married sister to come without any
thing concerning me having been men,
toned to her.
"In a few days we had an interview.
and. although had not seen her be-
fore. she did not look as my magma
ton had pictured her. knew she was
diversified, but now she appeared fair
match for Falstaff. knew she was
called an old maid and felt no
doubt of the truth Of at least half Of
the appelation. A kind of notion ran
in my head that nothing could have
commenced ut the size Of infancy and
reached her present bulk in less than
thirtytve or forty years. and, in short.
was not at all pleased with her
"But what could | do? had told
her sister that | would take her for
better or for worse. and | made a
point Of honor and conscience in all
things to stick to my word.
'At once | determined to consider
her my wife. and. this done. all my
powers of discovery were put to work
in search of PROJECTIONS in her which
might be fairly set off against her de-
fects. | tried to imagine her hand
some. which. but for her unfortunate
corpulency. was actually true.
Unexpected Developments.
after all my sufferings upon this
deeply interesting subject. here | am.
wholly. unexpectedly. completely out
of the 'scrape.' and | now want to
know If you can guess how | got out
Of tout clear in every sense Of the
term-no violation of word, honor or
conscience. don't believe you can
guess, and so | may as we'll tell you
at once. AS the lawyer says, it was
done in the manner following, to wit:
After had delayed the matter as
long as thought | could in honor do
| concluded | might us well bring it
to q contamination without further de-
lay. and So | mustered my resolution
and made the proposal to her direct:
but, shocking to relate, she answer
ell No
AT first supposed she did 1t
which | thought but Ill became her
under the peculiar circumstances OF
her case, but on my renewal of the
charge | found she repealed 1t with
greater frmness than before. | tried
1t again with the same success. or.
rather. with the same want Of success.
| finally was forced to give 1t up. at
which very unexpectedly found my
self mortified almost beyond endur-
ance.
And to cap the whole l then for the
first time began to suspect that was
really a little in love with her. But
let it go I'll try and outlive 1t. 9th
ers have been made fools of by the
girls. but this can never with truth be
said Of me. most emphatically In
this instance made fool Of myself.
| haze now come to the conclusion
never again to think of marrying. and
for this reason can never be satisfied
with any one who would be blockhead
enough to have me-"
Lincoln was twenty-seven years old
when his marriage proposal to Miss
Owens was rejected.
HERBINE cures constipation and
re-establishes regular bowel move