Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1916-02-11

TN bring Mary back If you'll agree to marry
her"
Marry herr I'd be delighted" said Lincoln.
Mrs. Able went away and q month or later
she was In Springfield again and she had her
sister with her.
Lincoln went to call When he saw Mary
Owens he gasped The girl had grown enor.
mously She hac become outrageously fat
We'll, rye brought ha back for you to marry
according to promise" said Mrs. Able
She was joking. but Lincoln wasn't sure wheth.
It q Jest or whether she serious
and was cloaking her feelings In the light man
ner in which she spoke. He called regularly upon
Miss Ovens and paid 10 her all the attention he
thought an engaged man should. It WAS not
pleasant however for she was enormous in size
To make the situation still more absurd, he WAS
very tall and very thin. The contrast between
the two was enough to make any person smils.
no matter how gloomy he might be-
Lincoln worried greatly over the situation. He
felt that he was In honor Bound TO marry the
lady. but he dreaded tie taking OF such n step.
But while Lincoln had due regard for the
sanctity Of his promise. implied or otherwise. DO
tried hard TO make Miss Owens understand that
he was not desirable partner for life. He wrote
to her some Of the queerest love letters that per
haps any man ever penned. He told her over and
again what q miserable life she would have
with him. In one Of them he said:
II am afraid you would not be satisfied. There
ia great deal OF aoRrishinR about in carriages
to see without sharing. You would have 70 be
poor without the means OF hiding your poverty.
Do you believe you could bear that patientlyfs
Another time he @rote 70 her:
Il know / should be much happier with you
than the way / am, provided l saw no signs OF
discomfort in you What you have said 10 me
may have been in the way Of Jest or may have
misunderstood It. II So then let II be forgotten
IL otherwise. wish you would think seriously
before you decide. What have said / would
Ny opinion IL that you had better not do t. You
have not been accustomed 10 hardship and Il
may - more serious than you now imagine.
know you are capable OF thinking concretaly on
any subject and IL you deliberate matursly upon
this before you decide, then am willing 70 abide
pour decision
Lovers Tears and oUarrsis.
Evidently Miss Owens had some spirit. She
sent > reply to one of his letters that stunned
him She rejected him incontinentiy. and she
piqued hts pride "a doing IT, for she told him that
he deficient in those links which make up
the chain of q woman's happiness"
You would not think OF Lincoln a. q dancing
man. yet he did ct times indulge in that pastime.
There are some records extant in proof Of this.
They take the form OF cotiiIion notices printed
at the time he thirty years old and little
before his meeting with Mary Todd
Like Mary Owens. Mary Todd was . Ken
tuckian. and. like Mary Owens. she had sister
es~~@~~S~~~e~@~~~4e-~cs~~
LlNcoLNs TRUE kiNoLIhESs.
Mrs. Amanda Kuhn died some months ago in
Philadelphia at the age of eighty.four. During
the Civil war her husband wounded and she
went TO the hospital at Washington With heE only
baby to nurse him. He recovered but she stayed
to nurse others There Lincoln saw her and was
deeply impressed with the woman's devotion 70
the needs Of the injured. Her baby attracted him
and. realizing that the child q burden and
anxiety to the loyal nurse, he arranged for lis
care In the White House while the mother was
busy in the hospital That was like him Il ID
merely another story OF the many that mark
Lincoln as the biggest man the modern world has
known