The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1916-02-11

I'll bring Mary back if you'll agree to marry
her"
Marry her? I'd be delighted" said Lincoln
Mrs. Able went away and a month or so later
she 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 had become outrageously fat.
We'll, I've brought her back for you to marry
according to promise" said Mrs. Able.
She was joking. but Lincoln wasn't sure vheth
er 1t was a Jest or whether she was serious
and cloaking her feelings In the light man
In which she spoke He called regularly upon
Miss Owens and paid to her all the attention he
thought an engaged man should 1t was not
pleasant however for she was enormous in size.
To make the situation still more absurd, he
very tall and very thin The contrast between
the two enough to make any person smile.
matter how gloomy he might be.
Lincoln worried greatly over the situation He
felt that he in honor bound to marry the
lady but he dreaded the taking of such step.
But while Lincoln had due regard for the
sanctity OF his promise. implied or otherwise, he
tried hard to make Miss Owens understand that
he not desirable partner for life. He wrote
to her OF the queerest love letters that per
haps any man ever peHled. He told her over and
again what a miserable life she would have
with him. In one of them he said:
Il am afraid you would not be satisfied There
is a great deal OF aourishing about in carriages
here In Springfield. which it would be your doom
to see without sharing. You would have to be
poor without the means OF hiding your poverty.
Do you believe you could bear that PATIENTLY"
Another time he wrote to her:
Il know / should be much happier with you
than the way I am, provided 1 saw no signs of
discomfort in you. What you have said to me
may have been in the way of Jest. or / may have
misunderstood it. II so. then let it be forgotten;
II otherwise. I wish you would think seriously
before you decide. What have said l would
most positively abide by. provided you wish t.
My opinion is that you had better not do ii. You
have not been accustomed to hardship and 1t
may be more serious than you now imagine
know you are capable Of thinking coRcretely on
any subject and II you deliberate maturely upon
this before you decide. then am willing to abide
your decision"
Lovers Tears and ouarreIs.
Evidently Miss Owens had some spirit She
sent g reply to of his letters that stunned
him. She rejected him incontinently. and she
piqued his pride n doing It, for she told him that
he was deficient IN those links which make up
the chain OF woman's happiness"
You would not think OF Lincoln as a dancing
man. yet he did at times indulge in that pastime.
There are some records extant In proof of this
They take the form of cotillion notices printed
at the time he was thirty years old and little
before his meeting with Mary Todd.
Like Mary Owens. Mary Todd was q Ken
tuckian. and. like Mary Owens. she had sister
LINcoLN's TRUE KINDNESS.
Mrs. Amanda Kuhn died some months ago in
Philadelphia at the age Of eighty-four. During
the Civil her husband wss wounded and she
went to the hospital at Washington with her only
baby to nurse him. He recovered. but she stayed
TO nurse others. There Lincoln saw her and was
deeply impressed with the womans devotion to
the needs Of the injured. Her baby attracted him.
and. realizing that the child was 8 burden and
snxiety 10 the loysl nurse. he arranged for its
care in the White House while the mother was
busy In the hospital That was like him. II is
merely another story Of the many that mark
Lincoln as the biggest nnsn the modern world has
known