The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-01-30

shaking the nation to Its depths. VI
the Importance to Lincolns political
future of his marriage, Mr.. Townsend
writes: $50 it happened that the lit
tie wife who went to live with Lin
coin at the modest Globe Tavern Tin
Washington, through her girlhood ex-
periences in Lexington, was peculiarly
fitted to share in the great task which
would make the man she married i'm
mortal. She had been taught every
phase of the great question, which
finally came to be nearest his heart,
by the very man whom her husband
regarded with the most admiration
(Henry Clay). She knew what Lin
coin himself probably did not then
know: that frequent maltreatment
and even gross brutality was an insep-
arabic part of the institution Of sla-
very, even where it existed in the
mildeSt form.
at may have been that gentle Ann
Rutledge, or portly, complacent Mary
Owens, or youthful, light-hearted
Sarah Richard would have endowed
the tall Sycamore of the Sangamon with
a richer measure of marital bliss, but
never did a young wife bring to a
husband, interested in statecraft and
anxious for perferment, such wealth
of frst-hand information On a grave,
moral and political subject-such
fruits of intimate association with
great public men Of her day as did
Mary Todd to Abraham Lincoln
One of these great public men was
John G. Breckenridge, a cl ldhood
friend of Mary Todd Lincoln in Lex
ington, later a United States senator,
vice president when Buchanan was
President and the candidate of the
pro-slavery Democrats in the fateful
campaign of 1860. One of the most
dramatic incidents in Mr.. Townsend's
book is the story of how it fell to the
lot Of this friend Of Mary Todd's girl
hood to declare the election of her
husband to the Presidency. He tells
the story as follows:
On February Is, 1861, the two
houses of congress met in joint ses-
sion to count the electoral votes for
President of the United States.
For days rumors had flown
thick and fast that Vice President
Breckenridge would refuse to an
nounce the election of Lincoln and
thus give the signal for the seizure
of Washington by the overwhelm-
ing number of southern sympathiz-
ers within its gates. General Scott
had directed that no person should
be admitted to the Capitol building
except senators, representatives,
government employees and those
who had tickets signed by the
speaker of the house or the presid-
ing officer of the senate. Armed
guards were stationed at every en-
trance to enforce this order.
Shortly after noon the senators
filed into the house chamber, and
took their seats in a semicircle ar
ranged for them in front Of the
speakers desk. The presiding off.
Ger was conducted to his chair, and
tellers took their places at the
clerks table. Vice President Brock
enridge then arose and in a calm,
firm voice, announced that the two
houses were assembled to count the
electoral votes for President and
Vice President of the United States.
ut is my duty" he said, ito open
the certificates of election in the
presence of the houses. and 1 now
proceed to the performance of that
duty"
No one knew the gravity Of the
occasion better than the chairman.
None realized more than he that
fully three-fourths of those who sat
beneath the vaulted dome were
arIsed to the teeth, and that the