Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2)Herndon, William Henry
History
Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2)
Herndon, William Henry
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
"Dear Sir:--Your note about the little paragraph in the Republican was
received yesterday, since which time I have been too unwell to notice
it. I had not supposed you wrote or approved it. The whole originated
in mistake. You know by the conversation with me that I thought the
establishment of the paper unfortunate, but I always expected to throw
no obstacle in its way, and to patronize it to the extent of taking and
paying for one copy. When the paper was brought to my house, my wife
said to me, 'Now are you going to take another worthless little paper?'
I said to her _evasively_, 'I have not directed the paper to be left.'
From this, in my absence, she sent the message to the carrier. This is
the whole story.
"Yours truly,
"A. Lincoln."
A man once called at the house to learn why Mrs. Lincoln had so
unceremoniously discharged his niece from her employ. Mrs. Lincoln
met him at the door, and being somewhat wrought up, gave vent to her
feelings, resorting to such violent gestures and emphatic language that
the man was glad to beat a hasty retreat. He at once started out to find
Lincoln, determined to exact from him proper satisfaction for his wife's
action. Lincoln was entertaining a crowd in a store at the time. The
man, still laboring under some agitation, called him to the door
and made the demand. Lincoln listened for a moment to his story. "My
friend," he interrupted, "I regret to hear this, but let me ask you in
all candor, can't you endure for a few moments what I have had as my
daily portion for the last fifteen years?" These words were spoken so
mournfully and with such a look of distress that the man was completely
disarmed. It was a case that appealed to his feelings. Grasping the
unfortunate husband's hand, he expressed in no uncertain terms his
sympathy, and even apologized for having approached him. He said no more
about the infuriated wife, and Lincoln afterward had no better friend in
Springfield.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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