ONE OF LINCOLN’S SONGS. As will be learned elsewhere in this book Annie Rutledge was Lincoln’s first love. Mrs. William Prewitt, of Fairfield, Iowa, is a sister of Annie Rutledge. She is a widow in comfortable circumstances and lives with one of her sons. This is what she says of her dead sister and Lincoln: “Her death made a great impression upon him I could see. We never knew him to jolly or laugh afterward. Annie was next to the oldest girl in our family, and she had a great deal of the housework to do. I remember seeing her washing in the old-fashioned way. She would sweep and bake, and was a good cook and took pride in her housework. She and Abe were very jolly together sometimes. They used to sing together. There was one song I didn’t like to hear, and he would sing it to tease me. He would tip back his chair and roar it out at the top of his voice, over and over again, just for fun. I have the book they used to sing out of yet with that song in it.” The book is an old-fashioned “Missouri Harmony,” and the song is as follows: When in death I shall calmly recline, O, bear my heart to my mistress dear; Tell her it lived on smiles and wine Of brightest hue while it lingered here; Bid her not shed one tear of sorrow To sully a heart so brilliant and bright, But healing drops of the red grape borrow To bathe the relick from morn till night. When informed that the song was a queer one to sing for fun, Mrs. Prewitt replied that “it is a queer song anyhow.” LINCOLN’S FIRST POLITICAL SPEECH. A citizen of Buffalo has found among his papers an account of the circumstances under which Abraham Lincoln made his maiden speech. It was originally printed in the Springfield (Ill.) Republican, and is as follows: “The President of the United States made his maiden speech in Sangamon County, at Pappsville (or Richland), in the year 1832. He was then a Whig and a candidate for the Legislature of this State. The speech is sharp and sensible. To understand why it was so short the following facts will show: 1. Mr. Lincoln was a young man of 23 years of age and timid. 2. His friends and opponents in the joint discussion had rolled the sun nearly down. Lincoln saw it was not the proper time then to discuss the question fully, and hence he cut his remarks short. Probably the other candidates had exhausted the subjects under discussion. The time, according to W. H. Herndon’s informant--who has kindly furnished this valuable reminiscence for us--was 1832; it may have been 1831. The President lived at the time with James A. Herndon, at Salem, Sangamon County, who heard the speech, talked about it, and knows the report to be correct. The speech, which was characteristic of the man, was as follows: