The inner life of Abraham Lincoln : $b Six months at the White HouseCarpenter, F. B. (Francis Bicknell)
History
The inner life of Abraham Lincoln : $b Six months at the White House
Carpenter, F. B. (Francis Bicknell)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Anecdotes; Presidents -- United States -- Anecdotes
Laughing pleasantly over this incident, he said, soon afterward,--“A
very singular occurrence took place the day I was nominated at Chicago,
four years ago, of which I am reminded to-night. In the afternoon
of the day, returning home from down town, I went up-stairs to Mrs.
Lincoln’s sitting-room. Feeling somewhat tired, I lay down upon a couch
in the room, directly opposite a bureau upon which was a looking-glass.
As I reclined, my eye fell upon the glass, and I saw distinctly _two_
images of myself, exactly alike, except that one was a little paler
than the other. I arose, and lay down again, with the same result.
It made me quite uncomfortable for a few moments, but some friends
coming in, the matter passed out of my mind. The next day, while
walking in the street, I was suddenly reminded of the circumstance,
and the disagreeable sensation produced by it returned. I had never
seen anything of the kind before, and did not know what to make of it.
I determined to go home and place myself in the same position, and
if the same effect was produced, I would make up my mind that it was
the natural result of some principle of refraction or optics which I
did not understand, and dismiss it. I tried the experiment, with a
like result; and, as I had said to myself, accounting for it on some
principle unknown to me, it ceased to trouble me. But,” said he, “some
time ago, I tried to produce the same effect _here_, by arranging a
glass and couch in the same position, without success.” He did not
say, at this time, that either he or Mrs. Lincoln attached any omen
to the phenomenon; neither did he say that the double reflection was
seen while he was walking about the room. On the contrary, it was only
visible in a certain position and at a certain angle; and therefore, he
thought, could be accounted for upon scientific principles.[7]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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