“A throng was assembled on the dock and a greater throng was in the street outside the gates. During the tedious process of working the ship into her dock there was a great crush in that part of the vessel where the gang plank was to be swung. Among the passengers who were here gathered was an aged lady. She was dressed plainly and almost commonly. There was a bad rent in her ample cloak. Her face was furrowed, and her hair was streaked with white. This was the widow of Abraham Lincoln. She was almost unnoticed. She had come alone across the ocean, but a nephew met her at Quarantine. She has spent the last four years in the south of France. When the gang plank was finally swung aboard, Mlle. Bernhardt and her companions, including Mme. Columbier of the troupe, were the first to descend. The fellow-voyagers of the actress pressed about her to bid adieu, and a cheer was raised, which turned her head and provoked an astonished smile, as she stepped upon the wharf. The gates were besieged, and there was some difficulty in bringing in the carriage which was to convey the actress to her hotel. She temporarily waited in the freight office at the entrance to the wharf. Mrs. Lincoln, leaning on the arm of her nephew, walked toward the gate. A policeman touched the aged lady on the shoulder and bade her stand back. She retreated with her nephew into the line of spectators, while Manager Abbey’s carriage was slowly brought in. The Bernhardt was handed inside, and the carriage made its way out through a mass of struggling ’longshoremen and idlers who pressed about it and stared in at the open windows. After it, went out the others who had been passengers on the _Amerique_, Mrs. Lincoln among the rest.” Mrs. Lincoln went at once to Springfield, where her sister resided, and took up her abode with her, leading thenceforth a quiet and retired life. Her only son Robert was appointed Secretary of War by President Garfield. Some years previous to that event he had married the daughter of ex-Senator Harlan, and has a family of children growing up about him. XXII. ELIZA McCARDLE JOHNSON. In the autumn of 1824, the term of a fatherless boy’s apprenticeship expired, and he entered the world rich only in energy, and a noble ambition to provide for a widowed mother. But he was sensitive and anxious to enlarge his facilities for an education, and his strong mind grasped and analyzed the fact that to succeed he must form new ties, and find a broader field of action. Tennessee was the land of promise which attracted his attention, and accompanied by his mother, who justly deserved the affection he bestowed upon her, he reached Greenville in 1826.