Show NAM the he oves 9 courtship d and marriah Marri ade ai of abraham lincoln HERB was a vela of strong and truo true romance in the ami yM I up tit of the man un mai coin as there has laa 1 been oen no matter iaSi naB how deop bad in tho the natures 0 most men lien who havo have made history writes fullerton L waldo in the ilia philadelphia ledger listen to his own story of tho the first awakenings awaken ings of the tender sentiment lt it Is very like the dream of kippings Kip lings brushwood boy except in the non fulfillment when I 1 was waa a little codgel bodge in the log cabin indiana days one day a wagon ath a lady and two girls and a man in an broke down near us and while they were fixing up alie they cooked in our kitchen the woman had books and read us ua stories and they were the first I 1 had ever heard I 1 took a great fancy to one of t tho lie girls and when they were gone I 1 thought of her a great deal and one day when I 1 was waa sitting out in the sun by the house I 1 wrote out a story in my mind I 1 thought I 1 took my fathers horse and followed the wagon and finally I 1 found it and they were surprised to see me md I 1 talked with the girl and persuaded her to elope with me and that night I 1 put her on my hot horse so and we started oft off across the prairie after several hours we came to a camp and we wa found it was tho the ono one we had left a few hours before and we went in the next night we tried again and the same thing happened the horse came back to the same place and then wo we concluded we ought not to elope I 1 stayed until I 1 had persuaded her father to give her to me I 1 always meant to write that story out and ing and agreed to be become cortle ills his wife bif a sho she must have realized tho the promise in him which others disbelieved or deserted descried but dimly for she bho felt her need of a bettor better education that hat she might bo be a more sult suitable ablo helpmeet for him so it was arranged that while abraham went to springfield for the legislative session and to study law she should go to jacksonville ill and spend tho ilia winter in an all academy thero there in ill tho the following spring they were to be married spring came but the applet blos sonis soma and tho the roses were laid upon her I 1 grave the doctors said ann Ka died of brain fever and doubtless they were right it may have been duo to her pathetic eager desire to learn enough to bo be the wife of the tha future statesman an that sho she saw in ia tho the overgrown and awkward dork clerk of 0 tho the country store A year or so ao later lincoln became involved in a singular embarrassment A girl named hamod mary alary owens camo came to now salem to visit her slater sister mrs able and spent four weeks lincoln met her and liked her for lier her steady and well balanced character her evident domesticity and neither last nor least her prepossessing appearance after she went he jestingly told mrs able that it she would bring her sister back he would marry her mrs able reported the conversation and mary alary owens accepted Lincol ns of fer as being seriously intended lincoln was in a dreadful predicament go back upon hla his word lie would not even if it meant lifelong misery for him mary alary owens was a year older olde r than he be anil and when lie ho met her again sho she seemed to have lost to 07 I 1 5 at f Earli earliest esi portrait of Lin lincoln colla w daguerreotype taken about mary y todd lr from 0 photograph made about 1861 1 the time of his marriage publish it and I 1 began once but I 1 concluded that it was not much of a story but I 1 think that was the beginning of love with me when abe was 22 years old lie he became clerk in tile the store of 0 denton offutt Of lutt at t new salem ind it was a general batore A and his employment was various presently lie he was made postmaster and carried letters for the sparse population tio n of a couple of hundred bundled in his hat and I 1 hungrily read every one of their newspapers before he let them go lie ile also found employment as deputy county surveyor ile he boarded at the tavern of one james rutledge grandson of a signer of the declaration and there he met and fell head over heels in love with the beautiful blue oved eved ann rutledge ann rutledge Rut ledga had been engaged to a prosperous young farmer john mcneill by name but john BIc mcneill Nelll had heard the east a callin and had gone thither upon business busi nesa bent promising to come back and reclaim her bar as his bride ills his letters at first frequent and ardent became noncommittal non committal and occasional and finally there were no more of mr MeN McNeil eills ls missives for postmaster lincoln to hand to ann from the crown of his bat she still was faithful to McNell McNeil ls memory for a long ehno she would not listen to a word of love from the newcomer but it was the flie old story of first en dure then pity then embrace abe likewise felt sorry for the jilted ann and longed to be able to comfort her with his sympathy they were thrown together three times a day at meals and presently she let him sit with her on the stops and that led to long rambles through the country roundabout when at last she was convinced that mcneill was never coming back to h her er ann rutledge yielded to Lincol ns impassioned plead 5 most of her he good looks ile he wrote to lier her 1 I hin am afraid you yon would not be satisfied lit he said you would have I 1 to be poor without the means of hiding your poverty what I 1 have said I 1 will most positively abide by provided you wish it my opinion Is that you had better not do it you have not been accustomed to hardship and it may be more severe than you now imagine I 1 know you are capable of thinking correctly on any subject and if you deliberate maturely upon this before you decide then I 1 am ain willing to abide by your decision this did not sound in miss owens ears like ilia the ardent protestation of true love she wrote back and gave him a piece of her mind saying that lie ho was deficient in those little links 11 aliks which go to make up till a womans comans happiness lincoln not a little relieved accepted this reJoin rejoinder dei as the conclusion of the matter and wrote to mrs browning 1 I have now come to the conclusion never again to think ot of marrying about a year later a high spirited and fascinating kentucky girl 21 years old mary todd the sister of a mrs edwards at whose house lincoln was a frequent visitor was the cause of a broken resolution ste stephen p bell A douglas was among Lincol ns rivals for the hand band of the beautiful but lincoln won out in this 8 his first debate against the little giant and in a twelvemonth lith from the time that lie he first met her lincoln was engaged to be married to mary alary todd and on november 4 1842 they gerec married by tile the rev charles charle a dresser at the house of marys brother in law W edw edwards ards who had been opposed from the start to the alliance on tile the ground of Lincol ns church mouse poverty |