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Show LINCOLN'S APPARITION. Be Saw a Ghostly Image of Himself In a Looking Glass. Sir. Noah Brooks, in his personal reminiscences rem-iniscences of Lincoln in The Century, tells the following strange story: On the day mentioned Lincoln narrated nar-rated an incident the particulars of j which I wrote out and printed directly after. These are his own words, aa nearly as they oould then be recalled: "It was just after my election in 1860, when the news had been coming in thick and fast all day and there had been a great 'hurrah boys,' so that I was well tired out and went home to rest, throwing myself down on a lounge in my chamber. Opposite where I lay was a bureau with a swinging glass upon it" (and here he got up and placed furniture to illustrate the position), "and looking in that glass I saw myself reflected nearly at full length, but my face, I noticed, had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the ncse of one being about three inches from the tip of the other. I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and. got up and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished. On lying down again, I saw it a second time, plainer if possible than before, and then I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler say five shades than the other. I got up, and the thing melted away, and I went off, and in the excitement of the hour forgot all about it nearly, but not quite, for the thing would once in awhile come up and giva me a little pang as if something uncomfortable uncom-fortable had happened. "When I went home that night, I told my wife about it, and a few dayi afterward made the experiment again, when" (with a laugh) "sure enough the thing came again, but I never succeeded succeed-ed in bringing the ghost back after that, though I once tried very industriously indus-triously to show it 'to my wife, who was somewhat worried about it. She thought it was a 'sign' that I was to be elected to a second term of office, and that the paleness of one of the faces was an omen that I should not see life through the last term." This is a very remarkable 6tory a coincidence, we may say to which some significance was given by tho cruel death of the president soon after tho beginning be-ginning of his second term. I told Mrs. Lincoln the story and asked her if she remembered its details. She expressed surprise that Mr. Lincoln was willing to say anything about it, as he had up to that time refrained from mentioning the incident to anybody, and as she was firm in her belief that tho optical illusion illu-sion (which it certainly was) was a warning I never again referred to the subject to either the presidont or his wife. Subsequently Lincoln's version of the story was confirmed by Private Secretary Secre-tary John Hay, who, however, was of the opinion that the illusion had been seen on the day of Lincoln's first nomination, nomi-nation, and not, as I have said, on the day of his first election. |