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fou n ded by H A RLA N H O YT H O RNER

a n d H ENRIETTA C A LH O UN H O RNER

CO PY RI H TED 1 G , 939 BY A R O LD F A I A TE N R NC S G S .

T SPEC KA L PREN KNG O F 300,

PRINTED IN TH E UNITED STATES ,

DEA TH Q F A NN RUTLEDGE

H ERE A RE the chiding leaves ? ? i s that the winter snow a- falling Is it her that ’ s calling me I n the brooding cold ? l hear in every sou nd In wind ' i In heavy rain that a falling I say again I hear her calling me ' h n Why , oh W y should every natural sou d A bound with pleading cries? Why must every gnarled tree Easily W hisper sighs ? l know , a That life is living

A nd death is easily met e But listen i hear her callin g yet ' And though i live for ages My soul shall ever see n A frie dl y , constant shadow

That pleads and waits for m e.

H E MEMORY Abraham Li ncoln is like a spirit within t h e s e United States that reveals a deep significance only after ‘ r long and an alytical thought . A nation lived prio to h i s comi n g but kept on doing so only under

- n w e his after life force . His stro g i l l becam a ’ i nation s and preserved its ent ty .

As t h e American Messiah Lincoln becom es h In t at m ore with the passing years . the seventy odd y ears si n ce his death the Martyred President ’ has g ri pped t h e n ation s i m a g i n a t i o n with a

m n fi r ess n o m easure of upheaval can loosen . With each p assi n g y ear that hold must g r o w un til the

n w v i n or natio ill li e i t s mighty shadow . F it is o n ly right that the memory of a noble man be the 5 spirit of li vm g Democracy ' In a world of hate it is an important need that a people cling to that which can sustain its reason for e' istenc e.

Ann Rutledge influenced the shape of e v ents that sent Lincoln to the White House and gave the world a great man . She stirred the mind that w as destined to rise above the hori zon of a period s and ee the ages .

Ne w Salem , Illinois was the modest setting for a drama that took a million years to shape and a few days to form . Out of i ts tense moments a n ation was reborn again and rededicated to the ro osi p p ti on that all m en are created equ al . F A . . G . A MBERGLOW

N 1835 A BRA H A M LINCOLNw as t w enty ' si ' m se i n years old . That year gave pro i ' m er m e the very e pectancy of n ew birth . Su m ca early to New Salem and scattered t h e San gam on e h banks with the freshness of green life. The art warmed under sunlight and tended toward gentle n n ed ness . Birds fluttered in the bru shg row th a d 'oi m s a e r the ighty chorus of lusty nature. i t w a y a a No b t he of hope and amiable pleas ntness . lur of hori zon came to comm on vision though youn g A be s ometimes felt the coldn e ss of un named fear . But any feelin gs of forbodin g were shrugged off as hi s now almost natural melan cholia. He w as in love n o as and there was room for gloom . A be Lin coln w in love and its effects softened the m oody lin es n d about his mouth . The settlem ent noticed this a f ne was pleased . That Ann Rutledge would be a i r wife a n d make somethi n g of A be, w as gene ally

agreed . l A MBERGLO W

’ Li n coln slov e for Ann Rutledge revealed itself

in many fumbling ways . A tenderness of tone under the awkward offer to carry a pail or tray while ’ boarding at her father s tavern ' the few words he

w u n said ith deeper meanings and the many left _ ’ said ' i t s reaction as reve aled i n Ann s mature understanding a n d enc ou rag ement such small things nurtured t h e love b o t h gre w to know . ’ Lincoln s emotions never found e ' pression in the W ords he so yearned to v 0 1 c e . Gracious Ann Rutledge understood however and returned that deeper love with her own faith . When Ann Rut ledge finally promised to marry l r the lanky , thinking Abraham Linco n he ca ved it out on a stone '

A . Li n coln an d A n n Ru tledg e w ere betrothed here 3 u l 183 . ' y 4 ,

That was the last gesture of youth ' a prelude to the agony of a spirit th at w as to be b urned by the fury of ruthless , impartial ways . Suddenly a fever whispered death under the A w leafy green of a still young summer . oman

died near Sand Ridge . Others died in the settlement of New Salem and still more i n t he scattered pioneer cabins throughout t h e region . It s t i r r e d the A MBERGLOW

sympathy in young Lincoln - as human suffering ooks al w ays did but he kept to his b , the neglected store and his pleasant stays w i t h Ann Rutledge. She was thinking of going to school and hoped the would do the same . Lincoln was willing and so two lovers planned . D ' Then , one day in August , octor ohn Allen came to see Lincoln before he left for the Rutledge a farm at Sand Ridge . He had received call that For Ann was ill and thought Abe s h ou l d know . the instant a cold numb of fear came to Lincoln but he shook it off an g ri ly/an d hastily 'oined the doctor on the impatient ride . Sickness was a grave

- turn with these people of the hard frontier . His mother had only been sick once before she died .

Torturing h i s mind wi th brooding s i l e n c e ’ h Lincoln hastened to Ann s side . S e was in bed ' t flushed with fever and weak . She smiled wi h pleasure when Lincoln came to her and whispered an encouraging promise to get better .

On the second day Ann Rutledge died . This ’ blow of loss snapped in s mind . The futility of l i f e sei zed him and tore at his ’ 'udgment with silent completeness . The minister s words over her grave brought a sullen protest that remained wordless and only stirred the tempest

A MBERGLOW

i G N Bowl ng reen and his wife , ancy , watched c l the change in Abe Lin o n with tender solicitude . s His los stirred their sympathetic hearts .

’ h I can t bear to t ink of her out there alone , ’ came to Abe s l i p s almost as a plea to the night . Bounds of inutility strained under the violent agi t ati on The Lo i vet a within him . rd g h n d the Lord taketh aw ay mocked him and urged the bitterness he rarely revealed . If it was but to accept this w ith such fatalistic simplicity how short might be his pain '

Lincoln used the cabin left as h i s friends i n D n sisted . ecisio was of no matter now so he did z N everything with a d a e d abstraction . ights brought a measure of surcease for then he could rest to the drift of sounds and hear her call in t he whispers of leaves . There was no real sleep with the spiritual torture he bore in silence.

For k weary wee s the tall , gaun t youth sought for peace along the Sangamon banks . He strived to find the trust in God nature might reveal . The pleasures he had found i n natural sounds came Now back as complete indifference . there was no No restfulness in the form of brush and green . answer to his search marked t h e roughn ess of A MBERGLO W

bark or the wet of dew . From the light of eager i n m ed youth Abraham L ncol slowly for , into the shade of tempered age . The spirit began to know am ber the g low of pain . . the moods that softened the touch of coming greatness . N ancy Green gave Abe work to do . She sensed the emptiness he was striving to fill and made him do much . His hands became occupied and slowly z drew the tired mind to them . Out of the ha e ,

- fellow men called near insanity , work drew the first faint pattern of acceptance . It went into long months of quiet patience for Lincoln didn ’ t voice his thoughts . Bowling and his wife understood . Autumn browned the countryside and colored the thick foliage of the abundant year . Abe went to t h e Old Concord graveyard and cleared Ann ’ s w as grave . The answer he h a d sought almost within reach ' The close of summer life drew the

thought of certain end and , for a moment , he

hoped . Then the proclivity lapsed b a c k into the tired turn an d he sat down by the grave to talk of

the emptiness his life had suddenly taken on . At twenty - si ' he w as without a reason for t h e life others said was yet before him ' The flash of age that came with death never l ht t hat dee e eft Lincoln . It brou g p for sight of doom A MBERGLOW

n he w as ever to k ow in the span of his noble life . ’ All the w armth of Ann Rutledge s had softened the deep lines the wilderness etched into his face. Turmoil t h a t almost engulfed the m i n d in its thoroughness changed doubt i n t o purpose and n m ade the accepta ce of fatalism almost the an swer.

Through it all Bowling and Nancy were his real friends . They made a sane home for the weary Lin coln and forced work into h i s big calloused n ha ds . From husking corn and chopping firewood to carrying water , Abe did m uch but non e with the pure 'oy he had once k n ow n . He did what w as asked of him because his inn ate kindness answered . At n i ght he sat b e f o r e the cracklin g fire an d watched the flames shape the fair head of A n n ' form the corn silk hue of her hair i n wisps of bright heat .

His kind frie n ds worried but n ev er let it show . In stead they carefu lly drew out little fragm en ts of his old self by the u n con sciou s application of n th e e aturalness . It was never to be e sam but th y hoped for the quiet resignation that was to m ake ’ r Lincoln s last four years t he greates t. Ev e so

‘ n n slowly he respon ded to this un dersta di g . His not n eren t g r e a t loss , after all , was an i diff ’ m n i n a world s . A . Lincoln w as a backwoods a A MBERGLOW

e - sparse settl ment of Illinois a nobody . On the other hand 1835 knew a world of pomposity and heroics . Big m en moved over the stage a n d s aid their pieces against the hazed backgrou n d of New

Salem and its life and death .

Life was but the short e' perience before the

' m en f r at void ea ed as De h . But the passing of a ’ - kee tavern p er sdau g ht er was to become immortal . Into the w i n t e r of 1835 Abraham Lincoln drifted the dulling confusion of his mind kin to

the seasonable changes . The finality of acceptance changed the youth into a man . What was left of the m on otony of living faced him a n d he met it with physical energy . Hard work all day tired him out an d made dreamless sleep easy . Ann Rutledge was a de d and he , Abraham Lincoln , was yet to know his destiny . Fate had been hard with the good hearted Abe and was to add m o r e to his deep anguish . Life hammered at t h e man with the harshness of the frontier . Yet in spite of all the forces that strived to form a shell of hard cynicism about him Lincoln ever remained tender and sympa c thetic . The spleen of a universe ould n o t lessen the deep warmth that w a s part of his democratic n obility .

Who can measure the value of loss ? The death of A n n R u t l e d g e gave the w o r l d a g re a t A MBERGLOW

humanitarian yet h e r life could have done the

same . Tragedy and suffering can derogate as well as destroy . That they spared Lincoln was only because his e' traordinary mind could maintain an equilibrium while spiritual equanimity crumbled A n n e e about him . The influence of fair must v r be a moot question for Lin coln held her memory i n silence .

Life is for the livin g and death but of that n n n othingness that marks off each huma spa . Abraham Lincol n ever w alked n ear t hat shadow e e n e ed and so und rstood lif . . A n Rutl edg help hi m m i n i as uch death as n life.