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The Soul of Ann Rutledge : Abraham Lincoln's Romance

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LINCOLN NATIONAL LIFE FOUNDATION ^^ j,^^^ /yl^ . //Wv^2^^/^ /^.^^2^^ i^^C.e^'^. Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2010 witli funding from Tlie Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant http://www.archive.org/details/soulofannrutledgOOinbabc THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE ABBAHAM LINCOLN'S ROMANCE SECOND IMPRESSION " ABRAH.\M, THIS PLACE SEEMS HOLY AND YOU ARE ITS PROPHET Page 276 THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S ROMANCE BY BERNIE BABCOCK WITH A FRONTISPIECE IN COLOR BY GAYLE EOSKINS PHILADELPHL^ & LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COjMPANY 1919 OOPTHIOHT, I9I9, BT J. B. LIPPDJCOTT COMPANT PRINTED BT J. B. LIPPIWCOTT COMPANT AT THS WASHINGTON SQUABE PEBSS PHILADELPHIA, V. S. A. ToJ AUTHOR'S NOTE In the tremendous output of Lincolniana that has been given to literature, it seems strange that no adequate story has been given of one of the greatest loves in history. Many writers have referred to it and to its moulding power on the lover's after life. Some have thrown sidelights on the character of the woman. Some have mentioned her rare gift of song and her unusual endowment of mind, and one writer has given a careful description of her personal appearance. But so far as careful and exhaustive research shows, all this matter has never been woven into one story. It is also strange that there has been so much controversy regarding the religious views of Abraham Lincoln, and by those whose faith is based on the evidence required by the Great Teacher when He said, '* Ye shall know them by their fruits." Nor should it ever have been taken as an evidence of lack of faith because he did not accept the creedal beliefs of his day, for had not the Christ Himself strenuously denied 7 AUTHOR'S NOTE much that was insisted on in His day, Christian- ity could never have been possible. In this story both the love and the faith of one of earth's noblest souls is simply and intimately told. In an age when the cynical opinion is too often heard, that between men and women there can be no different or more lasting love than the mating instinct of animals, and at a time when the death of millions of the world's best men has brought into fresh insistence the age-long question, '^If a man die shall he live again?" a fresh and different setting forth of Abraham Lincoln's master passion for a woman, and his calm and unshakable faith in immortality, may be of more than usual interest and value. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. One April Day 11 II. In Clary's Grove 23 III. The Railsplitter 33 IV. The Pilgrlm 40 V. Swapping Hosses 50 VI. "FiXIN FER THE AnGELS" 60 VII. "Sic 'em, Kitty" 66 VIII. Te^ Test 73 IX. "Thou Shalt not Covet" 83 X. The Mysterious Pig 92 XI. Peter Cartwright Arrives 101 XII. The Righteous Shout 113 XIII. A Busy Sinner 124 XIV. The Spelling Match 134 XV. "Who's Afraid?" 146 XVI. Politics and Steamboats 157 XVII. Captain Lincoln 163 XVIII. "Books Beat Guns, Sonny" 171 XIX. Abe Makes a Speech 175 XX. Story of a Boy 180 XXI. Only Wasting Time 189 XXII. Town Topics 202 XXIII. Alias McNeil 211 XXIV. In the Cellar 221 9 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXV. Father and Daughter 227 XXVI. Gloom and the Light 232 XXVII. Covering the Coals 245 XXVIII. "He's Rxhnt Hisself Forever" 256 XXIX. God's Little Girl 263 XXX. The End of June 271 XXXI. Stronger Than Death 277 XXXII. The IJNFimsHED Song 286 XXXIII. "Where is Abe Lincoln? " 294 XXXIV. For the Things That Are to be 305 XXXV. The Poem 310 XXXVI. On the Way 321 ! ' THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE CHAPTER I ONE APRIL DAY ' ' ' Ann ! Ann ! Ann Rutledge ! Hallo ! Hallo The cheerful voice belonged to a rosy-cheeked girl who shouted in front of Rutledge Inn, one of the straggling group of log houses that made the village of New Salem, Illinois, in 1831. Pausing in front of the Inn, the animated girl repeated her caU. lustily as she watched for the closed door to open. ^* Hallo yourself, Nance Cameron,'' a clear, musical voice replied from somewhere in the rear of the weather-stained building, and the next moment Ann Rutledge came around the comer. ''Look! Springtime has come I Isn't it splen- did to be aKve in the springtime ? I found them ! ' in the thicket ' and pausing she held out an arm- ful of plum branches white with their first bloom. In the moment she stood, an artist might have caught an inspiration. On one side of the 11 ' THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE background was a vista of open garden, perhaps, and meadow, with a glimpse of forest farther back, and over it all the white-flecked, spring- blue sky. On the other side was the solid framework that told of days when there had been no meadow or garden, and of the pioneer labor that had wrought the change. In the foreground of this brown and green and blue setting stood a slender girl in a pink- sprigged calico dress. Her violet eyes were shaded with dark lashes. Her shapely head was crowned with a wealth of golden hair in which a glint of red seemed hiding. A white kerchief was pinned low about her neck, and across her breast were tied the white strings of a ruffled bonnet which dropped on her shoulders behind. She pressed her face for a moment in the armful of blossoms, sniffing deep, and with the joy of youth exclaimed again, ^^ Isn't it splendid to be alive in the springtime ! ' But Nance Cameron had no eye for the artis- tic at this moment. "Have you been to the river f ''Eiver? What's going on at the river?" ''Didn't Davy tell you, nor your father?" 12 ' ' ONE APRIL DAYi ''No, I've just come home across lots from * Green 's. Wliat 's happening at the river ? ''Everything, and everybody's down seeing ' it happen. Let 's go. " If you'll wait till I fix my flowers." "Don't wait—drop them or bring them. Everybody but us is there." Nance Cameron had turned to the roadway. Ann was about to join her when she turned back. "Bad luck! Bad luck!" shouted Nance. "Don't go back!" "I forgot to shut the back door.'^ Nance stopped, made a cross in the dirt and spat on it. "You don't pay attention to your signs worth a cent," she said, as Ann rejoined her. "I don't much believe in signs," Ann answered. ' ' That 's where you 're siUy. A black cat ran across Mrs. Armstrong's path no later than yesterday after she had her soap in the kettle. And wasn't that soap a fizzle? And don't Han- nah Armstrong know how to make soap! It was the cat did it, and if I hadn't changed your luck just now you'd been in for something awful —^might never live to marry John McNeil." 13 ' ' THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE Ann laughed, and they started on their way down the road, that stretched the length of New Salem's one street toward Sangamon Eiver. ^^ What's going on at the river?" Ann asked again. ^ ^ Somebody 's ark is stuck on the dam. It got stuck just before dark last night. The crew couldn't get it off and had to wait until morning. They came up to the store to get some drinks. The town men gathered in and you never on this earth heard such roars of laughter as those men let out. Ma couldn't guess what it could be about. When Pa came in he told her there was the funniest tall human being he ever set eyes on with the ark crew. Said his legs reached as high up as a common man 's breech belt, his body reached up as high as another man's arms, and his head was up on top of all that. And Pa said he told the funniest stories, and the men nearly died. Pa was laughing yet when he told Ma about it." ' Is the boat stuck yet ?' *' She's stuck yet. Dr. Allan and Mentor Graham just went down and I heard them talk- ing. She's on her way to New Orleans with a load of barreled pork and staff. Davy's been 14 ' ' ONE APRIL DAY up to the store twice. He says the crew have worked like beavers to get the cargo off the big boat, but that the water is running in bad and the barrels are slipping to the end which sticks out over the dam and she's sure to go over. She's going to make a great splash, and I love ! ' splashes. Let 's hurry **I hope nobody gets drowned," Ann said. **Like as not they will, and well get to see ' them fished out. Let 's trot a little. With the inspiring hope of hearing a splash and perhaps seeing the first shocking throes of a drowning, the two girls hastened on down the slope that reached to Eutledge Mill, where the dam was. It was true, as Nance had said, New Salem was out to witness the unusual sight of a flat boat on the dam where it had been stuck nearly twenty-four hours. It was a river craft of the usual flat-boat size, about forty feet long by fifteen wide, and sides six feet high.
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