M A G A Z 1 N E and bfiEfsssrPQk MAGAZINE BOOK SECTION &**-4&Xl*ii L...- BOOK SECTION PART VII TEN PAGES SUNDAY, FEBRUARY f>, 1921 PART VII TEX PAGES Memorial sea to Ann Rutledge, Lincoln's Early Love; or Never Forgot His First Sweetheart

By Torrey Ford <* A FEW iveeks ago this\\ OX AUGUST 25, 1835, a slim stone, bearing Edgar little girl, just twenty-three Lee Masters's poem as an in- years old and filled with the scription, ivas placed ahovc joy of living, died at a lonely farm- the grave of Ann Rutledge house near Salem, 111. Her narae grown to didn't xas Ann Rutledge. manhood, they serve afternoon tca. They didn't raan stood her A tall, gaunt by even have a midwinter assembly. bedside, dry-eyed. Up to the very They weren't that kind of folks. Of last he held one of her soft, fevered course, New Salem was no/metropo- lis, but it had its ladies. Presuma- THE is a ni w hands between his own hard, cal- -1""*AT right Lincoln Mi there were rJTHE Ionsed He didn't speak to bly debs, sub-debs and picture of Mary m Washington patms. well meaning spinsters fighting to Todd Lincoln, of she couldn't have heard him. wife her; keep young. In his capacity as a Abraham Lincoln. it her friends that sh« had Eoui d But he prayed to God fervently. merehant of the town Lincoln could was her girlhood am- c'°^ " iittle links When it was ell over he passed not avoid an occasional encounter bition to be a Presi- which make up tl e with some of these out of the room, stricken with a ladies. dent's wife an's happiness." Soon afterward grief. Out into the fields he But he had no palate for it. He married a Southerner. Her trea ^reat was too for one and too t of the affair and into the woods. He tall, thing, went deep bony. His clothes fitted him only h in woma to from the world. wanted get away at the corners. He could tell by "Others have been made fools o' His narae was Abraham Lincoln. the way the ladies looked at him by tiie girls," he remarked to * that was So His First Sweetheart something wrong. he friend, "but this can never ¦¦ avoided them. truth be said of me. I most eni Ann and Abraham were engaged Still, he cultivated the courteous phatically in this instance mad to be married. She loved him and phrase and the bow tie. He want- fool of myself. I have now come to he loved her. She was his first ed to be ready when the time carne. the conclusion never again to tl I of ard for -weetheart. She was everything in There was one gin that attracted marrying, this rea^on ! can never be mcisfied with the world to him. Yet she died and jhim particularly. She had blue any one eyes and a winsome smile. She would be Wockhead enough to left him alone. And Abraham have was pretty, too, In a rural aort of ne."5 mourned in solitude. way. But she came from Kentucky Just a yesr fcter he became en- From the depths of his glooin Lin- and expected more of a man than gaged ¦» Mary Todd. oln came back and achieved great- Lincoln felt he could give. This Mk» ibdci was from was Lexmgton. ness. nineteen-year-old Ann Rut¬ Ky.. ttm Uaugtefcer of a He had other affairs of the ledge. prosperoui* heart.eventually he married; but bankaw. She e»me to Springfield t- there are those who maintain that From Afai- live «r* her «fea . *¦' it nothing to your to lincoln Ann's death niay be said that Lincoln was only "Sure. ner an* , "Wha; you have .said to me Todd. He said he did it to . I am And tfw benrficevt fate a naturn present Abrahanx brought Bnng raay happiness sure it would not to regaj^ of most a passive He was.as When have beon in the way of or I his with It was m the depressing period of his participant. Mary Owens arrived she jest, xnhtb. 2 |«cu fecs ywirsaif .*> Anr aelf-respaet and power af ch Shining justice and truth. the ttyring of 1886 that all of may have misundcrstood^it. If 1 am life. After days of wandering aim- his friends insist upon testi- hardly lived up to She so, bound to me l am eiaicc. Ann Rutledge, who sleeps Ann confessed to Armindfl liogers anticipations. then let it. be tf degree now willing lessly about, Dr. John Allen per- fying.the victim of an unhappy was too hefty to be considered seri- fornottert; otherwige, to release you, Rank>i spea&s or Vt as a "de- beneath these tueeds, that she intended f. w:iV)) Abra- I must wish you would think seri- provided you wish it; suaded him to go to the circumstance. ously a3 a matrimonial asset. Be- on the ferred engagement," while Htloved of Abraham Lincoln, ham Lincoln. Buv thwe was to be Bowling ousl$ before you decide. What I while, other hand. 1 am wiil- other Green home. There, under the min» Mrs. Bennet Able, a buxom young sides, she brushed her hair and even biographers, n.ainly wedded to him, not through a long engagement. Ann was pre- straight have said I wiil most positively abide ing anxious to bind you Herndon, pain: unio;u care of Mrs. matron of Salem, had a sister down back and was minus several front if I could a vivid picture of a But through aeparation. paring to enter an academy for istering motherly by, provided you wish it. My opin- faster, be c-onvinced that wedding with he found in Kentucky. Mrs. Able described teeth. The ioa it i out a a Moom foretver, O rejmblic, young ladies at Jacksonville, 111., Greene, refuge from the combination worked in- is that you had be.tter not do it. will in any considerable degree bridegroom, of gallery of storms that hovered this Mary bwens in glowing terms. versely on the enthusiasm of a You have not been aceustomed tc add to ting guests, a Frtr*i the dvist of my bosom." while Lincoln was still for tormenting your happiness. This, indeed, wedding cake and studying Lincoln thought he had met her and it may be more severe .riorn his «career as a about him. In less than a month. prospective suitor. hardship, is the whoie question with me. Noth¬ hride. The bulk of evi And so is some retribution made lawyer. They before. As he than you now I weren't to in three weeks.Lincoln was back in years rememberod her Lincoln took one look and began to imaghie. know you ing would make me more miserable dence seems to prove that there was for the negiect of a be m&rried until Lincoln are of century. Salem. He was ready to meet life vaguely, she had many attractions. think up excuses for a hasty with- capable thinkinj; correctly than to beHeve you no bride left at the established himself as on any subjeet, and if miserable.noth- waiting church Was Afrairl of Girls something Mrs. Able talked about inviting her drawal from the But the you deliber- ing more than Lincoln gave her more than a country town store- again. campaign. ate maturely upon this before happy to know you plenty of time to When up for a visit. ladies had him. you were so." remove the bridal Lincoln first came to New keeper, The Maiden outguessed They decide, then I am to abide veil before th* Balem Kentucky "If ask to marrr willing he waa girl shy. In the back- you'll Mary you gave him to understand that he had your decision.'* first strains of the wedding march During the aummer of 1835 an Several months passed by before I she told Blamed Only Himaelf Tndiana, where he &ad will," Abraham. as good as signed the papers when Mias Owens reacted to this IThe best explanatkm of his conduct J^odtot epideraic of malarial diseases bitj Lincoln again ventured on an affair ardent Apparently this last letter served And no young man who poasessed le perjiiitted Mary Qwena to be in- in a "weoing" mannar that mu«t j its inteafc, Miaa Owtns gav© out to