As
the intimacy between them increased, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards protested.
However honorable and able a man Lincoln might be, he was still a
"plebeian." His family were humble and poor; he was self-educated,
without address or polish, careless of forms, indifferent to society.
How could Mary Todd, brought up in a cultured home, accustomed to
the refinements of life, and with ambition for social position,
accommodate herself to so grave a nature, so dull an exterior? Miss
Todd knew her own mind, however. She loved Lincoln, and seems to have
believed from the first in his future. Some time in 1840 they became
engaged.
[Illustration: LINCOLN IN 1858.--HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED.
From a photograph, by Harrison, Galesburg, Illinois, of an ambrotype
owned by Mrs. W.J. Thomson of Monmouth, Illinois. This picture was
taken at Monmouth on October 11, 1858, by W.J. Thomson, after a speech
made in the town by Lincoln that day, and four days after the debate
between Lincoln and Douglas at Galesburg, Illinois, on October 7,
1858.]
But it was not long before there came the clashing inevitable between
two persons whose tastes and ambitions were so different. Miss Todd
was jealous and exacting. Lincoln frequently failed to accompany her
to the merry-makings which she wanted to attend. She resented this
indifference, which seemed to her a purposed slight, instead of simply
a lack of thought on his part, and sometimes she went with Mr.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93