" In it he described the plight to which the new order had
brought the neighborhood, and he intimated that the only reason for
issuing such an order was that the State officers might have their
salaries paid in silver. Shields was ridiculed unmercifully in the
letter for his vanity and his gallantry.
It happened that there were several young women in Springfield who
had received rather too pronounced attention from Mr. Shields, and
who were glad to see him tormented. Among them were Miss Todd and her
friend Miss Julia Jayne. Lincoln's letter from the "Lost Townships"
was such a success that they followed it up with one in which "Aunt
Rebecca" proposed to the gallant auditor, and a few days later they
published some very bad verses, signed "Cathleen," celebrating the
wedding.[1]
Springfield was highly entertained, less by the verses than by the
fury of Shields. He would have satisfaction, he said, and he sent a
friend, one General Whitesides, to the paper, to ask for the name of
the writer of the communications. The editor, in a quandary, went to
Lincoln, who, unwilling that Miss Todd and Miss Jayne should figure
in the affair, ordered that his own name be given as the author of
letters and poem. This was only about ten days after the first letter
had appeared, on September 2d, and Lincoln left Springfield in a day
or two for a long trip on the circuit.
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