With the origin and principles of Christianity he now had no quarrel. He said :

"I have never united myself to any Church, because I have found difficulty in giving my assent, without mental reservation, to the long, complicated statements of Christian doctrine which characterize their Articles of Belief' and 'Confessions of Faith.' When any Church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement of the substance of both Law and Gospel, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,' that Church will I join with all my heart and all my soul."

What manner of man could boldly uphold this grand principle of Christianity? From what other source could he have derived the immortal saying with which he entered upon the closing scenes of his life," With malice toward none, with charity for all?"

CHAPTER XXVIII.

ANOTHER PICTURE-MR. LINCOLN'S COURTSHIPS-MARY TODD THE PUGNACIOUS JAMES SHIELDS.

A

LTHOUGH Lincoln was always reasonably fond

of the society of girls and women, it does not appear that they were objects of especial thought to him, or that he had any sleepless nights on account of them, until long after he became one of the noted men of New Salem. He seemed to regard himself more in the light of a teacher and fun-maker for the young women with whom he associated in Spencer County, Indiana. Most women liked Lincoln, as a boy, and he was really fond of making himself useful to them, and relieving them of many a disagreeable burden. But, according to some veracious writers, he found his main delight, in this association, in the privilege he took to "tease the girls." The purport of this expression may be readily inferred from the general representation of his character at this period, as seen in this history. Much of his doggerel poetry had women for its theme, and the privilege he assumed and the latitude of his positions were indicative of the social vulgarity in which he was reared.

The facts in the following account of Mr. Lincoln's first "love affair" are borrowed from Lamon's "Life of Abraham Lincoln."

Ann Rutledge was the daughter of James Rutledge, a native of South Carolina, and one of the first, or perhaps the first, of the early emigrants to the country about New Salem. Ann was courted by two of the neighbors, partners in business, and finally chose John McNeil, or John McNamar, the latter being his true name. But McNamar, after finding himself in good circumstances with a good home, somewhat mysteriously left on a long journey to the East. At first he wrote to Ann, but finally stopped, and nothing more was heard of him. He had revealed to her his true name, and his object in using another, and told her that he would return, and this he did, but too late to see her. Her faith in his promises was never seriously shaken, but the mystery and uncertainty involved in his absence and silence loosened her sense of obligation to her own promises. In the meantime Lincoln was much in her company, at her father's house and at the homes of one or more of the neighbors. He had "fallen desperately in love with her," and she learned after a time to love him in turn. Finally she consented to marry him, and only waited for him to finish his law studies, and for something to occur to relieve her from her pledge to McNamar. Her friends and relatives were in favor of her immediate marriage to Lincoln, and her own inclinations and judgment began to dispose her to take their advice. But an event soon occurred which put an end to Mr. Lincoln's hopes, as it was also on the verge of destroying his reason and life.

In the Summer of 1835 poor Ann showed signs of declining health, and late in August she died. It was said that her disease was "brain-fever," and no doubt this was true enough as far as it went, but many of the curious, sympathizing friends said she died of a "broken heart."

In the last moments she called Lincoln to her bedside. What passed between them may readily be imagined, but it has never been told. Her death unmanned him, and when her body was placed in the grave at Concord, his reason fled, and his friends thought he was lost. But after watching him with care at the home of Bowlin Greene, one of his admiring friends, for a few weeks, they again allowed. him to resume his surveyor's compass and law-books.

Ann was a good and beautiful woman, and the most refined that Lincoln had ever met at that period. The following is his own description of her in answer to the question of a friend many years afterwards as to his running wild over the death of Ann Rutledge:

"I did really. I ran off the track. It was my first. I loved the woman dearly. She was a handsome girl; would have made a good, loving wife; was natural and quite intellectual, though not highly educated. I did honestly and truly love the girl, and think often, often of her now."

The whole story of Ann Rutledge, so minutely told by Wm. H. Herndon and Mr. Lamon, is no better authenticated than this language of Mr. Lincoln's. And I must stake this language against Mr. Hern

don's oft-repeated statement that Mr. Lincoln's heart was buried with the body of Ann Rutledge, and that he never loved another woman. Is not Mr. Lincoln's statement substantially that of thousands of other men on the same subject? Does it not show that it was his first, and that he had long ago learned to look upon it as others had looked upon their first?

Another case from the same authorities will now be given which must also subserve the purpose of depreciating their views of the influence of Ann Rutledge over Mr. Lincoln's heart, and of his very moderate affection for Mary Todd, his wife. Only the very next fall after the death of poor Ann Rutledge, Mary S. Owens, of Kentucky, came to visit or live with her sister, Mrs. Bennett Able (Abel), near New Salem. Able and his wife were numbered among Lincoln's warm friends. They had known all about his affair with Miss Rutledge, and instead of being disgusted with his unmanly folly and weakness after her death, they seemed to sympathize with and value him still higher.

In 1833 Miss Owens had made a short visit to Illinois, and then Lincoln saw her for the first time.. Mrs. Able went to Kentucky in the Summer of 1836, and before starting she and Lincoln had a conversation about Mary, and Lincoln said that if she would bring Mary back with her he would marry her. Mrs. Able was really in favor of this scheme, and when she returned, Mary was with her. Lincoln was vain enough to think at once that Mary had not been successful in Kentucky, and had actually come out