The Chemawa American, March 01, 1916, Page 19, Image 19

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THE
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
ton, a special car was provided for the conveyance of the party between
A lbany and New Y ork, and a special tim e table was printed show ing
the train route and the hours of passing the stations by th e way. T h is
was supposed to be a very fast tra in at th at tim e, b u t you will observe
th a t it took five hours to cover a distance now easily made in three.
“ I was then a girl in my teens, and eager to see th e man of the hour.
My father and I, together w ith my uncle and au n t, were in the car
when the Presidential party arrived. Besides the P re sid en t’s own party
were his secretaries, John H ay and Mr. N icolay, w ith Colonel E llsw orth,
the first officer to be killed in the w ar. M r. Lincoln expressed h im ­
self as pleased to meet mv father, of whom he knew , and he invited us
to accom pany him as far as New Y ork City; but as my father was h o ld ­
ing court in A lbany at the tim e, we could not accept.
N ever shall I cease to rem em ber the im pression Mr. Lincoln made
upon me. T h at w onderful face and eyes could never be forgotten. As
I rose to say good-bye the President-elect looked down at me and said,
‘You are not too old to be k issed ,’ and, stooping dow n, be kissed my
forehead in a m anner w hich has alw ays seemed to me like a b en ed ictio n .”
M rs. Lincoln cam e later to live in W ashington, w here her husband,
the late Dr. N athan Sm ith L incoln, was in charge of five of the war
hospitals established at the Capital d u rin g the w ar.
It was a friend of Mrs. L incoln, Mrs. G eorge H . B utler, whose late
husband was a nephew of G eneral B enjam in F . B utler, who related
another Lincoln anecdote. Mrs. B utler, in her youth th e beautiful and
sp rightly society belle, Miss Josephine C hesney, of A labam a and W ash ­
ington, w ent to P resident Lincoln one day to ask his endorsem ent for a
position in the G overnm ent service for a m an in whom Miss Chesney
was interested. T h e girl, w ith the assurance of youth and beauty,
took the liberty of looking over the shoulder of Mr. L incoln as he
signed th e paper.
“ You are not d o ttin g your ‘i, ’ Mr. P re sid e n t,” said she. H e la u g h ­
ed heartily, and, ta k in g up his pen, made a series of dots above his
sig n atu re.
I th in k th a t will d o ,” he said, as he handed the girl the
docum ent.
T h e pleasing m em ories of these two women b rin g to m ind th a t of a n ­
other, who has told before of th e charm ing m anner in w hich she m et
Mr. L incoln.