Medford mail tribune., February 08, 1959, Image 55

Nil
Gjjgijs
(Mate's
nnui
IFfahkflt
Makes air smell
flower-fresh
Just one quick spray kills
bad odors fast
Kills odors from cooking,
smoking, bathroom, pets,
musty closets, baby's room,
sick room.
Wick deodorants are too
slow some aerosols too
weak, but Florient really
kills bad odors, lasts and lasts.
Keep an extra Florient in
your bathroom.
r -
POPULAR
FRAGRANCES:
FLORAL, SPICE.
rniriKiiit
More women buy FIORIENT
than any tther air deodtrant
PREVENT
FOREST
KEEP AMERICA GREEN
FIRES
v. j
PERIODIC
PAIN
Don't let the calendar make
slaw of von Rettv! lust take
V Midol tablet with a glass of water
. . . that's all. Midol brings faster
paIIaI IrAm manctnial nam -it ro.
lieves cramps, eases headache
and chases the "blues,
J
mi
The Smiling
Lincoln
Few artists ever
captured the natural
good humor of shy,
self-conscious Abe
and they needed
psychology to do it.
W
o
MS
m
0
Famous painting of smiling Lincoln hangs in college at Alton, III.
by John Allen and Ed Hasse
The sad, careworn face of Abraham Lincoln we usually
see reflects the troubled times in which he rose to
greatness. Many paintings and the 120 known photo
graphs made of him during his public life have created
the indelible impression of a man who never smiled.
People who knew him, however, have described his
"dancing eyes" and the mobility of his features when
he was amused or relaxed. His smile, said a woman
friend, "positively transfigured his whole face, making
him the handsomest man I have ever seen."
Shy by nature, Lincoln usually sat for portraits only
at the urging of his family or close associates. And then,
as soon as he was confronted by a camera or an artist's
searching gaze, he "relapsed into his melancholy mood,"
according to his son Robert. This was so typical of him
that one day when Mrs. Lincoln came into a room where
he was meditating, she was moved to remark: "You
look as if you were having your picture taken."
Alban J. Conant was one of the few artists who suc
cessfully captured Lincoln's genial smile on canvas.
He went to Springfield to paint Lincoln in September,
1860, two months before his election to the presidency.
When the artist was ushered into his office, Lincoln was
talking with a small group of men and he was smiling.
When he sat for the portrait, however, he assumed his
characteristically sober expression. All that first day,
Conant pleaded in vain; the smile did not return. Lin
coln remained pensive, no doubt occupied with thoughts
of the election campaign then in progress.
The next day, Conant started by asking Lincoln ques
tions about himself; before long, Abe was talking of his
early life, his storekeeping experience, his flatboat trips
to New Orleans, how he became a lawyer. His imme
diate worries forgotten, Lincoln again revealed the
expression the artist wanted.
When the painting was finished, Lincoln's wife was
particularly pleased. "That's the way he looks when he
has his friends about him," she said, but she added
somewhat ruefully, "I hope he looks that way after the
first of November." ,
Surprisingly few paintings were made of Lincoln
after he entered the White House, and these inevitably
show him to be solemn and troubled. Conant's portrait
and two others he made during his stay in Springfield
are also the last painted before the Great Emancipator
grew the beard which he wore the rest of his life.
Purchased from the artist in the 1860's by Shurtleff
College at Alton, 111., the portrait was later removed
from its frame and was somehow lost during a transfer
of furnishings from one building to another. It turned
up years later in a storage area under a staircase, cov
ered with dust and grime. Cleaned and restored, it now
hangs in the library at the historic college, which has
been converted for use as a residence center operated
by Southern Illinois University. Another "Smiling -Lincoln"
portrait by Conant is in the A. Smith Cochran
Historical Collection at Yonkers, N. Y. A third is owned
by Mrs. C. Conant Smith of New York.
14
Family Weekly, February 1, 1959