Chapter I: Front Matter

THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S ROMANCE

SECOND IMPRESSION

_Page 276_]

THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S ROMANCE

BY BERNIE BABCOCK

_WITH A FRONTISPIECE IN COLOR BY GAYLE HOSKINS_

PHILADELPHIA & LONDON J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1919

COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PRINTED BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.

To J

AUTHOR'S NOTE

In the tremendous output of Lincolniana that has been given to literature, it seems strange that no adequate story has been given of one of the greatest loves in history.

Many writers have referred to it and to its moulding power on the lover's after life. Some have thrown sidelights on the character of the woman. Some have mentioned her rare gift of song and her unusual endowment of mind, and one writer has given a careful description of her personal appearance. But so far as careful and exhaustive research shows, all this matter has never been woven into one story.

It is also strange that there has been so much controversy regarding the religious views of Abraham Lincoln, and by those whose faith is based on the evidence required by the Great Teacher When He said, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." Nor should it ever have been taken as an evidence of lack of faith because he did not accept the creedal beliefs of his day, for had not the Christ Himself strenuously denied much that was insisted on in His day, Christianity could never have been possible.

In this story both the love and the faith of one of earth's noblest souls is simply and intimately told.

In an age when the cynical opinion is too often heard, that between men and women there can be no different or more lasting love than the mating instinct of animals, and at a time when the death of millions of the world's best men has brought into fresh insistence the age-long question, "If a man die shall he live again?" a fresh and different setting forth of Abraham Lincoln's master passion for a woman, and his calm and unshakable faith in immortality, may be of more than usual interest and value.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. One April Day 11

II. In Clary's Grove 23

III. The Railsplitter 33

IV. The Pilgrim 40

V. Swapping Hosses 50

VI. "Fixin' fer the Angels" 60

VII. "Sic 'em, Kitty" 66

VIII. The Test 73

IX. "Thou Shalt not Covet" 83

X. The Mysterious Pig 92

XI. Peter Cartwright Arrives 101

XII. The Righteous Shout 113

XIII. A Busy Sinner 124

XIV. The Spelling Match 134

XV. "Who's Afraid?" 146

XVI. Politics and Steamboats 157

XVII. Captain Lincoln 163

XVIII. "Books Beat Guns, Sonny" 171

XIX. Abe Makes a Speech 175

XX. Story of a Boy 180

XXI. Only Wasting Time 189

XXII. Town Topics 202

XXIII. Alias McNeil 211

XXIV. In the Cellar 221

XXV. Father and Daughter 227

XXVI. Gloom and the Light 232

XXVII. Covering the Coals 245

XXVIII. "He's Ruint Hisself Forever" 256

XXIX. God's Little Girl 263

XXX. The End of June 271

XXXI. Stronger Than Death 277

XXXII. The Unfinished Song 286

XXXIII. "Where is Abe Lincoln?" 294

XXXIV. For the Things That Are to be 305

XXXV. The Poem 310

XXXVI. On the Way 321

THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE