Lincoln, the unknown

82•LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNOne of Lincoln's friends started a little newspaper called "TheSpringfield Republican." He canvassed the town, and Lincolnsubscribed for it. When the first copy was delivered at the door,Mary Todd was enraged. What! Another worthless paper? Moremoney thrown away when she was trying so hard to save everypenny! She lectured and scolded; and, in order to pacify her,Lincoln said that he had not ordered the paper to be delivered.That was literally true. He had merely said he would pay fora subscription. He hadn't specifically said he wanted it delivered.A lawyer's finesse!That evening, unknown to her husband, Mary Todd wrotea fiery letter, telling the editor what she thought of his paper,and demanding that it be discontinued.She was so insulting that the editor answered her publiclyin a column of the paper, and then wrote Lincoln, demandingan explanation. Lincoln was so distressed by the publicity thathe was positively ill. In humiliation, he wrote the editor, sayingit was all a mistake, trying to explain as best he could.Once Lincoln wanted to invite his stepmother to spend Christmasat his home, but Mary Todd objected. She despised the oldfolks, and held Tom Lincoln and the Hanks tribe in profoundcontempt. She was ashamed of them, and Lincoln feared thateven if they came to the house she wouldn't admit them. Fortwenty-three years his stepmother lived seventy miles away fromSpringfield, and he went to visit her, but she never saw the insideof his home.The only relative of his that ever visited him after his marriagewas a distant cousin, Harriet Hanks, a sensible girl witha pleasing disposition. Lincoln was very fond of her and invitedher to live at his home while she attended school in Springfield.Mrs. Lincoln not only made a servant of her but tried to turnher into a veritable household drudge. Lincoln rebelled at this,refused to countenance such rank injustice, and the whole thingresulted in a distressing scene.She had incessant trouble with her "hired girls." One or twoexplosions of her fiery wrath, and they packed up and left, anunending stream of them. They despised her and warned theirfriends; so the Lincoln home was soon on the maids' black-list.She fumed and fussed and wrote letters about the "wildIrish" she had to employ. But all Irish became "wild" whenthey tried to work for her. She openly boasted that if she outlivedher husband, she would spend the rest of her days in a