Mary's purchase ....

[RJNorton]

Eva, thank you. Much of what you posted comes from pp. 164-165 of Francis Carpenter's The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln - Six Months at the White House. However, Carpenter also writes that, "He (Lincoln) did not say, at this time, that either he or Mrs. Lincoln attached any omen to the phenomenon." So I am still not sure of a source for Mary Lincoln's "interpretation" of Lincoln's experience.

Maddie, I have a web page on what I think you are referring to here.