Mary and horses

[Susan Higginbotham]

What do you think - was Mary fond of pets or not? Or only of certain pets? Do you recall/know of other accounts about Mary and her attidude towards pets?

In Mary's letter to Lincoln describing how her stepmother made a servant take Robert's kitten away, she writes, "Bobby in his wanderings today, came across in the yard, a little kitten, your hobby" (italics in original). She characterizes her stepmother's actions as "unfeeling," but on the whole she doesn't seem to be very upset about an incident that would have probably infuriated an animal lover.