Did Lincoln Regret Marrying Mary?

[L Verge]

As I have announced several times, I have never truly studied Lincoln biography and politics, but I have always taken things about the love-hate relationship of the Lincolns with a grain of salt because my limited readings always seemed to throw it back to Herndon and his take on things. And, it seemed, to my limited understanding, that it was male authors who kept on spreading the stories. I'm not trying to put down men or their research; I just feel that they put unintended personal feelings into their writings -- like I do when coming to Mary's defense. To be perfectly honest, I doubt that I could have loved and endured Abraham Lincoln as my lifelong spouse.

I have never read the work of the Levins. Do they cover the Lincoln marriage's ups-and-downs?

As for the adhesive plaster purchase, unless we know the date that Mary clobbered Lincoln and sent him to the store to buy his own bandage - and have evidence that the store clerk was told how the wound (got it right this time, Roger) occurred - that ledger note means nothing. It might just as well mean that three growing boys had scraped knees or a cut on their arms.

To my mind, it is pretty presumptuous of historians (and us) to try and judge the personal relationship of Mary and Abraham Lincoln. Every human relationship has strong and weak points, and if you hold it together, it means that you have accepted that fact and will handle each point as it arises. The Lincolns obviously did that.