More on Mrs. Lincoln's [non] faux pas

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Eva., I don't think poor Ann was very well read at all. At the age of almost twenty I think she was barely literate. There is a grammar primer that belonged to her that is now in the Library of Congress. Lincoln's writing is on one of the pages ..."Ann Rutledge is learning grammar".

She was said to have had an inherent intelligence, even though she was uneducated. If she had lived, perhaps she would have gone on to acquire enough education to allow her to appreciate literature. I've always suspected that might be why there are no letters between she and AL.

Even so, she would not have had anything approaching the superior educational training and polish that Mary and her sisters acquired thanks to Robert Smith Todd's belief that females should have their minds developed as much as males. And we know from various sources that despite their other problems AL and Mary were superbly suited to one another intellectually. He valued her intelligence. I doubt if he could ever have been truly content with a woman who did not stimulate his mind.