In Mary's personal letters....

[LincolnToddFan]

(08-11-2014 02:40 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 11:35 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Thanks Roger!

I read it there as well as the Epstein book. And I also remember thinking it odd that a new mother would trust her infant to a six-year old. I guess Mary was either super laid-back, or extremely desperate for some rest!

Elizabeth Keckley in her memoirs recalls being put to work looking after her mistress's infant when Elizabeth herself was only four. If having such little girls looking after infants was the norm, and Keckley doesn't speak of it as an unusual practice, perhaps Mary with her slaveholding background wouldn't have thought it inappropriate to entrust her baby to such a small child.

EXCELLENT point Susan-thanks. The idea of a four year old-a toddler-being put in charge of an infant breaks my heart. I don't want to know what happened to the little four year old if she were to have dropped her mistress's child or made some other blunder.