Surratt Courier

[wpbinzel]

(01-03-2015 05:14 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks, Bill, for your work on this article. I loved it.

Thank you, Roger. I inherited several boxes of old books from my uncle, including the bound Volume XVI of Scribner's Monthly (1878) and I "discovered" the article while perusing it. While I suspect that Viele may have embellished portions of his article, I thought that it was so rich with details and anecdotes that it was worthy of being "resurrected." That article may be the source of a number of Lincoln stories and quotes. (For example, with regard to his inability to say "no" to requests, the article quotes Lincoln as saying: "Thank God for not making me a woman, but if He had, I suppose He would have made me just as ugly as He did, and no one would ever have tempted me." While I have seen that quote (or a version of it) before, I have not seen it referenced to a source.) It was just too good not to share.

(PS - I have donated the volume to the James O. Hall Library at the Surratt House Museum.)