Robert Todd Lincoln --The vitals

[L Verge]

(12-19-2017 04:37 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  I think it would well have matched his as well as many men's kind of humor to say such jokingly to "get out of"/relax a serious situation, especially when feeling helpless as for what real "smart" to say or do. Who knows what "scene" Mary had performed, and with Ms Keckly around he possibly felt under pressure to say something to relief the tension. Mary probably behaved "childish", and how many parents wouldn't use similar and most fabulating "if-you-don't"- threads to calm a kid down? (My mother's favorite was "...I'll give you to the orphans home".) And then he told jokes in the most serious situations to get relief himself while others found it most inappropriate and annoying.

However, I also think any serious consideration thereof 100% didn't match his personality, I don't believe he ever seriously would have done.

I don't believe either that Mr. Lincoln would have committed his wife to an asylum, but we know that his son sure did!

I also agree that such a statement as his would have been a normal male response of the time to try and curb hysterical behavior. I'm sorry, but most males are not raised to be of a nurturing and sympathetic nature when put to the true test. Look around you today, and I'll bet that most caregivers are females of the family.

This past year, we had a speaker at one of the Surratt House programs on the frequency of women being committed to insane asylums, especially in the 19th century. I asked her for her text and hope to run it soon in the Courier newsletter. Trust me, it didn't take much to be committed.