Are those stories about Mary abusive to Abraham overstated???

[Mylye2222]

I'd add: Yes MTL was capable of abuse. But she was also able of tenderness.
In Carl Sandburgs book "The Prairie Years and the War Years", there's recollection of a story involving MTL act of kindness.

One day, in the morning, a young woman called at the Executive Mansion. With her were three kids, the latter of small age, a little older than a baby. She entered the hall, but was told that the President was helding Cabinet meeting. Therefore, the poor lady took her kids to the East Room, sat them on the floor and told a staff member she intended, as her husband died in battlefield and she couldn't anymore take care of them, to simply leave them to an for the President Lincoln. She was ascertained to have been a "deranged mind provoked by deep affliction". Soon Mary Lincoln was found and dealt with the singular case. She gave humanitarian directions for the distressed family to be taken care of.

Unfortunately the rest of the story is lost, we don't know how this family ended, I hope well and relieved, but it shows that Mary also could display the same level of her husband's compassion.