Lincoln's White House Secretary

[Gene C]

Full title, "Lincoln's White House Secretary - The Adventurous Life of William O Stoddard"

edited by Harold Holzer. about 400 pages, copyright 2007.
This appears to be a condensed and edited version of an autobiography of his life written down for his children which was over 700 pages.
You can find Stoddard's original work on Internet Archives
https://archive.org/details/recollectionsofc01stod and
https://archive.org/details/recollectionsofc02stod

The print is a bit small, but you can enlarge it.

In the copy by Holzer, it is around page 210 before Lincoln is mentioned. Stoddard is a talented writer, but I wasn't that interested in his school days. I had to keep in mind the book was intended for Stoddard's children, not the general public. And he wrote to tell them about his life, not Lincoln's.

The White House years were the best part of the book. A large part of Stoddard's job was to open the mail. He somehow managed to get into the good graces of Mrs. Lincoln, where Hay and Nicolay did not.
Stoddard seems to have genuinely liked Mrs. Lincoln. He tells how she requested that he open all her mail, and he indicates she received a lot of very vicious mail which he threw out.

""Stod" he exclaimed (John Hay). "I'm in the worst kind of fix! You know how it is. Nicolay and I are out with Madame. She is down on both of us. Now You were away, yesterday, and I tried to help you along on the mail. I had
seen how you did it and so I turned a whole pile of them over on their
backs and sliced them open with a paper folder, before I saw the address
on one of them. Then O my soul I There they are, About a dozen of 'em are
for Mrs. Lincoln and wont she give it to me"
I was lying back in my chair and laughing, for he put it in first rate
style and it really looked awkward.
"What shall I do about it?" he woefully demanded.
"Don't do anything," I told him. "Shut up and say nothing about it. I'll
take the letters and go down and see Mrs. Lincoln. She wont know but what
I opened them myself. I can make it all right."
He evidently did not believe I could and he awaited the result with
some anxiety. Down I went to the Red Room and sent for Mrs. Lincoln. In
she came and asked me what on earth was the matter.
"Bad conduct of this here impertinent paperfolder," I told her. "Opened
a lot of your letters, just because they were mixed in with the others.
No fault of his, either. He didn't know they were there. Stupid fellow."
At first she laughed heartily but then her face grew sober,
"Mr. Stoddard," she said, "read them all. I want you, from this time
onward, to open every letter or parcel that comes in the mail for me. You
know my sister's handwriting and hers are the only exception.—NO .' You
may open hers, too. They accuse me of correspondence with the rebels. I
want them all read!"
She was blushing an angry crimson, too, and I did not know the meaning
of it until I read some of the infamous things which the political ghouls
were sending her. The President's own mail was bad enough but it did seem
too bad for the nasty devils of the enemy to torment his unoffending wife.
She had good reasons for wishing her mail winnowed. So I went back and
told Hay that she was going to appeal to the president and have him discharged,
but he looked so badly that I let him up and told him the new
arrangement. After that I had the mail to myself for nobody else would
touch it if it could be avoided.

more to follow.....