Lincoln's Slippers

[RJNorton]

Great memory, Laurie! Over 4 years ago we discussed on this forum how Lincoln had forgotten his slippers in Springfield and needed to borrow a pair when he was staying at the Willard Hotel as President-elect. Here is how a couple of web pages describe what happened:

"Lincoln and his family had a comfortable suite on the second floor. The problem of his perpetually aching feet was solved quickly with typical Willard ingenuity. In the rush to conceal his arrival in Washington, Lincoln had forgot his bedroom slippers. But Henry’s wife had just knitted a colorful pair for her grandfather, who had similarly big feet. Lincoln borrowed them for the duration of his stay at the hotel."

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-willard-hotel


"Lincoln’s slippers had been left behind in his luggage when he departed suddenly for Washington. Ernest B. Furgurson wrote in Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War, “This set off Willard’s first test as host to the incoming president. His own slippers would not do for Lincoln; Abe’s feet were too big. Nor could Willard think of any guest whose slippers might fit. Then he remembered that his wife’s grandfather, seventy-eight-year-old former congressman William Czar Bradley, who was visiting at Willard’s house across the street, had ‘a good large foot.’ The old man was delighted to have the honor of lending his slippers to a Republican he greatly admired, and so Lincoln wore them for days, perhaps weeks, before returning them with a note of appreciation."

http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/wash...rds-hotel/