The “rubber box” or did Laura Keene indeed held Lincoln’s head?

[L Verge]

Thank you for that last sentence, Jim! Have we ever questioned ourselves as to how we would act in such a situation (or in bad situations like she had gone through previously)?

Kathy, am I correct that one of the Petersen daughters spent a lot of time in the parlor with Mrs. Lincoln? I keep thinking that I read somewhere that she received a token in appreciation for her service - maybe a handkerchief? I may have read this in Robert Bain's book, so please don't anyone quote me on it because Bain is not the most reliable source, IMO.

[Jim Garrett]

No one should ever have to experience the losses that Mary endured. I don't believe either AL or MTL ever recovered from the loss of Willie. For Mary to see her beloved husband murdered at the point where they thought most of their troubles were behind them, must have broken her spirit and heart forever.

[LincolnToddFan]

I completely agree Jim. I think it's why I get sometimes get so heated on this board defending her. Even before the assassination, even before she met and married AL, she had been put through an emotional Cuisinart, imo.

But I also think the depth of the connection between the Lincolns is underestimated and has become obscured by MTL's very real emotional problems. She will always be thought of primarily as the difficult woman he endured, and I think it's a real shame.

Your statement about MTL deserving pity more than scorn is certainly true. But I have also come to have a certain admiration for her. She was no Edith or Eleanor Roosevelt, but she was, in her own, way a survivor.

[Jim Garrett]

I completely agree Jim. I think it's why I get sometimes get so heated on this board defending her. Even before the assassination, even before she met and married AL, she had been put through an emotional Cuisinart, imo.

But I also think the depth of the connection between the Lincolns is underestimated and has become obscured by MTL's very real emotional problems. She will always be thought of primarily as the difficult woman he endured, and I think it's a real shame.

Your statement about MTL deserving pity more than scorn is certainly true. But I have also come to have a certain admiration for her. She was no Edith or Eleanor Roosevelt, but she was, in her own, way a survivor.

They completed each other.

[STS Lincolnite]

I completely agree Jim. I think it's why I get sometimes get so heated on this board defending her. Even before the assassination, even before she met and married AL, she had been put through an emotional Cuisinart, imo.

But I also think the depth of the connection between the Lincolns is underestimated and has become obscured by MTL's very real emotional problems. She will always be thought of primarily as the difficult woman he endured, and I think it's a real shame.

Your statement about MTL deserving pity more than scorn is certainly true. But I have also come to have a certain admiration for her. She was no Edith or Eleanor Roosevelt, but she was, in her own, way a survivor.

Mary Lincoln certainly did have emotional problems and there is no doubt she suffered more terrible losses in her life than any person should have to. I think your referral to Mary as "a survivor" is as simple and fitting a description as I have yet heard for her.