Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Volume VI, Number 9, 2 March 1867 — Abraham Lincoln's First Love. [ARTICLE]

Abraham Lincoln's First Love.

(IU».) Corre*i»omtenc'? Bi*ton Advertiser.| Too impntient to \vnit for thc slow and faithful worU, whieh is the only work that Hemiion enn do, Springfield deinanded, meanwhiie, a course of five lectures, There nre two millions of people in the Stnte of Ulinois, nnd a lnrge proportion of them know, in some fnshion, nll the fac(s these five leetures trent of. it wns Herndon's business to put these facts into nn order whieh would force them to illustratc eaeh other. The lectures do not constitute the " Life " he is IV | U»Vj itiv VIIIJ lUf . J !i.

The lecture whieh the Advertiser hns criticised, is, I believe, the Fourth of the five, and supplies a nec.essnry link in the history, It could no more be left out of a true life of Lineoln than Dante's love for Bentrice, or Petrnrch's *love for Laura, or Shelley's divorco fromJiis first wife, could be oinitted in the biogrnphies of these poets, nnd still lenve them intelligible, For thirty years nfterthc penod it describos, his terrible sorrow contmued to move him nt times out of iiimself, nnd it is the only exp!anntion of niany significnnt fnct». The poem wliieh is in separnbly connected with his memory beenme preclous to him simply for Ann Kutledge's snke, Thcre is the story, nnd Herndon, nearly t\velve years Lincoln's junior, hus no more to do with it thnn l hnve ns I tell it. Ann Kutledge was a lndy—one of the very few who had penetrated to Illinois ns early ns 1833. Of a familv educnted and aristoc» rntic, but broken down, she wns l)etrothed, beforc Lineoln ever saw hdr, to a Scotch merchant. In those dnys Illinois wns ns fnr from New York ns Kamschatka now is. They were soon to be mnrried when the Scotchman went for business to that city. For months nothing was heard of him ; it was supposed that he \vas dead or had wickedly deserted Ann. The truth wns that he lay ill of delirious fevcr nt a small wayside town. In this stnte ot things, while Ann*s inind was tortured by Mispense and disnppointment, Lineoln went to her father's houso to board. fn time a sort of provisional engageinent ensued. These *vere the circumstances in both lives whieh dcpresscU and (iained ; they learned to hold eaeh other very dear. Upon this state of thing broke the rumor of the recovered Scotchmati's return. The delicate nature of the woman Woke onder it. Betrothed to two —lx>th of whom she loved —she had no ehoiee but to die ; sho did not live to see him cnter New Salem. How he who had l>een absentloved her let the&eque!show. He l>ought the farm for her sake, and livesthere, still a bache)or. It was his quiveriog hand that pointed out to Herndon the spot where Ann Kutledge died. Thnt is true, [ know, for I have read evexy line ofthe autogmph letters on whieh it depends. Thiit this is the troth on whieh the futore līfe of Lineoln turned, Herndon will sameti(iie siiow us. Had Ann lived to be his wife, it is the opinion of «11. his \Vestem friendi> that he never would have sought a political lifc. His tastes were quiet aud doinestic. But this trial unhinged him, made him foryears reckless,despairing, atheistic. lt was very gradually tbat he eame to con<|uer the revolt of hts own soul. lt was that work well done whieh fitted him to cooquer other men. I dare not pursue tho aubject farther than to tbat Hem* doo has a task bcfore him whieh fordelicacy

ouigiiitude €xccb any of whieh I have [ erer dre*med. Lineoln left no blood rela» tions bat his sons. None of Ann Eutledge"s sarvi?e her. The anh«ppy Scotrhman who returoed to see hcr de«d. saw every līne of the lectore whieh tbe Adrertiicr criticis*d, before it was printed. I ihink few authors ; of modern tirnes woold have been honorable enoogh to ask hts consent, since be was not ] to be named in it, but Herndon read the manoscript to me himself, and would never ■ allow me to speak of it tī!l it had psissed • that !ast revision. ' Tclegraphic Commaaiuitioß Across the j P«ci«c. Sha!l we ever heve direct te!egTaphic • communication between Hongkong and San \ Francisco? No doubt u!tiinnte!y Amenea . and Asia wiii be connected by cables extend-; mg across thi3 vast oeean, at near!y its widest i part, for it is not likely that the Behring Staits line wil! be able to compete success-; fully with submarine cables. Assuming tbat tbe bottom of tbe Pacific presents no insu-: perable obstac!es to the telegraphic cable, the ! enterprise may be pronounced feasible. It on!y needs to be shown that the business of' the two contioents wii! make it remunemtive, j aiid its occomplishment will quickty follow. | The cab!eB should be five in number —the first extending from San Francisco to ! Honolulu, 2,080 miles ; the second thence to ' the Kadack ehain of the Marshall Group, j 1,920 miles ; the third thence to Guam, on j the Ladrones, 1.500 miles ; the fourth from | thence to Jugon, 1,250 miles, and the last! thence to Hongkong, 420 miles —making a | total of 7,200 miles. or in length of cab!e? ! about 8,100 iniles.—Sac. Union.