Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

2o6 ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
soul, she did go home long before Aunt Abbie. She took cold,
which developed into pneumonia almost before they realized
her to be in a critical condition. I love her memory. Aunt
Abbie, too, was a charming woman, both in appearance and
in social life. She was of a romantic nature. In her youth
she had become enamored of a young man, whom she loved
and idealized. It was a cruel shock when she found out that
he was a drunkard, and it cost her an almost broken heart to
break the strong tie of mutual love that bound them; but her
heroic nature, combined with a well-educated conscience, told
her that the only thing to do under the circumstances was to
separate herself from so weak a lover.
Aunt Abbie was fond of poetry and had a line or stanza
for almost every occasion. She had written the story of her
young life, in which she told of the tragedy of her broken
engagement. I never heard her read this story, as its retelling
gave her pain to the last day of her life. Uncle John
was fine looking, distinquished in appearance; we used to
think he resembled the pictures of the old Presidents, Andrew
Jackson particularly, though Uncle John was an ardent
Republican. He stood "six feet three," and always dressed
in blue broadcloth; his fine suits were sometimes not in the
best condition, but as the boys said, "It don't make any
difference what he wears; he's rich!"
He was always interested in politics, from his youth, when
he was a member of the legislature of his state, to those years
of the greatest presidential campaign, when he sat in his armchair
and read aloud most eloquently the stirring speeches of
the time. I recall a story of his youth when he was courting
Aunt Abbie. She was planning a grand wedding with lovely
bridal clothes, when one day her young statesman arrived in
high disdain of "fuss and feather" and insisted on Aunt
Abbie 's marrying him at once and returning to Columbus
with him. Away flew her dreams of a fine wedding, with guests
and pretty clothes; she obediently stood up in a calico dress
and was married to her insistent lover by the 'Squire.
Uncle John had written home to Uncle Spencer and Aunt
'Rusha a description of his Indiana girl purporting to be au-