Preparations were made for the marriage between Lincoln and Miss Todd.  But they were interrupted by a painful occurrence—­a sudden breaking out of a fit of melancholy, or temporary insanity, such as had afflicted Lincoln on a former occasion.  This event has been made the subject of no little gossip, into which it is not now necessary or desirable to go, further than to mention that at about this time Lincoln seems to have formed a strong attachment for Miss Matilda Edwards, a sister of Ninian W. Edwards; and that the engagement with Miss Todd was for a time broken off.  In consequence of these complications, Lincoln’s health was seriously affected.  He suffered from melancholy, which was so profound that “his friends were alarmed for his life.”  His intimate companion, Mr. Speed, endeavored to rescue him from the terrible depression, urging that he would die unless he rallied.  Lincoln replied, “I am not afraid to die, and would be more than willing.  But I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having been in it.”

Mr. Herndon gives as his opinion that Lincoln’s insanity grew out of a most extraordinary complication of feelings—­aversion to the marriage proposed, a counter—­attachment to Miss Edwards, and a revival of his tenderness for the memory of Anne Rutledge.  At all events, his derangement was nearly if not quite complete.  “We had to remove razors from his room,” says Mr. Speed, “take away all knives, and other dangerous things.  It was terrible.”  Mr. Speed determined to do for him what Bowlin Greene had done on a similar occasion at New Salem.  Having sold out his store on the first of January,

1841, he took Lincoln with him to his home in Kentucky and kept him there during most of the summer and fall, or until he seemed sufficiently restored to be given his liberty again, when he was brought back to Springfield.  His health was soon regained, and on the 4th of November, 1842, the marriage between him and Miss Todd was celebrated according to the rites of the Episcopal Church.  After the marriage Lincoln secured pleasant rooms for himself and wife at the Globe Tavern, at a cost of four dollars a week.  In 1844 he purchased of the Rev. Nathan Dressar the plain dwelling which was his home for the ensuing seventeen years, and which he left in 1861 to enter the White House.

CHAPTER VI

Lincoln in National Politics—­His Congressional Aspirations—­Law-Partnership of Lincoln and Herndon—­The Presidential Campaign of 1844—­Visit to Henry Clay—­Lincoln Elected to Congress—­Congressional Reputation—­Acquaintance with Distinguished Men—­First Speech in Congress—­“Getting the Hang” of the House—­Lincoln’s Course on the Mexican War—­Notable Speech in Congress—­Ridicule of General Cass—­Bill for the Abolition of Slavery—­Delegate to the Whig National Convention of 1848—­Stumping the Country for Taylor—­Advice to Young Politicians—­“Old Abe”—­A Political Disappointment—­Lincoln’s Appearance as an Office Seeker in Washington—­“A Divinity that Shapes our Ends.”