Browsing named entities in John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, condensed from Nicolay and Hayes' Abraham Lincoln: A History. You can also browse the collection for Lost Townships or search for Lost Townships in all documents.

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John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, condensed from Nicolay and Hayes' Abraham Lincoln: A History, Chapter 5. (search)
ury to pay the salaries of these officials. Using this as a basis of argument, a couple of clever Springfield society girls wrote and printed in the Sangamo Journal a series of humorous letters in country dialect, purporting to come from the Lost Townships, and signed by Aunt Rebecca, who called herself a farmer's widow. It is hardly necessary to say that Mary Todd was one of the culprits. The young ladies originated the scheme more to poke fun at the personal weaknesses of Shields than for tder menace, and a challenge from Shields. Thereupon Lincoln instructed his friend as follows: If former offensive correspondence were withdrawn and a polite and gentlemanly inquiry made, he was willing to explain that: I did write the Lost Townships letter which appeared in the Journal of the 2d instant, but had no participation in any form in any other article alluding to you. I wrote that wholly for political effect; I had no intention of injuring your personal or private character or