Alice D. Shipman’s piece on Mary Lincoln was one of a series she apparently did for the New York Sun in 1896. On November 3 of that year, The Evening Times, a D.C. paper, reprinted one of her columns.
This one was about Abraham Lincoln, giving a few reminiscences “gathered from my father, Col. W. H. Davidson, and my mother and my whilom [former] guardian, Joshua F. Speed.” They would be focused on Lincoln’s friendship and loyalty.
Shipman reported that Lincoln, Judge Douglas, Gen. Shields, Gen. Baker, Gen. Hardin, Judge Gillespie, her uncle Chief Justice Wilson, and her father were “associated in public life” and also “kindred spirits.” Despite Lincoln’s humble background, he had become “the center of a galaxy of men who shed luster on his youth, as in after years he reflected it back with augmented splendor…Mr. Lincoln and Judge Douglas were frequent guests under my father’s roof for weeks at a time, before my birth and after.” Sometimes, Lincoln stayed for months, she claimed.
My parents used to relate how, on a certain occasion, before I could speak distinctly. Mr. Lincoln held me on his knee, seemingly interested in my prattle, in the midst of a bevy of merry girls, my mother's guests, who, for their part, were asking me all sorts of questions, just to hear the queer answers, which, in grateful appreciation of my giant fondler, I suppose, all ended with "Linco! la, la."
"Allie, who gave you your pretty little parasol?" "Dunno,"Linco! la, la." "Who gave you that nice new dress?” "Dunno, Linco! la, la." And so on, till at last, one more mischievous than the rest, said: "Allie, whose little girl are you?"
Of course out came the anticipated answer, and, equally, of course, a roguish peal of laughter from the girls, at which Mr. Lincoln, so excessively shy was he then in the presence of ladies, blushed to the ears, and seemed covered with confusion, not knowing what to say or do, and incontinently dropped me to the floor, greatly to the diversion of his tormentors. It was regarding one of these, noted for brilliant repartee, and expressive but homely features, that Mr. Lincoln said to my mother, what has been often quoted as a characteristic expression, "She is the handsomest ugly woman I ever saw."
Was that a characteristic expression of his? Poor woman! No idea who she was.
Next, Shipman gave us a rare glimpse at the Lincolns’ early married life.* It turns out her parents boarded at the Globe Tavern the same time the Lincolns did, though presumably only as visitors.
As showing Mr. Lincoln's unselfish and ingenuous nature, in small things equally with great, my mother was wont to relate an incident of his early married life. One winter evening, at the old Globe Tavern in Springfield, where my father and mother, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, were boarding, a party was made upon the spur of the moment to attend the theatre, at which the elder Jefferson, father of the present Joe. Jefferson, was then playing. Later, at supper, however, Mrs. Lincoln, without saying why, suddenly announced that she declined to go. Mr. Lincoln was evidently disappointed and not a little chagrined, but said nothing, and acted as if his chief concern was to console Mrs. Lincoln for her share in the deprivation. At the appointed time the party, minus these two, went to the theatre, and were witnessing the curtain rise on the second act when, to their pleasant surprise, the defaulting couple appeared and joined the rest of the company, Mr. Lincoln beaming with delight and looking as if he had conquered the world, though not, it must be owned, as if he were sighing for new worlds to conquer.
That final sentence is a good one!
She then spoke of her father, saying in later years he moved to Louisville and became a banker, dropping out of contact with Lincoln. However, sometimes Speed, who also lived in Louisville, played messenger between them. Though her father ended up supporting Douglas in 1860, Lincoln offered him a cabinet position. Her father, Col. Davidson, was appreciative and professed his friendship for Lincoln, but declined “for political reasons.”
Shipman emphasized he’d been offered the Treasury appointment, and was known for his great financial abilities, so this was not Lincoln simply rewarding a crony. But that is what he was doing when, a few days later, he made a “favorite nephew” of her father an army paymaster with the rank of Major.
One more interesting paragraph from Shipman:
In 1863, I was at the Academy of the Visitation in St. Louis, and, during a visit of my mother at the convent, of which her sister was Mother Superior, Miss Joe McLane of Baltimore, a sister-in-law of Gen. Johnston's, called to see her. Miss McLane was a violent secessionist, and my mother, a native Marylander and descendant of the Calverts, was not much better. Politics came up, and the ladies present were unanimous in denouncing the war, the army, the North, the Union, the Congress, the Administration, &c,. when Miss McLane suddenly burst into a bitter philippic against Mr. Lincoln personally, depicting him in excited tones as a moral monster, without a redeeming virtue. This was too much for my mother, who, springing to her feet, said with an emphasis into which she was seldom betrayed: "I beg you, Miss McLane, not to say such things of Mr. Lincoln, for I know they are cruelly unjust. His political principles and the policy of his administration I condemn as you do, but he is as conscientious in approving them as we are in condemning them. He thinks he is right. He is doing what he feels sure is his duty. He is the opponent of our people, but he is not the enemy of any section or individual. An honester man or a nobler man does not live." At this period my mother had not seen Mr. Lincoln for years . . . yet her early impression of his moral worth remained undimmed . . .
*Given that there is no mention of a baby, Mary Lincoln was almost certainly pregnant during this episode, and it is possible she suddenly did not feel well. The Lincolns moved into the Globe Tavern sometime shortly after their marriage; their first child was born 9 months after the wedding, and they left the Globe Tavern shortly after.