--elegant carpets, fine china, fashionable dress. Though he had great
dignity and nobility of soul, he did not have that polish of manners
which counts for so much with ladies. His ungainly physique accented
this lack. He was not, he never could be, what is known as a ladies'
man. While his friendly nature responded to all sociability, he was not
fond of ladies' society. He was naturally in great demand, and he
attended all the social gatherings. But when there, he drifted away
from the company of the ladies into that of the men. Nor were the men
loath to gather about him.

The ladies liked him, but one of them doubtless spoke the truth, when
she declared that their grievance against him was that he monopolized
the attention of the men. This was natural to him, it had been
confirmed by years of habit, and by the time he was thirty years old it
was practically impossible for him to adopt the ways acceptable to
ladies.

Into this society in Springfield came a pretty, bright, educated,
cultured young lady--Miss Mary Todd. She was of an aristocratic family
from Kentucky. It is said that she could trace the family genealogy
back many centuries. She may have been haughty--she was said to be so--
and she may have been exacting in those little matters which make up so
large a measure of what is known as polish of manners. These would be
precisely the demands which Lincoln was unable to meet.

It was a foregone conclusion that the two would be thrown much into
each other's society, and that the neighbors would connect them in
thought. For Lincoln was the most popular man and Miss Todd was the
most popular young lady in Springfield. It was simply another case of
the attraction of opposites, for in everything except their popularity