The ways of the petitioner are deep and mysterious. The Virginia
(Illinois) _Enquirer_, March 1, 1879, had the following:
"John McNamer (Namara?) was buried last Sunday, near Petersburg, Menard
County. He was an early settler and carried on business at New Salem.
Abe Lincoln was the postmaster there and kept a store. It was here
that, at the tavern, dwelt the fair Annie Rutledge, in whose grave
Lincoln wrote that his heart was buried. As the story runs, the fair
and gentle Annie was John's sweetheart, but Abe took 'a shine' to her,
and succeeded in heading off Mac, and won her affections. During the
war, a Kentucky lady went to Washington with her daughter to procure
her son's pardon for being a guerrilla. The daughter was a musician.
Sitting at the piano while her mother was sewing, she sang 'Gentle
Annie.' While it was being charmingly rendered, Abe rose from his seat,
crossed the room to a window, and gazed out for several minutes with
that sad, 'far-away' look noticed as one of his particularities. When
he returned to his seat he wrote a note which, as he said, was the
pardon besought. The scene proves that Mr. Lincoln was a man of fine
feelings, and that, if the occurrence was a put-up job on the lady's
part, it accomplished the purpose all the same."
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