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OTD February 16, 1861
During his rail trip to attend his Inauguration, Lincoln's train stops in Westfield, New York, where a "large crowd" greets him. Lincoln remarks that Westfield is the home of twelve-year-old Grace Bedell, who "advised me to let my whiskers grow." Lincoln adds, "[A]cting partly upon her suggestion, I have done so; and now, if she is here, I would like to see her." Before he departs, Lincoln locates the "beautiful girl, with black eyes" and gives her "several hearty kisses . . . amid the yells of delight from the excited crowd." New York Herald, 17 February 1861, 5:1; New York Daily Tribune, 18 February 1861, 5:4; Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania), 20 February 1861, 2:1-2; Remarks at Westfield, New York, 16 February 1861, CW, 4:219.
During his rail trip to attend his Inauguration, Lincoln's train stops in Westfield, New York, where a "large crowd" greets him. Lincoln remarks that Westfield is the home of twelve-year-old Grace Bedell, who "advised me to let my whiskers grow." Lincoln adds, "[A]cting partly upon her suggestion, I have done so; and now, if she is here, I would like to see her." Before he departs, Lincoln locates the "beautiful girl, with black eyes" and gives her "several hearty kisses . . . amid the yells of delight from the excited crowd." New York Herald, 17 February 1861, 5:1; New York Daily Tribune, 18 February 1861, 5:4; Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania), 20 February 1861, 2:1-2; Remarks at Westfield, New York, 16 February 1861, CW, 4:219.
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