"
Anyway, Abe was the man she loved. The next year they were married.
"I mean to make him President of the United States," she wrote to a
friend in Kentucky. "You will see that, as I always told you, I will yet
be the President's wife."
At first Mary thought that her dream was coming true. In 1846 Abe was
elected a member of the United States Congress in Washington. He had
made a good start as a political leader, and she was disappointed when
he did not run for a second term. Back he came to Springfield to
practice law again. By 1854 there were three lively boys romping through
the rooms of the comfortable white house that he had bought for his
family. Robert was eleven, Willie was four, and Tad was still a baby.
The neighbors used to smile to see Lawyer Lincoln walking down the
street carrying Tad on his shoulders, while Willie clung to his
coattails. The boys adored their father.
Mary did, too, but she wished that Abe would be more dignified. He sat
reading in his shirt sleeves, and he got down on the floor to play with
the boys. His wife did not think that was any way for a successful
lawyer to act.
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