Edgar Lee Masters

Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters

I wrote him a letter asking him for old times' sakeTo discharge my sick boy from the army; But maybe he couldn't read it. Then I went to town and had James Garber, Who wrote beautifully, write him a letter. But maybe that was lost in the mails. So I traveled all the way to Washington. I was more than an hour finding the White House. And when I found it they turned me away, Hiding their smiles. Then I thought: "Oh, well, he ain't the same as when I boarded himAnd he and my husband worked togetherAnd all of us called him Abe, there in Menard."As a last attempt I turned to a guard and said: "Please say it's old Aunt Hannah ArmstrongFrom Illinois, come to see him about her sick boyIn the army."Well, just in a moment they let me in!And when he saw me he broke in a laugh, And dropped his business as president, And wrote in his own hand Doug's discharge, Talking the while of the early days, And telling s