The ball-room, too, had its attractions for him. Some years ago Hon. E. B. Washburn contributed to the North American Review a lengthy article on Lincoln. When President Taylor was inaugurated, Lincoln was serving his term in Congress. Alluding to the inaugural ball, Mr. Washburn says: "A small number of mutual friends including Mr. Lincoln—made up a party to attend the inauguration ball together. It was by far the most brilliant inauguration ball ever given.... We did not take our departure until three or four o'clock in the morning" (Reminiscences of Lincoln, p. 19).
HON, ELIJAH M. HAINES.
In February, 1859, Governor Bissell gave a reception in Springfield which Lincoln attended. Hon. E. M. Haines, then a member of the Legislature, and one of Lincoln's supporters for the Senate, referring to the affair, says:
"Dancing was going on in the adjacent rooms, and Mr. Lincoln invited my wife to join him in the dancing, which she did, and he apparently took much pleasure in the recreation" (Every-Day Life of Lincoln, p. 308).
Early in January, 1863, President and Mrs. Lincoln gave a reception and ball at the White House. This was a severe shock to the Christians of the country, and provoked a storm of censure from the religious press.
According to Ninian Edwards, Lincoln is converted to Christianity about 1848. In March, 1849, he attends the inauguration ball and "Won't go home till morning." According to Dr. Smith, he is converted in 1858. In February, 1859, he attends and participates in a ball at Springfield. According to Noah Brooks, he is converted in 1862. In January, 1863, he gives a ball himself. In every instance he retires from the altar only to enter the ball-room.
CHAPTER XII. TESTIMONY OF FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES OF LINCOLN WHO KNEW HIM IN WASHINGTON
Hon. Geo. W. Julian—Hon. John B. Alley—Hon. Hugh McCulloch—
Donn Piatt—Hon. Schuyler Colfax—Hon. Geo. S.
Boutwell—Hon. Wm. D. Kelly—E. H. Wood—Dr. J. J. Thompson—
Rev. James Shrigley—Hon. John Covode—Jas. E. Murdock—
Hon. M. B. Field—Harriet Beecher Stowe—Hon. J. P. Usher—
Hon. S. P. Chase—Frederick Douglas—Mr. Defrees—Hon. Wm.
H. Seward—Judge Aaron Goodrich—Nicolay and Hay's "Life of
Lincoln"—Warren Chase—Hon. A. J. Grover—Judge James M.
Nelson.
The evidence of more than fifty witnesses has already been adduced to prove that Lincoln was not a Christian in Illinois. Those who at first were so forward to claim that he was, have generally recognized the futility of the claim. They have abandoned it, and content themselves with affirming that he became a Christian after he went to Washington. These claimants, being for the most part rigid sectarians themselves, endeavor to convince the world that he not only became a Christian, but an orthodox Christian, and a sectarian; that even from a Calvinistic standpoint, he was "sound not only on the truth of the Christian religion but on all its fundamental doctrines and teachings."