Sooner than betray the trust of a friend, I would throw myself into the Potomac river. 'Madam, you are mistaken in regard to my character. A bribe, and to betray the confidence of my employer! Turning to her with a glance of scorn, I said: It may be worth several thousand dollars to you in time.'

Lincoln as a friend of yours out of employment, and ask her to take me as a chambermaid? If you will do this you shall be well rewarded. Keckley, will you not recommend me to Mrs. Lincoln's goodness that I should like to be near him and if I can enter the White House no other way, I am willing to go as a menial. I have a great desire to become an inmate of the White House. 'I am sure that you could influence her, Mrs. Lincoln, I presume, would listen to anything I should suggest, but whether she would be influenced by a suggestion of mine is another question.' 'Don't you think you would have some influence with her?' When she came to take her dress away, she cautiously remarked: She called on me every day, and was exceedingly kind. One day a woman, I will not call her a lady, drove up to my rooms, gave me an order to make a dress, and insisted on partly paying me in advance. Lincoln, parties crowded around and affected friendship for me, hoping to induce me to betray the secrets of the domestic circle. As soon as it was known that I was the modiste of Mrs. The polite world was shocked, and the tendency to exaggerate intensified curiosity. Lincoln had grown up in the wilds of the West, and evil report had said much of him and his wife. No President and his family, heretofore occupying this mansion, ever excited so much curiosity as the present incumbents. I soon learned that some people had an intense desire to penetrate the inner circle of the White House. Oh, the front, with its stirring battle–scenes! Oh, the front, with its ghastly heaps of dead! The life of the nation was at stake and when the land was full of sorrow, there could not be much gayety at the capital. The war was now in progress, and every day brought stirring news from the front-the front, where the Gray opposed the Blue, where flashed the bright sabre in the sunshine, where were heard the angry notes of battle, the deep roar of cannon, and the fearful rattle of musketry where new graves were being made every day, where brother forgot a mother's early blessing and sought the lifeblood of brother, and friend raised the deadly knife against friend. Lincoln returned to Washington in November, and again duty called me to the White House. You should visit Browse Happy and update your internet browser today! The embedded audio player requires a modern internet browser.

Behind the scenes by elizabeth keckley