Hannah Armstrong

I wrote him a letter asking him for old times’ sake To 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 him And he and my husband worked together And 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 Armstrong From Illinois, come to see him about her sick boy In 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 stories.