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.