Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology: Out of me unworthy and unknown The vibrations of deathless music: "With malice toward none, with charity toward all." Out of me the forgiveness of millions toward millions, And the beneficent face of a nation Shining with justice and truth. I am Ann Rutledge who sleeps beneath these weeds, Beloved in life of Abraham Lincoln, Wedded to him, not through union, But through separation. Bloom forever, O Republic, From the dust of my bosom! As Lincoln's biographer, Masters reported "very little to be found to justify" the story of Ann Rutledge, and that Lincoln was never "deeply attached" to any woman. Post-mortem allegations of Lincoln relationship William Herndon's account After Lincoln's assassination in 1865, his friend and law partner William Herndon first revealed the story of the supposed romance between Rutledge and Lincoln, much to Mary Todd Lincoln's anger and dismay. However, Herndon despised Mary Todd Lincoln and may have fabricated or enhanced the story of a romance between Ann Rutledge and Abraham Lincoln to serve as a "thorn in the side" of Mary Todd Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln's surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln was also upset by Herndon's claim. Most of Herndon's sources came from interviews with Lincoln's early friends in New Salem and Ann's relatives. The story was later repeated by Herndon in several lectures and books. Historical controversy Since Herndon first made his claims about Lincoln's relationship with Rutledge public in 1866, the nature of the relationship has become, and remained, a matter of historical controversy. Through the 1920s, Lincoln biographers generally repeated and elaborated on Herndon's claims that the relationship was romantic, including Ward Hill Lamon, Albert J. Beveridge, and Carl Sandburg. However, in the 1930s and 1940s, an increasing professionalism in Lincoln studies was attended by increasing skepticism of the story of Lincoln and Rutledge's romance, and increased scrutiny of the evidence presented for it. While no major biographers have denied that Lincoln and Rutledge were close, several historians have claimed that the evidence of a love affair between them is tenuous at best. Benjamin P. Thomas's 1934 book Lincoln's New Salem raised doubts about Lincoln's alleged love for Rutledge, and Thomas later affirmed that while "Lincoln students can scarcely declare with certainty that no such romance took place," "most of them regard it as improbable, and reject utterly its supposed enduring influence upon Lincoln." In the second volume of his