The Wind
The love affair between Mary Todd and Lincoln is not exactly a case of love at first sight. Instant attraction makes way for a slow burn. "Again and again, the same question rose up in Mary's mind: What was this wind blowing them together?" The wind is a metaphor for the gradual realization that something special seems to be happening between her and this gangly fellow. The intimation is that there is some sort of fate conspiring to bring them together.
Riling Up the Whigs
Young Mr. Lincoln is apologizing to Mary Todd for having given a brief and almost tepid speech and promised that his next appearance before the Young Men's Whig Convention will be a much greater spectacle. “I’m the one who feeds the lions their raw meat...So they don't devour the other speakers.” The metaphor still has resonance today to describe those political speeches designed to inflame or infuriate the hardcore base of a party.
Lincoln's Voice
Contrary to what was the conventional wisdom for much of the 20th century, it is now fairly well-known that the Gettysburg Address was delivered by a man with a seemingly inappropriate thin, high, reedy voice. Joshua Speed gives a particularly creative description of that sound: "At particular intervals, even Mr. Lincoln's scratchy tenor could be heard, feeling its way along the melodic line like a child on a creaking branch." The voice he is describing died before the invention of recording devices, but Speed's curiously fanciful metaphorical language is just as fitting a description of the voice Daniel Day-Lewis uses in his Oscar-winning portrayal.
Lincoln Style
The future President is presented as being something less than a man overly concerned with his physical appearance. "The air of distraction extended even to his dress...he looked as though he'd been rolled down the street, like a keg." The metaphor here resonates with the "wind" in the first example. Again, the forces of fate seem to be colluding to bring Lincoln and Mary Todd together as she is presented as very much a fashion-conscious young lady in stark contrast to the image which the simile creates.
First Meeting
The very first face-to-face meeting between Abraham Lincoln and the woman he would marry is presented as one which has quite an unexpected effect on Mary Todd. He takes her delicate hand into his oversized palm and upon inquiry, speaks his last name by way of introduction. As for Mary, "Her brain went scrambling; her smile, by way of compensation, stood still." In true rom-com style, this metaphor-rich description of an unexpected socially awkward moment for a young woman who essentially trained all her life to prepare for this moment—meeting her future husband—does not improve. The wind does not begin to blow until later.
