IN

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE CLOSING SCENE.

N the farm-house of William McLean, at Appomattox, General Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant. The thrilling news ran along the lines of the Union army. A mighty shout rent the air. Men cheered and yelled with irreApril 9, pressible delight. No more fighting nor weary marches. No ghastly wounds; but home, wife, and children awaited them. Thenceforth joy, peace, and rest!

1865.

President Lincoln had returned to Washington. He had been but a short time in the executive mansion when the following despatch came from General Grant:

"General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on terms proposed by myself."

It was the supreme moment of Mr. Lincoln's life. The country was saved, the nation redeemed. All he had labored for, lived for, prayed for, had been accomplished. Bells rang, cannon thundered, thanks ascended to God in every city, town, and hamlet.

A multitude gathered in the grounds around the White House to express their congratulations. Beneficent the countenance of April 11, the President as he looked into the radiant faces of his fellowcitizens.

1865.

"We meet this evening in gladness of heart," he said. "The surrender of the insurgent army gives hope of righteousness and peace. . . . In the midst of this, He from whom all blessings flow must not be forgotten."

During the war there had been much apprehension among the people for the safety of the President.

"You are not sufficiently careful of yourself," said a member of the Cabinet to Mr. Lincoln, just before his re-election. "There are bad men in Washington."

The President took a package of letters from his desk.

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Every one of these letters," he said, "contains a threat of assassination. I might be nervous if I were to dwell upon the subject, but I have come to the conclusion there are opportunities enough to kill me every day of my life if there are persons disposed to do it. It is not possible to avoid exposure. I shall not trouble myself about it.”

Solicitude for the President's safety was not confined to the City of Washington. General Van Allen, of New York, the day after Mr. Lincoln returned from Richmond, addressed a letter to him expressing his apprehensions.

"I intend to adopt the advice of my friends and use due precautions," the President wrote in reply.

The day commemorating the entombment of the World's Redeemer was not celebrated by fasting and solemn reflections, but by thanksgiving and hallelujahs. It was Good Friday, and also the anniFriday, versary of the surrender of Sumter. Four years had passed. April 14, 1865. The time had come when the emblem of national authority was to float again in beauty where it had been dishonored. General Robert Anderson was to raise the same flag which he had lowered when surrendering the fort. On that December morning, 1860, when he took possession of Sumter, the voice of Rev. Matthias Harris was heard in prayer. Once more he kneeled and led the assembled Selections from the Bible were read alternately by Rev. Richard S. Storrs and the people:

multitude in devotion.

"The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.'

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Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.' "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.'

"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.'

"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.'

"We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners.'"

With orchestra, choir, and congregation joining in the "Gloria of the Church Universal," the Stars and Stripes floated once more where it had been humiliated by treason.

An address was given by Henry Ward Beecher which breathed the spirit of brotherhood and charity.

"We offer," he said, in conclusion, "to the President of these United States our solemn congratulations that God has sustained his life and health under the unparalleled burdens and sufferings of four bloody

years, and permitted him to behold this auspicious consummation of that national unity for which he has waited with so much patience and fortitude, and for which he has labored with such disinterested wisdom."

It was a day of joy and gladness in the White House. Captain Robert Lincoln, who had witnessed the surrender of Lee, arrived in season to breakfast with his father and mother. He narrated the last scene at Appomattox. Breakfast finished, the President passed a pleasant hour with Mr. Colfax, speaker of the House, who was about to make a journey across the continent. At eleven o'clock the Cabinet met in regular session. General Grant arrived, and was warmly welcomed.

"I am somewhat anxious in regard to Sherman," said General Grant.

"We shall have news from him soon," said Mr. Lincoln, "for I had my usual dream last night-the one I have had just before the occurrence of several important events."

"What are the particular features of your dream?" asked Mr. Welles.

"I might say that it relates to your department," the President replied. "I am always in a vessel which I cannot describe, and am moving rapidly towards a dark and undefined shore. I had the dream before the firing on Sumter, before the Bull Run battles, Antietam, Gettysburg, Stone River, Vicksburg, and Wilmington."

"Stone River was no victory, Mr. President," said General Grant. "A few such victories as that would have ruined us. I do not know that anything of importance resulted from that battle."

"I might not wholly agree with you about that," said the President, "but I had this dream before that engagement. Victory has not always followed my dream. I have no doubt that a battle has been, or is soon to be fought, between Sherman and Johnston, for my thoughts were in that direction, and I know of no other important event likely to occur."

At the moment of this conversation a Confederate officer was approaching General Sherman's lines with a letter from General Johnston asking for a conference, with the view of surrendering his army.

Richly endowed natures behold at times by mental vision what others may not see. The Bible tells us that by the eastern wall of Jerusalem the first martyr of the Christian Church, while laying down his life for his faith, beheld heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Saul, fierce persecutor, beheld a blinding light,

talked with Jesus, and became like a child in spirit. John saw a new heaven and a new earth descending from God out of heaven. Upon a house-top in Joppa, Peter, in mid-day slumbers, beheld phenomena far more mysterious than that dreamed by President Lincoln, and heard from one unseen a truth never before announced--that they who fear God and work righteousness in every nation are accepted of Him. Thrice that vision. More than three times sailed the ship that was bearing President Lincoln to the shadowy shore. At that noon hour the nation and himself were approaching a haven of peace.

We are not to conclude that the President believed in omens. Neither may we say that what he had seen was a hallucination or the phantasm of a disordered imagination. The reality of his dreaming cannot be questioned. We may conclude that philosophy has not as yet fully comprehended mental and psychic conditions.

The Cabinet took up the great questions of the hour-the restoration of the revolted States, and what should be done with the Confederate leaders.

"I have no desire," said the President, "to kill or hang them. Let us frighten them out of the country--open the gates, let down the bars, scare them off. Enough lives have been sacrificed; we must extinguish our resentments if we expect to live in harmony and peace."

In the afternoon the President, with Mrs. Lincoln, drove in his carriage through the suburbs of the city. He was welcomed everywhere by affectionate recognition. He was very happy, and talked of the past and also of the future.

"When these four years are over, Mary," he said, "we will we will go back to Illinois, and I will again be a country lawyer. God has been very good to us."

Mr. Lincoln occasionally sought rest and recreation by attending the theatre. On that evening the drama of "Our American Cousin" was to be enacted at Ford's Theatre. Miss Laura Keene, a favorite actress, had chosen it on the occasion of her benefit. It was known that the President and Mrs. Lincoln, and possibly General and Mrs. Grant, would be present. The desire to see the two men foremost in the affections of the people filled the theatre. General and Mrs. Grant, desiring to leave the city, informed the President that they could not accept the proffered invitation to accompany himself and Mrs. Lincoln. Invitations were accordingly sent to Miss Harris and Major Rathburn, daughter and stepson of Senator Harris.

Early in the evening Mr. Colfax called again at the White House to

say farewell. He was accompanied by Mr. Ashman, who was president of the Republican Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln in 1860.

"Was it not," asked Mr. Ashman, "rather imprudent for you to expose yourself in Richmond? We were much concerned for your safety." "I would have been alarmed myself if any other person had been President and gone there, but I did not find any danger whatever," Mr. Lincoln replied.

Upon a matter of business the President made a remark which he saw disturbed Mr. Ashman.

"You did not understand me," Mr. Lincoln quickly said. "I did not mean it. I take it all back. I apologize for it."

The carriage was waiting to convey the President to the theatre. He desired to see Mr. Ashman again early the next morning, and wrote upon a card :

Allow Mr. Ashman to come at 9 o'clock A. M. to-morrow.

A. LINCOLN.

At the door of the White House the President said to Colfax: "Sen ator Sumner has the gavel of the Confederate Congress, which he got at Richmond to hand to the Secretary of War; but I maintained he must give it to you. You tell him to hand it over. You are going to the Pacific Coast. Do not forget to tell the people in the mining region what I told you this morning about their development. Good-bye."

The audience crowding the theatre rose and cheered as the presi dential party entered the box assigned them. The orchestra played "Hail to the Chief." The President acknowledged the kind reception, and the performance went on. Mr. Lincoln greatly enjoyed it. The curtain rose upon the second scene of the last act. Miss Keene, personating Mrs. Montchessington, was saying to Asa Trenchard:

You don't understand good society. That alone can excuse the impertinence of which you are guilty."

"I guess I know enough to turn you inside out," the reply of Trenchard.

A pistol report startles the laughing audience. A man leaps from the President's box, falls upon the stage, rises, flourishing a knife dripping with blood.

"Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged!" he shouts, and disappears.

"John Wilkes Booth!" some one exclaims. There is instant commotion-a rush towards the stage and the box.