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situation is the captain of the ship he has to sail, and that is himself.

There is one rule I have never broken-that of forgiveness of my own enemies, or those who have asked me to help them to get pardon for their own sins, confessed or proved; and I am not only not sorry to refer to it, but I assert here and now that I never knew a man that acted upon the reverse philosophy to be a happy man. He may have been what the world calls useful, or many, influential; but he has never been content either in the enforced or purchased support of others, or in the fear that comes from ill-gotten power. When I say forgiveness, I do not mean to offer a premium for crime. The really impenitent rarely ask or receive pardon, but thousands and hundreds of thousands are often punished by their own conscience long before they are acquitted by men. The most pitiable object is to see a weak and often a wicked man trying to propitiate public opinion by punishing his fellow-creatures, who, at the worst, have only been addicted to his own vices.

LVIII.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S NUMEROUS PORTRAITS.—A PECULIAR LETTER FROM HIM.- THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FORGIVENESS AND REVENGE.

No character of history, not even George Washington, has figured so largely in art as Abraham Lincoln, and yet no man of any time cared less for art than the martyred President. The tragedy of his death was the cause that inspired the painter, the sculptor, and the engraver. At present there is hardly a Northern household, certainly not a loyal Northern household, that does not contain some memorial of Abraham Lincoln. I have now in my editorial-room an engraving of the death-bed scene of the great President, after the assassin had done his

fatal work, on Friday night, the 14th of April, 1865, at the theatre on Tenth Street, in the city of Washington. The body was removed from the box, after Booth's bullet had accomplished its mission, to a private house across the street. It is from a photograph by Gardner. The body lies on the bed, and life is slowly passing away. Mrs. Lincoln is kneeling at her husband's side; John Hay, his private secretary, is seated at the head on the right, while around the bed are clustered Postmaster-general W. A. Dennison of Ohio, Attorney-general Speed of Kentucky, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Senator Sumner, Surgeon-general Barnes, Hamilton Fish, Acting President Andrew Johnson, Dr. Stone, Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and several more. It is a sad picture. The best likeness of Lincoln is that which represents him and his little son Tad, or Thaddeus, reading the Scriptures. Everybody recollects Carpenter's painting in the White House, the "Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation," and the historic picture celebrating that great event belonging to the Union League of Philadelphia, and afterwards in the art memorial of the Centennial, not in themselves great works, but possessing an historical value. To attempt to enumerate all the Lincoln pictures, portraits, medallions, and emblems would require a volume, and I do not write with any such object. There is now in New York an artist, Matthew Wilson, a portrait-painter with a singularly fine touch, well known all over this continent, a travelled man, who did some excellent work in Philadelphia some years ago, for some of our best citizens, and whose acquaintance I made in Washington just at the close of Mr. Lincoln's Administration and a short time before he was assassinated. Wilson's studio was on Twelfth Street, and I was attracted to it by the report that he had painted an unusually fine portrait of President Lincoln. The Secretary of the Navy, Hon. Gideon Welles, presented me to Mr. Wilson, and thus enabled me to secure a

copy of the great Lincoln portrait, now in the parlor of my private residence on Washington Square. The original of this great portrait was painted in the White House, and my friend Wilson tells, in his quiet way, many interesting incidents of the martyred President while he was perfecting it. One of these is particularly touching, as it relates to the many threats of Mr. Lincoln's assassination. While Wilson was painting his fine. picture, Mr. Seward standing behind his chair, Mr. Lincoln opened a note and said, "Here is another of these letters," which he read to both his auditors, after doing which he pointed to a pigeon-hole and said, “In that place I have filed eighty just such things as these. I know I am in danger; but I am not going to worry over threats like these;" and then he resumed his usual animation, and the quiet, interested artist went on with his work. In two weeks from that date Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Of this fine portrait of Lincoln, the last ever taken of him, there are several copies. Good judges of art-for I am not one myself-pronounce it a work of rare fidelity, and I am quite sure that no money could get mine from me.

I now think it quite appropriate to reprint the following letter of Abraham Lincoln, taken from the history of the early settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois, which I have never yet seen in any newspaper. The book was published in 1875, and was the work of John Carrol Power, assisted by his wife, Mrs. S. A. Power, and is published under the auspices of the "Old Settlers' Society." During the war to suppress the Rebellion, as is well known, Mr. Lincoln was frequently waited upon by delegations from religious bodies. Among others, a large number of women belonging to the Society of Friends gave him a call. One of their number, the widow of Joseph John Gurney, a distinguished Quaker preacher of England, wrote him a letter. The following is Mr. Lincoln's reply. It will be highly prized, because it contains such emphatic and unequivo

cal expressions of his belief in the overruling providence of God:

"ELIZA P. GURNEY:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, "WASHINGTON, September 4, 1864.

"My esteemed Friend,—I have not forgotten-probably never shall forget the very impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited me, on a Sabbath forenoon two years ago; nor has your kind letter, written nearly a year later, ever been forgotten. In all, it has been your purpose to strengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to the good Christian people of this country for their constant prayers and consolations, and to no one of them more than yourself. The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this dreadful war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge his wisdom and our own error therein. Meanwhile, we must work earnestly in the best light he gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends he ordains. Surely he intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make and no mortal could stay. Your people, the Friends, have had, and are having, a very great trial. On principle and faith opposed to both war and oppression, they can only practically oppose oppression by war. In this hard dilemma, some have chosen one horn, and some the other. For those appealing to me on conscientious grounds I have done, and shall do, the best I could and can, in my own conscience, under my oath to the law. That you believe this I doubt not, and, believing it, I shall still receive, for our country and myself, your earnest prayers to our Father in heaven. "Your sincere friend,

"A. LINCOLN."

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nia, 196.

Arnold, Benedict, burned in effigy in Phila- Bigler, William, ex-Governor of Pennsylv
delphia, 380.
Autobiographies, number of, 186; utility of Binney, Horace, in 1873 and 1874, 195.
modern, 188.

Biography, utility of modern, 188.
Black, Jeremiah S., 240.

BADGER, GEORGE E., of North Carolina, on Blair, Francis, his attack upon Clay, 300.
Missouri Compromise Repeal, 163.
Bancroft, George, appearance, character, and
habits, 35; political opinions of, 36; his trib-
ute to New England Puritans, 36; official
positions of, 37; his "History of United
States," 37; on Washington's youth, 37;

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Blake, John B., on Sumner, 253.
Bonaparte, Jerome and Pierre, elected mem
bers of the National Assembly, 25.
Boreman, Arthur, U. S. Senator, 294.
Borie, Adolph E., 194.

Boston girl, anecdote of a, 108.

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