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THE "POOR WOMAN" FAINTED.

a man, and take a new start in the world when it is over."

The major's wife did not at first comprehend, but I explained to her. She attempted to rise, and made a motion as if she were going to kneel at the President's feet; but instead she only slid helplessly to the floor before him, and for a long time lay in a dead faint. The President was greatly moved. He helped raise her; and when she was taken from the room, he paced back and forth for a few moments before he could attend to other business. "Poor woman!" he said, "I don't believe she would have lived if her husband had been shot. What a heap of trouble this war has made!"

The expression of the President's face as it dawned upon him that he had already interposed between the major and death will never leave my memory. His swarthy, rugged, homely face was glorified by the delight of his soul, which shone out on his features. He delighted in mercy. It gave him positive happiness to confer a favor.

Once after, I had the pleasure of seeing those sad features light up with holy feeling. It was at a public reception. General Hitchcock had led Miss Elizabeth Peabody, of Boston, to him, the sister-inlaw of Hon. Horace Mann, and as such he introduced her. The President shook hands with her cordially, but evidently did not comprehend who she was, nor quite take in what General Hitchcock had said. Reluctantly, and as if she were not satisfied, Miss Peabody moved on with the general, to make way for others who sought the pleasure of an introduction. They had nearly passed from the room, when it could be seen from the quick light that flashed into the

A GENIUS FOR KINDNESS.

575

President's face that he had just comprehended what General Hitchcock had said, and who Miss Peabody was. Springing after them, he arrested their progress. "General," said he, "did I understand you to say that this lady is Hon. Horace Mann's sister?"

"Yes," said General Hitchcock, introducing the lady formally once more.

"Allow me to shake hands with you again, Miss Peabody!" said the President, offering both hands, and shaking hers warmly. "When I first came to Washington, Horace Mann was in the zenith of his power, and I was nobody. But he was very kind to me, and I shall never forget it. It gives me great pleasure to take one so near to him by the hand. I thank you for calling on me."

No painter has ever put into the sad face of the President any hint of the beauty that could radiate and completely metamorphose his homely features, when his great soul shone out through them. No sculptor has ever liberated from the imprisoning marble the face that shone like an angel's when the depths of his large heart were reached. "No artist is successful," said Healy, one of the most successful painters of portraits, "who does not bring out on the canvas, or in the marble, the best there is in his subject, the loftiest ideal of Nature when she designed the man." If this be true, then neither painter nor sculptor has ever been successful with Mr. Lincoln's face.

President Lincoln had a genius for kindness and sympathy. He travelled out of his way to do good; and, overwhelmed with public affairs, he found time for many exquisite private ministrations. Has anything ever been penned more touching than the fol

576

FULL OF TENDERNESS.

lowing letter, written by him to a mother whom the war had bereaved of five sons?

DEAR MADAM, -I have seen in the files of the War Depart ment a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and comfortless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you of the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully,

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 1864.

A. LINCOLN.

Mrs. Bixby, to whom this letter was written, had a sick son in the hospital at that time, who had been severely wounded in one of Sheridan's battles.

And yet, to this quick and ready sympathy with suffering, which during the war made him "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," he joined an inexhaustible fund of humor that often did him good service. When I was in Washington at one time, people were telling this story of him, and laughing over it with infinite zest.

A delegation of civilians from the North called upon him to tender him some advice concerning the conduct of the war. He was tormented all through his administration with visits from self-appointed and zealous censors and advisers, in whom self-esteem supplanted wisdom, and who made up in presumption for what they lacked in knowledge and experience. They complained that he had gone too fast here, and too slow in another direction. He had not put the

A HUMOROUS ANSWER.

577

right man in the right place, the war was being protracted unbearably, and the people were weary of it. For every mistake, or failure, or shortcoming of the President they had a remedy in the form of advice as impracticable as it was impertinent. He heard them patiently to the end of a half hour, and then not only silenced their complaints, but charmed them into good nature with the following characteristic reply:—

Gentlemen, suppose all the property you are worth was in gold, and you had put it into the hands of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on a tight-rope. Would you shake the cable and keep shouting to him, 'Blondin, stand up a little straighter!' 'Blondin, stoop a little more!' 'Blondin, go a little faster!' 'Lean a little more to the North!' 'Bend over a little more to the South!' No, gentlemen, you would hold your breath as well as your tongues, and keep your hands off until he was over. The government is carrying an immense weight. Untold treasure is in its hands. It is doing the very best it can. best it can. Do not badger us. Keep silence, and we will get you safe across."

CHAPTER XXX.

MY LAST INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT LINCOLN-SCENES AT HIS RECEPTIONS-HIS INEXHAUSTIBLE HUMOR-HIS ASSASSINATION-A NATION IN TEARS.

Chicago projects a second mammoth Sanitary Fair - Attendance of President and Mrs. Lincoln solicited- His comical Narration of his Experiences at the Philadelphia Fair- "I couldn't stand another big Fair"- A humorous Inducement - Both promise Attendance - Mrs. Lincoln's Reception The President's Manner of Receiving - Crowds in Attendance - Love for Children-"Stop, my little Man"-"You expect to be President sometime" - An unexpected Reply- The Humble welcomed - Love universally manifested for him - The Remains of the martyred President are received in Chicago - The unfeigned Grief of the Northwest - The Body lies in State at the Court House-"All is well with him forever!"

HEN the second mammoth Sanitary Fair was planned in Chicago, my friend Mrs. Hoge and myself were again despatched to Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and other cities, to seek attractions for it; and this time to solicit the attendance of President and Mrs. Lincoln, Generals Grant and Sherman, with their wives, and other notables.

Once more, and for the last time, we were admitted to the well-known audience-chamber, and to an interview with the good President. He was already apprised of this second fair, and told us laughingly, as we entered the room, that "he supposed he knew