LINCOLN'S AFFECTION FOR HIM.

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then. At last, he entered the President's room, and, the story continues,

"The dispatch was shown him, and the action upon it stated frankly and briefly. The President thought a moment and then said, 'Did you consult the Secretary of War, Major?' The absence of the Secretary at the important moment was then related to Mr. Lincoln, with the subsequent remark of Mr. Stanton, that he thought the right answer had been given, but that himself would have shrunk from the responsibility.

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"Mr. Lincoln, on hearing the story, rose, crossed the room, and taking the officer by the hand, thanked him cordially, and then spoke of Mr. Stanton as follows: Hereafter, Major, when you have Mr. Stanton's sanction in any matter, you have mine, for so great is my confidence in his judgment and patriotism, that I never wish to take an important step myself without first consulting him.'"

Only a few days before his death, Mr. Lincoln gave a still more striking testimony of the affectionate nature of his regard for Mr. Stanton. This was when Mr. Stanton tendered him his resignation of the War Department, on the ground that the work for whose sake he had taken it, was now done.

"Mr. Lincoln," says a witness, "was greatly moved by the Secretary's words, and tearing in pieces the paper containing the resignation, and throwing his arms about the Secretary, he said, 'Stanton, you have been a good friend and a faithful public servant, and it is not for you to say when you will no longer be needed here.' Several friends of both parties were

present on this occasion, and there was not a dry eye that witnessed the scene."

Mr. Stanton occupied a situation of torturing responsibility and distracting cares. He bore burdens of perplexity and doubt and apprehension such as might tax the stoutest nerves. His only mode of meeting and repelling the dashing waves of hourly solicitations and the thousand agencies which beset a man in his position, was to make himself externally as rugged and stern as a rock.

But those who knew him intimately, as did Lincoln, and as did many others who were drawn towards him, interiorly, during the wrench of the great struggle, knew that deep within there was a heart, warm, kind, true and humbly religious-deeply feeling his responsibilities to God, and seeking with honest purpose to fulfil his duties in the awful straits in which he was placed. To a lady for whom he had performed in the way of his office some kindness, and who expressed gratitude, he writes:

"In respect to the matter in which you feel a personal interest and refer to with kind expressions of gratitude towards myself, I am glad that in the discharge of simple duty I have been able to relieve an anxious care in the heart of any one, and much more in the hearts of persons, who although personally unknown to me, I have been accustomed from early youth to

reverence.

"In my official station I have tried to do my duty as I shall answer to God at the Great Day, but it is the misfortune of that station-a misfortune that no one else can comprehend the magnitude of, that most of

THE COUNTRY HIS DEBTOR.

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my duties are harsh and painful to some one, so that I rejoice at an opportunity, however rare, of combining duty with kindly offices.

It remains to be seen what further services, if any, Mr. Stanton will render to his country in a public capacity. Should he again be a public servant, it will be as it has been, the United States, and not he, who will be the obliged party.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

The Opportunity for Every Man in a Republic-The Depth Below a White Man's Poverty-The Starting Point whence Fred Douglass Raised HimselfHis Mother-Her Noble Traits-Her Self-Denial for the sake of Seeing himShe Defends him against Aunt Katy-Her Death-Col. Loyd's PlantationThe Luxury of his own Mansion-The Organization of his Estate-" Old Master"-How they Punished the Women-How Young Douglass Philosophized on Being a Slave-Plantation Life-The Allowance of Food-The Clothes-An Average Plantation Day-Mr. Douglass' Experience as a Slave Child-The Slave Children's Trough-The Slave Child's Thoughts-The Melancholy of Slave Songs-He Becomes a House Servant-A Kind Mistress Teaches him to Read-How he completed his Education-Effects of Learning to Read-Experiences Religion and Prays for Liberty-Learns to Write-Hires his Time, and Absconds-Becomes a Free Working-Man in New BedfordMarrics-Mr. Douglass on Garrison-Mr. Douglass' Literary Carcer.

THE reader will perceive, in reading the memoirs which we have collected in the present volume, that although they give a few instances of men who have risen to distinction from comfortable worldly circumstances, by making a good use of the provision afforded them by early competence and leisure, yet by far the greater number have raised themselves by their own unaided efforts, in spite of every disadvantage which circumstances could throw in their way.

It is the pride and the boast of truly republican institutions that they give to every human being an opportunity of thus demonstrating what is in him. If a man is a man, no matter in what rank of society he is born, no matter how tied down and weighted by poverty and all its attendant disadvantages, there is nothing in our American institutions to prevent his rising

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