box in the Green Room on which was written, "J. S. Mosby, Colonel C. S. A."

Before the war broke out, brave Admiral Shufeldt, owing to the quietness of things, resigned and became captain of a vessel that ran from New York to Cuba. When the war began Mr. Lincoln recalled him to the navy and he was restored to his former rank. Mr. Lincoln said to him during the war, "Shufeldt, I want you to go down to Mexico, and see if you can arrange to have the Negroes colonized down there." The Admiral did as requested, met with a very kind reception from President Juarez, who offered him the land south of Mexico for the purpose Mr. Lincoln had advised, and an escort of 75,000 soldiers. The letters that passed between Mr. Lincoln and Admiral Shufeldt on this subject were said never to have been seen except by four persons, namely, Mr. Lincoln, Secretary Seward, President Juarez and Admiral Shufeldt, as no record was kept of them owing to their not being placed on file in the State Department.

One day a Cabinet officer and I had been spending an hour with Mr. Lincoln. When the time came for us to depart the Secretary said: "Mr. President, I wish you would describe the proper manner of telling a story. How is it yours are so interesting?"

"Well," said Mr. Lincoln, "there are two ways of relating a story. If you have an auditor who has the time, and is inclined to listen, lengthen it out, pour it out slowly as if from a jug. If you have a poor listener, hasten it, shorten it, shoot it out of a pop-gun.”

Mr. Lincoln was very much impressed with an address made over the coffin of his little son Willie. The day after the funeral he wrote me a note and asked me to write it out for him so he could give copies to his friends. He often

spoke to me of how he liked to read it over. This address was as follows: "Sad and solemn is the occasion that brings us here today. A dark shadow of affliction has fallen upon this habitation and upon the hearts of its inmates. The news thereof has already gone forth to the extremities of the country. The nation has heard it with deep and tender emotion. The eye of the nation is moistened with tears as it turns today to the Presidential mansion. The heart of the nation sympathizes with its chief magistrate while to the unprecedented weight of civil care which presses upon him is added the burden of this great domestic sorrow, and the prayers of the nation ascend to heaven on his behalf and on behalf of his weeping family that God's grace may be sufficient for them, and that in this hour of sore bereavement and trial they may have the presence and succor of Him who said: 'Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.' Oh, that they may be enabled to lay their heads upon His infinite bosom and find, as many other smitten ones have found, that He is their truest refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble.

"The beloved youth whose death we now and here lament was a child of bright intelligence and of peculiar promise. He possessed many excellent qualities of mind and heart which greatly endeared him not only to the family circle but to all his youthful acquaintances and friends. His mind was active, he was inquisitive and conscientious; his disposition was amiable and affectionate. His impulses kind and generous; his words and manners were gentle and attractive. It is easy to see how a child thus endowed could, in the course of eleven years entwine himself around the hearts of those who knew him best; nor can we wonder that the grief of his affectionate mother today is like that of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they were not.

"His sickness was an attack of fever threatening from the first and painfully productive of mental wandering and delirium. All that the tenderest parental care and watching

and the most assiduous and skillful medical treatment could do was done, and though at times even in the last stages of the disease his symptoms were regarded as favorable and inspired a faint and wavering hope of his recovery, still the insidious malady pursued its course unchecked, and on Thursday last, at the hour of five in the afternoon, the golden bowl was broken and the emancipated spirit returned to the God who gave it. That departure was a sore bereavement to parents and brothers, and while they weep they also rejoice in the confidence that their loss is his gain, for they believe as well they may, that he has gone to Him who said: 'Suffer little children to come unto Me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven'; and that now with kindred spirits, and with a little brother he never saw on earth, he beholds the glory and sings the praises of the Redeemer. Blessed be God!

""There is a world above
Where sorrow is unknown,
A long eternity of love
Formed for the good alone.

And faith beholds the dying here,
Translated to that glorious sphere.'

"It is well for us and very comforting on such an occasion as this to get a clear and scriptural view of the Providence of God. His kingdom ruleth over all. All those events which in any wise affect our condition and happiness are in His hands and at His disposal. Disease and death are His messengers; they go forth at His bidding and their fearful work is limited or extended according to the good pleasure of His will. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His care much less one of the human family, for we are of more value than many sparrows. These bereaved parents may be sure that their affliction has not come forth of the dust nor has their trouble sprung out of the ground. It is the well