it is reasonable to presume my transactions are satisfactory to them. The probability is that you have traveled sufficiently to know that there is something to pay at all places similar to this. At the Washington monument in Baltimore, you would have to pay fifteen cents; at Bunker Hill twenty cents; at Mount Vernon, one dollar to the steamboat that takes you there,-twenty-five cents of which goes to the Ladies' Association having it in charge, and you can not gain access to it in any other way. Then, if you were to crossthe Atlantic and visit the Tower of London, you would not only have a fee to pay, but would be compelled to tarry in a waitingroom until a certain number of visitors arrived, and have doors locked after you wherever you went. If you did not know all that, you certainly can read, and the rules by which I am governed are plainly printed and put up at each of the three doors. If you did not intend to comply with them, you ought to have remained outside. If you did, why snarl at the pad-lock, which is only intended as a matter of economy, in the absence of sufficient income to defray the expense of a door-heeper. I trust. Doctor, that you may never be on the wrong side of any worse pad-lock than you found here! It would be a pleasure to me, Doctor, even though it were something of a torture to you, if I could make you realize how many pleasant things you overlooked, about which you might have written, and the best you could do was to find a pretext to swear, and then lay the suggestion of the thought to a woman. You said a lady, but a lady never swears. Adam could not have done worse than that. When detected in a wrong act, he only skulked behind Eve, and whined out to the Lord, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.” Doctor, you speak of my lofty eloquence. I was constrained to employ the altitudinous variety in self-defense. How could I have risen above the din of twenty or more female voices in any other way? In imagination I hear you say, why talk at all? Let each one look for him or herself. I have tried that to my heart's content. With such a company as you saw, there would be silence for about one-tenth of the time there was in heaven on a certain occasion we read of, and then more questions than ten men could answer in an hour, and all expected to be answered by one man in five minutes. That is the reason why I require silence until I get through. The great mass of people come here to learn the most they can in the shortest time. If there are many who wish to hear and one or two who do not, I sometimes have occasion to show that one or two the door, and insist that they shall go out or keep silent, just as you would do in any service you was expected to be responsible for. It is said that order is heaven's first law. If I can not preserve it here, I prefer being thrust out myself. I aim to preserve order because it is right of itself, and in my own self-defense. I have been acting in self-defense all my life. I am writing this article in self-defense. It One of my weaknesses from boyhood has been sleeping in church. I was compelled to do it in self-defense. Perhaps you ask, how? For fifteen years or more, I was required to attend services one Saturday and Sunday in each month, at a genuine, simon-pure, oldfashioned, Hardshell Baptist church, in the State of Kentucky. Such a church was never known to exist north of the Ohio river, and I doubt if it can exist in the South much longer. During all that fifteen years I sat under the same sermon, from the same man, Rev. Joel M. It was full three hours long, all in that blessed tone so dear to the heart of the elder sisters of his congregation. made no difference whether his text was in Genesis or Revelation, the sermon was always the same, with the exception of a sentence or two at the opening and closing. It abounded in stereotyped phrases, such as "mourning like a dove," and "chattering like a swallow," accompanied with tones and gestures as though he was trying to imitate the birds. These long sittings were more than my youthful flesh could endure, hence it became absolutely necessary, as a means of self-dense, for me to wear away part of the time in sleep. I never realize so fully at any other time, that I am a monument of mercy, as when thinking of that sermon, and how I survived it. But it was not all evil. There was one redeeming feature in it, the benefit of which I am enjoying to the present time. I used to preach that same sermon on odd Sundays to congregations of boys and negroes, assembled behind barns and under shade trees, and that is the way I acquired that Demosthenian eloquence which you so much admire. [Although the habit of sleeping in church was acquired strictly in self-defense, it has sometimes proved to be quite annoying. After marriage, myself and wife became members of a Presbyterian church less than one hundred miles from Cincinnati, and at one time made our home in the family of the pastor, Rev. L. R. B. He could not fail to observe my weakness, and would occasionally remind me of it. I would retort by saying that it was his duty to preach such sermons as would keep me awake. He would usually speak my name as though it had a plural termination, which it has not. The seating in the church was promiscuous, consequently upon one very warm day, I found myself under the necessity of Occupying quite a conspicuous place in front of the pulpit. It required unusual exertions to retain an upright position, but I did not become so sound asleep as to prevent my knowing when the minister closed his sermon, opened his hymn book and read distinctly from one of Dr. Watts' good old hymns, "My drowsy powers, why sleep ye so? Yet nothing's half so dull." *That part in brackets never appeared in the Interior, having been voluntarily withdrawn after being sent to the office, in order to abbreviate the article. By the time the reading of the first verse was done, I was thoroughly aroused, and felt as though all eyes were upon me, but preserved a respectful demeanor. We walked home together, but the events of the morning were not alluded to until all were seated at the dinner table. Assuming a serious expression of countenance, for I really thought he had selected that hymn as applicable to my case, I said: Brother B., I think I have just cause to complain of you.' 'Why so?' said he with an inquiring look. 'Because, sir, you to-day took occasion to point out my infirmities publicly, when you could just as well have done it privately.' With a puzzled expression of countenance he said: 'I do not understand you, please explain.' 'Well, sir, at the close of your sermon this morning, seeing I had been asleep as usual, you could not wait until our arrival at home to reprove me, but under pretense of reading a hymn called aloud: 'My drowsy Powers, why steep ye so?' I then found that the selection of that hymn was entirely unpremediated on his part, and, therefore, will not attempt to describe what ensued, but any allusion to the subject after that, was sure to provoke the most unbounded mirth.] One thing I want distinctly understood, I have thus far acted in self-defense, but now I assume the aggressive, become a missionary, and if I can prevent it no other person shall suffer as I have done. As long as I preach my sermon here, neither man, woman, nor child shall ever sleep under it, until they are dead, and then I shall do my utmost to prevent their bodies being carried away by vandal hands. J. C. POWER, Custodian. P. S.-We did not make anything by stirring up Bro. Power. However soundly he may have slept under his Hardshell pastor, it is evidently not easy to catch him napping now. G. The affair was so ludicrous that it attracted some attention, and I received a number of letters of congratulation. I will quote from three of them, from as many different States, the two first are from Presbyterian ministers of my acquaintance: J. C. Power: MY DEAR SIR-"I congratulate you on your answer to the Interior. It was first-rate good sense-ten times better than if you had clawed it. It was, moreover, Christian good sense. I shall Vote for you to stay at the Monument." G. H. F. Bro. Power: "Previous to receiving the papers which you had the kindness to send me, I read your letter to our Bro. G.. and said to myself, Dr. G. has met more than his match, now that he has awakened my brother, J. C. Power. I shall pin my vote with Bro. F.'s to coutinue you in a position where, I feel fully persuaded, the right man is in the right place. It is certainly a favorable school in which to study men and manners. May your bow abide in strength." Kind salutations, etc., J. C. Power: W. L. T. "This, from one whom you do not know, and whose humble position in life will ever render him one of the great unknown,' is addressed to you, to tender you thanks for your efforts to entertain and interest those who visit the Lincoln Monument, of which you are Custodian. The attention paid by you to an aged relative while visiting the Monument, rendered the visit instructive and entertaining. He remembers Springfield as a pleasant place to visit, chiefly from the polite and considerate attention received from you while visiting the Monument. This is written because of an unjust criticism against you, which I noticed in a late Chicago paper." It is not in a spirit of egotism, but strictly in selfdefense, that I give two more specimens, in order to show how people feel and act who come with an honest desire to be entertained and edified. A lady-correspondent of the Detroit Evening News, closes a long and very carefully written letter with these words: "It only remains to acknowledge the indebtedness of the writer for the information here given, to the intelligent, courteous and genial Custodian of the Monument, Mr. John Carroll Power, whose thorough knowledge of the duties of his position is only equaled by the fidelity, the readiness and the grace with which he discharges them." Another, a lady correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, says: "It is with no feeling of horror or gloom that I stand beside this Coffin. Everything is so sweet and clean and pure. The grayhaired man at my side has such friendly eyes, and is so kindly and pleasant. He has in his hand the keys that hold a Nation's priceless dead. Yet so gentle is he that I lay my hand unrebuked on the rich casket, while he tells me stories of the dead, and I tumble the perfumed blossoms in more sightly garlands over the lid. *** How far away George and Martha Washington are from life, barred in their unwept, undecked tomb at Mount Vernon. We press our faces against the barred door. We wish we could brush away the litter of twigs that the sparrows have carried in. We would like to put a red rose above the fair Mistress Washington, but we cannot reach her. Lincoln's coffin we can stand by, we can touch, we can bend over, we can decorate. He is nearer, we are not shut away by bars. He is yet our neighbor and friend." CHAPTER XXXIV. Some points in the history of the Emancipation Proclamation may not be generally known, and I have given the matter sufficient attention to obtain the most essential facts. September 22, 1862, President Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, giving notice that unless certain conditions were complied with in less than one hundred days, he would issue a proclamation declaring freedom to the slaves in certain States and parts of States, then in rebellion against the authority of the United States. The final Emancipation Proclamation was issued January 1, 1863, by which more than three millions of slaves were liberated. At the instance of the ladies about to open a fair in Chicago for the sanitary commission, Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, then a member of Congress from Chicago, addressed a note to President Lincoln asking him to give them the original draft of the proclamation, that they might dispose of it with the understanding that it be deposited with the Historical Society of Chicago. Mr. Lincoln replied: EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 26, 1863. Ladies having in charge the Northwestern Fair for the Sanitary Commission, Chicago, Illinois: According to the request made in your behalf, the original draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is here with inclosed. The formal words at the top, and the conclusion, except the signature, you perceive are not in my handwriting. They were written at the State Department, by whom, I know not. The printed part was cut from a copy of the preliminary proclamation, and pasted on merely to save writing. I had some desire to retain the paper, but if it shall contribute to the relief or comfort of the soldiers, that will be better. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN. |