In the museum connected with the monument to Abraham Lincoln,
at Springfield, Illinois, among other relics suggestive of the
spirit and mission of the great emancipator, is treasured a
piece of the rich gown worn by Laura Keene, the actress, in
Ford’s Theater, Washington, on the tragic night when Lincoln
fell. After the fatal shot of the assassin, Miss Keene sprang to
the box and caught in her lap the head of the slain President,
while the blood from the oozing wound saturated a portion of her
garment. After the event, that blood-stained breadth was cut
from the gown, sent to Springfield and preserved as the speaking
symbol of the great sacrificial life which Lincoln lived even
unto death, on behalf of the redemption of the black slaves of
the South.--H. C. MABIE, “Methods in Evangelism.”
(2003)
=Memorial to Humble Helpers=--See NEGRO “MAMMY” REMEMBERED.
=Memorials of Genius=--See ECONOMY, DIVINE.