I. FALSEHOOD AIDS NO ONE'S TRUTH
James Oppenheim says:
"The greatest are the simplest--
They need be nothing else,
It is the rest who have to play parts,
To seem what they are not."
War times and periods of great public agitation have always brought
forth in every free country the most scurrilous and vicious
denunciations and slanders of public men. Such vile vituperation of
Washington, Lincoln and others in our stormy periods, if all printed
would make many volumes that bear in numerous instances the logical
appearance of authentic history. But when sifted down, each to its
origin, it is always what some one, long since gone from the
possibility of explanation, has said, or been supposed to say, who
might have known or might have misunderstood.
Every young man, if not every boy, sooner or later hears, as if
indisputable, the most vulgar stories about men whom the world has
enrolled as their noblest benefactors. All the moral world then seems
to go to pieces as these stories seem to be the truth. But it is a
common evidence of the viciousness, the most degenerate and cowardly
viciousness, that is thus seen to remain possible in the composition
of common minds. Political perversions of the meaning and motives of
public men are so common in election times that the only wonder is,
the only reassurance is, how little the disease of slander prevails,
and yet, alas, we may not see how much injury and despair it has
caused and is causing in growing minds. Many delight in making
respected people appear filthy. Somehow, it satisfies and excuses
their own brains and degenerate character.
Many people vaguely know that an assertion may be wrong, they even
more vaguely know what is the right thing, and, when some one appears
to state clearly what is wrong, and to give a clear idea of what is
right, and a clear vision of the right way, then he becomes the
embodiment of the people and they follow him. It was thus that Lincoln
was the superbly great man. In the days when Americanism was a mist
and a fog in so many high places, Lincoln stood forth as the embodied
patriotism and mind of America. When men stormed around him with
ideas as diverse as the wind, he was a soul high and clear as the
unchanging sun. The storm-makers are gone, but Lincoln remains,
unchanged, one of the beacon lights of mankind.
Lincoln's favorite poem reflects the deep burden of his own soul. It
is a long poem written by William Knox, who was a much valued friend
of Sir Walter Scott.
* * * * *
Four of the stanzas are as follows:
"Oh! Why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
"So the multitude goes like the flower or the weed,
That withers away to let others succeed;
So the multitude comes--even these we behold,
To repeat every tale that has often been told.
"Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,
Are mingled together in sunshine and rain;
And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge,
Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.
"'Tis the wink of an eye,--'tis the draught of a breath;
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
From the gilded salon to the bier and the shroud;
O, why should the spirit of mortal be proud!"
II. FREEDOM TO MISREPRESENT IS NOT FREEDOM
One of the great perils of the American republic, which makes progress
so slow and misery so rich in victims, is the perversions which
opponents put upon the words of public men, and the distortions which
are given to their meaning. It is not only brutal, but to misshape
righteous ideas is treason to those who receive them, and it brands
such malefactors as criminal minds. The traitor and the liar are
abhorred, but somehow we have not yet classified the unspeakable vice
that deforms minds by disfiguring ideas so that they make a man say
what he never said and to represent what he never was. This malignant
vice is not above the village gossip and the vile tongue of common
slander, but it has been especially the method of gamblers in the most
sacred social interests, and of demagogues trying to control the
election of officers and legislators for our government.
Such perversions were placed on Lincoln's meaning throughout the
South that his name was the most abhorred of all names, until the
miseries of reconstruction, by contrast, so brought in comparisons
that he became known as the one great soul who had not, through all
the terrible struggle, ever uttered a single bitter word against them,
and who was the one great friend who could have given them justice and
peace.
Soon the typical view of the intelligent South was that "his untimely
and tragic end was one of the severest catastrophes of the war," and,
to the South, his death was "the direst misfortune that ever darkened
the calendar of its woes."
Up to the time of his nomination and following him in many ways on to
his death, the Eastern States took up the most trivial news items and
used them for ridicule, as representing Lincoln to be the mere
caricature of a man.
One of these minor incidents, showing this defaming method, is
represented as follows in the newspaper headlines of New York and New
England. The great news, in the midst of the fearful times, relating
to this incident was usually introduced in these words, "Old Abe
kisses a Pretty Girl."
Here is the true story: A little girl named Grace Bedell lived at
Westfield, New York. Her father was a republican, but her two brothers
were democrats, and, therefore, hearing much excited argument, she
was greatly interested. Of course, she was a republican and she wanted
to help her father. Seeing a portrait of Lincoln gave her an idea. If
Lincoln only had whiskers like her father, he would look better, and
so her brothers might not be so much against him. No sooner was this
improvement thought of than she hastened to put it into an earnest
letter to Mr. Lincoln, telling him of her idea.
She seemed to think that all great men, like her father, must have a
little girl, so she said in closing, "If you have no time to answer my
letter, will you allow your little girl to reply for you?"
Such a letter could not be ignored by the great-hearted man to whom it
came. He replied,
"Springfield, Illinois, Oct. 19, 1860.
"My dear little Miss:
"Your very agreeable letter of the fifteenth is received. I
regret the necessity of saying I have no daughter. I have three
sons; one seventeen; one nine, and one seven years of age.
They, with their mother, constitute my whole family. As to
whiskers, having never worn any, do you think people would call
it a piece of silly affectation if I should begin now?
"Your very sincere well-wisher,
"A. LINCOLN."
It happened, when on the journey to Washington to be inaugurated, that
the train stopped at Westfield. Suddenly, in speaking to the people,
he remembered.
"I have a little correspondent at this place," he said, "I would like
to see her."
Some one called out and asked if Grace Bedell was in the crowd that
surged around the train. Far back in the crowd the way began to open
and a beautiful little girl came forward, timid but happy, to speak to
the President-elect, who was also happy to show her that he had taken
her advice and begun to grow a beard. The little girl was lifted up to
him. He took her in his arms and tenderly kissed her forehead in the
midst of the enthusiastic approval of a cheering multitude.
But the story ran the rounds of the East as the uncouth conduct of a
backwoods demagogue.
As Europe got its idea of the new President from the New York and New
England papers, he was believed by foreign leaders to be the proof of
degenerate democracy and the failure of popular government. Throughout
the war there was lavished upon him an unceasing tirade of caricature
and lampoon. But they had been deceived. The shock of his
assassination seemed to tear off the veil that blinded their eyes, and
since then all the scholarship of Europe has analyzed his career as
showing one of the great characters of the world. History finds that
he was a prophet of ideal humanity, the farthest possible from
despotic sovereignties. Dynastic states can never fight for a
democratic government merely to preserve it, and democracies can never
fight merely to preserve a party in power. It may very well be doubted
that the North could have won the Civil War if there had not been
involved the moral issues of human slavery. England would surely have
intervened for the starving workers of their cottonmills, but the
workers refused to have their cause supported by fastening slavery
upon any part of the human race.
[Illustration: Lincoln Statue--Chicago, Illinois.]
III. HOMELY WAYS TO EXPRESS TRUTH
The way Lincoln looked at the malicious denunciations of his conduct
of the war, the vile stories told about him and the wicked perversions
of the things he said was once characterized by him in the story of an
incident that happened to two Irish emigrants who had come out into
the wilderness fresh from the Emerald Isle.
They were tramping their way through the West seeking for work. One
evening they camped at the edge of a pond of water. Being tired, they
were soon fast asleep. Suddenly they were awakened by a chorus of
bellowing sounds the like of which they had never heard before. It was
not comparable to anything they knew of man or beasts. Baum, gurgle
and bellow it went here, there, and then seemingly everywhere. They
grabbed their walking-stick shillelahs, ready to face the enemy,
whether man, beast or devil. But nothing was to be seen. They crept
forward, then boldly searched, strained their eyes in every direction
and defied their enemy with many insulting challenges to show himself,
but the scattering bellowing was all that could be found.
At last a happy thought struck one of them. "Jamie," he cried to his
companion, "I know what it is! It's nothing but a noise."
Lincoln took this attitude toward all minor things that could have
absorbed his time for weightier questions.
When General Phelps captured Ship Island, near New Orleans, early in
the war, he took upon himself the power of freeing all the slaves on
the island. This looked like something very important to many people,
who were surprised that Lincoln took no notice of it. At last he was
taken to task for it, and he settled the whole question with a story.
There was once a man who was very meek but he had a very aggressive
wife. He had the reputation of being badly henpecked. One day a friend
saw the poor man's wife switching him out of the house.
The first time the friend met the henpecked man, after that
disgraceful episode, the friend said, "I have always stood up for you,
as you well know, but now I am done with you. Any man who allows his
wife to switch him out of the house deserves all he gets."
The abused man patted his friend on the back and in a conciliating
tone said, "Now don't feel that way about it, it didn't hurt me a bit,
and you have no idea what a great amount of satisfaction it gives my
dear wife."
Lincoln saw things as symbols with moral meanings. On seeing a tree
covered with a luxuriant vine, he said, "The vine is beautiful, but,
like certain habits of men, it decorates the ruin it makes."
Speaking of the difference in meaning between character and
reputation, he said, "Character is like a tree and reputation is like
its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it, but the real thing is
the tree."
Some influential people were urging him to declare the slaves free
before conditions made such a thing practical. He pressed that point
home to them with a question.
"How many legs," he asked, "will a sheep have if you call the sheep's
tail a leg?"
They promptly answered five.
"You are wrong," he replied, "for calling a sheep's tail a leg won't
make it so."
To importunate and impetuous persons Lincoln always had the right
reply. Once a rather proud mother came before him with a rather
haughty-looking son.
"Mr. President," she said very conclusively, "you must give a
Colonel's commission to my son."
He waited for her to explain why he must do so.
"Sir," she exclaimed, "I have a right to demand it. My grandfather
fought at Lexington; my uncle stood his ground at Blandensburg; my
father fought at New Orleans; and my husband was killed at Monterey."
"I guess, Madam," Lincoln promptly replied, "that your family has done
its share for its country. Let's give others a chance."
IV. THE GREAT TRAGEDY
Our story here has to do only with episodes that compose the personal
interest of Lincoln and does not take into consideration the usual
public or political affairs that build up his historical character and
national service. But the tragedy of his martyrdom has many important
points of interest relating to the interpretation of his personal
life. The Book of Fate opens only upon the past and we call it
history, but it is the "light of experience" for social reason and the
moral law.
On the evening of April 14, 1865, a happy party of distinguished
friends were gathered for dinner with President Lincoln at the White
House. Mrs. Lincoln, being the manager of social affairs, made up a
theatre party to see Laura Keene play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's
Theatre. In the party were General Grant and his wife, and Governor
Oglesby of Illinois. The box for the party having been procured in the
morning, the manager of the theatre announced in the afternoon papers
that the President and the Hero of Appomattox would be present at the
farewell benefit performance of Miss Keene.
The house was filled, but the President came late, as Mr. and Mrs.
Grant had decided to take the train that evening for the West, and
Mrs. Lincoln had to rearrange the plans for her party, so as to
include Major Rathburn and his stepsister, Miss Harris, daughter of
Senator Harris of New York. The President desired to give up going,
but, on being told how disappointed the public would be, he yielded to
the persuasion and went.
They arrived about the middle of the first act and were received with
loud applause, the people standing as the band played "Hail to the
Chief."
One can hardly refrain from pausing, as this scene comes before the
mind, to wonder if the log-cabin boy had beheld this scene in a
prophetic dream how extravagant and impossible it would have seemed.
On reaching the box, the President took a large arm-chair in front,
with Mrs. Lincoln by his side on the right.
After they were seated, the interrupted play was resumed.
It was about the middle of the third act, the time 10.20, when the
audience was startled by a shot, and immediately the shout, "Sic
semper tyrannis" (so ever to tyrants). Next came the piercing shriek
of Mrs. Lincoln, then a well-known actor, John Wilkes Booth, was seen
to swing out over the box and fall heavily upon the stage.
The horrified people arose with cries of alarm and all was confusion,
so that witnesses from the audience could see no more, and they poured
forth into the streets with the dreadful news that the President had
been shot.
Booth had desired to make the assassination as spectacular and
sensational as possible. He prepared himself, just before the terrible
deed, with a heavy drink of whisky in the nearby saloon. Going into
the theatre from the front, he passed along the wall to the passageway
leading to the box. He took out a visiting card and went up to the
President's messenger, who was sitting just outside. Presenting the
card, he passed through the door into the aisle back of the box,
closing and barring the door after him. Slipping in just behind the
President, he aimed the pistol at the back of his victim's head and
fired the shot.
Some testify that his first words were "Revenge for the South."
As the assassin swung himself over to take the twelve-foot leap to the
stage, Major Rathburn of the party tried to catch him, and so received
a severe wound on the hand from a dagger. An American flag draped the
front of the stage, and in this Booth's spur caught, throwing him so
as to fracture his left leg, and which actually resulted in being the
cause of his capture. This flag has thus been called the "mute avenger
of its Nation's Chief."
Excited crowds were nothing new in Washington, but witnesses declare
they never saw such insane despair as that with which the people
expressed their grief. Shouting, frenzied men and women ran aimlessly
here and there in a chaos of ungovernable disorder.
People could hardly believe that the hideous deed had been done by
John Wilkes Booth, whose rising fame as a tragedian was only surpassed
by his famous brother and father. But he had been recognized by Laura
Keene, as with quick thought she grasped a glass of water and ran to
the President's box. She seemed to be almost the first to understand,
and to reach the martyr's side with help for him. She held his head in
her lap while the doctors were examining the wound. Her silk dress
stained with his blood is still kept with the sacred relics at his
tomb in Springfield, Illinois.
The picture of that box party cannot be surpassed by anything ever set
up in the romantic imagination. At the death-moment it contained five
persons. One of them was the greatest man of his time, just emerging
as victor in one of the most consequential struggles of all human
history. The death blow was upon him from a type of man as utterly his
opposite in everything making the form of man that anyone can
conceive. He was of the most illustrious family of actors in his time,
handsome, a fashionable beau, and a moral degenerate,--the most
courted idler of the social show. For his deed he was destined in a
few weeks to die the death of a beaten dog in a filthy stable. But no
less in direful tragedy was the fate of the betrothed lovers, Major
Rathburn and his stepsister, Miss Harris, who were the guests in that
ghastly social hour. A few months later the young man went insane,
killed his sweetheart and died in a madhouse.
Lincoln was still alive but unconscious when responsible persons, in a
few minutes, came into control. He was carried across the street to
the nearest room where he could be made as comfortable as possible.
The doctors had no hope that he would ever return to consciousness.
The surgeons and the nearest official friends were all that were
allowed to remain in the little room with him. The pale light of a
single gas jet flickered down over him. Secretary Stanton stood
against the wall writing telegrams that told how the battle was going,
and giving orders needed to keep the peace of that dark hour. At
seven-twenty-two the next morning Lincoln's heart ceased to beat and
one of the greatest characters of history had passed from life.
Mr. Stanton closed the martyr's eyes, drew the sheet over his face,
and said, "Now he belongs to the Ages."