The great Senator entered the ball-room, with Mrs. Lincoln leaning on
his arm, and took his seat by the side of the President. The evening was
pleasantly spent, and the newspapers at once discovered how great a
blunder they had made.
At length the curtain fell upon the bloody scenes of the war. Under the
mighty blows of Grant and his lieutenants the Rebellion was crushed.
On a bright day the President, accompanied by Mr. Sumner, entered the
streets of Richmond, and witnessed the grateful tears of thousands of
the race he had redeemed from bondage and disgrace. Having returned to
Washington, he convened a cabinet council on the 14th of April. During
the session his heart overflowed with kind and charitable thoughts
towards the South, and towards those officers who had deserted the flag
of their country in her trying hour he poured out a forgiving spirit.
After that cabinet meeting he went to drive with Mrs. Lincoln,--they two
were alone. "Mary," said he, "we have had a hard time of it since we
came to Washington; but the war is over, and, with God's blessing, we
may hope for four years of peace and happiness, and then we will go back
to Illinois and pass the rest of our lives in quiet. We have laid by
some money, and during this term we will try and save up more, but shall
not have enough to support us. We will go back to Illinois, and I will
open a law-office at Springfield or Chicago, and practise law, and at
least do enough to help give us a livelihood." Such were the dreams of
Abraham Lincoln the last day of his life. The whole world knows the
remainder of the story,--of that terrible night at the theatre; of that
passing away in the early dawn of the morning; of that sad and mournful
passage from the Capitol to the grave at Oak Ridge Cemetery. It is
painful to dwell upon it; it makes the heart faint even to recall it.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN needs no eulogy. There is but one other name in
American history which can be mentioned with his as that of a peer,--the
name of Washington. He was as pure, and just, and as patriotic as the
Father of his Country. He was born of his time, a creature of the age of
giants, a genius from the people, all the greater for his struggles, for
he really did more than any man of his day to destroy caste and give
courage to the lowly; and therein he wrote the brightest pages of
progress. The shaft that marks his silent resting-place, the books he
read, the office he used, the strong body that covered his warm heart
and wise purposes, were only the outer symbols to the higher gifts of
his Creator. All gifts and graces are not found in one person. He is
great in whom the good predominates. All persons are not born equal.
Gifts are diversified; but if ever a man had the "genius of greatness,"
it was Abraham Lincoln. As all are eloquent in that which they know, he
was eloquent in what he both knew and did.
A few words more. The President left a heart-broken widow, a woman whose
intellect was shattered by one of the most awful shocks in human
history. No mind can picture the agonies which she suffered, even till
the day of her death, on July 16, 1882. I make mention of her now,
because, during her eventful life in Washington and afterwards, she was
most cruelly treated by a portion of the press and people. I can
conceive of nothing so unmanly, so devoid of every chivalric impulse, as
the abuse of this poor, wounded, and bereft woman. But I am reminded of
the splendid outburst of eloquence on the part of Edmund Burke, when,
speaking of the heart-broken Queen of France, he said:--
"Little did I dream that I should live to see such disasters fall upon
her in a nation of gallant men,--a nation of men of honor, cavaliers.
I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to
avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of
chivalry is gone."
"Lincoln was incontestably the greatest man I ever knew. What marked
him was his sincerity, his kindness, his clear insight into affairs,
his firm will and clear policy. I always found him preëminently a
clear-minded man. The saddest day of my life was that of Lincoln's
assassination."--U.S. GRANT.
[The death of GENERAL GRANT has occurred since this article was put into
type.--_Ed._]
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