Two ladies called upon the President at the end of 1864, one the wife,
the other the mother of western Pennsylvanians imprisoned for resisting
the military draft. A number of other men were fellows in their durance
on precisely the same grounds. Finding it meet to grant this dual
relief sought, Lincoln directed the whole to be liberated, and signed
the paper with one signature to cover the entire act of humanity. His
old friend, Speed, was witness of this scene, and, knowing only too
well the sensitive nature of the President, he spoke his wonder that
such ordeals were not killing.
Lincoln mused, and agreed that such scenes were not to be wantonly
undergone.
"But they do not hurt me. That is the only thing today to make me
forget my condition, or give me any pleasure"--he was unwell, then; his
feet and hands were always cold, and often when about he ought to have
been abed. "I have in that order made two persons happy, and alleviated
the distress of many a poor soul whom I never expect to see. It is more
than one can often say that, in doing right, one has made two happy in
one day. Speed, die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know
me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I
thought a flower would grow."--(Vouched for by Joshua R. Speed, the
first to be friend to Lincoln when he set out to become a lawyer, at
Springfield, in 1837.)
* * * * *
"YOU HAVE ONE, AND I HAVE ONE--THAT IS RIGHT!"
An elderly woman was among the suitors of the President, when the
commander-in-chief by virtue of office was besought to release her
eldest son of three, her husband and two younger sons having been slain
in action.
"Certainly," returned the chief, "if you have given us all, and your
prop has been taken away, you are justly entitled to one of your boys."
The woman took the discharge, and gratefully went away. But she was
compelled to return more grieved than before, as she had found the son
she sought dying in a hospital at the front. The surgeon made a note of
the fatality, with which, unable to speak, she presented herself to the
President. He knew what she wished this time, and proceeded to write
out the release of the second son. On handing her the paper, he said--a
new judgment of a kinder judge than Solomon:
"Now, you have one, and I the other of the two left; that is no more
than right!"
* * * * *
"SHOOTING A MAN DOES HIM NO GOOD!"
Judge Kellogg, of New York, begged off the son of a voter in his
district, condemned for military infraction; in fact, the judge did not
know much of the case, but his insistence prevailed over the rectifier
of the law and articles of war. Lincoln dryly remarked, as he appended
his signature to the pardon:
"I do not believe that shooting a man does him any good!"
* * * * *