and in an audience like this in America you would see the tears
trickle down many a cheek at his name: he is very dear to us
Americans. Do you want to know the reason why? I will tell you. He was
a man of compassion; he was very gentle, and was noted for his heart
of sympathy for the down-trodden and the poor. No one went to him with
a tale of sympathy but he had compassion on them, no matter how far
down they were in the scale of society. He always took an interest in
the poor. There was a time in our history when we thought he had too
much compassion. Many of our soldiers did not understand army
discipline, and a great many were not true to the army regulations.
They intended to be, but they did not understand them. Many a man
consequently went wrong, and they were court-martialed and condemned
to be shot; but Abraham Lincoln would always pardon them; and at
length the nation rose up against him, and said that he was to
merciful, and ultimately they got him to give out that if a man was
court-martialed he must be shot, that there would be no more
reprieves.