Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2)Herndon, William Henry
History
Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2)
Herndon, William Henry
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
in heaven.' These were her exact words. She had the President's hand in
hers, and he was deeply moved. He instantly took her right hand in both
of his and, following her to the door, said, 'I am afraid with all my
troubles I shall never get to the resting-place you speak of; but if
I do I am sure I shall find you. That you wish me to get there is, I
believe, the best wish you could make for me. Good-bye.'
"We were now alone. I said to him, 'Lincoln, with my knowledge of your
nervous sensibility, it is a wonder that such scenes as this don't kill
you.' He thought for a moment and then answered in a languid voice,
'Yes, you are to a certain degree right. I ought not to undergo what I
so often do. I am very unwell now; my feet and hands of late seem to be
always cold, and I ought perhaps to be in bed; but things of the sort
you have just seen don't hurt me, for, to tell you the truth, that scene
is the only thing to-day that has made me forget my condition or given
me any pleasure. I have, in that order, made two people happy and
alleviated the distress of many a poor soul whom I never expect to see.
That old lady,' he continued, 'was no counterfeit. The mother spoke out
in all the features of her face. It is more than one can often say that
in doing right one has made two people 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.' What a fitting sentiment! What a glorious recollection!"
The recollections of Lincoln by Mr. Swett are in the form of a letter
dated January 17, 1866. There is so much of what I know to be true
in it, and it is so graphically told, that although there maybe some
repetition of what has already been touched upon in the preceding
chapters, still I believe that the portrait of Lincoln will be made all
the more lifelike by inserting the letter without abridgment.
"Chicago, Ill., Jan. 17, 1866.
"Wm. H. Herndon, Esq.
"Springfield, Ill.
"Dear Sir: I received your letter to day, asking me to write you Friday.
Fearing if I delay, you will not get it in time, I will give you such
hasty thoughts as may occur to me to-night. I have mislaid your second
lecture, so that I have not read it at all, and have not read your first
one since about the time it was published. What I shall say, therefore,
will be based upon my own ideas rather than a review of the lecture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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