Wherever he appeared in Richmond, Federal soldiers treated him with respect. As for our own people, to the day of his death Richmond stood uncovered when General Lee came there and walked the streets. If, as he passed along, he laid his hand on a child's head, the child never forgot it. His words with our young men were words of might, and the cause of peace owes to him a debt that the Peace Angel of the Union will not forget. "THE SADDEST GOOD FRIDAY" CHAPTER VII "THE SADDEST GOOD FRIDAY" In Matoaca's little devotional note-book, I read: "Good Friday, 1865. This is the saddest Good Friday I ever knew. I have spent the whole day praying for our stricken people, our crushed Southland." "The saddest Good Friday I ever knew"; nearly every man and woman in the South might have said that with equal truth. Her "Journal" of secular events contains a long entry for April 14; it is as if she had poured out all her woes on paper. For the most part it is a tale of feminine trivialities, of patching and mending. "Unless I can get work and make some money," she writes, "we must stay indoors for decency's sake." Her shoes have holes in them: "They are but shoes I cobbled out of bits of stout cloth." The soles are worn so thin her feet are almost on the ground. The family is suffering for food and for all necessaries. "O God, what can I do!" she cries, "I who have never been taught any work that seems to be needed now! Who is there to pay me for the few things I know how to do? I envy our negroes who have been trained to occupations that bring money; they can hire out to the Yankees, and I can't. Our negroes are leaving us. We had to advise them to go. Cato will not. 'Me lef' Mars Ran?' he cried, 'I couldn' think uv it, Miss Mato'ca!'" Woes of friends and neighbours press upon her heart. Almost every home has, like her own, its empty chair, its hungry mouths, its bare larder, though some are accepting relief from the Christian Commission or from Federal officers. Of loved ones in prison, they hear no tidings; from kindred in other parts of the South, receive no sign. There are no railroads, no mail service. In the presence of the conquerors, they walk softly and speak with bated breath. The evening paper publishes threats of arrest for legislators who may come to town obedient to the call Judge Campbell issued with Mr. Lincoln's approval. Good Friday was a day of joy and gladness North. From newspapers opened eagerly in radiant family circles men read out such headlines as these: "War Costs Over. Government Orders Curtailing Further Purchase of Arms, Ammunition and Commissary Stores." "Drafting and Recruiting Stopped." "Military Restrictions on Trade and Commerce Modified." Selma, Alabama, with its rich stores of Confederate cotton, was captured. Mr. Lincoln's conciliatory policy was commented on as "a wise and sagacious move." Thursday's stock market had been bullish.