"I thank you, dear Jesus, that I behold President Linkum!" was the
exclamation of a woman who stood upon the threshold of her humble home,
and with streaming eyes and clasped hands gave thanks aloud to the
Saviour of men.
Another, more demonstrative in her joy, was jumping and striking her
hands with all her might, crying, "Bless de Lord! Bless de Lord! Bless
de Lord!" as if there could be no end to her thanksgiving.
The air rang with a tumultuous chorus of voices. The street became
almost impassable on account of the increasing multitude, till soldiers
were summoned to clear the way....
The walk was long, and the President halted a moment to rest. "May de
good Lord bless you, President Linkum!" said an old negro, removing his
hat and bowing, with tears of joy rolling down his cheeks. The President
removed his own hat, and bowed in silence; but it was a bow which upset
the forms, laws, customs, and ceremonies of centuries. It was a
death-shock to chivalry and a mortal wound to caste. "Recognize a
nigger! Fough!" A woman in an adjoining house beheld it, and turned from
the scene in unspeakable disgust.
(The following nine anecdotes were related by Frank B. Carpenter,
the painter, who, while executing his picture of the first reading
in cabinet council of the Emancipation Proclamation, had the
freedom of Mr. Lincoln's private office and saw much of the
President while he posed, and whose relations with him became of an
intimate character.)
"YOU DON'T WEAR HOOPS--AND I WILL ... PARDON YOUR BROTHER"
A distinguished citizen of Ohio had an appointment with the President
one evening at six o'clock. As he entered the vestibule of the White
House, his attention was attracted by a poorly-clad young woman who was
violently sobbing. He asked her the cause of her distress. She said she
had been ordered away by the servants after vainly waiting many hours to
see the President about her only brother, who had been condemned to
death. Her story was this:--She and her brother were foreigners, and
orphans. They had been in this country several years. Her brother
enlisted in the army, but, through bad influences, was induced to
desert. He was captured, tried and sentenced to be shot--the old story.
The poor girl had obtained the signatures of some persons who had
formerly known him, to a petition for a pardon, and alone had come to
Washington to lay the case before the President. Thronged as the
waiting-rooms always were, she had passed the long hours of two days
trying in vain to get an audience, and had at length been ordered away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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