Most valuable, and also most familiar, of these intimate glimpses into the life of Mr. Lincoln during his years in the White House is the book of Frank B. Carpenter called, _Six Months in the White House: The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln_. The book was the work of the artist who painted the large picture of the Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. For six months in 1864 he lived in the White House where a room was fitted up for his use, and Mr. Lincoln and all the members of the Cabinet sat to him repeatedly. It is hardly necessary to quote this book, which is widely scattered, and everywhere available. It is enough to remind ourselves that the picture it gives us of Mr. Lincoln in those solemn days after the war had settled down to a clear issue of slavery or freedom, and had become in the mind of the nation and the world not a political but a moral issue, is one of dignity and heroism and of definite Christian character. An incident following the death of Willie has been related on the alleged authority of Rev. Francis Vinton, rector of Trinity Church, New York, who was an acquaintance of Mrs. Lincoln and visited Washington and called at the White House soon after that sad event. As reported, he said to Mr. Lincoln: "'Your son is alive.' "'Alive!' exclaimed Mr. Lincoln. 'Surely you mock me.' "'No, sir; believe me,' replied Dr. Vinton; 'it is a most comforting doctrine of the Church, founded upon the words of Christ Himself.' "Mr. Lincoln threw his arm around Dr. Vinton's neck, laid his head upon his breast, and sobbed aloud, '_Alive? Alive?_' "Dr. Vinton, greatly moved, said: 'My dear sir, believe this, for it is God's most precious truth. Seek not your son among the dead; he is not there; he lives today in paradise! Think of the full import of the words I have quoted. The Sadducees, when they questioned Jesus, had no other conception than that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead and buried. Mark the reply: "Now that the dead _are_ raised, even Moses showed at the bush when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, _for all live unto Him_!" Did not the great patriarch mourn his sons as dead? "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin, also!" But Joseph and Simeon were both living, though he believed it not. Indeed, Joseph being taken from him was the eventual means of the preservation of the whole family. And so God has called your son into His upper kingdom--a kingdom and an existence as real, more real, than your own. It may be that he too, like Joseph, has gone, in God's good providence, to be the salvation of _his_ father's household. It is a part of the Lord's plan for the ultimate happiness of you and yours. Doubt it not.'