Among the men in Washington who best knew the mind of Abraham Lincoln was Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and afterward Vice-President under General Grant. In his memorial address delivered just after the assassination, he paid a high tribute to the deep religious spirit of Lincoln as he knew it, and said: "Nor should I forget to mention that the last Act of Congress signed by him was one requiring that the motto, in which he sincerely believed, 'In God we trust' should hereafter be inscribed upon all our national coins."--HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX, in _Memorial Address in Chicago, April 30, 1865_. During his residence in the White House Mr. Lincoln again met the discipline of personal bereavement. His son Willie died. There is conflict of testimony as to Mr. Lincoln's love for his wife, though the present writer believes that he truly loved her, but no one who knew him ever doubted his devotion to his children. The death of this little boy, William Wallace, who was born in Springfield, December 21, 1850, and died in the White House, February 20, 1862, seemed, according to the testimony of Mrs. Lincoln, to turn his thoughts more to religion. It must have recalled to him all that had occurred when his other boy died in Springfield, and it brought new and solemn thoughts and possibly convictions. Moreover, he was now father to the boys of a nation. They were marching at his order, singing, "_We are coming, Father Abraham, Six hundred thousand more._" They were laying down their young lives for a cause that he told them was holy. How he felt for the fathers and mothers of the land, his letter to Mrs. Bixby and his countless deeds of mercy testify. Again and again, as Ingersoll well said, he abused his great power on the side of mercy and never otherwise. The deepening sense of responsibility, as he affirmed, again and again drove him to his knees (Noah Brooks in _Harper's Monthly_ for July, 1885). Did he consciously change his theology? Very likely not; but he certainly became a more and more deeply religious man under the discipline of these experiences.