On the morning of Tuesday, April 10, 1865, Grant and Lee again met between the lines and sitting on horseback talked for half an hour. Then Grant began his journey to Washington. His staff, including Tom, went with him. When they reached their goal, Second-Lieutenant Strong found he was that no longer. For General Wright had done what he had told Tom he meant to do. The recommendation had been heeded. Lincoln himself handed the boy his new commission as a brevet-captain. "I was glad to sign that, Tom," the President told him, "and even Stanton didn't kick this time." "You don't know how glad I am to get it, Mr. President," was the reply. "Now I'm a boy-captain, as my great-grandfather was before me." "I'm not much on pedigrees and ancestry and genealogical trees, my boy," answered Lincoln. "Out West we think more of trees that grow out of the ground than we do of trees that grow on parchment. But you're right to be proud of an ancestry of service to your country. When family pride is based on money or land or social standing, it is one of the most foolish things God Almighty ever laughed at, but when it is based on service, real service, to your country, to your fellowmen, to the world, why, then, Tom, it's one of the biggest and best things in God's kingdom. But remember this, son,"--Lincoln's eyes flashed in their deep sockets--"if a boy has an ancestor who has done big things, the way to be proud of him is to do big things yourself. Living on the glory of what somebody else has done before you is a mighty poor kind of living. I never knew but one man that was perfect and I'd never have known he was if he hadn't told me so. Nobody else ever found it out. But if we can't be perfect, we can grow less imperfect by trying every day to serve our fellowmen. Remember that, Tom." CHAPTER XIII THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN On the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Laura Keene, an English actress of great repute in America, was to play _Our American Cousin_ at Ford's Theater, the chief place of amusement for war-time Washington. That afternoon, Assistant-Secretary-of-War Dana was notified by wire that Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, once Secretary of the Interior under our poor old wavering President, Buchanan, afterwards a leading Secessionist, would take a steamship for England that evening at Portland, Maine. "What shall I do?" Dana asked Stanton. "Arrest him! No, wait; better go over and see the President." So Dana went to the White House. Office-hours were over. He found Lincoln washing his hands. "Halloo, Dana!" was Lincoln's greeting. "What's up?" The telegram was read aloud. "What does Stanton say?" "He says to arrest him, but that I should refer the question to you." "Well, no, I rather think not. When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he's trying to run away; it's best to let him run." Dana reported this to Stanton. "Oh, stuff!" said Stanton.