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"I dropped in upon Mr. Lincoln on Monday last, and found him busily engaged in counting green-backs. 'This, sir,' said he, 'is something out of my usual line: but a President of the United States has a multiplicity of duties not specified in the Constitution, or Acts of Congress; this is one of them. This money belongs to a poor negro, who is a porter in one of the departments (the Treasury), and who is at present very sick with the small-pox. He is now in the hospital, and could not draw his pay because he could not sign his name. I have been at considerable trouble to overcome the dif ficulty, and get it for him; and have at length succeeded in cutting red tape, as you newspaper-men say. I am now dividing the money, and putting by a portion, labelled in an envelope with my own hands, according to his wish."*

An English clergyman said in his eulogy, "One or two illustrations of his personal kindness have just come to my knowledge through a friend who has recently returned from the United States. This gentleman told me that he was one day conversing with the general in command of one of the armies, on the subject of desertion; when the general said, 'The first week of my command, there were twenty-four deserters sentenced by court-martial to be shot; and the warrants for their execution were sent to the President to be signed: he refused. I went to Washington, and had an interview. I said, 'Mr. President, unless these men are made an example of, the army itself is in danger. Mercy to the few is cruelty to the many.' He replied, 'Mr. General, there are already too many weeping widows in the United States. For God's sake, don't ask me to add to the number; for I

# " Chicago Tribune."

won't do it.' A young sentry was found asleep on his post: he was sentenced to be shot; but the President came into camp, and granted the earnest petition of the lad. The dead body of that youth was afterwards found among the slain on the field of Fredericksburg; and under his waistcoat, next to his breast, was a photograph of the President, beneath which the lad had written, ‘God bless President Lincoln!' Many similar incidents might be cited to show how tender-hearted he was, and how deeply he was beloved by multitudes who have received from him personal marks of kindness." *

At the time when the young soldier above mentioned was under sentence of death, " Carleton" (C. C. Coffin), of the "Journal," was in Washington. He became convinced that the case was one deserving pardon; that the young man had been kept awake too long, and was not desirous of failing in duty, but was absolutely overpowered by fatigue. On the evening preceding the day when he was to be shot, Mr. Coffin called on a Presbyterian pastor, Rev. Mr. Smith, and found that he had retired to his bed, sick on account of the approaching doom for one whom he also deemed innocent. He rose, and, proceeding to the parlor, told "Carleton" that he heard the President had "made up his mind" to have the young man executed, and forbade all admittance to those who would plead for him: so the clergyman had been asking for deliverance of One whose ear is ever open. The two proceeded to the White House, were denied admittance to the President, but wrote a note to him, begging the young man's life, which the President consented to receive; and they left the White House ignorant of the result. The next day the pardon was

*Rev. Newman Hall, London.

announced; and two hearts at least were happy at the news, though they could not know how far they had been instrumental in securing the pardon. One thing they knew, that the President was as glad to pardon as they to hear of it.

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*

The following is from a newspaper correspondent, and shows the President's appreciation of their efforts who fought bravely for their country:

"That night I left the fortress, and got Worden safe home in Washington City; when, leaving him to the care of my wife, I went with the Secretary to the President, and gave him the particulars of the engagement. As soon as I had done, Mr. Lincoln said, 'Gentlemen, I am going to shake hands with that man;' and presently he walked round with me to our little house. I led him up stairs to the room where Worden was lying with fresh bandages over his scorched eyes and face, and said, 'Jack, here's the President, who has come to see you.' He raised himself on his elbow as Mr. Lincoln took him by the hand, and said, 'You do me great honor, Mr. President; and I am only sorry that I can't see you.' The President was visibly affected, as, with tall frame and earnest gaze, he bent over his wounded subordinate; but, after a pause, he said, with a quiver in the tone of his voice, 'You have done me more honor, sir, than I can ever do to you.' He then sat down, while Worden gave him an account of the battle; and, on leaving, he promised, if he could legally do so, that he would make him a captain.”

President Lincoln was accustomed to visit the hospitals, and speak kind words to the sick and wounded soldiers. True charity is shown not only in almsgiving, but in kind words and pleasant smiles; and many a poor

"Advertiser."

soldier-boy, far away from home and dear ones whom he longs to see, has been cheered by beholding the President's tall form enter the crowded hospital, and, with a manner showing his fatherly interest, pass around among his "boys," as he called them. They called him "Uncle

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Abe;" and one such visit from him, in whose countenance they could read the real interest he felt for them, was enough to bind their loyal hearts still more firmly to him, and to the cause which he represented. More than one bereaved family to-day blesses the memory of Abraham Lincoln as they remember how he cheered in his hour of sickness, and even, it might be, beneath the shadowing wing of the death-angel, the dear soldier-boy whom they gave to their country.

President Lincoln declares plainly, and in so doing manifests his own faith in God, that a power beyond himself led to many of the wisest acts of his administration. In the letter to A. G. Hodges, where he speaks

of his course in regard to slavery, saying, "When, early in the war, Gen. Frémont attempted military emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an indispensable necessity; when, a little later, Gen. Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested the arming of the blacks, I then objected, because I did not yet think it an indispensable necessity; when, still later, Gen. Hunter attempted military emancipation, I again forbade it, because I did not yet think the indispensable necessity had come," &c,- he concludes with these words, concerning the most Christian deed of his whole life:

"I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years' struggle, the nation's condition is not what either party or any man desired or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and review the justice and goodness of God."

No place may be more fitting, perhaps, than this chapter, for those words spoken at Gettysburg, Nov. 19, 1863, which indicate so plainly his deep appreciation of that patriotism which was willing to die for country and God, and which reveal the tenderness of his spirit. They are as follows:

"Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition, that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We are met to dedi

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