Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1865-05-19
preston e,pres, only despair. suffering and bat,

preston express only despair, suffering and nate.
| She is handsome; her face is the counterpart OF
| Miss Batemsn's. Occasionally, as a look Of
sorrow so,tens the stern eyes, and suffuses the
cold lines o. the marble face. it seems As If
she must be @, Leah the Forsaken.' She is
| speaking to Union officer. young and hand
some man. She says s'It is useless to talk.
We hate you. We shall always hate you. We
shall teach our children to hate you. We dffier
in every thing and can never grow alike We
can never live in peace unless we live apart
You have whipped US, but you have not con-
quered us; and you never can" With these
words, her face again drops into her hands, and
she relspses once more into stony silence But
as she sits and thinks, at times the contractions
of her face are truly frightfdl-
How WE GOT the GREAT NEws.
Again We are on tn, broad
James, not a cloud in tie sky,
nought but sunshine on the waves.
watch the idle fails as they lie anddream
upon the tide. \ cry breaks the silence,
and great steamer rushes past. There Is a
rush upon deck, push from the cabin.
There Is lifting up of voices, then deep
silence. Mems faces grow white Women
stagger to their seats. What is the matter?
President Lincoln has been assassinated -
are the words which every eye has read
posted in immense letters upon the wheel
house Of the passing boat. moment more,
the silence breaks into a murmur, the mur-
mur into curse long and deep, and the curse
burst into rage, loud and frenzied, as officers
striking their swords rise to their feet and
swear vengeance. They began with chIv-
airy and end in assassination-damu them,
cries one. They have killed the best man
that ever lived we will exterminate them,
says another. "She boat is full of the ours
ed scoundrels we will throw them over
board, - cries third. And there is a com
motion as If every man was ready to do it.
Amid such execrations, the rebel officers rise
and depart. till not one Is left on deck A.
they silently push their waY through the
maddened crowd, the misery depicted on
their faces is enough to stir pity in any
heart. The colonel, conversing with General
Warren, goes. and returns without a vestige
of rebel uniform upon his person, clothed as
a citizen.
The awful news brings no look of satlsfac-
tion to any rebel face. They may have
hated and murdered in their hearts while he
lived. but this moment. being dead, Abraham
Lincoln seems 10 them their truest friend
"NO southern man could have done this,
said one, gazing down into the water. 1T
Is the greatest loss that could have happened
20 the south. What will become Of US with
Andrew johnson, for president, God only
knows They know well what to expert Of
Andrew johnson, for they know that he has
a nature Just like their own, consecrated to
broader patriotism. They know that he Is
southern man, with a southern nature.
strong, passionate, intense man Of deep /
loves. Of deeper hates, and OF unmiugabe |
prejudices. They know that his life has |
been one long struggle against poverty and |
that in the dark passages Of his |
life he has been probed to the quick, stabbed |
and maddened by the very men who must |
now wrIthe pOwerless beneath his retribu- |
ton. To Andrew johnson, a sOutherner, |
sworn to administer the laws Of justice, vet |
still southerner, who has been wounded in |
the house of his friends, they know that |
they will look in vain for dispassiOnate |
calmnCss Of judgement the magnanimOus
charity, hiding their multitude Of sins the |
gentle forgiveness Ithe compassionate love, ,Of /
Lincoln, the man whom they hat |
ed and killed. yet whose death they deplOre |
as 'sthe greatest misfortune that could hap |
pen to the southern people"