Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-02-24
PRESIDENT LINCOLNs ASSASSI
NATION.l
BY WALT. WHITMAN.

By WALT. WHITMAN.
The day, April Il, 1865, seems {.
have been a pleasant one throughou
the whole lsnd-the moral stmospher,
pleasant, too--tbe long STORM, 90 dark
SO fratricidal, full of blood and doub
and gloom, over and ended at last b,
the sunrise Of such an absolute nation
al victory, and utter breaking down q
secessiOnism-we almost doubted ou
own senses Lee had capitulated be
meath the apple tree Of Appomattox.-
The other armies, tho hinges of -,
!, resolts, swiftly followed.
And could it really be, then2 Out
of all the affairs of this world of wos
and passion, Of failure and disorder
and dismay, was there really come the
confirmed, unerriug sign of plan, like
a shaft of pure light-of rightful rule
of God
But l must not dwell on accessories
The deed hastens. The popular after.
noon paper the little Evening Star, had
spattered all over its third page, divi-
ded among the advertisements in q sen
sational manner in hundred different
places: "The President and his lady
will be at the theater this evening"
Gincoln was fond of the theater.
have myself seen him there several
times. I remember thinking how fun.
ny it was that he, in some respects, the
leading actor in the greatest and stor-
miest drama known to real history's
stage, through centuries, should sit
there and be so completely interested
and absorbed in those human jack
straws, moving about with their silly
little gestures. foreign spirit, aud fiat
ulent text.)
I So The day, as I say, was propitious.
Early herbage. early flowers, were out
q remember where was STOPPING at the
time; the season being advanced, there
were many lilacs in full bloom. By one
of those caprices that enter and give
! tinge to events without being at all a
part Of them, l find myself always re-
minded of the great tragedy of that
day by the sight and odor of these
blossoms. 1t never fails.)
On. this occasion the theater was
crowded, many ladies in rich and gay
costumes, officers i'm their uniforms.
manv well-kDown citizens, young folks,
the usual clusters Of gaslight. tie u.s.
ual magnetism of somany people. cheer
full with perfumes, music of violins and
fiutes-(and over all, and saturating
all that vast. vague wonder. Victory,
the Nations Victory the triumph of
the Union, filing the air, the thought,
the sense; with exhilaration more than
all pcrfumes.)
The President came betimes, and,
with his wife, witnessed the play, from
the large stage boxes of the second
tire, two thrown into one, and profuse-
" draped with the national flag. The
acts and scenes of the piece-one of
those singularly witless compositions
which have at least the merit of giving
entire relief to an audience engaged in
mental action or business excitements
and cares during the day, as it makes
not the slightest call on either the mo-
raj. emotional, esthetic, or spiritual
nature-a piece c'Our American Cous-
in'') in which, among other characters
SO called, a Yankee, certainly so called,
Yankee, certainly such a one as was
never seen, or the least like it ever seen
i'm North America, is introduced in
England, with varied fol-de-rol of
talk. plot, scenery, and such phan-
tasma goria as goes to make up mod
ern popular drama-had progressed
perhaps couple Of its acts, when in
tue midst of this comedy, or tragedy,
or non-such. or w hatever it is to lie
called. and 10 offset it or finish it out,
as if in natures and the gr,a: muses.
mockery of these poor mines, comes
interpolated that scene, not really or
exactly TO he described at all Cfor on
the MANY hundreds who were there it
seems to this hour to have left little
but passing blur. dream. a blotch) -
and vet partially TO be described as
now proceed to give it.
There is scene in the play repre-
senting a modern parlor, in which two
unprecedented English ladies'. are in
formed by the unprecedented and i'm
possible Yankee that he is not a man
Of fortune, and therefore undesirable
for marriage catching purposes; after
which, the comments being finished.
the dramatic trio make exit, leaving the
stage clear for moment There was
pause, hush rs it were. At this pc
riod came the murder of Abraham Lin
coin. Great as that was. with all its
manifold train circling around it, and
stretching into the future for many a
century. in politics, history, art. etc =.
Of the New World. in point of fact the
main thing, the actual murder. trans
pired with the quiet and simplicity of
any common occurrence-tbe bursting
of pod or bud in the growth Of vege-
taticn, for instance.
through the general hum following
the stage pause, with the change of po-
sitiuns, etc, came the muffied sound of
pistol shot, which not one hundredth
part of the audience heard at the time
and vet a moments hush-somehow,
surely n vague, startled thrill-and
then, through the ornamented, drape.
ried, starred and striped space-way of
the Presidents boz, q sudden figure. a
man raises himself With hands and
feet, stands a moment on the railing,
leaps below to the stage, "a distance Of
perhaps fourteen feet,) tails out of po-
sition. catching his boo heel in the CO.
Pirus drsrery, Che American flag