The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1880-08-25

fore, trying to seek al audience with the
Presidents This old man staggered away and
sat down on the window sill, the very picture
OF despair. said You seem to be in
great sorrow ; what is the matter? . And he
raised his eyes and said i" Oh, am in such
trouble, SIR" said !" What is itrp He
said F" Look at that package Of papers" |
looked at them, aud saw they were worn, torn
and greasy, and had passed through ever SO
many headquarters, and were covered with
endorsements / found that when the war
broke cut he lived IN East Tennessee that he
had two boys, sixteen and eighteen, and that
they both went into the Federal army That
one at Strawberry Plains had been wounded
and taken to the hospital, and his younger
brother detailed to nurse him. The older boy
died, and the younger one, homesick aud
lonesome, had deserted and gone home to see
his mother. IL was at the time when death
was the penalty for desertion, and no one
could mitigate the sentence except the Presi-
dent but this old man had been to that
greatest of soldiers, who never made mis-
take or lost a battle, Gen. George II. Thomas,
the commander of the Army of the Cumber-
land He had been to him and told his sor-
rowful story, and Gen. Thomas had written a
letter to the President, begging him to inter-
fere and save the boy. Aud he said " It is
Tuesday, and my boy is going to be shot next
Friday. What shall do p" It was enc of
those sad stories, one of a hundred sad stories
that had made my heart sore, and went into
the Presidents private secretary's room.
knew him very WE'LL and said, "John,
want to see the President" You eau not
see him." he soid. Aud said, " Why ?"-
Aud he said, :" Let me tell you, but don't
breathe it in Washington. We are going to
start for Annapolis in twenty minutes. -
Stevens, Cameron and Hunter are waiting for
us at Fortress Monroe, aud We are going to
have peace--no moro war;" | said, You
don't say so Mr.. Lincoln must not go down
there until he has seen this old man. | will
write him a letter." | wrote him q letter as
follows, and he took it In -" NV Dear Pres
ident-There is an old man out here He has
a sorrowful story, and | know you will hear
it. Will you hear him a moment and oblige
me . and signed my name, sent it in, and in
less time than eau tell II there came a mes
sage from Lincoln to let this old man in, and
he turned his back on plenipolentiares and
senators aud judges and walked into the pres
ence of Mr.. Lincoln. l said to myself: ~
will see how this thing coilles OUT" and
will pry the door open just about an inch. It
would have been curiosity in woman In man
IL una
There stood the great President, pale and sud,
his great band spread out on the table, and
this old man got very close to him before he
saw him, aud no said q Arc you the man
that Gen. Fiske sent in here? ?" The man
replied, s. don't know who sent me-sone
one did," The President said 9 Now tell me
the story very quickly" He told the story,
and Mr.. Lincoln took the paper and said, F."
will send it to Judge Holt and you come to-
MI lit and see what the answer is" And then
the old mans heart sank within him, aud he
threw himself on the breast OF the President,
with his hand on his shoulder, and said, Ny
God, Mr.. President this must DO attended to
now my boy is going to be shot next Fri
day" How well remember the wonderful
look of the Prosdent--the wonderful look of
sadness which melIowed away at once into
such perfect humor, as he said, J" That re-
minds me Of Gen. Fiske's swearing story let
me tell it to you. And he sat the old man
down there by the table, and he told him the
story in as much detail as have told it to
you, making him laugh as heartily as posi-
BILE, taking three times as loug to tell the
story as it would have required to read the
papers all through, and then he took an old
quill pen, that would give hundred dollars
for this minute, and wrote across that paper,
{" Let this boy be pardoned. A. Lincoln"
From Gen. Fyske's Speech at ChatauQua,
aug. 7, 1880.