The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-03-19
ham Lincoln that night-his a.ss 4 ths
Whfta Horaai

ham Lincoln that night-his Azss q tA'
The city Of Washington swasmst
with rebels and rebel synpashisers
and all the departments Of eoyern
ment were honeycombed with treason
and Swallowed with treachery and -.
pionage. Every step proposed o.
contemplated by the Government
would be known to the Confederate
States almost az soon - thouaht OF.
All means to thwart and delay the
carrying out OF the Governments pur.
poses that the excuses of routine and
red tape admitted of would BE- used
by the traitors within the camp to
aiG the traitors without.
No one knew all this better than
Mr.. Lincoln. With no army, no
navy. not even revenue cutter left
with forts and arsenals, ammuni-
ton and arms in possession of the
rebels, with no money in the National
Treasury and the national credit
blasted-tho position must, even to his
hopeful nature, have seemed ut this
time desperate. To be sure, despite
threats, neither few nor secret, Which
had been made, that he should not
live to be inaugurated, he had passed
the first critical point-had taken the
inaugural oath-and was now duly
installed in the White House. That
was something, of course, to be pro-
foundly thankful for. But the mat
ter regarded by him of larger moment
the safety Of the Union-how about
that?
How that great, and just, and kind.
ly brain, in the dim shadows of that
awful first night at the White House,
must have searched up and down
along the labyrinths of history and
corridors of time" everywhere in the
past, for an analogy or excuse for the
madness of this secession movement
and searched in vain.
With his grand and Astounding faith
in God, how Abraham Lincoln must
have stOrmed the very gates Of heaven
that night with prayer that he might
be the means of securing peace and
union to his beloved but distracted
country! How his great heart must
have been racked with the alterna-
tive of hope and foreboding-of trust
fulness and doubt! Anxiously he
must have looked for the light Of tho
morrow that he might gather from
the press the manner in which his in
augural had been received. Not that
he feared the North-but the South;
how would the hayward, willful pas.
sionate South receive the proffered
olive branch?
Surely. slrely-thus ran his thoughts
when the brave and gallant and gen.
erous people of that section came to
read his message Of peace and good
will they must see the suicidal folly of
their course. Surely their hearts must
be touched and the mists of prejudice
dissolved, so that reason would resume
her sway and reconciliation follow! A
little more time for reflection would
yet make all things right. The young
men Of the South, fired by tho Southern
to reason. The prairie fire is terrible
while it sweeps along, but it soon burns
out. When the young men face the
emblem of their nations glory-the
flag of the land of their birth-then
will come the reaction, and their false
leaders will be hurled from place and
power, and all will again be right. Yes,
when it comes to firing on the old, old
flag, they will not, can not do it! Be-
tween the compromise within their
reach and such sacrilege as this they
can not waver long.
So, doubtless, all the long night,
whether waking or sleeping, the mind
of this true-hearted son Of the West
throbbed with the mighty weight of the
problem intrusted to him for solution
and the vast responsibilities which he
had just assumed toward his fellow
men, his nation and his God. And
when. at last, the long lean frame was
thrown upon the couch, and ''tired Ma
lures sweet restorer'' held him briefly
in her arms, the smile of hopefulness
on the wan cheek told that, despite all
the terrible difficulties of the situation,
the sleeper was sustained by strong
and cheerful belief in the Providence Of
God, the patriotism of the people and
the efficacy of his inaugural peace-oaer.
ing to the South.