The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1886-12-30
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CEN
TIRY,S, LIFE OF LINCOLN.

| TURY'S" LIFE OF LINCOLN.
The following is n portion OF a letter from
George Alfred Townsend C"GaIh'O TO the n.
Y. World. printed May 20. 1855 1t is inter-
esttng az q graphic pei picture of the White
| House just after President Lincolns death,
and ~ containing the first public announce.
ment of the Life of Lincoln, by Messrs.
Niculay and Hay, the publication Of which
has just been begun in The Century by its
authors,
THE EMPTY WHITE HOUSE.
WAsHIsGToN. May "a. 1886.
am sitting in The Presidents office. He
| was hi RS very lately, out he viii not return
to dispossess me Of his high back ed chair he
filled so ong, nor resume his daily work at
the table where am writing.
There are here only Major Hay and the
friend who accompanies me. A oright-faced
boy runs IN and out, darkly attired, so that
his FOB chain or gold is the only relief TO his
mourning garb. This is little Tad, the pet
OF the White House. That great death,
with which the world rings, has made upon
him only the light impression which all
things make III childhood, He VIII i've
to be - man polluted out everywhere, for his
fathers sake and as forks look at him the
tableau OF the murder will seem to encircle
him.
The room is long and high, and so thickly
hung with maps that the color of the wall
caunot be discerned. The Presidents table,
at which am seated, adjoins q window at
the farthest corner, and to the left OF nv
chair, as I recIine in It, there is a longer
table before an empty crate, around which
there are many chairs, where the Cabinet
used to assemble. The carpet Is trodden thin,
aud the briliance of the dyes is lost. The
furniture is OF the formal cabninst class,
stately and semi-comfortable; there are
book cases, sprinkIed with the sparse
library OF a country lawyer, but lately pie.
thoric, like the thin body which has
departed in Its coffin. They are taking
away MIL incoln's private effects TO deposit
them wheresoever his fam lily may reside,
and the emptiness OF the place. on this sunny
sunday, revives that feeling of desolation
from which the land has scarce recovered.
1 rise from my seat and examine the maps.
they are rom the coast survey and the
engineer departments, aud exhibit all the
contested ground OF the war there are
pencil lines upon them, where some one has
traced the route OF armies, and planned the
stragetic circumference Of campaigns. Was
it the dead President who SO followed the
march OF empire, and dotted the sites of
shock ind overthrow?
There is but one picture on the marble
mantei over tile cold grate-John Bright
photograph. But as TO his biography. IL
Is TO be written by Colonel Nicolay and
Major Hay. They are to 20 TO Paris together,
one rs affaehs OF legation, the other as
CONSUL; and while there will undertake.
the labor. They are the only mon who know
mas life We'll enough 20 exhaust it, hayipa
followed his oficiat tasks as closely as they
shared his social hours
Major Hay is a gentleman Of literary,
force, Colonel Niceiay has fine judgmert
vi character and pubic measures. Together
they should satisfy both curiosity and
history. Etc.
The sales of the Century Magazine hava
gone up over $4,000 copies in six weeks.
since beginning the Life Of Lincoln A second
edition OF December will be issued on the
18th. A veteran New York publisher pre-
diets that the permanent edition of the
magazine will 20 beyond suO,o9O before the
conpletion Of the Lincoln history. The
January insSallment, which Is said by the
editors to be of most SURPRISING Interest,
occupies thirty pages of the magazine, and
treats of Mr.. Lincoln's settlement In Spring.
Held his practice of law in that city; the
Harrison campaign; Lincolns marriage;
his frieI d. hip with the Speeds of Kentucky;
tue Shields Guel; and the campaign of 1884.
The illustration are numerous, including
Portraits of Joshua Speed and wife, OF Mrs.
Lucy g. speed, Milton Hay, President liar.
Iison, General Shields, William III. Herndon
(the law partner OF Mr.. Lincoln). and Mr.
Lincoln. himseif,i from the photograph
presented by him to Mrs Lucy g. Speed.
in lSol Pictures are given of the house
where Lincoln was married, also the house
wneTe ne lived after bis marriage, ETC., etc,