The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-26
LINC0LNIANA FOR BOYS.

81 was born with an intense love for
the Stars and Stripes whatever their
condition or wherever they may float"
said the captain; but there is one flag
that I reverence above all others. and
that always seems to be a sacred, sem
tient thing. 1 was a member of the
Treasury regiment "a company made up
of the employees of the treasury depart
menD and it was the flag belonging to our
regiment that was borrowed to decorate
President Lincolp's box at Ford's theatre
that fatal night of April II, 1865. You
Will remember that in Booths attempt to
jump from the box TO the stage after the
cruel shot had been fired, the flag moved
a little forward, caught in his spur and
was thus responsible for the fall which
resulted in his broken leg and consequent
capture.
Il can tell you we boys never lost our
reverence for that piece of striped bunt-
ing. 1t always seemed to us to have be-
come momentarily clothed upon with life.
and to have reached forth to do what 1t
could to avenge the death of it's beloved,
maTtyred protector
1T is something to have lived through
those throbbing,, pulsing days at WASH
lngton. during the early spring time of
1860. when every moment was tense with
excitement; but of ali the. emotional
strains l ever experienced none eclipsed
mat upon the occasion. of what have al
ways taken TO be Lincoln's last public APP
pearance before the night of his assassin
atlon-although l have never seen it so
set down in the books. That was on
April 5, Just ten days before his death.
News hadsarrived OF the fall of Richmond.
and the ringing of bells and beating of
drums had brought out an immense con-
course of people before the White House.
Lincoln appeared at one of the upper
windows and gave utterance to few sim
pie words of thanksgiving and gratitude.
Then some obscure person in the crowd
family struck up the Doxology. Other
voices 5oined in, and the simple old hymn
n n 1ferl1r oh hat
seemed to Till all the Intervening space
between earth and heaven. and made one
think OF the music of the spheres. 1t
was something more than sinsing-rather
the spontaneous expression of the pas
sionate sentiment of universal humanity,
and moved the heart of the great presi-
dent as nothing else could have done.
Lincoln was. by the way. always fond
of the simple hOmely songs that appeal
directly to the common heart In those
days little gospel hymn that had just
come out, called My Mission was his
especial favorite. ] happened to sit very
near him one evening at a patriotic meet
ing. 1t was during the very darkest days
of GA. and he had preferred TO sit in the
audience leaving other dignitaries to oc-
cupy The stage. As preliminary to. the
and in his tender, sympathetic voice sang:
IF you cannot on the ocean
Sail among the swiftest feet,
Rocking on the highest bihows
Laughing at the storm you meet 8
n You can STAND among the sailors,
Anchored yet within the bay.
You can lend a hand to help them
As they launch their boats away
land so on TO the end
Lincoln listened with bowed head and
solemn countenance and continued buried
in thought long after the last strain had
died away. Presently he took little
scrap of paper from his pocket. scrubbed
something on il and handed it to an usher.
To the great surprise of the audience
after the speech-making, Mr.. Phillips
came out and sang exactly the same song,
verse for verse. as he. had done before. 1t
was only later that it became known to
mutual friends that il was at the request
of the president.
THE following stanZs was the one that
naturally most appealed to him and
seemed to voice his opinion of the part he
had to play in the great moving events of
the times:
If you cannot, in the conflict
Prove 10 yourself a soldier true;
If where fire and smoke are thickest,
There's no work for You to do,