The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-10-05
Three National Tragedies.

dispatches from the front. I could not
have been long in bed, when I fell into
slumber, for I was weary I soon be-
gan to dream. There seemed to be a
deathlike stiffness about me- Then I
heard subdued sobs, as If a number of
people were weeping. thought left
my bed and wandered down stairs. There
the silence was broken by the same pitt
full sobbing, but the mourners were in
Visible.
person was in sight, but the same MOURN
full sounds Of distress met as passed
along. It was light in all the rooms;
every object was familiar to me; but
where were all the people who vera
grlevlng as If their hearts would break?
~ was puzzled and alarmed. What
could be the meaning of all this? Deter
mined to find the cause Of a state Of
things so mysterioe1sly and so shocking, I
kept on until arrived at the East room,
which I entered. ~: -~
There I met with, a sickening sur
| prise. Before me was a catafalque on
which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral
vestments. Around it were stationed
| soldiers, who were acting as guards, and
| there was throng of people, SOME gaz-
| ing mournfully upon the corpse, whose
| face was covered, others weeping pitt
| fully. ~ .-.a....
| WHO is dead in the White house?"
/ T demanded of one of the soldiers.
" The PRESIDENT was the answer;
"he was killed by an assassin!' -
| " Then came a long burst of grief from
| the crowd, which awoke me from my
dream. I slept no more that night; and,
although it was only a dream, I have
| been strangely annoyed by it ever
| SINCE" =
This dream fingered in his mind to the
day of his death. On the very eve of his
assassination, he quoted to Lanon:
| ITO sleep, perchance to dream! Ay,
| there's the rub!"
! 1t had been planned that the president
and some of his official family should at
| tend Ford's theater on Good Friday even
| ing April II, 1865. The president occu-
| pied box, together with several officers
| of the army, on the right Of the stage:
Just after 10 o'clock, and while the pres
| ldent was intent upon the scenes before
him, John Wilkes Booth. of the famous
| family of actors, approached from behind
and shot the president through the brain.
lie then stabbed Major Henry r. Rath-
bone, one of the presidents party, who
! attempted to arrest him, and with his
dagger raised above his head, leaped
form the box upon the stage The high
heel of his boot caught in an American
flag that was used to drape the presi-
dents box. and his ankle was sprained;
but as he sprang upon the stage he
| waved mis- dagger. and, in a deeply tragic
Volce-a voice that had thrilled thousands
! When 1t had recited the lines of Shakes
| peare's tragedies-cried out the motto of
Virginia: 'Sic semper, tyrannis,' and
added: 1.-THE South is avenged!''
| L1mpIng, he ran to the rear of the
| stage, mounted a horse, and escaped He
was surrounded in a barn soon after
wards and shot to death by soldiers ~
MT Lincoln was never conscious after
| he was shot. EJe fingered until about n
o'clock the next morning, when he ex-
pred IN the house across the street to
| which he had been removed immediately
after being wounded.
The funeral of Mr.. Lincoln was I'M
doubtedly the greate*t that ever occurred
In America. The body was taken by spe-
cial train through Maryland, Delaware.
pennsylvania, New York and Indiana to
Springfield, ILL.,, where it was buried. At
malt a dozen cities it lay in state, and
millions of people gazed-as they had
! dcne in his ream-"mournfully upon the
corpse; others weeping pitifully.'
In speech in Brooklyn on the Sunday
following the assassination of Lincoln,
Henry Ward Beecher said:
never did two such. orbs of experience
meet IN one hemisphere as the joy" (over
the same week in this land. The JOY was
as sudden as if no man had expected it.
| ana as, enhancing as if it had fallen
| sphere from heaven. 1t rose I'D over
| sobr,ety. and swept business from it's
| mornings, and ran down through the land
IN irresistible course. Men embraced each
other in brotherhood that were strangers
IN the flesh. They sang or prayed; or
deeper yet, many could only think
thanksgiving and weep gladness That
peace was sure; that government was
| Hrmer than ever; that the land was
cIeansed OF plague: that the ages were
| opening to our footsteps. and we were
| to begin a march Of blessings: that blood
was staunched and scowling enmities
were sinking like storms beneath the
horizon; that the dear Fatheriand. MOTH
ing lost. much gained. was to rise In in
uneXampled honor among the nations of
| the earth-these thoughts and that un-
d1stingulshable throng of fancies,.2 and
| hopes, and desires. and yearnings, that
nlled the soul with trenbl 'ngs like the
heated air of midsummer days-all these
| k1ndled UP such a surge of low az no
words may describe =
In one hour joy lay without a pulse
without a gieam of breath A sorrow
came that swept through the land as
huge storms sweep through the forest
and Held. rolling thunder along the skv
! dlsheveing the flowers, daunting every
singer In thicket or forest, and nollrine
blackness and darkness across the land
ana up the mountains. DID ever so many
hearts. IN so brief'a time touch two such
| poundless feelings? 1t was the uttermost
OF JOY; the uttermost of sorrow-noon ana
nloIaEnt' without a space between"