The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-25
LINC0LN'S TENDERN ESS.
THE LETTER HE WROTE FOR fl
 DYING SOLDIER BOY
And That to the Mother BereaVed of
 Five Sons.

! And That 10 Inc Mother befeoNeu oi Five Sons.
 As part of the memorial services in Broadway Methodist church, ex-Presi- dent J. H. Martin, of Moores Hill col lege, Sunday night delivered his lecture | on Abraham Lincoln" In simple, forceful sentences he portrayed Lincoln, the man and president. He told with eloquence the story of Lincoln's early life and struggles of his achievements as a lawyer; of his historic debates with Douglas and of his dramatic polt- | iCal career, with it's tragic ending. | No story of Lincoln" he said would be complete without some mention of his tender, sympathetic nature. A man of great physical strength and moral courage, as we'll as f1rmness of will, he had all the gentleness of woman.
 His heart and sympathies were al- ways with the common soldier. It was | General Butler, I believe, who gave an account of the presidents visit to hos pital, As he passed from ward to ward, | stopping long enough to speak word of cheer and comfort to each poor fel- low as he lay on his little cot, he finally came to a boy who was evidently dying
 MT. Lincoln sat down by his side and asked the dying boy if there was anything he could do for him. T wish you would write to my mother was the feeble answer And the president wrote it down, signing his own name.
 When he read the letter to the bay and came to the closing sentence, This letter Is written by Abraham Lincoln, the poor fellow looked up and said, Why, is this our president"
 MT Lincoln answered. Yes, and now | that you know who I am, is there any | thing more I can do for you" The dy- ing boy answered, Nothing more, un- less you hold my hand and see me through
 And SO the great president sat by that humble cot, and with big tears rolling down his face he held the trem- bling hand of that dying boy until the spark of life had fled.
 Search the annals of history and you viii nowhere find a more beautiful, ten der utterance than his letter to Mrs. Bixby of Boston, who had given five sons to her country. This letter was writtn in November, 1864, at time when the angel of death had visited al- most every household in stricken land and it was even then lowering over the president himself It begins
 "'My Dear Mrs. Bixby: I have been shown in the files of the ar department that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from your grief for a loss so overwhelming
 "'And yet I cannot refrain from ten dering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic which they died to save. I earnestly pray that our Heavenly Father may soothe the anguish of your bereaVe- ment, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and the lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours In having laid so costly sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
 The peerless glory of Abraham Lin coin lies in the fact that beyond all other men he could read the thoughts and enter into the feelings and sympa- thles of the common people, and in his own great sad heart he carried the bur dens and sorrows of his countrymen un- til he wrought out the nations freedom and sealed 1t with his blood.
 Relating Lincoln's order to Grant that Jefferson Davis was not to be captured, ex-President Martin continued:
 "The sequel showed that General Grant in his prophecy was not mista- T .lNsaIl collapse. Richmond was taken and Da- wis and his cabinet were fugltives. The civil war was ended. The patient man who had suffered the pains of thou sand deaths was now in the full sun shine of popular affection. By slow and painful steps he had climbed from the foot of the ladder to the topmost round, Enemies no longer denied, friends no longer questioned, his ability. He had saved the Union, given freedom to race. Even MT. Lincoln himself was happy. His face, always sad in thought or repose, kindled with renewed life. His tall. bent form strengthened; his whole being seemed transformed as if conscious that the great purpose of his life had been accomplished"
 | the announcement of the presidents as- sassination, the speaker said; "Busl- ness stopped; merchants closed their stores, professional men their offices. Mechanics left their shops and farmers their blows. Men gathered in groups. The flags of victory were hauled down, while emblems of mourning took their places Bells which yesterday rang in triumph tailed in mourning for the dead.
 Men forgot that they had ever doubt ed or despised him. They saw only the simple noble outlines along which he had always worked-how completely he had sunk every personal and partisan feeling in his efforts to save the un- ion. n."-Indanapolis Journal.