Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-02-10

business known with it's latest creden-
tials, but Secretary Stanton burst into
q furious TRADE against his chief for
interposing in matters whereof his
knowledge was nil, stormed up and
down his office for half an hour, and
metaphorically kicked his visitor out
with a curt refusal. A second call at
the White House etched a stern wrin-
kle over the presidents habitually kind
| eyes, now, however, with a little blaze
in them, as he received the report of
that sinister reception: but in a mo-
ment he laughed. Snatching q pen he
| wrote short word, Must UNDER
scored three times, and signed "a.
Lincoln" on the document enevelope.
Perhaps Mr.. Secretary win be q
little more civil this time. Come back
again and let me know. I'll tell you q
story then, which Stanton knows all
about" he said, with q squeeze Of vice.
like knuckles.
The secretary glanced at that one
word, and at once ironed all resentment
from his face, which became one of
fascinating complacency. He had come
down from his perch like Captain
| SCOTS Coon" The necessary BUSH
ness was adjusted in 10 minutes. The
writer's relative, however, missed the
Stanton story over which Mr.. Lincoln
had chuckled, as circumstances pre-
vented another interview with the
president.
The last living vision of Abraham
Lincoln was the most vivid and thrill
ing of all. 1t is strangely linked in
memory by a sinister trife with that
final glimpse of the murdered body as
1t lay in the capitol, around which
Surged the threnody, "the noise Of the
lamentation of a mighty nation" which
cried:
20. fallen at length, that tower of
strength"
Which stood four square to all the
winds that blow"
The reelected president lowered be-
fore a vast throng of hushed and rev.
erent listeners in the delivery of his
second inaugural, that masterpiece.
which in its e~Xaltation was almost
lyrical, charged like the immortal
tension Of human emotion. This was
the figure, as of some mighty arch
angel, trumpeting a message of grief
dashed triumph which was heard
around the world, resonant above all
the clamor of that worlds events and
still ringing in the pages OF history.
Who, then, would have thought Of
the a~rch-joker, who seven years be-
fore, at an Illinois barbecue, had rallied
a friend in the writer's hearing with
"Jca: here &c e GSicSt mar III the
state, with the exception of myself, and
my only advantage is that l wear a big
ger hatband." Yet these antipodes lay
in that strangely complex natur
AS the rapt audience hung spell-bound
on the rapt speaker and solemn words,
another face. a short distance away, and
not so yards from the president, ex-
pressed q different kind Of emotion.
Those wonderful words were making
the air n great electric throb; as they
came with sustained passion of utter
ance: "Fondly do we hope, ~fervently de
We pray that this nightly scourge Of
war may speedily pass away. Yet II
God wills that it will continue all
the wealth piled by the bondsman's
$50 years of ~unrequited toll shall be
sunk. and until every drop Of blood
Adrawn by the lash shall be paid by
another drawn with the sword; as was
said 5000 years ago, SO still it must be
said now, that the judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous altogether"
That face was distorted with rage,
hate and fury, making the handsome
features almost demoniac as the man
muttered and scowled. 1t was the face
of one whom the writer had seen a few
weeks before in New York, playing
MARK Anthony" with his two brothers,
at Winter Garden theater for the
Sh~akespearian fund benefit, and who
had wrung from the audience greater
plaudits than the others by the fiery
genius Of his acting. 1t was John
Wilkes Booth, who a little less than six
weeks later was to Undue his assassin's
hand with the blood so sacred to the
nation, and go down in chronicle as
the most d~etestable criminal of the cen-
fury. Perhaps at that time the half
crazed fanatic was debating whether he
should not pistol the president from
that present eoign of vantage and make
his escape through a dazed and dense