The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-14
5O1gH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
 ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN


 Lincoln has been shot!"
 This was the news which mortified washington, and. as it spread. cast a whole continent into gloom, just haAI a century ago tonight
 Lincoln is dead!
 On the following morning the tele- graph wires. carried this message or woe to people whose reJoiclng over the conclusion of a long and<terrible civil war was turned into a moment to universal woe
 Lincoln deadl Never before, per- haps, had the tidings of the death of a. man wrought such transformation been rejoicing over the surrender of Lee, forgetful for the moment of the terrible cost at which that triumph 1 had been bought The south was plunged into bitter despondency. -
 As the terrible news spread the laughter died out on the lips of the people of the north. Tn the camps i Of the victorious soldiers, and in every home throughout the land, joy ! turned to grief. Women and chil- ! dren walled their woe, and men went about stunned into silence, with tears streaming down their cheeks. In the south mourning for its Lost Cause, the effect of the news was scarcely less apparent They had thought lthey hated Lincoln. those gallant sons | or the SOuCn, put now IIlSy5 1So4A1CS1 that he would have been their best l friend Lincoln, the kind, the big l hearted, the just, the merciful Lin Icoln-he would have been chivalrous to a beaten foe. The dastardly deed l of the fanatic Booth brought little of l joy and much of sadness to the south land. In aftef years, during the | dreary days of reconstruc1ons the l sons and daughters of the Hate con federacy'' remembered Lincoln with affection and respect, and the phrase, eff Lincoln had lived, : was often on their lips
 On the day of the tragedy Lincoln | was boyish1y, exuberant1y happy. The ! strain incident to devastating, bloody strife was lifted for moment trial were coming for the nation and it's chief executive, but for the mo I ment he enjoyed < : the full the joy ous reaction following the close of Ithe war. Like all great men, he had the heart of a. boy, and his face was 1 wreathed with smiles and he clapped his big, bony hands in childish aban- l don when a. northern band played Dixie That fatal night at F'ord's theatre, when Laura Keene head cd the cast playing 'Our American lCousfn,'' he shouted with g1ee at the broad comedy. Then a pistol shot rang out, and for Lincoln there were no more problems to be solved by his keen, far-seeing mind, no more trials to trouble his great, TnercifuI heart. Tn the hour of a nations jubiliation he had found the peace and quiet of death.
 ''If only Lincoln had nvedY' Mill Fhons, north and south. uttered those wistful words in the years that fol lowed. And yet-ft may be said ot Lincoln as of another-
 "Yet, after all, it may be best, just in the happiests sunniest hour of all the voyage, while eager winds are
 kissing every sail, to dash against the unseen rock, and in an instant hear the pillows roar above the sunker ship"
 The nation needed Lincoln in those nl years following his death. Yet hate envy, malice, with envenomed tongue might have broken his loving heart He died in the hour of victory, and left behind him the gentlest memory of our world.H