The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-08-30

0edTt. "A mOtuSI tSdISs q odUy . SAy,
a fathers plea, crutch or an empty
sleeve never failed to move Lincoln.
IF he has no friend, I'll be his friend"
he said, as he stopped the shooting OF
a soldier, under sentence Of q court
martial
my poor girl" he said to a woman
who pleaded for the life of her soldier
brother. you have come here with no
governor or senator or member OF
congress to speak in your cause; you
seem honest and truthful, and you
don't wear hoops. and I'll be whipped
if don't pardon him"
He hated Friday butchers day
as he called it-because that was the
usual time appointed for carrying out
death sentences in the army. They
are shooting a boy today. / hope !
have not done wrong to allow it,"
There are already too many weep
ing widows; don't ask me to add one
more to the number" On one pardon
he wrote, Il think this boy can dc
more good above ground than under
it. And here is another characters
tic message: IF you have not shot
Dennis Mccarthy, don't"
Even the coward had a friend in this
| brave man. 'If God Almighty gives a
man cowardly pair of legs. how can
he help them running away with him ?"
| A pigeon hole in his desk was stuffed
full Of those leg cases." as he labeled
them.
A soldier, whom be had spared a
| dishonorable death before a firing
| squad, was found dead on a battle
| field. and in his pocket was a photo
graph of his deliverer, inscribed God
bless President Lincoln" Like this is
the oft-repeated story OF the sleeping
! sentinel. Lincoln went personally to
see and to pardon that Vermont boy,
who repaid him in his first battle
by swimming a river under fire again
and again to carry the wounded TO
safety, until he had given his life for
his comrades.
! This native democrat never put on
presidential manners He did not need
them His Unborn dignity protected
him. Good morning." he surprised Il
passerby at the white house gate at
6 o'clock 81 am looking for a news
boy. When you get to the corner l
wish you would send one up this way"
The hard muscles and steel nerves
Of the railsplitter enabled the presi-
dent to bear responsibilities, labors
and annoyances such as would have
broken perhaps any other man in the
presidential line. He still could grip
an axe by the end of the handle and
hold it out even with his shoulders.
His sense of humor was his safety
valve. eff couldn't tell these stories,
l should die" he explained to a solemn
congressman who impatiently protest
ed that he had not come to the white
house to hear jokes.
The man who kept all great decis-
ions to himself could not enjoy a little
joke alone. See him stalking the
white house corridor in night shirt
and bare legs to read to young Nicho-
lay and Hay, his secretaries, a pun
ming conceit from Theodore Hook,
unconscious that he was in
finitely funnier," said John Hay. Here
is another snap shot from Hay: He
read Shakespeare to me, the end of
Henry VIII and the beginning OF
Richard III till my heavy eyelids
caught his considerate notice and he
sent me to bed"
Lincoln's office was almost his pris
on cell through four terrible years
The shouts of his two little boys a.
play always were welcome notes OF
Joy to their care-weighted father HI
|
in upon him, and otter he joined the
children in their boisterous games il
the white house grounds.
In the dark days when the nation
itself was at deaths door. one Of the
boys died. For weeks the grievins
father strove in vain to win a spirit
of resignation, dropping his work FOL
day at a time and surrendering tC
his sorrow. Doubtless the fortitude hi
gained at last in that wrestle WITH
himself became part of the heroic
faith which lifted him above the gen
eral despair when the fortunes Of thu
union sank the lowest
After Willie's death, the other DO!
received a double share of paterna
affection. Tad was in the habit o
r going to his father in the evening ant
making a report of all that had hap
r pened since morning. usually fallin.
asleep in the midst of his prattle
, Laying the little fellow on the flooI
by the side of his desk, Lincoln re
; turned to his heavy tasks until hi.
: own long day was done, when he tool
1 his sleeping boy on his shoulder anc
carried him off to bed.