Evening star., 1947-07-27

VINO Qled IN 1871, Cne FreS1Qent
he should not pass through the city
alive, and William H. Seward, fu-
ture Secretary of State, wrote that
he had sent his son to meet Lincoln
on the way to Baltimore to inform
him of the plot. A poor old widow
whose husband had served in the
War of 1912 sent the President an
embroidered silk charm to secure
him from being shot. This she
begged him to wear, because, as
she wrote, We want you to live to
see our country again free from
traitors
The general magnanimnity which
so nobly characterized the Gettys-
burg address, was exhibited by
Lincoln almost daily in exercising
his power to pardon those con-
victed of capital offenses. When
Gen. Benjamin A. Butler travelled to
Washington to urge the summary
execution of "a deserters, whose
sentence the President had COM
muted, Lincoln told him, Mr.. Cen
eral, there are already too many
weeping widows in the United States.
For Gods sake, don't ask me to add
to the number, for won't do it,
Most poignant is telegram from
the father of an only son, an 18-
year-old picket who slept at his
post, begging Lincoln to spare the
boys life. 1t is one of hundreds of
such pleas that came by mail. by
telegraph or by fearful personal
emissaries who crowded the ante
room of the harrassed President.
But while Lincoln could always
find an excuse for weakness in
others, he could be firm and unfor-
giving towards overt acts that
threatened the Union cause Thus
in the case of Mr.. Racy of Noble
County, Ohio, who was convicted of
conspiracy in 1864 and who petit
toned President Lincoln for his
pardon 'presuming upon his good
ness of heart, Lincoln could without
equivocation note on the file of
papers Don't parden Racy.'
| Gettysburg Circumstances.
There are letters which illumi-
nate the circumstances of the Get
tySbury Address. On November 2,
1868, Judge David Wills of that
Pennsylvania town, in his capacity
as agent for Gov. A. G. Curtin and
acting for all the States wrote to
His Excellency A. Lincoln, President
of the United States extending a
formal invitation to take part in
the cemetery dedication there.
1T was accompanied by a more
personal invitation to the President:
LAS the hotels in our town will
be crowded and in confusion at the
| time referred to in the enclosed in
vitation. I write to invite you to
stop with me. hope you will feel
it your duty to lay aside pressing
business for day to come on here
to perform this last sad rite to our
brave soldier dead on the 18th in
stant. Gov Curtin and Hon. Edward
Everett will be my guests at that
time and if you come you will please
join them at my house.
"'You will confer a favor If you
advise me early of your intentions.
"On November % Judge Wills
again solicited Mr.. Lincoln's CO.
operation:
On behalf of the States inter-
ested in the National Cemetery here,
request of you the original manu-
script of the dedicatory remarks
delivered by you here. last Thursday.
We desire them to be placed with
the correspondence and other pa
pers connected with the project
please append your certificate to
| them.'"
Glimpses of Family Life.
Intimate glimpses of Lincoln'S
family life may be had through
these papers. In a letter which re-
veals his limited education, John
D. Johnston, Lincolns brother,
wrote from Charleston, Illinois, that
his father was dying and wished to
see him "for you are his only child
that is Of his own flush and blood"
The collection contains the origi-
nal of well known letter about
Tad's nanny goat which Lincoln
sent to My dear Wife," and there
is brief note from Mary Todd
Lincoln to her husband in which
she wrote do wait & return with
US In the last dated letter in
Lincoln's autograph in the collec-
ton april /, 1869, the President
makes arrangements for his wife's
return from City Point, Virginia.
The only communication between
Abraham Lincoln and his son
Robert in the papers is telegram
which the latter, then a captain on
Gen. Grants staff, dispatched to his
father from Hancock Station.
Emily Todd Helm, the half
sister Of Mary Todd Lincoln, lived
at the White House after the death
of her husband, Confederate
general. She begged the Presidents
permission to claim her property in
the South and persuaded him to
grant her a pass to Kentucky. The
pass permitted her to claim her
holdlngS except as TO slaves, OF
which I say nothing Emily Helm
created a very delicate and difficult
situation when, out of loyalty to her
dead husband, she refused to take
the Oath of Allegiance at the Ken
lucky border. After she reached
Lexington she wrote on October 80
1864, to the President that his
brother-in-law, Lin Todd, had died
| from utter want and destitution
, i. another sad victim of the frowns
of more favored relations"
"One of the most interesting
5 drafts in the collection is the first
, form of Mr.. Lincoln's proclamation
/ of April Is. 1865. calling forth the
, militia of the several states Of the