Year: 1861

To the Editor of the Boston Journal.


WAsHINGToN, Friday, June Z.


/ shall always reckon this among the
al6s dies of my life. / have had an
experience which l can never forget.
Our party feel repaid for all the trouble
of the journey by the good fortune
which has so kindly waited on us.
There is to-day in America but one
genuine hero; but one who is the idol
of the whole North who isl think !
am not wrong in saying th;s-the men,
tai pivot on which the destinies of
many generations are turning. If there
is one man who more than any other
is deserving of the good wishes and
prayers of every true American, that
man is Gen. Scott. He stands to-day,
old as he is, in the breach which the
enemy have made in our national wall.
Though he had sheathed the sword
long ago and given himself up to that
otiatna cum dignitdte which BELTS true
gentleman who has served his country
well for years enough to count out two
generations, yet when the alarm bell
strikes, he scenes really and literally
to have stepped back from the shadow
of the valley of death which had begun
to fall on him, and to come into the din
and confusion of war again that he
might add to the laurels already won,
an honor which is reserved for the
favored few who are strong enough to
lift whole nation out of death into
life. "a


had never seen him, nor indeed
had any of our party, and we were
quite excited at the prospect of the
interview which had been promised us.
Long before the hour struck, we were
in the room in which he was to receive
us. We waited as patiently as impatient
people could for whole hour, and then
we heard his firm tread just outside the
door. We had all painted his portrait
on the retina of the minds eve, and l
for one gave him the stern and even
forbidding appearance which should
by nature mark the victor in many
battles. But when he came my fancies
all fled on the instant. He has frame
that is perfectly immense, and when he
stands before you, towering above you
as you do above a child, lit is said that
he is six feet six inches high,) he i'm.
presses you with the idea that he is an
example of the very sublime of human
lity. But he is feeble, very feeble, and
moves with great caution. The eye
may have the same flash it always had ;
the mind may be even surer in its action
than ever, but the body will not last
long; the golden cord which binds that
great soul to the earth is too slender.


AS 1 took the proffered hand and
looked into his calm but rugged face,
feeling of sadness came over me
which / have no words to express. He
seemed to see through my thought, fol
he quietly said, and l thought there
was a mournful cadence in his voice, as
though he felt that the hour might
strike at any moment, when his hand
should write no more and his mind
direct the nation through her sore trial
T" You see, sir, how old l am; cannot
last much longer" 1 could not helE
saying in reply: "You must live


General Scott, until the end of oul
country's woe has come; we need yor
now more than ever" He simply shool
his head and said "I cannot, tell, ]
cannot tell"


He then turned to my wife, and taking
her hand in his, and lifting his hat a.
gallantly as an old medieval knight, h,
said: "And this fair lady does nj
great honor." He then said, agaiI
dwelling upon the fact of his own age
"You are both young" as though b,
} were glad to 60 back to the days of hi


own youth, and recall the time wher
, he was just on the horizon of that fam,
/ which he afterward won. He spok t.
my brother also, and so gentle and ever
: tender were his voice and manner, j
i. was the gentleness and tenderness
which are peculiar to, and which con
, secrate the latter days of the trul,
r great, that we all gathered round him
, and said God bless you, General Scot,
: almost with tears in our eyes. 1t wa
5 an experience, like which we may no
. have many in long lifetime.


] He could stay with us but fe,
minutes, for not only was he fatigue
3 with seven hours Of such work as woul
e wear out twenty common men,
3 believe he is in his office from seven t
: eight hours every day,) but there wa
: crowd waiting outside the doc
:. anxious to look at him and to cate
t any words that might fall from his lips
a 1t is his custom to spend few minute


at the door of his carriage to shak
e hands with those who are anxious {
4 see him. But of late the crowd ha
!. increased to such a size that to take tn
n hand of each is impossible.


S To-day as he stood on the sidewall
r | saw a sight such as have nevt
s before witnessed. Why it was car
r not tell, unless it be that common mo-
e tails are possessed of an instructive pc
liteness when in the presence OF on
vastly their superior; but as the Gener'
d stood before his carriage door an
J. turning to the crowd spoke few wore
r. of kindly greeting, every man, to tt
e very footman on the curb, toook off h
o hat. One gentleman who had serve
v under him in 1912 and 1913, recalle
: some Mexican scenes and memorie


The eye of the General brightene'