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guard at night, and had been slaughtered in their sleep. As the reinforcing party came up the slope on which the camp had been made, Lincoln saw them all lying with their heads towards the rising sun, and the round red spot that marked where they had been scalped gleamed more redly yet in the ruddy light of the sun. This scene years afterwards he recalled with a shudder.

TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND PASSES TO RICHMOND.

A gentleman called upon President Lincoln before the fall of Richmond and solicited a pass for that place. "I should be very happy to oblige you,” said the President, "if my passes were respected; but the fact is, I have, within the past two years, given passes to two hundred and fifty thousand men to go to Richmond and not one has got there yet."'

THE SON OF LINCOLN DISPLAYS A REBEL FLAG.

"One of the prettiest incidents in the closing days of the Civil War occurred when the troops 'marching home again' passed in grand form, if with well-worn uniforms and tattered bunting, before the White House," says Harper's Young People.

"Naturally, an immense crowd had assembled on the streets, the lawns, porches, balconies, and windows, even those of the executive mansion itself being crowded to excess. A central figure was that of the President, Abraham Lincoln, who, with bared head, unfurled and waved our nation's flag in the midst of lusty cheers.

"But suddenly there was an unexpected sight.

"A small boy leaned forward and sent streaming to the air the banner of the boys in gray. It was an old flag which had been captured from the Confederates, and which the urchin, the President's second son, Tad, had obtained possession of and considered an additional triumph to unfurl on this all-important day.

"Vainly did the servant who had followed him to the window plead with him to desist. No, Master Tad, Pet of the White House, was not to be prevented from adding to the loyal demonstration of the hour.

"To his surprise, however, the crowd viewed it differently. Had it floated from any other window in the capital that day, no doubt it would have been the target of contempt and abuse; but when the President, understanding what had happened, turned, with a smile on his grand, plain face, and showed his approval by a gesture and expression, cheer after cheer rent the air.

"It was, surely enough, the expression of peace and good-will which, of all our commanders, none better pleased to promote than our commander-inchief."

LINCOLN FULFILLS HIS VOW.

The following incident, remarkable for its significant facts, is related by Mr. Carpenter, the artist:

"Mr. Chase," said Mr. Carpenter, "told me that at the Cabinet meeting immediately after the battle of Antietam and just prior to the issue of the Proclamation, the President entered upon the business before them, saying:

"The time for the annunciation of the emancipa

tion proclamation could be no longer delayed. Public sentiment would sustain it-many of his warmest friends and supporters demanded it-and he had promised his God he would do it!'

"The last part of this was uttered in a low tone, and appeared to be heard by no one but Secretary Chase, who was sitting near him. He asked the President if Mr. Lincoln replied:

he correctly understood him.

"I made a solemn vow before God that if General Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the Declaration of freedom to the slaves.'

"In February, 1865, a few days after the constitutional amendment, I went to Washington and was received by Mr. Lincoln with the kindness and familiarity which had characterized our previous intercourse.

"I said to him at this time that I was very proud to have been the artist to have first conceived the design of painting a picture commemorative of the Act of the Emancipation; that subsequent occurrences had only confirmed my first judgment of that act as the most sublime moral event in our history.

"'Yes,' said he—and never do I remember to have noticed in him more earnestness of expression or manner as affairs have turned, it is the central act of my administration, and the great event of the nineteenth century.

"LET JEFF. ESCAPE, I DON'T WANT HIM."

When Grant saw that Lee must soon capitulate, Grant asked the President whether he should try to capture Jeff. Davis, or let him escape from the country if he would. The President said:

"About that, I told him the story of an Irishman, who had the pledge of Father Matthew. He became terribly thirsty, and applied to the bartender for a lemonade, and while it was being prepared he whispered to him, 'And couldn't ye put a little brandy in it all unbeknown to myself?' I told Grant if he could let Jeff. Davis escape all unbeknown to himself, to let him go, I didn't want him."

THE COLORED PEOPLE'S NEW YEAR'S RECEPTION.

The Presidential reception on New Year's day, 1865, was the occasion of a remarkable spectacle for Washington, in the appearance of the colored people at the White House. They waited around until the crowd of white visitors diminished, when they made bold to enter the hall. Some of them were richly dressed, while others wore the garb of poverty; but alike intent on seeing the man who had set their nation free, they pressed forward, though with hesitation, into the presence of the President.

Says an eye-witness: "For nearly two hours, Mr. Lincoln had been shaking hands with the 'sovereigns' and had become excessively weary and his grasp became languid; but here his nerves rallied at the unwonted sight, and he welcomed this motley crowd with a heartiness that made them wild with exceeding joy. They laughed and wept, and wept and laughed -exclaiming through their blinding tears, 'God bless you! God bless Abraham Lincoln! God bless Massa Linkum!'"

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