They were looking at an album in the photograph gallery instead of Bible, as is sometimes stated. OF MICH lad in full uniform, or perhaps, appreciating the joke, gladly went to their quarters. His brother objected; but Tad insisted upon his rights as an officer. The President laughed but declined to interfere, but when the lad had lost his little authority in his boyish sleep, the Commander-inchief of the Army and Navy of the United States went down and personally discharged the sentries his son had put on the post. "Abe" Lincoln's Yarns and Stories, Edited by Col. Alex. K. McClure, page 181 Lincoln and Three "Soldier A story is told of his interview with William Scott, a boy from a Vermont farm, vho, after marching forty-eight hours without sleep, volunteered to stand guard for a sick comrade. (See "The Sleeping Sentinel," pages 483-5.) Weariness overcame him, and he was found asleep at his From the original photograph in the collection of Isaac LIEUTENANT TAD LINCOLN post, within gunshot of the enemy. He was tried and sentenced to be shot. Mr. Lincoln heard of the case, and went himself to the tent where young Scott was kept under guard. He talked to him kindly, asking about his home, his schoolmates, and particularly about his mother. The lad took her picture from his pocket, and showed it to him without speaking. Mr. Lincoln was much affected. As he rose to leave he laid his hand on the prisoner's shoulder. "My boy," he said, "you are not going to be shot to-morrow. I believe you when you tell me that you could not keep awake. I am going to trust you and send you back to your regiment. Now, I want to know what you intend to pay for all this?” The lad, overcome with gratitude, could hardly say a word, but, crowding down his emotions, managed to answer that he did not know. He and his people were poor; they would do what they could. There was his pay, and a little in the savings bank. They could borrow something by a mortgage on the farm. Perhaps his comrades would help. If Mr. Lincoln would wait until pay day possibly they might get together five or six hundred dollars. Would that be enough? The kindly President shook his head. "My bill is a great deal more than that," he said. "It is a very large one. Your friends cannot pay it, nor your family, nor your farm. There is only one man in the world who can pay it, and his name is William Scott. If from this day he does his duty so that when he comes to die he can truly say, 'I have kept the promise I gave the President. I have done my duty as a soldier,' then the debt will be paid. Young Scott went back to his regiment, and the debt was fully paid a few months later, for he fell in battle. Mr. Lincoln's own son became a soldier after leaving college. The letter his father wrote to General Grant in his behalf shows how careful he was that neither his official position nor his desire to give his boy the experience he wanted, should work the least injustice to others. "Lieutenant-General Grant: "EXECUTIVE MANSION, "Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President, but only a friend. My son, now in his twenty-second year, having graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the War before it ends. I do not wish to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give him a commission to which those who have already served long are better entitled, and better qualified to hold. Could he, without embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, go into your military family with some nominal rank, I, and not the public, furnishing the necessary means? If no, say so without the least hesitation, because I am as anxious and as deeply interested that you shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself. "Yours truly, "A. LINCOLN.' His interest did not cease with the life of a young soldier. Among his most beautiful letters are those he wrote to sorrowing parents who had lost their sons in battle; and when his personal friend, young Ellsworth, one of the first and most gallant to fall, was killed at Alexandria, the President directed that his body be brought to the White House, where his funeral was held in the great East Room. The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln, Helen Nicolay, page 216. [NOTE.-Robert Lincoln became his widowed mother's reliance and comforter during the long years of her great bereavement and affliction, and superintended his young brother Tad's education. He was Secretary of War from 1881-85, and United States Minister to England, 1889-93.-W. W.] The Hampton Roads Conference as Reported "Down South" The Hampton Roads Conference, at which the North was represented by Lincoln and Seward and the South by Stephens, Campbell and Hunter, took place on February 3, 1865, in the saloon of the steamer which had brought the President of the United States to Fortress Monroe. The discussion was preceded by friendly reminiscences of former acquaintance and association, Lincoln responding to Stephens's remarks in a "cheerful and cordial manner. It is even related that Lincoln was ready with his inevitable joke. Observing the slender Stephens removing his great coat and muffler, he remarked that the Georgian was the "smallest nubbin to come out of so much husk” that he ever beheld. Stephens does not mention this in his own account, but he refers to a characteristic anecdote told by Lincoln during the Conference. When the evils of immediate emancipation were adverted toin case that policy should be pressed-especially the sufferings of the women and children and the old and infirm slaves who would not be able to support themselves, Lincoln admitted the difficulty, but in order not to commit himself directly while yet suggesting |
