Show hat the presidency did to lincoln BiB MB W mw art f PHIL 14 13 the anniversary of one of aba great in american history for it was on that date just 65 years ago that the bullet of john willes booth to struck down abraham lincoln and plunged a whole nation rejoicing that four years of war was at last ended into the deepest sorrow ever since that day there has been endless speculation as to what might have been it he bad been spared the north have been a more generous victor and alio south have been spared the ruin and despier of the reconstruction era would the wounds of the most terrible civil war in history have been more healed during those next four momentous years it there had been at the head of the nation 9 man who had aalde with malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as god gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in no one can answer those questions positively but there can be but little doubt in mind that the answer in each case Is yes useless though such speculation may be it suggests another interest ing possibility suppose john wilkes booth had been balked in trying to carry out his mad scheme and the tragedy of that terrible night in ford s theater had been averted might not death in some other guise than the assassins bullet have prevented abraham lincoln from realizing ills ambition to finish the work we are an for such a possibility Is not so improbable as it may seem at first thought it has become almost that the presidency of the united states Is a man killing job for ex presidents the average length of life after turn ng over the reins to their successors has been a little over 11 years but when there Is added to the heavy du ties of the presidency the crushing burden of leading the nation in a great war even that span of years Is greatly reduced the world war president left the white house in 1021 a boolen prematurely aged man who was in his grave three years later so with this recent tragic example before us it la not beyond the realm of belief that a similar fate blight have awaited abraham I 1 who was called upon to bear the most crushing load of responsibility and gorrow ever placed upon the shoulders of any american not even excepting those of george washington in the darkest days of the american revolution some interesting evidence of the heartbreaking task which was lin coans and of the fact that not even hl great strength could have much longer endured it Is presented in the reproduction of photographs which illustrate fall ludwigs lincoln published recently by little brown and company five of these are shown above and they more vividly than words tell that story although it Is a familiar story which the distinguished german writer tells in his biography of alln coin it has a interest at this time when the anniversary of the great death recalls to the tragedy of his whole life Lincol ns career more than that of any other man in history Is so grandly conceived by fate that the first act la illuminated by the last and every scene Is bound together by dra marlc intensity writes ludwig in one of the word pictures of alln coin which presents he Is a comedy figure albeit a tragic comic one the scene is the inauguration on march i on a platform in front of tha east portico of the cap itol what do thea audience see they look op at the speaker but ills friends are little pleased by his aspect writes ludwig who then quotes the words of one who witnessed that scene and wrote as follows ills newly grown beard was short and stubby like a shoe brush grizzled and hideous disfiguring a face that without U expressed power and deep feeling he wore a brand new suit with a swallow tall instead of the customary frock coat he had a very chany stovepipe aliat liat evidently just taken out of the bandbox and a bony slick with a gold head as large kf tha speaker at thc jhc man of sorrows 1863 W WOM EM I 1 l LINCOLN 1 fmc brownl pd CO as an begs in this unusual rig out he looked so uncomfortable that it was quite pathetic matters were even worse when he reached the platform for he did not enow what on earth to do with his hat and his stick there he stood a target for thousands of eyes holding these two encumbrances the image of hopeless perplexity to that ludwig adds this corn ment there be stands burdened with things which his fashionable wife must hae forced upon him too elegantly attired lest lie should look like a backwoodsman a min used to wearing his clothes just anyhow decked out with a useless walking stick transformed into a comedy figure and all the more a mark of silent sarcasm there be stands for the first time he Is to speak to the nation as a whole for he Is embarrassed by this fine new stick with a gold and the terribly shiny top hat hat la he to do dreadful moments but fate has sent him ills longtime enemy who as if in irony Is watching his plight at close hand douglas it Is who comes to his rescue douglas as a valet douglas who stretches out his short arm to take the hat and bold it for halt an hour like a footman till all Is over and the new president can take it back from the senator with a friendly nod the story of what lincoln endured during the first two years of the war his struggle to secure the co operation of a wrangling discordant cabinet his repeated disappointments in his gen brals who either fight or who fought only to be defeated disastrously and all the other factors which thwarted him at aery turn Is matched as a record of despair only by what followed for when be issued the emancipation proclamation the effect was catastrophic confusion was widespread throughout the north there was a slump on the stock exchange the elections were adverse the demo brats declared that thousands of whites were being forced to give their blood in order that their fellow coun thymen might be illegally deprived of property when congress was sitting in december the presidents unceasing personal struggle on two fronts the near approach of the mo fentous late fixed for the enforcement of the proclamation the varying and for the roost part unfavorable for tunes of war the skepticism of friends regarding the new measure and the scorn in which it was held by enemies made him weary and dispirited aa well an unforgettable picture of the lan coin of this period la given by an old friend who bad not seen him for six years and whose description of him Is cited by ludwig as follows the change was simply appalling ills whiskers had grown and had given additional cadaverousness to his face the light seemed to have gone out of his eyes which were sunken tar under hla enormous brows there was over bis whole face an expression of sadness and a faraway look in his eyes which were utterly unlike the lincoln of former days the wonder is that the war dent did not break under the strain for says ludwig for him private life had ceased to exist work agitations enemies at home reveries abroad danger threatening to undo the work done by the fathers of the country and to frustrate atre activities of his own career such had been hla ss T lot for three or four years almost without cessation the atiee fellers tall body had been attacked from within mined as it were and weakened here and there he was laid up for awhile by a modified smallpox caught in a visit to the front he complained that his legs were always cold but he would not give way very rarely in deed after a sleepless night would he lie down on welles sofa or say that he was too tired to receive visitors 1 I hardly know how to rest it may be good for the body but what Is tired in me lies within and cant be got at As the years went by the tensions increased rather than diminished it things were going well in the field he would be harassed by the violence of the political factions when all was quiet la that quarter the result would be a decline in recruiting and if tor a moment matters really seemed to be making progress everywhere he w still be perturbed by the mutual jealousies of the members of the cab inet or the governors in addition he was distressed by the daily sight of sufferings caused by the war for hos petals abounded in washington and the surrounding hills were sprinkled with tents for the temporary accommodation mo dation of the sick and wounded while the stretchers seemed to pasa in unending succession whenever the president went out tor air or exercise hiding was about his only exercise but even this was not safe for once be was fired upon by a hidden assassin ills horse bolted and quickly bore him away from the spot and a soldier who went to the place found his hat lying on the ground with a bullet hole through the crown sometimes after riding into washington la the small hours he would spend the rest of the at the white house writing or reading and would ride back to the soldiers home when morning came depressed in mood such depression was common enough for lincoln was incapable of taking much delight in victory or of feeling hatred for the enemy and civil war was doubly als to him since the enemies were his brotheim bro theis the war he said la a speech during the last year of his life has carried mourning to almost every home until it can almost be eald eliat the heavens are hung in black V bior did the gloom lift when the end of the war finally camo and tox silenced the four year clamor of the guns for aa lincoln looked back upon those four years he could see naught but tragedy personal aa well as national where now Is douglas who had been BO full of life and activity where Is old friend baker where are his little boys wilted and perished open buds nipped by the frost death was grin ping at him from every corner 1 would history 0 him only as the lard of death would history be justly entitled to alv him such a name such ar tha thoughts which ludwig puts in his mind as be enters fords theater that night of april 14 then the shot the cry of sip seia per the scream of mary lincoln and in a little house across the street the next morning he dies at seven in a strange bed like a pilgrim slain on bood priday like a prophet and the tragedy of abraham Lincol ns whole life was bummed up by his little son tad who wha he stood beside the coffin in the white house said as father in heaven lowi yes then I 1 am glad for he aoa nos really happy here wy |