n was crushed.
On a bright day the President, accompanied by Mr. Sumner, entered the
streets of Richmond, and witnessed the grateful tears of thousands of
the race he had redeemed from bondage and disgrace. Having returned to
Washington, he convened a cabinet council on the 14th of April. During
the session his heart overflowed with kind and charitable thoughts
towards the South, and towards those officers who had deserted the flag
of their country in her trying hour he poured out a forgiving spirit.

After that cabinet meeting he went to drive with Mrs. Lincoln,--they two
were alone. "Mary," said he, "we have had a hard time of it since we
came to Washington; but the war is over, and, with God's blessing, we
may hope for four years of peace and happiness, and then we will go back
to Illinois and pass the rest of our lives in quiet. We have laid by
some money, and during this term we will try and save up more, but shall
not have enough to support us. We will go back to Illinois, and I will
open a law-office at Springfield or Chicago, and practise law, and at
least do enough to help give us a livelihood." Such were the dreams of
Abraham Lincoln the last day of his life. The whole world knows the
remainder of the story,--of that terrible night at the theatre; of that
passing away in the early dawn of the morning; of that sad and mournful
passage from the Capitol to the grave at Oak Ridge Cemetery. It is
painful to dwell upon it; it makes the heart faint even to recall it.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN needs no eulogy. There is but one other name in
American history which can be mentioned with his as that of a peer,--the
name of Washington. He was as pure, and just, and as patriotic as the
Father of his Country. He was born of his time, a creature of the age of
giants, a genius from the people, all the greater for his struggles, for
he really did more than any man of his day to destroy caste and give
courage to the lowly; and therein he wrote the brightest pages of
progress. The shaft that marks his silent resting-place, the books he
read, the office he used, the strong body that covered his warm heart
and wise purposes, were only the outer symbols to the higher gifts of
his Creator. All gifts and graces are not found in one person. He is
great in whom the good predominates. All persons are not born equal.
Gifts are diversified; but if ever a man had the "genius of greatness,"
it was Abraham Lincoln. As all are eloquent in that which t