t.

_Mrs. Otherly_: Three years? That would be terrible, wouldn't it?

_Mrs. Blow_: We must be prepared to make sacrifices.

_Mrs. Otherly_: Yes.

_Mrs. Blow_: It makes my blood boil to think of those people.

_Mrs. Otherly_: I used to know a lot of them. Some of them were very
kind and nice.

_Mrs. Blow_: That was just their cunning, depend on it. I'm afraid
there's a good deal of disloyalty among us. Shall we see the dear
President this afternoon, Mrs. Lincoln?

_Mrs. Lincoln_: He will be here directly, I think.

_Mrs. Blow_: You 're looking wonderfully well, with all the hard work
that you have to do. I've really had to drop some of mine. And with
expenses going up, it's all very lowering, don't you think? Goliath
and I have had to reduce several of our subscriptions. But, of course,
we all have to deny ourselves something. Ah, good-afternoon, dear Mr.
President.

LINCOLN _comes in_. THE LADIES _rise and shake hands with him_.

_Lincoln_: Good-afternoon, ladies.

_Mrs. Otherly_: Good-afternoon, Mr. President.

_They all sit_.

_Mrs. Blow_: And is there any startling news, Mr. President?

_Lincoln_: Madam, every morning when I wake up, and say to myself, a
hundred, or two hundred, or a thousand of my countrymen will be killed
to-day, I find it startling.

_Mrs. Blow_: Oh, yes, of course, to be sure. But I mean, is there any
good news.

_Lincoln_: Yes. There is news of a victory. They lost twenty-seven
hundred men--we lost eight hundred.

_Mrs. Blow_: How splendid!

_Lincoln_: Thirty-five hundred.

_Mrs. Blow_: Oh, but you mustn't talk like that, Mr. President. There
were only eight hundred that mattered.

_Lincoln_: The world is larger than your heart, madam.

_Mrs. Blow_: Now the dear President is becoming whimsical, Mrs.
Lincoln.

SUSAN _brings in tea-tray, and hands tea round._ LINCOLN _takes none_.
SUSAN _goes_.

_Mrs. Otherly_: Mr. President.

_Lincoln_: Yes, ma'am.

_Mrs. Otherly_: I don't like to impose upon your hospitality. I
know how difficult everything is for you. But one has to take one's
opportunities. May I ask you a question?

_Lincoln_: Certainly, ma'am.

_Mrs. Otherly_: Isn't it possible for you to stop this war? In the
name of a suffering country, I ask you that.

_Mrs. Blow_: I'm sure such a question would never have entered my
head.

_Lincoln_: It is a perfectly right question. Ma'am, I have but one
thought always--how can this thing be stopped? But we must