AND BARS" OUT OF A WHITE HOUSE WINDOW

For instance, one night, during an enthusiastic serenade at the White
House, after a great victory of the northern armies, when the President
had been out and made a happy speech in response to the congratulations
he had received, everybody was horrified to see the Confederate "Stars
and Bars" waving frantically from an upper window with shouts followed
by shrieks as old Edward, the faithful colored servant, pulled in the
flag and the boy who was guilty of the mischief.

"That was little Tad!" exclaimed some one in the crowd. Many laughed,
but some spectators thought the boy ought to be punished for such a
treasonable outbreak on the part of a President's boy in a soldier's
uniform.

"If he don't know any better than that," said one man, "he should be
taught better. It's an insult to the North and the President ought to
stop it and apologize, too."

"BOYS IN BLUE" AND "BOYS IN GRAY"

But little Tad understood his father's spirit better than the crowd did.
He knew that the President's love was not confined to "the Boys in
Blue," but that his heart went out also to "the Boys in Gray." The
soldiers were all "boys" to him. They knew he loved them. They said
among themselves: "He cares for us. He takes our part. We will fight for
him; yes, we will die for him."

And a large part of the common soldier's patriotism was this
heart-response of "the boys" to the great "boy" in the White House. That
was the meaning of their song as they trooped to the front at his call:

"We are coming, Father Abraham;
Three hundred thousand more."

Little Tad saw plenty of evidences of his father's love for the younger
soldiers--the real boys of the army. Going always with the President, he
had heard his "Papa-day" say of several youths condemned to be shot for
sleeping at their post or some like offense:

"That boy is worth more above ground than under;" or, "A live boy can
serve his country better than a dead one."

"Give the boys a chance," was Abraham Lincoln's motto. He hadn't had
much of a chance himself and he wanted all other boys to have a fair
show. His own father had been too hard with him, and he was going to
make it up to all the other boys he could reach. This passion for doing
good to others began in the log cabin when he had no idea he could ever
be exercising his loving kindness in the Executive Mansion--the Home of
the Nation. "With malice toward none, with ch