ven. Strange, weird, the scenes of that Monday night,--the glimmering
flames, the clouds of smoke hanging like a funeral pall above the ruins,
the crowd of woe-begone, houseless, homeless creatures wandering through
the streets:--

"Such resting found the soles of unblest feet!"

VISIT OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

Among the memorable events of the week was the visit of President
Lincoln to the city of Richmond. He had been tarrying at City Point,
holding daily consultations with General Grant, visiting the army and
the iron-clads at Aiken's Landing,--thus avoiding the swarm of
place-hunters that darkened the doors of the executive mansion.

On Tuesday noon a tug-boat belonging to the navy was seen steaming up
the James, regardless of torpedoes and obstructions. A mile below the
city, where the water becomes shoal, President Lincoln, accompanied by
Admiral Porter, Captain Adams of the navy, Captain Penrose of the army,
and Lieutenant Clemmens of the Signal Corps, put off from the tug in a
launch manned by twelve sailors, whose long, steady oar-strokes quickly
carried the party to the landing-place,--a square above Libby Prison.

There was no committee of reception, no guard of honor, no grand
display of troops, no assembling of an eager multitude to welcome him.

He entered the city unheralded; six sailors, armed with carbines,
stepped upon the shore, followed by the President, who held his little
son by the hand, and Admiral Porter; the officers followed, and six more
sailors brought up the rear. The writer of this article was there upon
the spot, and, joining the party, became an observer of the memorable
event.

There were forty or fifty freedmen, who had been sole possessors of
themselves for twenty-four hours, at work on the bank of the canal,
securing some floating timber, under the direction of a Lieutenant.
Somehow they obtained the information that the man who was head and
shoulders taller than all others around him, with features large and
irregular, with a mild eye and pleasant countenance, was President
Lincoln.

"God bless you, Sah!" said one, taking off his cap and bowing very low.

"Hurrah! hurrah! President Linkum hab come!" was the shout which rang
through the street.

The Lieutenant found himself without a command. What cared those
freedmen, fresh from the house of bondage, for floating timber or
military commands? Their deliverer had come,--he who, next to the Lord
Jesus, was their best fri