stions and ready answers told him all; and no father
could have cared more tenderly for his only child than he for our little
Blossom. She was on her way to Washington to ask President Lincoln for
her brother's life. She had stolen away, leaving only a note to tell
them where and why she had gone.

She had brought Bennie's letter with her; no good, kind heart like
the President's could refuse to be melted by it. The next morning they
reached New York, and the conductor hurried her on to Washington. Every
minute, now, might be the means of saving her brother's life. And so,
in an incredibly short time, Blossom reached the Capitol and hastened to
the White House.

The president had just seated himself to his morning task of overlooking
and signing important papers, when without one word of announcement the
door softly opened, and Blossom, with down-cast eyes and folded hands,
stood before him.

"Well, my child," he said in his pleasant, cheerful tones, "what do you
want so bright and early this morning?"

"Bennie's life, sir," faltered Blossom.

"Who is Bennie?"

"My brother, sir. They are going to shoot him for sleeping at his post."

"O, yes," and Mr. Lincoln ran his eye over the papers before him. "I
remember. It was a fatal sleep. You see, my child, it was a time of
special danger. Thousands of lives might have been lost by his culpable
negligence."

"So my father said," replied Blossom, gravely. "But poor Bennie was so
tired, sir, and Jemmie so weak. He did the work of two, sir, and it
was Jemmie's night, not his; but Jemmie was too tired, and Bennie never
thought about himself that he was tired too."

"What is this you say, child? Come here, I do not understand," and the
kind man caught eagerly as ever at what seemed to be a justification of
the offense.

Blossom went to him; he put his hand tenderly on her shoulder and
turned up the pale face toward his. How tall he seemed! And he was the
President of the United States, too! A dim thought of this kind
passed for a minute through Blossom's mind, but she told her simple,
straightforward story and handed Mr. Lincoln Bennie's letter to read.

He read it carefully; then taking up his pen, wrote a few hasty lines,
and rang his bell.

Blossom heard this order: "Send this dispatch at once!"

The President then turned to the girl and said: "Go home, my child, and
tell that father of yours, who could approve his country's sentence even
when it took the life