s well, especially toward the South. Before the facts
became fully known, it was thought that the assassination was the
result of a Southern conspiracy, and there was a feeling that the
whole South should be punished for the act of one of her misguided
sons. The body lay in state for two days in Chicago, and then came
the last stage of the journey to Springfield. It first was taken
to the State House, and was afterwards placed in the old vault at
the foot of the hill in Oak Ridge Cemetery, where it remained until
the monument was completed. Bishop Simpson, one of the most eloquent
men in the Methodist Church, and a devoted friend of Mr. Lincoln
during his life, preached the funeral sermon. The services at
Springfield were simple in the extreme, just as Mr. Lincoln would
have wished. Steps were at once taken for the erection of the
monument, which stands in Oak Ridge Cemetery to-day.

So far as I can learn, every member of the funeral party that
accompanied the remains of Abraham Lincoln from Washington to
Springfield, with the exception of Mr. E. F. Leonard and myself,
has passed away.

It was my good fortune to know Abraham Lincoln in all the walks of
life. I knew him as President, and I was permitted to know him in
the sacred precincts of his family at home. I have studied the
lives of the great men of the world, and I do not hesitate to say
now, after nearly fifty years have passed away since his death,
that Abraham Lincoln was the peer in all that makes a man great,
useful, and noble, of any man in all the world's history.

CHAPTER VIII
NOTABLES IN THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS
1864 to 1870

I had a very active campaign for election to Congress in 1864. As
I have stated elsewhere, I had, while Speaker, so framed the district
that I thought it would surely be a Republican one; but very much
to my surprise, it went Democratic when Mr. Swett was a candidate.
For a number of reasons I was more than anxious to carry the
district. First, naturally I did not want to be defeated; second,
I wanted to show that it was really a Republican district, and more
especially still on President Lincoln's account, I was solicitous
that a Republican should be elected from the President's own
district, as was President Lincoln also. The National Committee
assisted a good deal, and the President himself helped whenever
there was an opportunity. I was elected by a good, safe majority,
and entered the Thirty-ninth Congress