第101章 THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE(3)
Though Halleck talked him into accepting an escort when driving to and fro between Washington and his summer residence at the Soldiers'Home,he would frequently give it the slip and make the journey on horseback alone.in August of 1862on one of these solitary rides,his life was attempted.It was about eleven at night;he was "jogging along at a slow gait immersed in deep thought"when some one fired at him with a rifle from near at hand.The ball missed its aim and the President's horse,as Lincoln confided to his familiars,"gave proof of decided dissatisfaction at the racket,and with one reckless bound,he unceremoniously separated me from my eight-dollar plug hat ...At break-neck speed we reached a haven of safety.Meanwhile,I was left in doubt whether death was more desirable from being thrown from a runaway Federal horse,or as the tragic result of a rifle ball fired by a disloyal bushwhacker in the middle of the night"[13]
While carrying his life in his hands in this oddly reckless way,he belied himself,as events were to show,by telling his friends that he fancied himself "a great coward physically,"that he felt sure he would make a poor soldier.But he was sufficiently just to himself to add,"Moral cowardice is something which I think I never had."[14]
Lincoln's humor found expression in other ways besides telling stories and laughing at himself.He seized every opportunity to convert a petition into a joke,when this could be done without causing pain.One day,there entered a great man with a long list of favors which he hoped to have granted.Among these was "the case of Betsy Ann Dougherty,a good woman,"said the great man."She lived in my county and did my washing for a long time.Her husband went off and joined the Rebel army and I wish you would give her a protection paper."The pompous gravity of the way the case was presented struck Lincoln as very funny.His visitor had no humor.He failed to see jokes while Lincoln quizzed him as to who and what was Betsy Ann.At length the President wrote a line on a card and handed it to the great man."Tell Betsy Ann to put a string in this card and hang it round her neck,"said he."When the officers (who may have doubted her affiliations)see this they will keep their hands off your Betsy Ann."On the card was written,"Let Betsy Ann Dougherty alone as long as she behaves herself.A.
Lincoln."[15]
This eagerness for a joke now and then gave offense.On one occasion,a noted Congressman called on the President shortly after a disaster.Lincoln began to tell a story.The Congressman jumped up."Mr.President,I did not come here this morning to hear stories.It is too serious a time."Lincoln's face changed."Ashley,"said he,"sit down!Irespect you as an earnest,sincere man.You can not be more anxious than I have been constantly since the beginning of the war;and I say to you now,that were it not for this occasional vent,I should die."[16]Again he said,"When the Peninsula Campaign terminated suddenly at Harrison's Landing,I was as near inconsolable as I could be and live."[17]
Lincoln's imaginative power,the ineradicable artist in him,made of things unseen true realities to his sensibility.
Reports of army suffering bowed his spirit."This was especially'the case when the noble victims were of his own acquaintance,or of the narrower circle of his familiar friends;and then he seemed for the moment possessed of a sense of personal responsibility for their individual fate which was at once most unreasonable and most pitiful."On hearing that two sons of an old friend were desperately wounded and would probably die,he broke out with:"Here,now,are these dear brave boys killed in this cursed war.My God!My God!It is too bad!They worked hard to earn money to educate themselves and this is the end!I loved them as if they were my own."[18]He was one of the few who have ever written a beautiful letter of condolence.Several of his letters attempting this all but impossible task,come as near their mark as such things can.
One has become a classic:
"I have been shown,"he wrote to Mrs.Bixby,"in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.But Ican not refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.Ipray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement,and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost,and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom."[19]
All these innumerable instances of his sympathy passed from mouth to mouth;became part of a floating propaganda that was organizing the people in his support.To these were added many anecdotes of his mercy.The American people had not learned that war is a rigorous thing.Discipline in the army was often hard to maintain.Impulsive young men who tired of army life,or who quarreled with their officers,sometimes walked away.
There were many condemnations either for mutiny or desertion.
In the stream of suppliants pouring daily through the President's office,many were parents imploring mercy for rash sons.As every death-warrant had to be signed by the President,his generals were frequently enraged by his refusal to carry out their decisions."General,"said he to an angry commander who charged him with destroying discipline,"there are too many weeping widows in the United States now.-For God's sake don't ask me to add to the number;for I tell you plainly I won't do it."[20]
Here again,kindness was blended with statecraft,mercy with shrewdness.The generals could not grasp the political side of war.Lincoln tried to make them see it.When they could not,he quietly in the last resort counteracted their influence.