grave of Lincoln, holding the drooping flag draped with mourning. The funeral train passed slowly by, the band playing a solemn dirge, the setting sun breaking through gorgeous clouds, lit up the scene. It was a most impressive spectacle.

Then on to Albany-thence through the great State of New York to Buffalo, and then again across Pennsylvaniathence to Cleveland, Columbus, and Indianapolis-and thence to Illinois, reaching Chicago on the first of May. Here every man had personally known Mr. Lincoln; here he had tried his causes, here he had made his speeches to juries, and arguments to courts. Here everybody had heard his political speeches, and here he had been nominated for the Presidency. Here were his old neighbors and friends, and yet, mourning him deeply and heartily, as did all, it scarcely could surpass the grief which had been manifested all the way from the National Capital.

The body was placed in the Rotunda of the Court House, and this edifice and every other public or private building in the city, were draped with flags, and with emblems of mourning. The Court House was decorated with wreaths of flowers, and everywhere were mottoes, expressive of the universal grief and reverence. Over the north door of the Court House, was the motto, "The altar of freedom has borne no nobler sacrifice.” Over the south door, "Illinois clasps to her bosom, her slain but glorified son."

The funeral train reached the Capital of Illinois on the 3d of May. The Romans were accustomed to decree a triumph to their returning heroes. What Roman triumph can be compared to the return of the remains of Lincoln from Washington to Springfield? The body was taken to the State House, and the covering removed from the face so that his old friends and neighbors might look once more upon the features of Lincoln. His remains had been so perfectly embalmed that the expression was still natural and life-like. Here was seen among others, that touching motto:

"He left us borne up by our prayers,
He returns embalmed in our tears."

The corpse was taken to Oak Ridge Cemetery, and there, among his old friends and neighbors, his clients and constituents, with the nation--the world- for his mourners, was he buried.

The funeral oration was pronounced by Bishop Simpson. The following extracts will indicate its tone and spirit:

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"Near the capital of this large and growing State of Illinois, in the midst of this beautiful grove, and at the open mouth of the vault which has just received the remains of our fallen chieftain, we gather to pay a tribute of respect and to drop the tears of sorrow around the ashes of the mighty dead. A little more than four years ago, he left his plain and quiet home in yonder city, receiving the parting words of the concourse of friends who in the midst of the dropping of the gentle shower gathered around him. "Here are gathered around his tomb the representatives of the army and navy, senators, judges, governors, and officers of all the branches of the government. Here, too, are members of civic processions, with men and women from the humblest as well as the highest occupations. Here and there, too, are tears, as sincere and warm as any that drop, which come from the eyes of those whose kindred and whose race have been freed from their chains by him whom they mourn as their deliverer. More persons have gazed on the face of the departed than ever looked upon the face of any other departed man. More races have looked on the procession for sixteen hundred miles or more-by night and by day- by sunlight, dawn, twilight, and by torchlight, than ever before watched the progress of a procession.

"If you ask me on what mental characteristic his greatness rested, I answer, on a quick and ready perception of facts; on a memory unusually tenacious and retentive; and on a logical turn of mind, which followed sternly and unwaveringly every link in the chain of thought on every subject which he was called to investigate. I think there have

been minds more broad in their character, more comprehensive in their scope, but I doubt if ever there has been a man who could follow, step by step, with more logical power, the points he desired to illustrate. He gained this power by the close study of geometry, and by a determination to perceive the truth in all its relations and simplicity, and, when found, to utter it.

"But the great act of the mighty chieftain, on which his fame shall rest long after his frame shall moulder away, is that of giving freedom

to a race.

We have all been taught to revere the sacred characters. Among them, Moses stands preeminently high. He received the law from God, and his name is honored among the hosts of Heaven. Was

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not his greatest act the delivering of three millions of his kindred out of bondage? Yet we may assert that Abraham Lincoln, by his proclamation, liberated more enslaved people than ever Moses set free, and those not of his kindred or his race. Such a power, or such an opportunity, God has seldom given to man. "As a ruler, I doubt if any President has ever shown such trust in God, or in public documents so frequently referred to Divine aid. Often did he remark to friends and to delegations, that his hope for our success rested in his conviction that God would bless our efforts, because we were trying to do right. To the address of a large religious body, he replied, Thanks be unto God, who, in our national trials, giveth us the churches.' To a minister who said he hoped the Lord was on our side, he replied that it gave him no concern whether the Lord was on our side or not, for, he added, 'I know the Lord is always on the side of right,' and, with deep feeling, added, But God is my witness that it is my constant anxiety and prayer that both myself and this nation should be on the Lord's side.'

"Chieftain farewell! The nation mourns thee. Mothers shall teach thy name to their lisping children. The youth of our land shall emulate thy virtues. Statesmen shall study thy record and learn lessons of wisdom. Mute though thy lips be, yet they still speak. Hushed is thy voice, but its echoes of liberty are ringing through the world, and the sons of bondage listen with joy. Prisoned thou art in death, and yet thou art marching abroad, and chains and manacles are bursting at thy touch. Thou didst fall not for thyself. The assassin had no hate for thee. Our hearts were aimed at, our national life was sought. We crown thee as our martyr-and humanity enthrones thee as her triumphant son. Hero, martyr, friend, farewell!"

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CHAPTER XXIX.

THOSE

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

SE who shall have read these pages thus far, have already obtained better means of forming a correct judg ment of Mr. Lincoln than from any attempt at word painting. He was a man difficult to describe, and one who can be best understood and appreciated as portrayed by his own speeches, writings and conduct.

Physically, he was a tall, spare man, six feet and four inches in height. He stooped, leaning forward as he walked. He was very athletic, with long, sinewy arms, large, bony hands, and of great physical power. Many anecdotes of his strength are given which show that it was equal to that of two or three ordinary men. He lifted with ease five or six hundred pounds. His legs and arms were disproportionately long, as compared with his body; and when he walked, he swung his arms to and fro more than most men. When seated, he did not seem much taller than ordinary men. In his movements, there was no grace, but an impression of awkward strength and vigor. He was naturally diffident, and even to the day of his death, when in crowds, and not speaking or acting, and conscious of being observed, he seemed to shrink with bashfulness. When he spoke, or listened, this appearance left him, and he indicated no self-consciousness. His forehead was high, his hair very dark, nearly black, and rather stiff and coarse; his eye-brows were heavy, his eyes dark-grey, very expressive and varied; now sparkling with humor and fun, and then deeply sad and melancholy; flashing with indignation at injustice or wrong, and then kind, genial, droll, dreamy; always changing with his moods. His nose was large, clearly defined and well shaped; cheek-bones

high and projecting. His mouth firm. He was easily caricatured-but difficult to represent as he was in marble or on canvass. The best bust of him is that of Volk, which was modeled from life in May, 1860, while he was attending court at Chicago. Among the best portraits, in the judgment of his family and intimate friends, is that of Carpenter, in the picture of the Reading of the Proclamation of Emancipation before the Cabinet.

He would be instantly recognized as belonging to that type of tall, thin, large boned men, produced in the northern portion of the Valley of the Mississippi, and exhibiting its peculiar characteristics in a most marked degree in Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. In any crowd in the United States, he would have been readily pointed out as a Western man. His stature, figure, manner, voice and accent, indicated that he was of the Northwest. His manners were always cordial, familiar, genial; always perfectly self-possessed, he made every one feel at home, and no one approached him without being impressed with his kindly, frank nature, his clear, good sense, and his transparent truthfulness and integrity. There is more or less of expression and character in handwriting. Lincoln's was plain, simple, clear, and legible, as that of Washington, but unlike that of Washington, it was without ornament.

In endeavoring to state those qualities which gave him success and greatness, one of the most important, it seems to me, was a combination of a supreme love of truth, and a wonderful capacity to ascertain and find it. Mentally, he had a perfect eye for truth. His mental vision was clear and accurate he saw things as they were. I mean that everything presented to his mind for investigation, he saw divested of every extraneous circumstance, every coloring, association or accident which could mislead. This gave him at the bar a wonderful sagacity which seemed almost instinctive, in sifting the true from the false, in ascertaining facts; and so it was in all things through life. He ever sought the real, the true, and the right. He was exact, carefully accurate in all his statements. He analyzed well; he saw and presented what lawyers call the very gist of every question, divested of