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 A Wondarful Hour with A.b. 
 rahan Lincoln 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
A 
 
 Wonderful Hour 
 
 With 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 
 
 By Lewis Gardnen 
 
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 A Wonderful Hour With Abraham Lincoln 
 
 The very earliest recollection I have of anything is intimately associated with 
 the Civil War. 
 
 Well do I remember, although but 4 years old, when all that was mortal of a 
 bright, manly boy was brought back to our little Ohio village and laid away in 
 the churchyard. He was killed at the battle of South Mountain. The first 
 soldier from Logan County to lose his life in battle. This lad was my favorite 
 uncle, and his death and burial made so deep an impression upon my childish 
 mind that from then on I became interested in everything pertaining to the 
 conflict. 
 
 Soon after the incident mentioned above, my father became a government 
 official. We removed to Washington and resided there from 1862 to 1866. 
 
 Father was chief of one of the many bureaus of the Treasury Department. 
 All the clerks and higher ofiicials of the department were organized into military 
 companies, known collectively as "The Treasury Guards." They were inten- 
 sively drilled by officers of the regular army, and as well equipped as the soldiers 
 in the field, except that they were not uniformed. They represented a potential 
 army of more than 1,000 men. 
 
 Their military duties were to be, in case of an emergency, to protect the 
 Treasury Department and the Executive Mansion, near by. 
 
 Father was made captain of one of these companies, and to his command was 
 ^ assigned the protection of the White House, and the President. Upon that fact 
 ^ rests my story. 
 
 «: The men drilled every day, after working hours, and prepared themselves 
 
 ^ for real military duty if the occasion required. 
 
 ^ Although but a youngster in kilts, so interested was I in all the military doings 
 
 of the Capital, and especially in the work of the Treasury Guards, that I pre- 
 
 -^ vailed upon mother to take me up to father's office in the Treasury Department 
 
 U\ almost daily. We boarded not far away. It was on Pennsylvania Avenue, 
 
 about half way between the Treasury Department and the Capitol — the house 
 
 still stands. 
 
 The daily military drills of the Treasury Guards took place on the White 
 House lawn, south of the Mansion. The President was a frequent spectator, 
 sometimes mingling with " the boys," but more frequently viewing the maneu- 
 vers from the White House window, or from the portico. On one occasion, 
 when the President was nearby on the lawn. Captain Reynolds was putting his 
 men through Hardee's tactics for the first time without the aid of a regular 
 army drillmaster, and wished, of course, to make a good impression upon his 
 Commander-in-Chief. The Company was marching south, in platoons. There 
 was, then, a terrace running east and west through the White House grounds, 
 with a drop of about 2 feet. The captain, as his men approached this terrace, 
 became completely rattled. He could not think of the proper command that 
 would wheel them about, or otherwise avoid the obstacle ; could not even say 
 "Halt !" so down the embankment they went, but in such good order that many 
 of the spectators, including the President, thought it a part of the drill. 
 
 I saw President Lincoln scores and scores of times, as father's duties took 
 him frequently to the Executive Mansion, and he often took me with him. 
 
 The President's private office at that tmie, and continuously until Theodore 
 Roosevelt's administration, was on the second floor of the White House proper. 
 On the occasion I have in mind, father was to have a special conference with 
 his Commander-in-Chief, and I accompanied him. This was in the summer of 
 1864. While they were discussing the matter of the conference, which lasted 
 nearly an hour, the President picked me up, set me on his knee, and I can feel 
 yet the gentle stroke of that big, firm hand, as he stroked my head, like the halo 
 of a great benediction. I almost remember his voice. I would describe it as a 
 rich, round voice, full of tenderness and pathos. His outdoor speaking voice has 
 been described as a " high-pitched" tenor, but his ordinary " talking voice" was 
 quite different. Toward the end of the conference, Mr. Lincoln carried me to 
 one of the large windows overlooking the Potomac River, rested me on the deep 
 window seat and stood there with one arm about me while pointing out to the 
 Captain some points of vantage he wished him to be familiar with. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 ^^ \~ The Treasury Guards were never called upon for real military action. Only 
 
 /y^ twice, I believe, was the Capitol threatened with attack when not guarded by 
 
 ^ the regular troops. On those two occasions, the Treasury Guards " slept on 
 
 their arms," in the building, ready for instant action. 
 
 Father and mother were at Ford's' Theater the night of the assassination, 
 and although it was late when they returned home, the general excitement of the 
 night had reached our neighborhood. The newsboys' shrill cries of " Extra ! 
 Extra ! President Lincoln Shot," had awakened everybody in the boarding 
 house. I, too, was awake. Young as I was, I realized what a dreadful thing 
 had happened, and I lay wide-eyed in my little trundle bed while father and 
 mother related to the others their personal story of the tragedy. 
 
 Father, accompanied by several of the men guests, went back to the scene 
 and did not return until after the fateful hour of 7 :22 the next morning. 
 
 I remember as clearly as though it were of yesterday, wearing a wide band 
 of black around the sleeve of my bright plaid jacket, and carried in father's 
 arms, of passing the somber catafalque in the rotunda of the Capitol, which 
 inclosed all that was mortal of the beloved Lincoln. 
 
 A few weeks later I witnessed the Grand Review of the Army — that wonder- 
 ful spectacle of the returning boys in blue — which took several days in its 
 passing. 
 
 Let us rejoice that Lincoln lived until the end was known — until the name of 
 Lincoln and Liberty were united forever. He lived until there was nothing for 
 him to do so great as he had done. The Iwing world had no niche large enough 
 to hold him — there was nothing left but death and immortal fame. 
 
 Marvelous man ! Wonderful character ! Strange mingling of mirth and 
 tears, of humor and pathos, of comedy and tragedy ; patient as Destiny, whose 
 lines are so deeply graven on your sad and tragic face. Your life has been a 
 lesson and an inspiration to your countrymen. Your prophesies have been 
 fulfilled. In their hands and not in yours was the momentous issue of civil war. 
 They had no conflict until they became, themselves, the aggressors. We are 
 not enemies, now, but friends. " The mystic chords of memory stretching 
 from every battlefield and soldier's grave to every heart and hearthstone 
 throughout this broad land," both North and South, have long since swelled the 
 chorus of the union, when again touched, as you said they would be, by the better 
 angels of our nature. 
 
 I think the most beautiful encomium ever paid to Abraham Lincoln was that 
 attributed to his stormy Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. 
 
 Just as Stanton was about to leave the death chamber that morning, after 
 the President's spirit had passed into the Great Beyond, he pointed to the dead 
 Lincoln and said : " There lies the greatest master of men this world has ever 
 seen since the time of the Christ. Now he belongs to the ages." 
 
 Abraham Lincoln ! in solemn awe I pronounce thy name, and in its naked, 
 deathless splendor leave it shining on. 
 
 HIS ROSARY 
 I am not bound to win, but I am 
 bound to be true. I am not bound 
 to succeed, but I am bound to live 
 up to the light I have. I must stand 
 with anybody that stands right — 
 stand with him while he is right, 
 and part with him when he goes 
 wrong. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63B2R33W C001 
 
 A WONDERFUL HOUR WITH ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 3 0112 031795617