"Elder, you sing, and we'll go over it again."
Aunt Indiana waved the flag and sang the refrain again, and said:
"Abe Lincoln, I'm goin' to vote for ye, though I never thought I should. But you shall have my vote with all the rest.—Lawdy sakes and daisies, elder—I forgot; I can't vote, can I? I'm just a woman. I've got all mixed up and carried away, but
Six years have passed. The gardens of Washington are bursting into bloom. The sky is purple under a clear sun. It is Wednesday morning, the 19th of April, 1865.
All the bells are tolling, and the whole city is robed in black. At eleven o'clock some sixty clergymen enter the White House, followed by the governors of the States. At noon comes the long procession of Government officers, followed by the diplomatic corps.
In the sable rooms rises a dark catafalque, and in it lies a waxen face.
Toll!—the bells of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria! Minute-guns boom. Around that dead face the representatives of the nation, and of all nations, pass, and tears fall like rain.
A funeral car of flowers moves through the streets. Abraham Lincoln has done his work. He is on his journey back to the scenes of his childhood! The boy who defended the turtles, the man who stretched out his arm over the defenseless Indian in the Black Hawk War, and who freed the slave; the man of whom no one ever asked pity in vain—he is going back to the prairies, to sleep his eternal sleep among the violets.
Toll! The bells of all the cities and towns of the loyal nation are tolling. In every principal church in all the land people have met to weep and to pray. Half-mast flags everywhere meet the breeze.
They laid the body beneath the rotunda of the Capitol, amid the April flowers and broken magnolias.
Then homeward—through Baltimore, robed in black; through Philadelphia, through New York, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Chicago. The car rolls on, over flowers and under black flags, amid the tolling of the bells of cities and the bells of the simple country church-towers. All labor ceases. The whole people stop to wonder and to weep.
The dirges cease. The muffled drums are still. The broken earth of the prairies is wrapped around the dead commoner, the fallen apostle of humanity, the universal brother of all who toil and struggle.
The courts of Europe join in the lamentation. Never yet was a man wept like this man.
His monument ennobles the world. He stands in eternal bronze in a hundred cities. And why? Because he had a heart to feel; because to him all men had been brothers of equal blood and birthright; and because he had had faith that "right makes might."
From the magnolias to the Northern orchards, from the apple-blooms to the prairie violets! The casket was laid in the tomb. Twilight came; the multitudes had gone. It was ended now, and night was falling.
Two forms stood beside the closed door of the tomb; one was an old, gray-haired woman, the other was a patriarchal-looking man.
The woman's gray hairs blew about her white face like silver threads, and she pushed it back with her withered hand.
"Sister Olive," said the old man, "he loved others better than himself; and it is not this tomb, but the great heart of the world, that has taken him in. I felt that he was called. I felt it years ago."
"Heaven forgive a poor old woman, elder! I misjudged that man. See here."
She held up a bunch of half-withered prairie violets that she had carried about with her all the day, and then went and laid them on the tomb.
"For Lincoln's sake! for Lincoln's sake!" she said, crying like a child.
The two went away in the shadows, talking of all the past, and each has long slept under the violets of the prairies.
THE RED PATRIOT. A Story of the American Revolution. Illustrated by B. West Clinedinst.
In this vivid account of a boy's part in great historical events there is a leading actor, "the last of the Susquehannocks," whose share in the hero's adventures has given the title to the book.
THE WINDFALL; or, After the Flood. Illustrated by B. West Clinedinst.
"Full of adventure and incident so well conceived and described as to keep the reader in a continued state of absorbed attention. It is the kind of book one wants to sit up nights to finish."—Springfield Union.
CHRIS, THE MODEL-MAKER. A Story of New York. With 6 full-page Illustrations by B. West Clinedinst.
"The girls as well as the boys will be certain to relish every line of it. It is full of lively and likely adventure, is wholesome in tone, and capitally illustrated."—Philadelphia Press.
ON THE OLD FRONTIER. With 10 full-page Illustrations.
"A capital story of life in the middle of the last century.... The characters introduced really live and talk, and the story recommends itself not only to boys and girls, but to their parents."—New York Times.
THE BATTLE OF NEW YORK. With 11 full-page Illustrations and colored Frontispiece.
"Young people who are interested in the ever-thrilling story of the great rebellion will find in this romance a wonderfully graphic picture of New York in war time."—Boston Traveler.
LITTLE SMOKE. A Story of the Sioux Indians. With 12 full-page Illustrations by F. S. Dellenbaugh, portraits of Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and other chiefs, and 72 head and tail pieces representing the various implements and surroundings of Indian life.
"It is not only a story of adventure, but the volume abounds in information concerning this most powerful of remaining Indian tribes. The work of the author has been well supplemented by the artist."—Boston Traveler.
CROWDED OUT O' CROFIELD. The story of a country boy who fought his way to success in the great metropolis. With 23 Illustrations by C. T. Hill.
"This excellent story teaches boys to be men, not prigs or Indian hunters. If our boys would read more such books, and less of the blood-and-thunder order, it would be rare good fortune."—Detroit Free Press.
THE EXPLOITS OF MYLES STANDISH. By Henry Johnson (Muirhead Robertson), author of "From Scrooby to Plymouth Rock," etc. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
This story of the exploits of Myles Standish throws a clearer light upon a heroic figure in our earliest history, and it has an epic quality which will appeal to old and young. While the facts of history are presented, the author has adroitly reconstructed the little-known earlier years of Standish's life, basing his imaginative work upon the probabilities of history. The result is for the most part history told in the form of a thrilling and absorbing story, a tale which includes war and adventures, and also illustrates the sterling and heroic qualities which contributed so powerfully to the preservation of the Plymouth colony. The book is one to be read by every young American.
CHRISTINE'S CAREER. A Story for Girls. By Pauline King. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, specially bound, $1.50.
The story is fresh and modern, relieved by incidents and constant humor, and the lessons which are suggested are most beneficial.
JOHN BOYD'S ADVENTURES. By Thomas W. Knox, author of "The Boy Travelers," etc. With 12 full-page Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
ALONG THE FLORIDA REEF. By Charles F. Holder, joint author of "Elements of Zoölogy." With numerous Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
ENGLISHMAN'S HAVEN. By W. J. Gordon, author of "The Captain-General," etc. With 8 full-page Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
WE ALL. A Story of Outdoor Life and Adventure in Arkansas. By Octave Thanet. With 12 full-page Illustrations by E. J. Austen and Others. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
KING TOM AND THE RUNAWAYS. By Louis Pendleton. The experiences of two boys in the forests of Georgia. With 6 Illustrations by E. W. Kemble. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
Uniform Edition. Each, 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
True to his Home. A Tale of the Boyhood of Franklin.
Illustrated by H. Winthrop Peirce.
The Wampum; or, The Fairest Page of History. A Tale of William Penn's Treaty with the Indians. Illustrated by H. Winthrop Peirce.
The Knight of Liberty. A Tale of the Fortunes of Lafayette. With 6 full-page Illustrations.
The Patriot Schoolmaster; or, The Adventures of the Two Boston Cannon, the "Adams" and the "Hancock." A Tale of the Minutemen and the Sons of Liberty. With Illustrations by H. Winthrop Peirce.
The Boys of Greenway Court. A story of the Early Years of Washington. With 10 full-page Illustrations by H. Winthrop Peirce.
In the Boyhood of Lincoln. A Story of the Black Hawk War and the Tunker Schoolmaster. With 12 full-page Illustrations and colored Frontispiece.
The Log School-House on the Columbia. With 13 full-page Illustrations by J. Carter Beard, E. J. Austen, and Others.
New York: D. Appleton & Company, 72 Fifth Avenue.