The San Francisco call. [volume], February 12, 1899, Page 18, Image 18

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18
Celebrating Jif/s Anniversary
Sy- Special to the Sunday Call.
b.brir\HE president of the United
THE president of the United
States ls the commander-in
■ :■■ ' chief of the army, and navy. It
• i^wlL-"' is his right, not only to call out
. . ; -• ■ . • ' troops and appoint officers, but
to direct campaigns. This mili
.' t'ary authority of the President has not
been conspicuous in the war Just ended,
• .;• though if hostilities had lasted longer '
• -..' it might, have been as necessary- for
"•• : Mr. McKinley to have exercised his
'..'power as it was for Abraham Lincoln
■yy. in the civil war.
It Was several months after the war
'.':■ .between the North and South began, a
much longer time in fact than the en
";, '• tire war with Spain has covered, before
;'-•'"' Mr. Lincoln found it necessary to take
-. the military reins in his hands and to
• •' iss"ue orders directing movements. He
f . shrank at first from any such action,
•■'. because as he very frankly owned he
" knew nothing about military matters,
. and he did not want to embarrass his
. ■-•„.*' generals. He was made the more sensi
f,'.''^tJTeon this point because the flrst great
; '•*:' battle of the war— that of Bull Run, an '
;b tmfprtunat'e disaster— was fought at his
:•' bb wish and against the advice of the com
.. .*.' mander-in-chief of the army, General
"••'■ Scott. For- several months after Bull
fy Run'- the President gave no direct or
• • y '. Jers-, though he would write long letters
".'.•..- to his generals of what he called "sug
.:•:'-,." gestions."
"It was. fully six months after he ap
•b'-'. pointed McClellan to the command of
...the Army of the Potomac before Mr.
Lincoln could be persuaded to issue a
.decisive order for that general to move.
!.•■■'• If one .will try to picture what would
f':-:- have . happened to Mr.- McKinley last
.:'•!' spring if he had had an army of nearly
...V*. 200,000' men lying 'within 20 miles or so
'( - of. the Spaniards for fully three months
•.-after it was well equipped and pretty
•-'..•'.well drilled, and had not ordered Its
'-.',.- general to attack, he will have an Idea
■.'.". of. what Mr. Lincoln endured ln the
■ ■'■■•":. winter .of 1861 and 1862 before he com
.". polled McClellan to move on Richmond.
'.. ...-" '" Mr. Lincoln stood all the angry pres
-;■•;.. sure- of the country because he thought
. ■'b:' McClellan "knew his business." When
f:f ':■ he ' began • to doubt that he would
:•'.;•'/. make no order for an advance until
'.'••b :he. : had practically mastered the whole
•j'-. -.subject of military tactics. No man
•'. ■'• : .eyer studied harder for a couple of
.-".'. months, than Lincoln did before he as
•.'-'?.. serted • himself as commander-ln
■..■:'■ chief.' He crammed on every military
'•: : ...- book he . could get hold of. He knew
"••.". his'army down to the last man. He
. • ' .Studied maps' as Yon Moltke did, down
■.'•••to the smallest stream and elevation,
•-'.'■. \ He-' summoned every military expert
•V; ■'". within "reach and asked questions un
.':/•:■:til. his : head spun and he went away
b'-.. wondering how the man had learned so
'•;.;.. much on the subject. All this he forced
himself to do before he would order
f'ff '■' McClellan to advance. . -
: ■•'.Even after he begun to give posi
•vtive' orders, he allowed the largest latl
'*'■• tude In their execution. Indeed Lin
'."' . coin never became peremptory with his
yy generals. His office as commander-ln
.':':'.chief .seems to have aroused a kind of
•.' '.'. '•; paternal feeling in him toward all
•.-.•■: those under him. He was their father,
."••band- must be kind and just to them.
. Again and again this feeling came out.
\'V -Nothing kinder and at the same time
■franker" was ever written to a subordi
nate that the letter which the President
• ■;'..: sent General Hooker in January. 1863,
'■'"■ .when he appointed him commander of
•"•':: the Army of the Potomac. ;'.
•.•.:•■"•'•' ■'• -. Executive Mansion, \
•'.;' '■. Washington. D. C. Jan. 26, 1863.
'-••'•• ".Major General Hooker— General:
:'.''■■■■ - I have placed you at the head of
'..-' the Army of the Potomac. Of
". :.' . course, I have done this upon what
"•- - . ' appear to me .to be sufficient rea
••; •'•■'. sons, and yet I think it best for you
" ' . - to know that there are some things
• in regard to which I am not quite
satisfied with you. I believe you to
.' ■ '• be a brave and skillful soldier,
■ which, of course, I like. I also be
• lieve you do not mix politics with
, •• . your profession, in which you are
'•' '..'.• right. You have confidence in your
.'. " -6. If., which is a valuable if not an
. - . indispensable quality. You are am
. ■• bilious, which within reasonable
'•' '•'••' '-.' .bounds does good rather than
*. ' •. ."-'■• "harm; but I think that during Gen
•:'. ".'.:• eral Burnside's command of the
•'"••• ."army you have taken counsel of
.'. •■ •• ■ ' your ambition and thwarted him as
OOOQOOOQOOOOOOOOO<
•J -••
STORIES OF ST. VALENTINE'S DAY, BY
I \HERE is no patron saint ln the calendar so honored as St.
Valentine. He comes "attended with thousand and ten thou
.l - sand little loves; and the air ls brush'd with the hiss of rustling
. I wings."
'••'• '•?*" Love's countersign has been given, Jolly's signals are fly
-".•'• ing. and Cupid's blind votaries are already laying offerings upon his
',•■•• sentimental shrine.
.-.y ; That pious old Saint Valentine, who never cast sheep's eyes on
.':•'• ladies fair, should be held sponsor for this day of soft captivity is
_'•'. one' of Cupid's inconsistencies. fhfyf
• f, • -'This Saint's mission on earth was to cure blindness, and the blind
•••;'.. .worship of Cupid's devotees is the only affinity that identifies the
:;•";• godfather of this day. ".by
.'. •• • It is a period when affections are bestowed with all the sweetness
'- 'of gifts unsought. While all may not have paid Valentine's fee, it is
:. a- .red-letter day to many and here are some reminiscences.
• * •
lb .-. ' A black cat for a valentine caused my liveliest recollection of Feb
-.'.-. ruary' 14, nearly four years ago. . . . .yf.fi'' y
„ -„ ♦. ' - «► The company was on the road going
to New York city and '.we had left the
•;• V, •. KATHRYN KIDDER. train to take lunch at one of the stations.
.•••••' We were Just boarding It again when I
b ;' v-; — ■ — * saw a poor little black kitten run be
tween the wheels under the car. One of the boys coaxed it out for
•roe and said: "Now, Miss Kidder, accept this little hoodoo pet for
... your valentine." . -'y-y ( - ..
.... It was Valentjne's day and I named the kitten Valentine. I picked
it up and carried the poor,- half-starved thing- Into my stateroom.
The company held up their hands with" horror when they saw the
black cat; for that Is one of the traditional Jonahs "of the theatrical
„ profession— the black cat. And when they learned . of my intention
" to travel with it they at once prophesied some -dreadful catastrophe.
. That night we did have a fearful accident; the train was wrecked
and cars .went tumbling down an embankment. ■; ' -V ■
The first audible words I heard above the roar and din of the
. excitement were— "that black cat." Miraculously »no one was killed
and I claimed for my little foundling the distinction of having saved
the lives of the passengers; but the passengers - abused it in un
.• measured terms. • -;. ■ v-".;
The engineer discovered after the wreck that a black cat had
been traveling in one of the staterooms and he said: "If I had known
; . that before I would have refused to run the engine." ■'-"■■
• • Well, we arrived in New York and opened at the Broadway
• . Theater in "Madame Sans-Gene." •' , .:■-■'•
I brought my black kitten to the theater -with me and defied fate.
During the laundry scene the cat walked' on the stage. In doing
; the "business" I picked up the kitten, stroked him for a moment, i and
- then looked about for a vacant space to lay. him down upon. The
stove upon which I was heating my irons was supposed to be red hot
but was made of papiermacheand painted red to resemble a red-hot
; stove. Without thinking of the "property" I deposited my valentine
upon the seemingly warm stove and he curled up in the most com
fortable manner imaginable... I was. ignorant of the -amusement of
' the audience until some one yelled from the front :VTurn, the hose on
. -the cat." That brought down the house and also the curtain
I afterward carried that cat on my Journey 13,000' miles. «*' •
• ••■■■■
My most vivid memory of all Valentine days I associate with the
year 1876. At that time General Compton was stationed at Fort
't ~"" ~® £? ache ' ' Ar,z -> J an y Indian reservation.
„'. • MRS! GENERAL COMPTON aginabS. and* iL" Ver-pre^e^lpprehe":
sions can only be. understood by one who
.• « ; — — has tried the nerve-racking career of
.' living ln a home on the frontier. •
• the Indians were generally peaceful and apparently appreciated
their good treatment; but their most tranquil orgies filled me with
fear. ' •■:•■
• I never shall forget the terror I felt on this Valentine's day i
.-• It had been unusually warm and I sat at the open window with my
little daughter upon my knee, watching the wild and weird lncan- j
, tatlon dance on the common just in front of our house. ■-.'■•
"'lt* was one of the peculiar customs of the Apache Indians to give i
much as you could, ln which you
did a great wrong to the country
and to a most meritorious and hon
orable brother officer. I have
heard, in such a way as to believe
it, of your recently saying that
both the army and the Government
needed a dictator.
Of course, it was not for this, but
in spite of it, that I have given you
the command. Only those generals
who gain successes can set up dic
tators. What I now ask of you la
military success, and I will risk the
dictatorship. The Government will
support you to the utmost of Its
ability, which is neither more nor
less than lt has done and will do ,
for all commanders. I much fear
that the spirit which you have aid
ed to infuse into the army, of crlti
cizling their commander and with
holding confidence from him, will
now turn upon you. I shall assist
you as far as: I con to put it down.
Neither you nor Napoleon, if he
were alive again, could get any
good out of an army while such a
spirit prevails In It; and now be
ware of rashness. Beware of rash
ness, but with energy and Bleep
less vigilance go forward and give
us victories. Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
Hooker had a, manly heart and the
. President's words appealed to the beet
that was In him. Noah Brooks tells
how he heard the general read the let
ter soon after its receipt. "He finished
reading it," writes Brooks, "almost
with tears in his eyes; and as he folded
lt and put it back in the breast of his
coat he said: 'That is Just such a letter
as a father might write to a son. It
is a beautiful - letter, and although I
think he was harder on me than I de
served, I will say -that I love the man
who wrote It.' "
Throughout the war Mr. Lincoln waa
beset by his generals to right their
wrongs and gratify their ambitions. He
was quick to see the motives at the
bottom of complaints and pleas and
when he thought them petty he bluntly
said so, at the same time reminding the
applicants that winning battles, not
haggling for honors, was a soldier's
business Just then. Thus in March,
1863, Rosecrans became disturbed be
cause Grant outranked him and he
wrote Lincoln asking that his commis
sion be dated earlier. Lincoln at once
saw the reason of the request and he
replied:
"Now as to your request that your
commission should date from Decem
ber, 1861. Of course, you expected to
gain something by this; but you should
remember that precisely so much as
you should gain by it others would lose
by It. If the thing you sought had been
exclusively ours, we would have given
it cheerfully; but, being the right of
other men, we having a merely arbi
trary power over It, the taking it from
them and giving it to you becomes a
more delicate matter and more deserv
ing of consideration. Truth to speak, I
do not appreciate this matter of rank
on paper as you officers do. The world
will not forget that you fought the bat
tle of Stone River, and it will never
care a fig whether you rank General
Grant, on paper, or he so ranks you."
When it happened, as it sometimes
did, that the Jealousies between gen
erals became open conflicts, and Lin
coln was called upon by one or the oth
er to Interfere, he never hesitated to
refuse if he felt that his interference
would complicate matters. Generally
he managed to put Into his refusal a
word of good sense which if it had been
heeded would have saved the country
much disagreeable scandal and often
would have saved the contestant his
reputation. A case to the point occurred
in. January, 1863, when McClernand and
Halleck were having trouble and Mc-
Clernand appealed to Lincoln. The
President's reply was terse but suffi
cient:
"I have too many family controver
sies, so to speak, already on my hands
to voluntarily, or so long as I can avoid
it, take up another. You are now doing
well well for the country and well for
yourself much better than you could
possibly be if engaged in open war with
General Halleck. Allow me to beg that,
for your sake, for my sake, and for your
country's sake, you give your whole at
tention to the better work."
It would not be difficult to extend
these quotations to great length, for
throughout the war the President
showed the same patience and good
sense in cases where it seemed to him
that his counsels might be useful. He
never spared. those to whom he wrote;
ooooooooooooooooco
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1899.
he never hesitated to lay bare their
offenses and their base motives, but he .
did it with an insight and a great
heartedness which softened the unrea- '•
soning and impetuous and for the time »
at least made them better soldiers and
wiser men. Though he • wrote so : large
a number of these letters of.counsel, he
never wrote one thoughtlessly,, nor, ln
oooooooooooooooooo
a "thanks" dance whenever they felt satisfied with their provisions
and supplies. They were especially grateful that day because I had
made and presented each of them with a valentine a piece of heart
shaped cardboard covered with red paper; and so they prolonged
their dancing on that day for my benefit.
It was also one of their customs to wear human hair as a sort of
tassel to be suspended from their belts; and of all hair light hair was
considered the greatest bit of ornamentation that they could secure.
Unfortunately— for my own peace of mind after this date— my
hair was red. the very shade that filled the red warriors with envy.
However, I sat there blissfully unconscious that I was being watched;
that an Apache chief was even then seriously plotting the rape of my
locks. ■ . •
The Indian dance grew more noisy, and their wild gesticulations
filled me with a horrible fascination — a fantastic alarm. Suddenly
a great form darkened my window and stood by my side. He was
so close that I could feel his hot breath on my cheek. He drew an
awful-looking knife from his belt, and, grabbing the forelock from
his own head, he pantomimed , the scalping process, then motioned
to my head. I understood, I thought, all too well— he meant to scalp
me. With one wild shriek I grabbed my daughter and ran screaming
through the house. V"":f " ■;
My cries brought some of the soldiers ln, and they soon found my
bold admirer just where I had left him. He had not stirred from the
window, and told them in his language that he only wanted my hair'
to hang from his belt. He said he would pay me for lt, and was sur
prised that I would not sell it to him.
That scene was sufficient to last me during my four years' resi
dence in that desolate region, and I never ventured far from the quar
ters' unless attended by some of the soldiers. ' That experience was
enough for me, and I avoided lonely trails ever afterward.
'•.-•: ■•••■-.
- When I was a little boy, living with my parents In Illinois, I
had ; occasion to remember a Valentine day that will abide with me
<3 — ■ <5> eternally.
. '• „ C _ I' had a penchant for preaching, and
LOUIS JAMES. \ as the church' to which our family be
longed was considered too sacred for
<^ — : : ♦ childish oratory I was not allowed in the
pulpit. One day I broke away from my mother during the sermon
and joined the elders in their exhortations. I was : taken from this
usurped footstool in humility by my parents and so that day, after
church was over and we had all gone, I concluded to steal back again
and preach my little sermon all to myself. " ' :
The church, door I found locked and there was but one way to
gain entrance, namely, to break . the window- with a rock, then I
might give vent to my religious enthusiasm undisturbed. I broke the
window and 'crawled in, , but my fond parents soon , discovered me. I
was taken home to be punished. - After this severe lesson had been
administered I decided to have revenge. I down and thought it
all out and at last I concluded to set our neighbor's house on fire.
She had been the means of having me whipped only the day be
fore—because I had let her- chickens out of 'the coop. I sat down and
calmly figurd out a little list of wrongs and determined- to get even.
> The neighbor's house made a glorious bonfire. That night found
it charred embers.
• After the excitement had subsided my father called me Into his
bedroom and a great noise was heard. Not screams or groans, but a
steady sound— like that of continued applause after the curtain has
rung down on a good act. Yes, it was more like ceaseless ap
plause than anything" else. That all happened on Valentine's day.
• • »
■ The Valentine day that ever lives in my memory was a day
in 1876. At this time I was with Edwin Booth— playing lago to his
<*> : — — '■ $> '- Othello in the South. Now, the queer
y '•': part of this story was due to the fact
:• FREDERICK WARDE. that in those days no company carried
' : bbb ' their own scenery. We depended entirely
<»> " — - — <3> upon the stock scenes supplied by the
various theaters, and some of It was bad indeed.
In the first scene of "Othello" the stage fis set for Brabantio's
home. ' This* theater furnished us a "set house," a common painted
scene of a cottage with a chimney in the center, one window just be
neath it and one door. '.
"V The play proceeded; the citizens go to Brabantio's home to ap
prise him of his daughter's flight: with the Moor. They call for Bra
bantlo and knock loudly at his door. Brabantio Ib supposed to come
Lincoln
/.BRAJV.M LINCOLN, the .jNeW Statue by Gh&rles Nieh&us.
From a Photograph.
deed, if he could : help cit He realized
thoroughly the delicacy of giving un
sought advice, and only when he felt it
his duty did he write. -1 Even after he
had written he sometimes was a long
time in sending. Not long ago the War
Department secured an admirable letter
of good counsel .which > the President
wrote in December, 1861, to General Da
oo 000 oo ooo66ooooo(
vid Hunter, who was dissatisfied with
; his place in the West and was Inun
ic dating the War Department with what
Mr. Lincoln called "ugly" letters. On
the back of the letter ln question Gen
eral Hunter had written "The Presi
dent's reply to my 'ugly letter.' This
lay on his table a month after it was
written, and when finally sent was by a
A A A A A A A A A A A A AAA AA 4
General Shafter, Mrs. General Comptor),
e'Y Justice McFarlarjd, Attorney Oerjeral Tirey L. ford,
'My K.athryo Kidder, Louis James, Frederick Warde,
to the window at first to ascertain the cause of the trouble before he
opens the door. : / i
Now, this Brabantlo was a very tall man, a man six foot-two in
height, and his manuscript was simply and briefly marked for this
"business": "Top of step ladder- to window back of set house," or
something to that effect. . ' • '"
Finally Brabantio made his . appearance, but it nearly sent us
into convulsions; for Instead of appearing at . the window his head
and shoulders towered above the chimney. The excruciating part rof
it all was that he didn't notice that he had made a mistake, and read
his lines from the chimney top with a dignity that was torturing to
the actors below. ,::.:..
The audience didn't catch on until Brabantlo attempted to make
an entrance through the door, which was five: feet high. He had to
fold himself together in such a manner to get through that they
discovered why he talked from the chimney. Then the applause was
deafening. The curtain had to drop until order was restored. 'y
> "■'*■''•.."•.■■•.,•
When I was a little boy I * looked forward to Valentine's day
with the same pleasurable anticipation .that a boy usually expects
6 — ; $► of Christmas. I would save my pennies
- \ to buy valentines for my playmates and
. GENERAL SHAFTER. always selected the comic kind In which
were described some foibles of their na
<fc— — : — — — tures, either in picture- or verse. I did
this religiously, . year after year, and do not recall even one occasion,
in my memory of childhood, wherein I was the recipient of a valen
tine. I used to think it £ a misfortune to be so slighted, but now I
am receiving valentines galore. . "There is a tide In' the affairs of
men" and this seems to be one of them for valentine offerings are
steadily pouring In from all directions. Poetical, effusions from Irish
poets and .young mothers are arriving by every mail and. the coming
valentine : festival bids fair to be the red-letter day of my life. I
have .been chosen godfather for groups _ of twins, triplets and". four
abreast The first token I received was • a valentine from Dolly
Shafter Kelly of New Jersey. Dolly sent her love through her mother,
who wrote, "Dolly Shafter at the present time is a fine, , big baby, and
is the first girl baby named after you.* She shows gre"at courage and
resembles you in many ways, and most, of all she never squalls nor
seems to get discouraged.". .-■..• - . . %
,1 have made great demands upon the Jeweler's supply of souvenir
spoons in return for the christening honors. I don't know • that I
shall (continue, this habit. i Locks of be-ribboned hair and baby pho
tographs are the usual valentine offerings. The photograph of , the
twins— James Shafter and Archibald Dew;ey Miller— ls the latest ad
dition to my valentine collection. To stand sponsor for this multi
tude of babies is no small responsibility, but to inspire verses from
unsigned poets is worse. . ' . , . , :?y y.
This, morning's mail brought me a valentine of original doggerel
The lines are dedicated. to me and depict the, Santiago. campaign in
seven heroic verses; they are entitled "Phat. General Shafter Wint
Afther," and the first stanza begins: : :/ a " ; .
" Now, when General Toral, a Spanish dago,
; , Met General Shafter at Santiago, . P
Sez General Toral to General Shafter,
" "Be jabers, old man, now, phat are yez after?" '
And General Shafter sez, "Phat dyes think?"
.'yr'y And gave him. the slyest sort of a wink—
' "I'll get phat I'm after,", sez General Shafter. •
The dearth of these tokens in former years promises me recom
pense by a future deluge.
.■■■■■ '-'■**•' • ' *. : .. ■,
. In 1850 I spent the happiest Valentine's day in my life. !'
c The year before I had been admitted to the bar at Chambersburg
<8> ; . •'. ... * b.v -': Pa., but the news of the gold excitement
nicTirc m^cadi imn ....'" in '.California... was too much for me. I
JUSTICE McFARLAN p. would • not settle down to . practice law
: I ; when such an El Dorado could be found
* — — — — — — : — : — $> so easily. , •■• v, y
So I migrated to this State in 1850. : - ■•'■• /:
I was all alone and started out for ; myself, inexperienced but con
fident of making: a rich strike. ,' l. began in. the diggings in Placer
County at a place, called Ringgold. There were a great many miners
about the little ravine in which I tried my luck,, but ;no one was
digging except myself.' y ,"- y.y-yy^
On Valentine's day I struck a streak of luck. I cleaned $92 50
out of the first cradle. I was beside myself with joy, and If Daniel
jfcow jf(e9^ana£f&cl^fis Senerais
...y' fy.y • . ' : V. • - .•■...'-. '.*.•'■
special conveyance, with the direction
that it was only to be given to me when
I. was in a good humor." -^
There is in existence a draft. of a let
ter dated September 25, 1863, and ad-,
dressed to General A. E. Burnside, in
which Lincoln reviews the daily prom
ises that the general had been making
to move to the aid of Rosecrans, then
shut up in Chattanooga; and his steady
move "the contrary .way." When the
President wrote the document he evi
dently felt that Burpside's own reports
were the severest witnesses against
him, for in his opening sentence he de
clared that Burnslde's conduct made*
him "doubt whether he was, awake or
dreaming." Yet Justified as he un
doubtedly felt he was when he wrote
the letter, he never sent It. He held It,
hoping as he always did that something
would happen to make it unnecessary.
The events of the next few weeks out
lawed this particular document and lt
exists to-day simply as a proof of Lin
coln's unwillingness to . criticize and
advise unnecessarily.
Although so uniformly kind even in
his rebukes, there is more than one.
case on record where President Lin
coln's patience failed and he sent a
telegram of bitter sarcasm to a general.
Such was his message to McClellan on
October 24, 1862, when that general,
after five Idle weeks; refused to pursue
the enemy because his cavalry horses
had sore tongues. It was a drop too
much for Lincoln.
"1 have Just read your dispatch about
■ore-tongued and fatigued horses," he
wired. * Will you not pardon me for ask
ing what the horses of your army have
done since the battle of Antietam that
fatigues anything?" .>
Yet even for this telegram he half
apologized two days later.
"Most certainly I Intend no Injustice
to any, and if I have done any I deeply
regret lt. To be" told, after more than
five weeks' total Inaction of the army,
and during which period we have sent
to the army every fresh horse we pos
sibly could, amounting ln the whole to
7918, that the cavalry horses were too
much fatigued to move, presents a very
cheerless, almost hopeless, prospect for
the future, and lt may have forced
something of impatience ln my dis
patch."
. One pleasant feature of Mr. Lincoln's
relations to his generals was the heart
iness with which he acknowledged
every advance. r "God bless you and
your army" * was the gist of many a
telegram, many a verbal message that
he sent. , Perhaps of all these congrat
ulatory messages none ls pleasanter
reading ln the light of later events
than the President's letter to General
Grant after Vicksburg. In a way it
may be called Lincoln's first recogni
tion of Grant:
Major General Grant— Dear
General: I do not remember that
you and - I have ever met personal
ly. I write this now as a grateful
acknowledgment for the almost
Inestimable service you have done
- the country. I wish to say a word
further. When you flrst reached
the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought
you should do what you finally did
—march the troops across the neck,
run the batteries with the trans
ports, and- thus go below; and I
never had any faith, except a gen
eral hope that you knew better
than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedi
tion and the like could succeed.
When you got below and took Port
Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity, I
thought you should go down the
river and Join General Banks, and
when you turned northward, east ,'
of the Big Black, I feared it was a ..
mistake. I now wish to make the
personal acknowledgment that you
were right and I was wrong. Yours
very. truly. A LINCOLN.
Comparatively little of these close re
lations of Lincoln with his generals
was known to the public during the
war. It was not until twenty years
after his death, when his secretaries,
Messrs. Nlcolay and Hay, .published
their great work, which must remain
through all time the most important
source for the history of Abraham Lin
coln that the greater number of these
wise, keen, kind letters were given to
the public. ,',;',
MAJOR CLEMENT B. WHITE of
Selma, the only surviving
brother-in-law of Abraham
Lincoln, Is nearlng three score
'■ years and ten, and bears a
striking resemblance to John Sherman.
_ '_._._-_--.-^-.—--_.-.
By Ida M. Tarbell.
Webster had offered me a partnership in his law office at the time
I would have refused lt
I found a pocket worth $8000. In two weeks my mine had
"petered" out and all the land adjoining me had been taken up by
the level heads, who knew that they had a continuation of my pay
dirt.
That Valentine's day marked a period that I don't forget.
,'v>V • * • ■
: When I was a little girl, many years ago— l shall not say how
many received my first valentine.' * ''■■"''
<$■ ■ . —^ It made a lasting Impression upon
v L_i/-.u-r/b me, because it came from a playmate
MRS. H. E. HIGHTON. whom I loved very much. He had never
teased me In our games and when this
<$> : — Valentine's day disturbed our tran
quil friendship, why, lt made it a day to be remembered. The valen
tine was not a thing of beauty, not even the accordion fluted paper
embroidery front, but simply a written scrawl:
"The rose ls red.
The violet's bluej
Sugar's sweet.
And so are you.'*
In "one corner was a horrible caricature of myself awkward*
ungainly. girl, with a big mouth and features too ugly for any frien?
to make, and I wanted to be beautiful to this boy.
. Just beneath the picture were the words:
. "If you love me
As I love you.
No knife can cut
Our love In two." " '■■".*,
After the first look at the thing I burst out crying and ran, sob
bing, to his mother and told her what he had done.
She whipped him and shut him up in her bedroom. My mother
shamed me into penitence' for telling on . my little comrade and at
last I was Induced to take him some candy.
I had been taught a verse to repeat to him, but I could only re
member the last two lines by the time I reached his window:
"And I, a maid at your window.
To be your valentine."-
He wouldn't make up; he wouldn't taste my candy; he Just stood
and made faces at me;- nor did he speak to me, to say good-by, when
with my mother I left the city to be gone for some time
Years and years had passed before we met again- my little play
mate had grown to manhood and now— ls my husband.
■■''. When I was a lad I attended a school noted throughout the Stat*
of Missouri for Its unique name-"The Cradle of Science." It was
o r— — — - r <3> no college of learning and could. not boast
ATTORNEY GENERAL . of learned professors. There was but one
TIREY L FORD -teacher and he had the small salary of
- mhl. L..r W ... $40 per month, and boarded himself. It
1.. ■■_.. yur N y n .: t - *- . was a country school and had fifty names
on the roll. Most of the scholars were great big fellows and made It
> SS2? at <T Cry t6aC « er ° Uld treat on Mondays. Ms telchlr's
bo^lSlr&wUh-^ ekWaS a g,ant in strength and defied the
boys to interfere with his own business. On New Year's day he had
refused to treat -and the boys said: "Just wait until Valine's
day comes. I guess he'll open his heart then." The flrst halfway of
\aentine was spent in anticipation of . either "fun" or "treat '
whichever the fates decreed. ,■-■>.>" . «c»l,
When the teacher came to the schoolhouse from his dinner 'that
noon he found this doggerel on the blackboard back of his desk;
"O. Lord of love,
Look from above ' -
And pity us, poor scholars;
We've got a fool — .-'***■—
To teach our school,
, And we pay him forty dollars. * ;: -'"-'
KuilwUri^wa^Thpi^ with , age and demanded .to know who the
fail- : 'i "euera it : i"' «m« % n aS Sl l enCe f ° r &While and th - en some on 9
8 dT '*v gue - ?: 11 s time for you to treat, Mr. Sampson." He refused, .
and then we boys ' collared him. We ■ marched him out doors to' the
pump and one, after another took turns pumping The cold -lev water
down his back until he agreed to treat if they would l lit him « , He
, did treat after that on every holiday . m *°" ;
He Is a thorough Southern gentleman
of the old school. .
Major White was an officer of the
Alabama . State Guard at the outbreak
of the war and under orders of the
executive of the State took part with
his command in the capture of Fort
Morgan, Mobile Bay, before Alabama
had formally seceded from the Union.
When It was reported to President Lin
coln that his brother-in-law had per
formed this daring exploit against the
national authority, on being asked what .
he would do about It he replied:
"Well, I suppose I shall have to hang
White— when we catch. him."
Major White later performed many
distinguished military and civil servi
ces for the Confederacy. B3_
It was while Mr. White was attending
college at Lexington, Ky., that he met
and fell ln love with Mattle Todd, the
sister of Mrs. Lincoln. One summer
White went with a brother of Mattle
Todd and another friend to pass his va
cation at the Todd mansion. The dis
tance was only twenty-eight miles, but
the train was four hours in making the
trip. To add to the discomfort of the
trip one of the party was crowded on a
bench occupied by an awkward-looking
countryman, his wife and two children.
The children whined and .cried nearly
all the way. On reaching the Frank
fort home they started to recount their
experiences on the train.
"I was serenaded all the way by a
couple of squalling babies," said one.
"The father of them was the ugliest
white man I ever saw, and the children
were the crossest brats I have Been."
There was an interruption, a turning
of heads, and the gaunt, ugly passen
ger, wife and children, came - Into the
room. In his . arms was the boy who
has since figured in this country's an
nals as Robert T. Lincoln. •
Lincoln enjoyed the joke. He was on
his way to Washington as a Congress
man from Illinois. "He was so enters •
taining sympathetic and > lively," said -
Major White, "that we soon forgot that
his features were not handsome."
After his marriage, Major White set
tled at Selma, Ala., where he inherited
a thriving business and a large proper
ty from his father. As a girl, Mattle
Todd became a great favorite of Lin
coln. At the time of the inauguration,
In company with her husband, she
stopped at the White House. Her visits
to Washington were frequent, and .as
Lincoln did not wish the war to inter
rupt them he gave her a pass which
would admit her through the lines at
any point she chose. After crossing,
the Virginia line on a return from a
visit an inspector followed Mrs. White
to a hotel where she stopped, and .In
sisted on examining her baggage. The
officer was dismissed at the point of her
pistol. On opening her trunk she was
amazed to find that friends ln Balti
more had stowed away there a splendid
sword and a suit of uniform for General*
Robert E. Lee.
At first Mrs. White thought lt best to
return to Washington and explain the
whole matter to Lincoln, but her heart
was really in the cause of the South,
and she felt that General Lee probably
needed the uniform. On h«r arrival at
, Richmond she consulted President Da
, vis, whom she knew as well as Lincoln,
and asked his opinion. He decided that
'General Lee must have the presents,
and wrote with. his own hand the de
tails to Mr. Lincoln. The great man
: at the White House often twitted Mrs.
White about her contretemps.
Major White declares that lt was not
the wish or intention of the people of
Alabama to secede from the Union. He
says that he believes If Lincoln's "err
• ing sister" programme had been adopted
there would have been no civil war, and
the emancipation of the slaves would
have been brought about by gradual
and rational means. The old gentle
man's reminiscences embrace many in
teresting phases of the unwritten his
tory of the war, but no man has a
stronger feeling for the Union and the
integrity of the government than he.
His voice trembled with emotion as
he told of the destruction of his prop
erty during the war, and then he re
verted to the history of some of the
men who grew to be popular leaders in
the' war.