I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity.  I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.  Now, at the end of three years’ struggle, the nation’s condition is not what either party or any man devised or expected.  God alone can claim it.  Whither it is tending seems plain.  If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God.

     Yours truly,
     A. LINCOLN

CHAPTER XXII

President and People—­Society at the White House in 1862-3—­The President’s Informal Receptions—­A Variety of Callers—­Characteristic Traits of Lincoln—­His Ability to Say No when Necessary—­Would not Countenance Injustice—­Good Sense and Tact in Settling Quarrels—­His Shrewd Knowledge of Men—­Getting Rid of Bores—­Loyalty to his Friends—­Views of his Own Position—­“Attorney for the People”—­Desire that they Should Understand him—­His Practical Kindness—­A Badly Scared Petitioner—­Telling a Story to Relieve Bad News—­A Breaking Heart beneath the Smiles—­His Deeply Religious Nature—­The Changes Wrought by Grief.

In a work which is not intended to cover fully the events of a great historic period, but rather to trace out the life of a single individual connected with that period, much must be included which, although not possessing special historical significance, cannot be overlooked in a personal study of the subject of the biography.  Lincoln’s life as President was by no means made up of Cabinet meetings, official messages and proclamations, or reviews of armies; interspersed with these conspicuous acts was a multitude of less heroic but scarcely less interesting details, with incidents and experiences humorous or sad, but all, even the most trivial, being expressions of the life and character of the man whom we are seeking to portray.

“Society,” as now understood at the national capital, had but little existence during the war.  At the White House there were the usual President’s receptions, which were quite public in character and were largely attended.  Aside from these democratic gatherings there was little enough of gaiety.  The feeling that prevailed is shown by an incident that occurred during the winter of 1862-3, when a good deal of clamor was raised over a party given by Mrs. Lincoln, at which, it was asserted, dancing was indulged in; and Mrs. Lincoln was severely censured for what was regarded as inexcusable frivolity.  Hon. A.G.  Riddle, who was present on the occasion referred to, states positively that there was no dancing; the party was a quiet one, intended only to relieve the rather dull and formal receptions.  But the President was pained by the rumors that “fashionable balls” were permitted at the White House in war-time; and the party was not repeated.