Then the inner bar was forced away from its rude sockets, and there was a rush to the box where President Lincoln was still supported by those feeble women, who stood by him firmly, their hands red with his blood, and their garments wet with the crimson rain which never came from a more thoroughly kind heart. On the back of the cushioned chair, on the partition, and on the floor, that martyr blood had fallen. On the carpet lay a single barreled pistol. They lifted the dying man, carried him through the heaving surges of the crowd, to the house of Mr. Peterson, in Tenth street, close by the theatre. Then the multitude swayed doorward, and filled the street, packing it with white, anxious faces. A guard was placed at the door, who in vain strove to answer the questions urged upon him. All he could say was, that the President was dying; a few minutes or hours, at least, must close his life. Then a dreadful stillness fell upon the crowd; some went away in painful silence; others--stout, strong men, too— turned away weeping like little children. At five o'clock on Saturday morning, the President lay in his death agonies. He was lying upon the hed, apparently breathing with great difficulty. He was entirely unconscious, and had been ever since his assassination. His eyes were protruding from their sockets and suffused with blood. In other respects, his countenance was unchanged. At his bedside were the Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Interior, Postmaster-General, and the Attorney-General; Senator Sumner, General Farnsworth, General Todd, cousin to Mrs. Lincoln; Major Hay, M. B. Field, General Halleck, Major-General Meigs, Rev. Dr. Gurley, George Oglesby, of Illinois; Drs. E. N. Abbott, R. K. Stone, C. D. Hatch, Neal, Hall, and Lieberman. In the adjoining room was Mrs. Lincoln, her son, Captain Robert Lincoln; Miss Harris, who was with Mrs. Lincoln at the time of the assassination of the President; Rufus F. Andrews, and two lady friends of Mrs. Lincoln. Mrs. Lincoln was under great excitement and agony, wringing her hands and exclaiming, " Why did he not shoot me instead of my husband? I have tried to be so careful of him, fearing something would happen, and his life seemed to be more precious now than ever. I must go with him," and other expressions of the intense agony of her coming widowhood. She was constantly going back and forth to the bedside of the President, exclaiming in great anguish, "How can it be so!" The scene was heart-rending, and it is impossible to portray it in its living light. When General Farnsworth went in, hoping to comfort her, she seized him by the arm and with touching appeal besought him to save her husband, as if any human help could avail then. Captain Robert Lincoln bore himself with great firmness, and while quivering with anguish himself endeavored to assuage the grief of his mother by telling her to put her trust in God and all would be well. Occasionally, being entirely overcome, he would retire into the hall and give way to most heart-rending lamentations. In his affliction, as in the sunshine of the greatest prosperity, this young man proved worthy of the father who was dying-worthy of the nation with whom his after fortune should be held as a sacred inheritance. Let what will come in the hereafter, the orphaned sons of Abraham Lincoln have a right to claim adoption from the American people. About a quarter of an hour before the President died, his breathing became very difficult, and in many instances seemed to have entirely ceased. The surgeons who were holding his pulse supposed him to be dead, but he would again rally and breathe with so great difficulty as to be heard in almost every part of the house. Mrs. Lincoln took her last leave of him about twenty minutes before he expired-she could not endure to await the awful footsteps of death. The surgeons and the members of the Cabinet, Senator Sumner, Captain Robert Lincoln and Rufus Andrews stood leaning over the headboard of the bed watching every motion of the heaving breast of the dying President. Robert Lincoln was supporting himself upon the arm of Senator Sumner. The members of the Cabinet were standing by the side of the bed-Secretary Stanton at the left of Mr. Andrews-Mr. Andrews near Mr. Lincoln's head. Next to him was Mr. Dennison, and the others arranged along at his left, and the surgeons were sitting upon the side and foot of the bed, holding the President's hands, and with their watches observing the slow declension of the pulse, and watching the faint ebb of that noble spirit. Such was the solemn stillness for the duration of five minutes that the ticking of many watches could be heard in the room. At twenty-two minutes past seven, A. M., the soul of Abraham Lincoln ficd from its earthly tabernacle "to that bourne from which no traveler returns." As he drew his last breath the Rev. Dr. Gurley addressed the Throne of Grace with a fervent prayer for his heart-broken family and his mourning country. Mrs. Lincoln sat in an adjoining room, hushing her tears and waiting solemnly. When they told her in such tender words as pity finds for grief, that her husband was dead, the growing stillness of her heart gave way and she cried out in sudden anguish, “Oh, why did you not tell me that he was dying?" Abraham Lincoln was dead, but scarcely had the cold hand touched his features when over them dawned that gentle smile which those who have seen him in his happiest moments will never forget. Except the blackness of his eyes his face appeared perfectly natural. He died without a struggle, or even a perceptible motion of the limbs. The morning was calm, and the rain was dropping gently upon the roof of the humble apartment where they had laid him down to die. Guards had been stationed to keep the people from the house, and no sound could be heard in the streets save the footsteps of the sentry pass ing to and fro, as he guarded all that remained of Abraham Lincoln. NATIONAL LAMENTATION. FUNERAL OF THE PRESIDENT. The following dispatch, received in New York city on the morning of the 15th of April, announced to the country and to the world the death of the President of the United States : "War Department, WASHINGTON, April 15, 1865. } "To Major-General Dix, New York:"Abraham Lincoln died this morning at twenty-two minutes after seven o'clock. "EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War." This grievous intelligence fell upon the heart of the Nation like the storm which follows the thunderbolt. The fierce, mad excitement and indignation which had fired the bosoms of all Americans at the news of their beloved President having been struck down by the hand of an assassin, was instantly followed by passionate grief and lamentation at the speedy news of his death. A deep gloom hung over the whole North-a gloom which might be compared to the dark clouds from whose bosoms flash forth vivid streams of destroying fire. In every heart arose a stern demand for retribution against the man who had bereaved a great nation in destroying its leader. This feeling gave force and depth to the mournfulness which fell solemnly on the land. In every city throughout the North, in every village,-in every place where men dwelt, strangers grasped each other by the hand, and with tear-wet eyes bewailed their country's loss; for the universal grief made all men feel their universal fraternity. The whole country was draped in mourning. No man was so poor that his sorrow did not show itself in some touching acknowledgment of his country's bereavement and his own sorrow. For thirty days the emblems of mourning remained on every public building; while flags heavily draped with crape were hung in the windows, or streamed from the flag-staffs of thousands on thousands of private dwellings. The body of the martyred President lay in state at the White House for four days, where, upon the 19th of April, the funeral services were celebrated in every church throughout the North, and in most of the Canadian cities. The ceremony at the White House being over, the President's remains were removed to the Capitol, where they lay in state for two days. On the 21st they were placed within a handsome and grandly imposing funeral car, and proceeded on their melancholy journey, stopping a certain length of time at each of the following cities: Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago; arriving in Springfield, Illinois, at eight o'clock on the morning of May 3d. There-amid the scenes that had witnessed his manly labors, his successful career, his prosperity, his home affections, and his honorable progress in the esteem of his fellowworkers and fellow-citizens, the good President was laid down to his last earthly sleep. The love and the prayers of a whole people followed him. to his grave, and the veneration of posterity will hallow it forever. And there his countrymen shall come, For many and many a year. For many a year and many an age, Of that Paternal Soul. SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. BORN FEBRUARY 12, 1809. DIED APRIL 15, 1865. Abraham Lincoln was born at Hodginville, Kentucky, on the 12th of February, 1809. His parents were poor, and his youth was thus a youth of labor. From the age of seven to that of nineteen, he worked on his father's farm-his parents having removed to Indiana, and subsequently into Illinois. When nineteen years of age he left home and sought labor on the Mississippi river, as a hired hand on a flatboat plying between St. Louis and New Orleans. He subsequently built a similar vessel, which he personally managed, in the river traffic. Until 1832 his life was a continual struggle against adverse fortune, but it was prosecuted with a strong heart and firm hand. In 1832 the Indian war with Black Hawk broke out. Mr. Lincoln raised a company of volunteers in Menard county, Ill., and served through the war under General Samuel Whiteside. The early career of Mr. Lincoln as a pioneer and in camp, had gradually trained and formed his character for more active life. His prominence in his county, as the former captain of a company, naturally gave him additional influence at home, on his return from the war, and, after beginning life as a lawyer, he soon became, also, a politician. In 1834, at the age of twenty-five, he was elected on the whig ticket, to the Illinois Legislature. In 1836, he was re-elected for a second term, during which he avowed conservative principles on the subject of slavery, and added much to his popularity by efforts to make Springfield the capital of the State. He also won credit by his action as Chairman of the Finance Committee in the Legislature. In 1846, after several years of retirement from political life, during which he had established himself as a highly successful lawyer, Mr. Lincoln was nominated for Congress, and was elected by the largest vote ever given to a whig candidate in his district. He served until 1849, and was active-in connection with Seward, Chase and Giddings-in the agitation of the Wilmot proviso, and in opposition to the Mexican war. From 1849 to 1854 he remained secluded at Springfield, taking, however, an active, though not prominent part, in the organization of the republican party, and in 1856 he ardently supported its first candidates, Fremont and Dayton. He had just been defeated in the Illinois Legislature for United States Senator, and, except during the Presidential canvass for 1856, when he was brought frequently in contact on the stump with Stephen A. Douglas, he remained quiet in his office at Springfield until 1858, when he became a candidate for Senator. During this canvass he made some of the most remarkable speeches of his life. In 1860 he was elected President of the United States. On January 1s', 1863, President Lincoln declared in accordance with a previous proclamation, the freedom of all the slaves in the rebellious territory, a work which has since been consummated throughout all the Union by act of the States and the Federal Congress. In 1864, Mr. Lincoln was re-elected to the Presidency, and was duly inaugurated, on the 4th of March, 1865. He will be remembered as long as the history of the American Republic endures, as a good man, who labored to do his duty, who bore the honors of a high station with meekness and humility, and who guided his country through dreadful perils to a happy and secure peace, upou the safe basis of democratic institutions. THE ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE SECRETARY SEWARD, APRIL 14, 1865. While the murder of Abraham Lincoln was in progress at Ford's Theatre, another scene in the bloody tragedy was being enacted at the house of the Secretary of State. Mr. Seward, suffering from severe injuries, received shortly before by an accidental fall from his carriage, was lying in his bed, sick, suffering, and helpless. Within the invalid's |