She paused, looked up at John, blushed and added:
"We are to be married next week, Mr. President----"
"Is it so?" he said joyfully. "I wish I could be there, my children--but
I'm afraid 'Old Grizzly' might bite me. So I'll say it now--God bless
you!"
He took their hands in his and pressed them heartily. His eyes suddenly
rested on a shining black face grinning behind John Vaughan.
"My, my, can this be Julius Caesar Thornton?" he laughed.
"Yassah," the black man grinned. "Hit's me--ole reliable, sah, right
here--I'se gwine ter cook fur 'em!"
* * * * *
From the moment of Abraham Lincoln's election the end of the war with a
restored Union was a foregone conclusion.
In the fall of Atlanta the heart of the Confederacy was pierced, and it
ceased to beat. Lee's army, cut off from their supplies, slowly but
surely began to starve behind their impregnable breastworks. Sherman's
march to the sea and through the Carolinas was merely a torchlight
parade. The fighting was done.
When Lee's emaciated men, living on a handful of parched corn a day,
staggered out of their trenches in the spring and tried to join
Johnston's army they marched a few miles to Appomattox, dropping from
exhaustion, and surrendered.
When the news of this tremendous event reached Washington, the Cabinet
was in session.
Pages:
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565