There was a touch of irony in his phase "our very good friends."Before the end of the next day,the men he had in mind,the inner group of the relentless Vindictives,were to meet in council,scarcely able to conceal their inspiring conviction that Providence had intervened,had judged between him and them.[7]And that allusion to the "rights"of the vanquished!How abominable it was in the ears of the grim Chandler,the inexorable Wade.Desperate these men and their followers were on the fourteenth of April,but defiant.To the full measure of their power they would fight the President to the last ditch.And always in their minds,the tormenting thought-if only positions could be reversed,if only Johnson,whom they believed to be one of them at heart,were in the first instead of the second place!
While these unsparing sons of thunder were growling among themselves,the lions that were being cheated of their prey,Lincoln was putting his merciful temper into a playful form.
General Creswell applied to him for pardon for an old friend of his who had joined the Confederate Army.
"Creswell,"said Lincoln,"you make me think of a lot of young folks who once started out Maying.To reach their destination,they had to cross a shallow stream and did so by means of an old flat boat when the time came to return,they found to their dismay that the old scow had disappeared.They were in sore trouble and thought over all manner of devices for getting over the water,but without avail.After a time,one of the boys proposed that each fellow should pick up the girl he liked best and wade over with her.The masterly proposition was carried out until all that were left upon the island was a little short chap and a great,long,gothic-built,elderly lady.Now,Creswell,you are trying to leave me in the same predicament.
You fellows are all getting your own friends out of this scrape,and you will succeed in carrying off one after another until nobody but Jeff Davis and myself will be left on the island,and then I won't know what to do--How should I feel?How should I look lugging him over?I guess the way to avoid such an embarrassing situation is to let all out at once."[8]
The President refused,this day,to open his doors to the throng of visitors that sought admission.His eldest son,Robert,an officer in Grant's army,had returned from the front unharmed.Lincoln wished to reserve the day for his family and intimate friends.In the afternoon,Mrs.Lincoln asked him if he cared to have company on their usual drive."No,Mary,"said he,"I prefer that we ride by ourselves to-day."[9]They took a long drive.His mood,as it had been all day,was singularly happy and tender.[10]He talked much of the past and the future.It seemed to Mrs.Lincoln that he never had appeared happier than during the drive.He referred to past sorrows,to the anxieties of the war,to Willie's death,and spoke of the necessity to be cheerful and happy in the days to come.As Mrs.Lincoln remembered his words:"We have had a hard time since we came to Washington;but the war is over,and with God's blessings,we may hope for four years of peace and happiness,and then we will go back to Illinois and pass the rest of our lives in quiet.We have laid by some money,and during this time,we will save up more,but shall not have enough to support us.We will go back to Illinois;I will open a law office at Springfield or Chicago and practise law,and at least do enough to help give us a livelihood."[11]
