'...I only wish to thank you for being so good - and to say
how sorry we all are that you must have four years more of this terrible toil.
But remember what a triumph it is for the right, what a blessing to the country
- and then your rest shall be glorious when it does come! You can't tell
anything about it in Washington where they make a noise on the slightest
provocation. But if you had been in this little speck of a village this morning
and heard the soft, sweet music of unseen bells rippling through the morning
silence from every quarter of the far-off horizon, you would have better known
what your name is in this nation. May God help you in the future as he has
helped you in the past and a people's love and gratitude will be but a small
portion of your exceeding great reward.'
- Mary Abigail Dodge, from her village of
Hamilton, Massachusetts, written on the day of Lincoln's second inauguration,
March 4, 1865.
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