第109章 CATASTROPHE(3)

Every Saturday afternoon the Marine Band gave an open-air concert in the grounds of the White House.One afternoon Lincoln appeared upon the portico.There was instant applause and cries for a speech."Bowing his thanks and excusing himself,he stepped back into the retirement of the circular parlor,remarking (to Carpenter)with a disappointed air,as he reclined on a sofa,'I wish they would let me sit there quietly and enjoy the music.'His kindness to others was unfailing.it was this harassed statesman who "came into the studio one day and found (Carpenter's)little boy of two summers playing on the floor.A member of the Cabinet was with him;but laying aside all restraint,he took the little fellow in his arms and they were soon on the best of terms."While his younger son "Tad"was with his mother on a journey,Lincoln telegraphed:

"Tell Tad,father and the goats are well,especially the goats."[14]He found time one bright morning in May to review the Sunday-school children of Washington who filed past "cheering as if their very lives depended upon it,"while Lincoln stood at a window "enjoying the scene...making pleasant remarks about a face that now and then struck him."[15]Carpenter told him that no other president except Washington had placed himself so securely in the hearts of the people."Homely,honest,ungainly Lincoln,"said Asa Gray,in a letter to Darwin,"is the representative man of the country."However,two groups of men in his own party were sullenly opposed to him--the relentless Vindictives and certain irresponsible free lances who named themselves the "Radical Democracy."In the latter group,Fremont was the hero;Wendell Phillips,the greatest advocate.They were extremists in all things;many of them Agnostics.Furious against Lincoln,but unwilling to go along with the waiting policy of the Vindictives,these visionaries held a convention at Cleveland;voted down a resolution that recognized God as an ally;and nominated Fremont for the Presidency.A witty comment on the movement--one that greatly amused Lincoln--was the citation of a verse in first Samuel:"And every one that was in distress,and every one that was in debt,and every one that was discontented,gathered themselves unto him;and he became a captain over them;and there were with him about four hundred men."If anything was needed to keep the dissatisfied Senators in the party ranks,it was this rash "bolt."Though Fremont had been their man in the past,he had thrown the fat in the fire by setting up an independent ticket.Silently,the wise opportunists of the Senate and all their henchmen,stood aside at the "Union convention"--which they called the Republican Convention--June seventh,and took their medicine.

There was no doubt of the tempest of enthusiasm among the majority of the delegates.It was a Lincoln ovation.

In responding the next day to a committee of congratulation,Lincoln said:"I am not insensible at all to the personal compliment there is in this,and yet I do not allow myself to believe that any but a small portion of it is to be appropriated as a personal compliment....I do not allow myself to suppose that either the Convention or the [National Union]League have concluded to decide that I am the greatest or best man in America,but rather they have concluded that it is best not to swap horses while crossing the river,and have further concluded that I am not so poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it trying to swap."[16]

Carpenter records another sort of congratulation a few days later that brought out the graceful side of this man whom most people still supposed to be hopelessly awkward.It happened on a Saturday.Carpenter had invited friends to sit in his painting room and oversee the crowd while listening to the music."Towards the close of the concert,the door suddenly opened,and the President came in,as he was in the habit of doing,alone.Mr.and Mrs.Cropsey had been presented to him in the course of the morning;and as he came forward,half hesitatingly,Mrs.C.,who held a bunch of beautiful flowers in her hand,tripped forward playfully,and said:'Allow me,Mr.