"How  was  that  brought  about?"  inquired  Mr. Lin-
coln. "Simply  by  trusting  in  God  and  feeling  that
He  does  all  things  well,"  she  replied. "  Did  you  sub-
mit fully  to  the  first  loss?"  he  asked. "No,"  she  an-
swered, "not  wholly,  but  as  blow  came  upon  blow  and
all  was  taken,  I  could  and  did  submit,  and  was  very
happy."  He  responded,  "I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say
that. Your  experience  will  help  me  bear  my  afflic-
tion." On  being  assured  that  many  Christians  were
praying  for  him  on  the  morning  of  the  funeral,  he
wiped  away  the  tears  that  sprang  to  his  eyes  and
said,  "I  am  glad  to  hear  that. I  want  them  to  pray
for  me. I  need  their  prayers."

As  he  was  going  out  to  the  burial,  the  good  woman
expressed  her  sympathy  with  him. He  thanked  her
gently  and  said,  "I  will  try  to  go  to  God  with  my  sor-
row." A  few  days  afterward  she  asked  him  if  he
could  trust  God. He  replied,  "I  think  I  can,  and  I

2f


322  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD

will  try. I  wish  I  had  the  childlike  faith  you  speak
of,  and  I  trust  He  will  give  it  to  me."  And  then  he
spoke  of  his  mother,  who  so  many  years  before  had
been  committed  to  the  dust  among  the  wilds  of  In-
diana. In  this  hour  of  his  greatest  trial  the  memory
of  her  who  had  held  him  upon  her  bosom  and  soothed
his  childish  griefs  came  back  to  him  with  tenderest
recollections. "I  remember  her  prayers,"  said  he,
"and  they  have  always  followed  me. They  have
clung  to  me  all  my  life."

Never  perhaps  was  a  human  heart  more  sore
than  Lincoln's  after  Willie  died. He  drank  the
dregs  of  sorrow,  and  only  religion  could  bring  him
any  consolation. Those  were  not  the  days  of
shorthand  interviews. Doubtless  some  entirely
trustworthy  witnesses  who  have  reported  Lincoln's
outpoured  grief  to  them  are  only  substantially
correct. But  that  is  quite  enough. He  made  on
several  the  same  impression  Simon  Peter  must
have  made  when  he  said  to  our  Lord:  "To  whom
shall  we  go ?     Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life."

In  the  Episcopal  Church  ot  war  times  no  man
was  worthier  in  reputation  or  mightier  in  words
than  the  Rector  of  historic  Trinity  Church  of  New
York  City,  the  Rev. Dr. 