nice silver tassel, making a chaste and elaborate fringe to the whole case. The silver plate bore the simple inscription:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Born February 12, 1809;

Died April 15, 1865.

"The catafalque stood lengthwise to the room, or north and south, and immediately in front of the double doors which lead to the side hall. The floor of the catafalque was about four feet in height, and approached by one step on all sides, making it easy to view the face of the honored dead. Above this was a canopy, in an arched form, lined on the under-side with white fluted satin, covered otherwise with black velvet and crape. This was supported by four posts, heavily incased with the emblem of mourning. The canopy, the posts, and the main body of the catafalque, were festooned with crape, and fastened at each fold with rosettes of black satin.

"On the top of the coffin lay three wreaths of moss and evergreen, with white plumes and lilies intermingled. At the head of the coffin, standing upon the floor of the catafalque, and leaning against the metallic case, stood a beautiful cross, made of japonicas, lilies, and other white flowers, as bright and blooming as though they were still on their parent-stem, and had not been plucked to adorn the house of the dead; its pure and immaculate white furnishing a strong contrast with the deep black on all sides. On the foot of the coffin lay an anchor of flowers. Encircling the coffin, in a serpentine form, was a vine of evergreens studded with pure white flowers; and within its meandering folds were deposited several wreaths of the same material. These

had all been brought by some friendly hands, the tokens of love and affection, and deposited around and near the case that contained the mortal remains of the man who had been near and dear to them. Here, then, were the emblems of the dead, the marks of rank, the tokens of grief, deep and sorrowful, and happiness hereafter, as well as hope and immortality in the future. Surely the scene in honor to the illustrious dead was a worthy exhibition of the love, esteem, and pride of a free people in their fallen chief,- fallen, too, in the midst of his usefulness, and just when his greatness and goodness were being recognized by all."*

A newspaper, speaking of those present at his funeralservice, says, "Close by the corpse sat the relatives of the deceased, plain, honest, hardy people, typical as much of the simplicity of our institutions as of Mr. Lincoln's self-made eminence. No blood-relatives of Mr. Lincoln were to be found. It is a singular evidence of the poverty of his origin, and therefore of his exceeding good report, that, excepting his immediate family, none answering to his name could be discovered. Mrs. Lincoln's relations were present, however, in some force: Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd, Gen. John B. S. Todd, C. M. Smith, Esq., and Mr. N. W. Edwards, the late President's brother-in-law. Plain, self-made people were here, and were sincerely affected. Capt. Robert Lincoln sat during the services with his face in his handkerchief, weeping quietly; and little Tad, his face red and heated, cried as if his heart would break. Mrs. Lincoln, weak now, and nervous, did not enter the east room, nor follow the remains. She was the Chief Magistrate's lady yesterday; to-day, a widow bearing only an immortal name."

"Lincoln Memorial."

Clergymen of different religious denominations, as was eminently fitting, took part in the funeral exercises. Rev. Dr. Hall, of the Episcopal Church in Washington, opened the services by reading the beautiful service of his church for the burial of the dead. Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist-Episcopal Church of Illinois, then of fered prayer. The funeral oration was next delivered by Rev. P. D. Gurley, D.D., a Presbyterian pastor, of Washington, in whose church the President and family were accustomed to worship. The services closed with a prayer by Dr. Gray, chaplain of the United-States Senate. In his oration, whose text was, "Have faith in God" (Mark xi. 22), Dr. Gurley said,

"As we stand here to-day, mourners around this coffin and around the lifeless remains of our beloved Chief Magistrate, we recognize and we adore the sovereignty of God. . . . It was a cruel, cruel hand, that dark hand of the assassin, which smote our honored, wise, and noble President, and filled the land with sorrow. But above and beyond that hand there is another which we must see and acknowledge, it is the chastening hand of a wise and a faithful Father."

After continuing for some time in this strain, endeavor. ing to comfort the mourners gathered there, he spoke of the departed thus: "The people confided in the late lamerted President with a full and loving confidence. Probably no man since the days of Washington was ever so deeply and firmly embedded and enshrined in the very hearts of the people as Abraham Lincoln. Nor was it a mistaken confidence and love. He deserved it, deserved it well, deserved it all. He merited it by his character, by his acts, and by the whole tenor and tone and spirit of his life. He was simple and sincere, plain and honest, truthful and just, benevolent and kind. His

perceptions were quick and clear, his judgments were calm and accurate, and his purposes were good and pure beyond question. Always and everywhere he aimed and endeavored to be right and to do right. His integrity was thorough, all-pervading, all-controlling, and incorruptible. It was the same in every place and relation, in the consideration and the control of matters great or small, the same firm and steady principle of power and beauty, that shed a clear and crowning lustre upon all his other excellences of mind and heart, and ecommended him to his fellow-citizens as the man, who in a time of unexampled peril, when the very life of the nation was at stake, should be chosen to occupy in the country, and for the country, its highest post of power and responsibility. How wisely and well, how purely and faithfully, how firmly and steadily, how justly and successfully, he did occupy that post, and meet its grave demands, in circumstances of surpassing trial and difficulty, is known to you all, known to the country and to the world. He comprehended from the first the perils to which treason had exposed the freest and best government on the earth, the vasts interests of liberty and humanity that were to be saved or lost forever in the urgent impending conflict: he rose to the dignity and momentousness of the occasion; saw his duty as the Chief Magistrate of a great and imperilled people; and he determined to do his duty, and his whole duty, seeking the guidance and leaning on the arm of Him of whom it is written, 'He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.' Yes: he leaned upon his arm. He recognized and received the truth, that the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the Governor among the nations.' He remembered that God is in history,' and he felt that nowhere had

his hand and his mercy been so marvellously conspicu ous as in the history of this nation. He hoped and he prayed that that same hand would continue to guide us, and that same mercy continue to abound to us in the time of our greatest need. I speak what I know, and testify what I have often heard him say, when I affirm that that guidance and mercy were the props on which he humbly and habitually leaned: they were the best hope he had for himself and for his country. Hence, when he was leaving his home in Illinois, and coming to this city to take his seat in the Executive Chair of a disturbed and troubled nation, he said to the old and tried friends who gathered tearfully around him, and bade him farewell, 'I leave you with this request, - pray for me.' They did pray for him, and millions of others prayed for him; nor did they pray in vain. Their prayer was heard, and the answer appears in all his subsequent his tory: it shines forth with a heavenly radiance in the whole course and tenor of his administration, from its commencement to its close. God raised him up for a great and glorious mission, furnished him for his work, and aided him in its accomplishment. Nor was it mere ly by strength of mind, and honesty of heart, and purity and pertinacity of purpose, that he furnished him. In addition to these things, he gave him a calm and abiding confidence in the overwhelming providence of God, and in the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness through the power and blessing of God. This confidence strengthened him in all his hours of anxiety and toil, and inspired him with calm and cheering hope when others were inclining to despondency and gloom. Never shall I forget the emphasis and the deep emotion with which he said, in this very room, to a company of cler gymen and others who called to pay him their respects