Lincoln in the Bardo(38)
After you have been five minutes in his company you cease to think that he is either homely or awkward.
In the Utica “Herald.”
Regarding a face & carriage so uniquely arranged by Nature, one’s opinion of it seemed to depend more than usual on the predisposition of the Observer.
In “Letters of Sam Hume,” edited by Crystal Barnes.
He never appeared ugly to me, for his face, beaming with boundless kindness and benevolence towards mankind, had the stamp of intellectual beauty.
Salm-Salm, op. cit.
The good humor, generosity, and intellect beaming from it, makes the eye love to linger there until you almost fancy him good-looking.
In “Way-Side Glimpses, North and South,” by Lillian Foster.
The neighbors told me that I would find that Mr. Lincoln was an ugly man, when he is really the handsomest man I ever saw in my life.
In “Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time,” by Allen Thorndike Rice.
I never saw a more thoughtful face, I never saw a more dignified face.
Rice, op. cit., account of David Locke.
Oh, the pathos of it!—haggard, drawn into fixed lines of unutterable sadness, with a look of loneliness, as of a soul whose depth of sorrow and bitterness no human sympathy could ever reach. The impression I carried away was that I had seen, not so much the President of the United States, as the saddest man in the world.
Browne, op. cit.
LXIII.
Each motion seeming to require a terrible effort on his part, Mr. Lincoln took hold of the chain and hung the lock upon it.
roger bevins iii
The door being ajar, however, and his boy’s sick-form within, it seemed he could not resist making one final entry.
the reverend everly thomas
Vaulting down from the roof, we followed him in.
hans vollman
The sick-form’s proximity seeming to jar Mr. Lincoln loose from some prior resolution, he slid the box out of the wallslot and lowered it to the floor.
the reverend everly thomas
This, it seemed, was as far as he meant to go.
roger bevins iii
(He had not meant even to go this far.)
the reverend everly thomas
Except then he knelt.
hans vollman
Kneeling there, it seemed he could not resist opening the box one last time.
the reverend everly thomas
He opened it; looked in; sighed.
roger bevins iii
Reached in, tenderly rearranged the forelock.
hans vollman
Made a slight adjustment to the pale crossed hands.
roger bevins iii
The lad cried out from the roof.
hans vollman
We had forgotten about him entirely.
roger bevins iii
I stepped out, vaulted back up, worked for some time to get him free. He was in rough shape: stunned speechless, banded-down good.
Then it occurred to me: if I could not pull him up, perhaps he could be pushed down.
And I was quite right: he had not been impaired at all yet beneath his back.
Working my hands in through the pulpy, still-forming carapace until I felt his chest, I gave him a good shove there, and down he went, with a cry of pain, through the roof, into the white stone home.
hans vollman
The boy came through the ceiling and landed on the floor beside his father.
Followed closely by Mr. Vollman.
roger bevins iii
Who, from his knees, urged the boy forward.
Go in, listen well, he said. You may learn something useful.
We have recently heard your father express a certain wish, said Mr. Bevins.
Of where he hopes you are, said Mr. Vollman.
In some bright place, said Mr. Bevins.
Free of suffering, said Mr. Vollman.
Resplendent in a new mode of being, said Mr. Bevins.
Go in, said Mr. Vollman.
Be thus guided, said Mr. Bevins. See what he would have you do.
the reverend everly thomas
The lad got weakly to his feet.
hans vollman
Greatly compromised by his affliction.
roger bevins iii
In the gait of an old man, he hobbled toward his father.
the reverend everly thomas
He had not entered the man intentionally before, but inadvertently.
hans vollman
And seemed reluctant to do so now.
roger bevins iii
LXIV.
All this time the crowd had been reassembling around the white stone home.
roger bevins iii
Word of this second visitation having spread rapidly.
the reverend everly thomas With more individuals arriving every moment.
hans vollman
Such was their eagerness to be in attendance at this extraordinary event.
roger bevins iii
All craved the slightest participation in the transformative moment that must be imminent.
hans vollman
They had abandoned any pretext of speaking one at a time, many calling out desperately from where they stood, others darting brazenly up to the open door to shout their story in.
roger bevins iii
The result was cacophony.
the reverend everly thomas
LXV.
It was me started that fire.
andy thorne
I steal every chanse I git.