It was in a similar instance where mercy had been given to a New England mother that she came out from the interview silent, as if wrapped in thought.
Some friend interrupted her to know what had so impressed her.
“I have always been told,” she said, “that Lincoln is one of the ugliest of men. I now know that to be a lie. He is one of the handsomest men I ever saw.”
In another case, when Lincoln had relieved the distress of an old man for his only son, the orders were that the soldier should not be executed until further orders from Lincoln.
“But that is not pardon, is it?” said the fearing petitioner.
“Well, it’s just as good,” replied Lincoln. “He will be older than Methuselah before I order his execution. Killing a man doesn’t make him any better or wipe out the act.”
III. EXPERIENCES DEMANDING MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE
The kindness so exemplified throughout his life never failed on the side of mercy, as shown in many an incident of the war.
In one case a woman, whose son had run away from home at the age of seventeen and joined the Confederacy, sought to have him released from Fort McHenry, where he was in the hospital, a wounded prisoner.
She applied to Stanton, Secretary of War. He refused to listen to her, saying, “I have no time to waste on you. If you have raised up a son to rebel against the best Government under the sun, you and he must take the consequences.”