Andersonville—a prison... Libby—a prison. Thousands of men are incarcerated. Who pays for these criminal acts? All of us pay. We pay as though we were buying sugar at $12.00 a pound. A man weighs about 160 pounds. If he loses weight while he is imprisoned do we pay less?
Summer
With my watch lying on the desk, the seconds seem to move all too swiftly. Nine, ten, twelve...each second a life around Washington...cabinet members...family...friends. Here at 9:58 is Willie’s birth; here at 4:00 is Tad’s birth. A few more seconds pass and I am delivering my inaugural address. The war is threatening, the war has overcome us.
I put away the watch.
When Billy Herndon presented me with that watch I thought I would spend the rest of my life in Springfield. I thought our partnership would go on and on. I was lying on the old sofa, tired after a circuit ride.
Billy handed me the watch; I opened its box; then he said :
“We’ve been working together for ten years.”
He brushed his fingers through his shaggy beard and sat down at his desk.
A gold watch —