He began to sing the Star-Spangled Banner in a clear, strong voice.
The effect was magical, electrical. One window went up, and another, and heads popped out all over the neighborhood. People began to stir on the streets. A crowd soon gathered. The grand old song was taken up and sung by thousands.
The spell was broken, and when the song was finished tongues were loosened, and cheer after cheer rent the air.
The man rooming next to me rapped on my door and insisted that I should take a walk with him. As we passed along the corridors we were joined by others, men wild with joy, some of them weeping and throwing their arms around each other's neck.
Others were singing and all were happy.
Washington was itself again. The "Star-Spangled Banner" had saved it.
LINCOLN'S FAVORITE POEM
MORTALITY
(O WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD?)
"The evening of March 22, 1864," says F. B. Carpenter, "was a most interesting one to me. I was with the President alone in his office for several hours. Busy with pen and papers when I went in, he presently threw them aside and commenced talking to me of Shakespeare, of whom he was very fond. Little Tad, his son, coming in, he sent to the library for a copy of the plays, and then read to me several of his favorite passages. Relapsing into a sadder strain, he laid the book aside, and leaning back in his chair said:
"'There is a poem which has been a great favorite with me for years, which was first shown to me when a young man by a friend, and which I afterward saw and cut from a newspaper and learned by heart. I would,' he continued, 'give a great deal to know who wrote it,[P] but I have never been able to ascertain.' Then, half-closing his eyes, he repeated the verses to me as follows:"