Albert (breaks away from his mother and runs to Lincoln's portrait, laying his hand upon it): And, mother, I am cured of my folly. I have seen him, and I am glad the old flag was victorious.
All (excitedly): Have seen him?
Sally: O, tell us about him!
Albert (coming down): [J]It was at Richmond. I had been taken prisoner with two other young fellows. We were shut up in an old store. The President came there with some of his friends and just a few of his sailors. He passed the store and saw us staring from the window. O, the look that came over his face I can never describe, as he called out: "Break in that door and let those boys go home to their mothers." In a second we were free.
[J] This incident is purely fictitious and is given only as what might have happened, being quite in keeping with Lincoln's character.
Auntie Temp: De Lawd bress him!
Albert: And, mother, when I stood face to face with him I saw that not half had been told me of his goodness and his greatness. And when I heard of his death a day or two ago, as I was begging my way across the country, to get home, I wept like a child. I knew then, as others will know later, that this was the end of life for the greatest American this country ever had.
Auntie Temp: De Lawd save us! I's mighty scar'd o' what 'comes of us pore niggahs now.
Sally (going to Auntie Temp and putting hand on her shoulder): You have nothing to fear from this time forth, Auntie Temp. Although Abraham Lincoln is dead, his spirit will live forever in the land.
Albert (comes to front-center): Yes, and he has taught the American Nation, in his own immortal words, "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."