French students have some questions

[David Lockmiller]

If it is not too late, I want to add to this opinion topic of "French students have some questions" the following illustrative example of President Abraham Lincoln's heroic compassion for his fellow man during the Civil War (in this particular case, a woman and mother)from the 1879 book authored by F. B. Carpenter, "The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln, Six Months at the White House," pages 320-22.* The following is the narrative of the author:

No incident of this character related of the late President, is more profoundly touching in its tenderness and simplicity than that given to me the last evening I passed at the White House, in the office of the private secretary, by a resident of Washington, Mr. Murtagh, of the Washington Republican, who witnessed the scene,

"I was waiting my turn to speak to the President one day, some three or four weeks since," said Mr. M----, "when my attention was attracted by the sad patient face of woman advanced in life, who in a faded hood and shawl was among the applicants for an interview.

"Presently Mr. Lincoln turned to her, saying in his accustomed manner, 'Well, my good woman, what can I do for you this morning?' 'Mr. President,' said she, 'my husband and three sons all went into the army. My husband was killed in the fight at ______. I get along very badly since then, living all alone, and I thought I would come and ask you to release my oldest son.' Mr. Lincoln looked into her face a moment, and in his kindest accents responded, 'Certainly! certainly! If you have given us all, and your prop has been taken away, you are justly entitled to one of your boys!' He immediately made out an order discharging the young man, which the woman took, and thanking him gratefully, went away.

"I had forgotten the circumstance," continued M-----, "till last week, when happening to here again, who should come in but the same woman. It appeared that she had gone herself to the front, with the President's order, and found the son she was in search of had been mortally wounded in a recent engagement, and taken to a hospital. She found the hospital, but the boy was dead, or died while she was there. The surgeon in charge mad a memorandum of the facts upon the back of the President's order, and almost broken-hearted, the poor woman had found her way again into Mr. Lincoln's presence. He was much affected by her appearance and story, and said: 'I know what you wish me to do now, and I shall do without your asking; I shall release to you your second son.' Upon this, he took up his pen and commenced writing the order. While he was writing the poor woman stood by his side, the tears running down her face, and passed her hand softly over his head, stroking his rough hair, as I have seen a fond mother caress a son. By the time he had finished writing, his own heart and eyes were full. He handed her the paper: 'Now,' said he, 'you have one and I one of the other two left: that is no more than right.' She took the paper, and reverently placing her hand again upon his head, the tears still upon her cheeks, said: 'The Lord bless you, Mr. Lincoln. May you live a thousand years, and may you always be the head of this great nation!'"

* [For those who are unaware of who F. B. Carpenter is, he is the artist who developed the concept for his painting entitled "First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln" (to the Presidential cabinet) and was able to convince President Lincoln to sit for the painting over a period of six months and also to explain the historic circumstances of the subject matter in detail to the artist. All of the artist's additional observations made during his stay at the White House are a bonus to "Lincoln" history. The artistic work itself remains on display in the Capitol (Congress) to this day.]

I have a request to make of the "French students who have some questions." Please translate this example of a "Lincoln story" into the French language and read it to your class of French students as part of your project. If it is possible, please do a video recording of this effort on an I-phone (or other technology) and post the video on YouTube. Then, provide a link reference to the video to our honorable Mr. Roger Norton, host of this website, in order for him to post the link here. This post of my mine would provide the English version for the story; your YouTube video posting would provide the French version. I am almost certain that all those who have contributed a subject response to your request on this website would enjoy viewing such a video.

On a different subject, for those who participate on this website and like to be rewarded on all things current and important regarding President Abraham Lincoln, there is in the electronic version of today's NY Times, at the bottom of the presentation of today's newspaper, a section entitled "On This Day." Today there is written the following entry of notable historic fact:

"On Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery."

Without the efforts of President Abraham Lincoln, a non-combatant hero of the American Civil War, there would have been no Thirteenth Amendment enacted with the words written as follows:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Director Steven Spielberg made a recent movie entitled "Lincoln" which depicts this historic event. There are some on this website who dispute to some degree the historical accuracy of the movie.