Lincoln, the unknown

190 • LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNThe anguish of bereaved mothers touched Lincoln verydeeply. On November 21, 1864, he wrote the most beautifuland famous letter of his life. Oxford University has a copy ofthis letter hanging on its wall, "as a model of pure and exquisitediction which has never been excelled."Although written as prose, it is really unconscious and resonantpoetry:Executive Mansion,Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass.Dear Madame:I have been shown in the files of the War DepartmentA statement of the Adjutant General of MassachusettsThat you are the mother of five sonsWho have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feelHow weak and fruitless must be any words of mineWhich would attempt to beguile you from the griefOf a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrainFrom tendering to you the consolation that may befoundIn the thanks of the Republic they died to save.I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuageThe anguish of your bereavement, and leave you onlyThe cherished memory of the loved and lost,And the solemn pride that must be yours to have laidSo costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.Yours very sincerely and respectfully,A. Lincoln.One day Noah Brooks gave Lincoln a volume of OliverWendell Holmes's verses. Opening the book, Lincoln beganreading the poem "Lexington" aloud, but when he came to thestanzabeginning:Green be the grass where her martyrs are lying!Shroudless and tombless they sunk to their rest,his voice quavered, he choked, and handing the volume back toBrooks, he whispered: "You read it. I can't."Months afterward he recited the entire poem to friends inthe White House, without missing a word.On April 5, 1864, Lincoln received a letter from a brokenheartedgirl in Washington County, Pennsylvania. "After long