Lincoln, the unknown

LINCOLN THE UNKNOWN• 209behind the door leading from the dress-circle to the boxes, sothat he could bar that entrance with a wooden plank. Afterthat Booth went to his hotel and wrote a long letter to theeditor of the "National Intelligencer," justifying the plottedassassination in the name of patriotism, and declaring that posteritywould honor him. He signed it and gave it to an actor,instructing him to have it published the next day.Then he went to a livery-stable, hired a small bay mare thathe boasted could run "like a cat," and rounded up his assistantsand put them on horses; gave Atzerodt a gun, and told him toshoot the Vice-President; and handed a pistol and knife toPowell, ordering him to murder Seward.It was Good Friday, ordinarily one of the worst nights of theyear for the theater, but the town was thronged with officers andenlisted men eager to see the Commander-in-Chief of the Army,and the city was still jubilant, celebrating the end of the war.Triumphal arches still spanned Pennsylvania Avenue, and thestreets were gay with dancing torch-light processions, shoutingwith high elation to the President as he drove by that night tothe theater. When he arrived at Ford's the house was packedto capacity and hundreds were being turned away.The President's party entered during the middle of the firstact, at precisely twenty minutes to nine. The players paused andbowed. The brilliantly attired audience roared its welcome. Theorchestra crashed into "Hail to the Chief." Lincoln bowed hisacknowledgment, parted his coat-tails, and sat down in a walnutrocking-chair upholstered in red.On Mrs. Lincoln's right sat her guests: Major Rathbone ofthe Provost-Marshal General's office and his fiancee, MissClara H. Harris, the daughter of Senator Ira Harris of NewYork, blue-bloods high enough in Washington society to meetthe fastidious requirements of their Kentucky hostess.Laura Keene was giving her final performance of the celebratedcomedy "Our American Cousin." It was a gay and joyousoccasion; and sparkling laughter rippled back and forthacross the audience.Lincoln had taken a long drive in the afternoon, with hiswife; she remarked afterward that he had been happier that daythan she had seen him in years. Why shouldn't he be? Peace.Victory. Union. Freedom. He had talked to Mary that afternoonabout what they would do when they left the White House