“Well, Mrs. Cameron, what did you think of the President?” she asked.
“I hardly know,” was the thoughtful answer. “He is the greatest man I ever met. One feels this instinctively1.”
When Mrs. Cameron was ushered2 into the Secretary’s Office, Mr. Stanton was seated at his desk writing.
She handed the order of the President to a clerk, who gave it to the Secretary.
He was a man in the full prime of life, intellectual and physical, low and heavy set, about five feet eight inches in height and inclined to fat. His movements, however, were quick, and as he swung in his chair the keenest vigour3 marked every movement of body and every change of his countenance4.
His face was swarthy and covered with a long, dark beard touched with gray. He turned a pair of little black piercing eyes on her and without rising said:
“So you are the woman who has a wounded son under sentence of death as a guerilla?”
“I am so unfortunate,” she answered.
“Well, I have nothing to say to you,” he went on in 34 a louder and sterner tone, “and no time to waste on you. If you have raised up men to rebel against the best government under the sun, you can take the consequences——”
“But, my dear sir,” broke in the mother, “he is a mere5 boy of nineteen, who ran away three years ago and entered the service——”
“I don’t want to hear another word from you!” he yelled in rage. “I have no time to waste—go at once. I’ll do nothing for you.”
“But I bring you an order from the President,” protested the mother.
“Yes, I know it,” he answered with a sneer6, “and I’ll do with it what I’ve done with many others—see that it is not executed—now go.”
“But the President told me you would give me a pass to the hospital, and that a full pardon would be issued to my boy!”
“Yes, I see. But let me give you some information. The President is a fool—a d—— fool! Now, will you go?”
With a sinking sense of horror, Mrs. Cameron withdrew and reported to Elsie the unexpected encounter.
“The brute7!” cried the girl. “We’ll go back immediately and report this insult to the President.”
“Why are such men intrusted with power?” the mother sighed.
“It’s a mystery to me, I’m sure. They say he is the greatest Secretary of War in our history. I don’t believe it. Phil hates the sight of him, and so does every army 35 officer I know, from General Grant down. I hope Mr. Lincoln will expel him from the Cabinet for this insult.”
When, they were again ushered into the President’s office, Elsie hastened to inform him of the outrageous8 reply the Secretary of War had made to his order.
“Did Stanton say that I was a fool?” he asked, with a quizzical look out of his kindly9 eyes.
“Yes, he did,” snapped Elsie. “And he repeated it with a blankety prefix10.”
The President looked good-humouredly out of the window toward the War Office and musingly11 said:
“Well, if Stanton says that I am a blankety fool, it must be so, for I have found out that he is nearly always right, and generally means what he says. I’ll just step over and see Stanton.”
As he spoke12 the last sentence, the humour slowly faded from his face, and the anxious mother saw back of those patient gray eyes the sudden gleam of the courage and conscious power of a lion.
He dismissed them with instructions to return the next day for his final orders and walked over to the War Department alone.
The Secretary of War was in one of his ugliest moods, and made no effort to conceal13 it when asked his reasons for the refusal to execute the order.
“The grounds for my action are very simple,” he said with bitter emphasis. “The execution of this traitor14 is part of a carefully considered policy of justice on which the future security of the Nation depends. If I am to administer this office, I will not be hamstrung by constant 36 Executive interference. Besides, in this particular case, I was urged that justice be promptly15 executed by the most powerful man in Congress. I advise you to avoid a quarrel with old Stoneman at this crisis in our history.”
The President sat on a sofa with his legs crossed, relapsed into an attitude of resignation, and listened in silence until the last sentence, when suddenly he sat bolt upright, fixed16 his deep gray eyes intently on Stanton and said:
“Mr. Secretary, I reckon you will have to execute that order.”
“I cannot do it,” came the firm answer. “It is an interference with justice, and I will not execute it.”
Mr. Lincoln held his eyes steadily17 on Stanton and slowly said:
“Mr. Secretary, it will have to be done.”
Stanton wheeled in his chair, seized a pen and wrote very rapidly a few lines to which he fixed his signature. He rose with the paper in his hand, walked to his chief, and with deep emotion said:
“Mr. President, I wish to thank you for your constant friendship during the trying years I have held this office. The war is ended, and my work is done. I hand you my resignation.”
Mr. Lincoln’s lips came suddenly together, he slowly rose, and looked down with surprise into the flushed angry face.
He took the paper, tore it into pieces, slipped one of his long arms around the Secretary, and said in low accents: 37
“Stanton, you have been a faithful public servant, and it is not for you to say when you will no longer be needed. Go on with your work. I will have my way in this matter; but I will attend to it personally.”
Stanton resumed his seat, and the President returned to the White House.
点击收听单词发音
1 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
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2 ushered | |
v.引,领,陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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4 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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5 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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6 sneer | |
v.轻蔑;嘲笑;n.嘲笑,讥讽的言语 | |
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7 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
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8 outrageous | |
adj.无理的,令人不能容忍的 | |
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9 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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10 prefix | |
n.前缀;vt.加…作为前缀;置于前面 | |
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11 musingly | |
adv.沉思地,冥想地 | |
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12 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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13 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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14 traitor | |
n.叛徒,卖国贼 | |
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15 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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16 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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17 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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