THE ILLUSTRATED 15 EE.
April 12, 1901
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f" Consider the Mies, how they
J grow. They toll not. net her do
MR
that Solomon In all his glory
was not arrayed like upto one
of these." When Christ spake these words
It Is not at all likely that he reflected
that In so doing he waa giving to thane
who should follow him an emblem for
what they have mad their gladdest feast.
Eastertide ha been celebrated from tlmo
Immemorial; by the earlier raises be
cause of the fact that It came with the re
tarn of spring; it marks the breaking of the
bonds of death and the resurrection of the
flower and the fruits and the grains and
grasses. Its later significance ha been
engrafted on the pagan festival by Chris
tian teaching, and while nope of the orig
inal meaning of the feast has been lost.
It now has the additional Importance of
typifying not alone the resurrection of
Inamlnate things, but of the vanquishing of
death and the triumph of the soul over ths
grave. "If a man die, shall he Itoe analn?"
asked Job In the extremity of his am let Ion,
and I'aul the trntmaker centuries after
answered the patriarch: "For sines by mm
came death, by man came also the resur
rection of the dead. Per as lu A lam all die,
ven so la Christ shall all be made alive."
In his argument to support this pnlnt. the
great apostle-preacher uses the simile of
grain that la sown, and which la not
quickened until it dies. It Is his Jsyous
outburst "Ob, death, where Is thy atlng!
Account of Postmortem
(Copyright, 1903, by Edward Curtis. If. D.)
f5Tw"lS tho stirring days of a generation
41 S ago SOU I OUieuy IUW lucir
I in history, the roster of the only
??J authentic chronicler of their
" " scenes the actor or eye
witnesses therein grow shorter and
shorter. It 1 well, then, for all surviving
participant In the historic events of thoe
times to tell, whllo yet opportunity per
mits, such of their experiences a possibly
may be of Interest.
Tbl thought was brought home to mo
recently by the chance perusal of an old
letter of my own, written thlrty-flve year
ago. I realised suddenly that of tho taff
of surgeons who bad to do with the post
mortem examination In tho case of Presi
dent Lincoln, I was the ole survivor, and
that, apart from the official report of th
findings, the yellowed manuscript now bo
fore me was probably the oily narrative
extant, written at tho time, of tho Incident
of that solemn scene In the drama of the
assassination.
-The evening of Good Friday, the 14th of
April, In the year 186G, was In Washington
warm and balmy. I was then an assistant
surgeon In the medical corps of the regular
army and stationed in Washington, on
duty In the office of the surgeon general.
At 10 o'clock In the evening of that hls
torle day I waa aittlng with my young wife
on the stoop of our boarding houso, one
of two fine old mansion situate on the first
block of Vermont avenue, Just off from
Lafayette Square, to the north. Facing
th square on tho cast, one block away,
was the residence of Secretary Seward,
and beyond on th south was the Whit
House.
We were proposing a stroll down Penn
sylvania avenue, when from th? dirrctlon of
the Seward mansion came a sudden clat
tering of horse hoofs, and In an Instant a
horse, bearing a tall rfcler, hatlesa and
bending low over th bridle, dashed by us
at a gallop. A runner afoot folljwed at
a short distance behind, but scon stopped,
turned and disappeared whence he came.
little did we suspect the horseman to
be a foiled assassin, fleeing for hi life
after a desperate attempt to stab ta death
the secretary of state In his house near
by; and still less did we dream that at
th same moment, at a theater half a mile
way, a fellow conspirator In a compre
hensive murder plot, only too successful
In his assigned part, was shouting his
bombast of slo semper tyrannls as he, too,
made a dash for escape from the seen of
hi awful crime.
We set forth calmly on oar stroll, passing
the Seward house on our way with .no
thought of the commotion within. Dut
when, after a short walk, we boarded a
hone car to return w fcund ourselves
among pale-faced passengers, who, coming
from Ford's theater, bore the shocking
new of th shooting of the president, and
on reaching home we were mot by tidings
that also Secretary 8eward' tbroit had
been sat.
Aghast at I hi revelation of a plot for
multiple murder, I set forth again at once
by myself for th surgeon general' office
to meet any possible official summcn for
Oh, grave, where la thy victory?" tiat
still rings In the Easts. sn'hm and the
glnd "All.u"a. He Is risen," only e:hoe the
thought of the early Christian who re
ceived from the apostles ths hop- cf a Ufa
everlasting, when th s corruptlou shall hive
put on the Incorruptible, and this mor'al
shall have become Immortal. It is only
meet that the Illy, everywhere aerrpted as
a symbol of purity, should b3 adopted aa
the particular floral emblem of Easter.
Children who grow up on the farm have
to become men and women before they
begin to appreciate what advantages tbey
really enjoy. It may seem to the boy or
girl who lives In the country that many
glorious opportunities are denied them, be
cause they are not continually surrounded
by the slghta of the city, which so
easily dazzle and often bewilder little
folks unaccustomed to them. Association
with the homely things that mke up 1'f
on the farm, and accustomed to the freedom
of action that there exists, they kno
nothing of bow the boys and girls of the
city really live, of summer days spent on
sun-baked streets, of games confined to the
narrow sphere of a vacant lot, and of what
Is the greatest loss of all, the Inability to
learn nature's secrets from nature. Child
hood In the country Is generally a happy
round of acquiring knowledge the town
bred child can never obtain. With the
cows, the pigs, the chickens, the horses,
with the bee and the birds, the young
sters live and move. Their pleasures are
necessarily such as come from association
with nature, but are none the less whole
some and enjoyable for that reason. In
these days neighbor are close enough to
allow of ample social Intercourse between
the children, and the little folks grow up
with a health of body and mind that can
only be found In the country. It may be
that they do not learn all they might of
the w.-Mid and It devlou way of wicked
ness, and it is well that they do not. All
that Is good for them to learn along this
line, and frequently much more, will be
taught them later In life, when they have
already a good moral foundation on which
to base resistance to evil. In the mean
professional service. But the place wa
closed and dark. Then I went to the White
House, but only to find already a cordon
of sentries guarding the grounds from all
Intruder, and to learn from a bystander
that the president wa not there, but was
lying In some private bouse near the the
ater where ho had been shot. Under thess
circumstances tho only place where I could
be sure of promptly meeting a call - for
duty waa my own quarters, so I turned my
steps homeward again.
And even now, though hi a short time
bad elapsed since the public alarm, the
very atmosphere of ' the street seemed
changed. Where, half an hour before, the
face of wayfarer bad reflected Joy over
thought of Appomattox, the fall of Rich
mond and the surrender of Johnston, now
all was blanched horror, while In the road
way horse' hoof rang and sabre clanked
as aquads of galloping troopers patrolled
the streets in the sudden stern assumption
of martial law against a plot of murder
whose scope waa unknown.
No summons cam to me through that
feverish night, but morning brought the
news of tho president dead and the secre- '
tary of state, with bis son and others of
bis household, grievously wounded.
I went early to my post of duty, and soon
after arrival received Instructions to ac
company a colleague to the White House
at 11 o'clock for service In making, under
the direction of the surgeon general, such
post-mortem examination of the remains.
In the president's case, as might bo neces
sary to establish officially the fact of
death by homicide.
Th incidents of th autopsy thus under
taken, together with the thoughts engen
dered by the same, are b?st told In tho
words of my bom letter, already referred
to, written on week after the events, as
follows:
WASHINGTON, D. C. April 22 1SI2.
Dear Mother: A week ago today
It. Woodward and myself were ordered by
the surgeon gemral to make a port-mortem
examination, in hla presence, on the body
of the president. According y, at 11 o clocn.
we assembled at the White House in the
room where the body lay. The room has
been described. It contained but little fur
niture, a larpe heavlly-curtalmd bt1, a
sofa or two, bureau, wardrobe nnd chairs
comprised all there waa. Seated around
the room were several general otneers and
some civilians, silent or conversing In
whispers, and to one side, stretched upon a
rough framework of boards and covered
only with sheets and towels, lay, cold and
Immovable, what but a few hours before
was the soul of a great nation. The sur
geon general was walking up and down
the room when I arrived and detailed to
me the huttory of the case. He suid that
the president showed most wonderful
ttnaclty of life, and, bad not hts wound
been necessarily mortal, might have sur
vived an Injury to which most men would
succumb.
I' pun the arrival of Pre. Crane, Stone
(private physician to the president). Wood
ward and NoUon Dr. Woodward and 1
proceeded to open the head and remove the
brain down to the track of the ball. The
latter had entered a little to the left of the
median line at the back of the head, had
passed almost directly forward through
the center of the brain and lodged. Not
nndiog It readily, wo proceeded to remove
tbe entire brain; when, as I was lifting th
latter from the eavity of the skull, suddenly
the bullet dropped out through my lingers
and fell, breaking the solemn silence of
the room with Its clatter, nto an empty
basin that waa standing beneath. There It
time they are storing away knowledge
that will always be useful to them, no
mair'er In what walk of life their mature
years may find them, knowledge that can
not be gained In a city. And many and
many a tired city man at tlmea looks
blankly at the desk where he drudges
away his strenuous life In a city office
and regrets the carefree days he spent
on the farm.
This Is the season of the year for ora
torical contests among the high school stu
dents. Easter holiday are generally
pent, oi u portion of the season at Haul,
in scries of tests of declamatory compe
titions, to determine the advance and abil
ity of the representatives of the several
schools united In one or another of the
divisions Into which the high schools are
formed. At Columbus on April 1 the an
nual competition of the North Nebraska
High School Declamatory association was
held, arid Miss Hilda Condron of South
Omaha won first In the oratorical class
and Miss Mabel Coleman of Fullerton was
first in the dramatic class. The week be
fore at Ccrning, In., the Southwestern
Iowa association met, and there again the
girls won all the prizes. Mlsj Ethyl Mar
tin of Wintcrspt was first In the oratorical
class, Miss Coldie Green of Centerville
won the boners In the dramatic class and
Miss Grace Clark of Corning waa first In
the humorous clsss.
The fiftieth wedding anniversary of Mr.
and Mrs. James M. Ross cf Tecumseh oc
curred February 8 and wis celebrated In a
fitting manner. Of the eleven living chil
dren, ten were In attendance. James M.
Rosa and Miss Elizabeth A. Saunders were
married in Macoupin ccunty, Illincli, near
the village of Palmyra, fifty years ago.
They have since resided In a number of
states and territories and have been real
dents of this county for a great many
years. They now live In the city. Mr.
Ross Is a farmer by vocation. Nam'nt
their eleven children now living In the
order of their age they are: Wlll'am H.
Ross of Salt Lake, Utah; Mrs. D. R. Bush
of Tecumseh,. Jefferson Ross of Madison,
Held on President Lincoln
lsy upon the wh'to china, a little black
mass no bigger than ttw-eDd of my finger
dull, motionless and harmless, yet the cause
of such mighty changes In the world's his
tory as we may perhaps never realise.
Our examination over, I proposed to the
surgeon general to weigh the brain, since
the comrarRtJve weight of the brains of
men distinguished for Intellect Is a matter
of great scientific Interest. He directed me
to do so, and then, with the rest of the
surgeons, took his departure.
Accordingly I remained and. wli.'le the
embalmers wf re working over the body,
silently. In ore corner of the room. I pre
pared the brain for weighing. As I looked
at the mam of soft gray and white sub
stance that I was carefully washing. It waa
Imposrlble to realize that It was that mere
clay upon whose workings, but the day be
fore, rested the bopes of the nation. I felt
more profoundly impressed than ever with
tbe mystery of that unknown something1
which may be named "vital spark" as well
as anything else, whose absence or presence
makes all tho Immeasurable difference be
tween an Inert mass of matter owing obedi
ence to no laws but those governing the
physical and chemical forces of the uni
verse, and, on the other hand, a living
brain by whose silent, subtle machinery a
world may be ruled. Your affection
ate son, EDWARD CUHTI3.
Tbe physicians thus named In my letter
were tho surgeon general, Josopb K.
Barnes, U. 8. A., who bad been In at
tendance upon Mr. Lincoln during the
night of his death; Assistant Surgeon Gen
eral Charles H. Crane, IT. 8. A.; Dr. Robert
K. Stone of Washington, D. C; Assistant
Surgeon J. Janvier Woodward, V. 8. A.,
sod Assistant Surgeon William M. Notson,
U. S. A.
The weighing of th brain mentioned
in the letter gave approximate results
only, since there had been some loss of
brain substance. In consequence of the
wound, during the hour of life after the
shooting. But the figure, such as they
were, teemed to show that the brain
weight was not above the ordinary for a
man of Mr. Lincoln' size. No official
record was made of the finding, since the
same was necessarily Inexact.
The general physique was remarkable.
As seen In life, the gaunt face and spare,
slightly stooping figure of the president
gave the Impression of a man tall, to be
sure (Lincoln was about six feet four
Inches In stature), but not especially mus
cular. Familiar then as I was with the
appearance of the living man, I wa sim
ply astonished at tbe showing of the nude
remains, where well-rounded muscles, built
upon strong bones, told the powerful ath
lete. Now did I understand the deeds of
prowess recorded of the president's early
days.
Mr. Lincoln's case thus affords a strik
ing illustration of the fact so observable
In history, vis., that those who achieve
greatness by reason of Intellectual and
moral force are, more often than not, men
of well-developed, powerful physique, with
a brain of proper proportion only. They
are not monstrosities of big head on lit
tle body, where an over-rostlcss brain
consumes the energies of a puny frame.
The unusual stature In Lincoln's case Is
slso In keeping with observation.
Dr. Titus Munson Coan tell me that be bas
made researches on the stature of dis
tinguished men and finds, from a compar
ison of the data In all obtainable cases
quit a large number that tbe average
Wis.; Mrs. A. J. Conlee of Fairfield, la.;
James Rots and Mrs. L. V. Hunt of John
son county, Nebraska, Samu?l Roes of Fall
City; Walter Ross and Mrs. EIllo Ne'san
pf Tecumseh; Ctarles Ross of Madison,
Wis., and Warren Res of Tecumseh. Doth
Mr. and Mrs. Rcss are In excellent health
and promise to live to celebrate many an
niversaries cf their marriage.
"Tho flowers that bloom In the spring"
not .only "breathe a promise bf merry sun
rhlne," but also mean a lot of work for
the dweller In the city. When man makes
up his mind to Improve on nature and put
up a town whero only hills and hollows
and glades and running brooks existed
bt.fore lie came, he usually effaces all evi
dence of growing things as an essential
condition - for his enterprise. Then he
proceeds to repair, according to his fancy
or whim, the damage done. Strange as
may seem, this not infrequently results
In a decided improvement, even from an
esthetic viewpoint. Here in Omaha many
Instances may be found to support this
assertion. Beautiful lawts abound, and
well kept avenues of shade trees, and flowc?
beds that delight the eye. But all of this
Is the result ( much patient effort and
continual work. Among the earlier signs
of spring, even antedating the bluebird and
the robin, is the city dweller, clearing bis
lawn of, the dead grass And lcave3 of the
last fall, and the sometimes remarkable
collection of winter's flotsam; the prepar
ing of outdoor beds for plants that have
prospered in pots ell winter; the planting
of new seeds and bulbs, and not the least
Important of nil, the preparation of a bit
of garden wherein lettuce and onions and
radishes, and other things that are gocd to
eat en a hot day In the summer, may be
raised. There are certain signs of sprlDg
In a rlty. And another Is the appearance
of the streets in the shopping district.
Warm days bring out people who have
avoided the streets for many weeks, and
no matter how lively the thoroughfares may
be during the winter shopping hours, the
early days of the spring see the crowds
augmented until they sometimes amount to
a Jam.
stature of men eminent for Intellectual
achievements in mcdern time is five feet
ten and a half Inches, a figure consider
ably above that of the average for civil
ised man generally. Mr. Lincoln far ex
ceeded this average, and It Is Interesting
to note that the two "fathers" of our
country Washington and Lincoln as they
were giants In mind, were also giants in
body, both having been men of towering
stature and great physical strength.
The Airless Sleeping Car
There Is slways something tho matter
with the atmosphere of a sleeping car; one
would say without a moment's reflection
that what chiefly alls it is its moagerness.
When we consider what an enormous quan
tity of air there Is Immediately outside
tho sleeper It Is surprising that there is not
more Inside. If this continued withdrawal
of air Is kept up the sides und root of
these cars are bound to be some day
crushed in like eggshells, with the result
of daraago suits from all the passengers
therein traveling or their heirs or assigns.
The design may be to gradually reduce tbe
quantity cf air In sleeping cars until pas
sengers will pay an additional price for
more of It, and thus make each car pay Its
entire cost of construction in one trip in
stead of two. But it was not the Insuf
ficiency of the air that caused suit to be
brought at Belleville yesterday against tho
company by a young woman who traveled
in one from Omaha to Kansas City. It
was tho fact that It was cold. Hero again
we have cause for some wonder, for sleep
ing cars arc, to most traveler. Intolerably
hot, though, of course, if not hot Ihey must
be Insufferably cold, since whatever they
are It Is In the superlative degree. And
suits would be brought much more often
if the cars were not so generally empty,
being run on many roads purely for orna
ment. It nppcars to be preferable to make
a through trip with one lonesome eld party
iu a black skull cap and a bridal couple,
who recent even the presence of tbe old
party, at a not Income to the company of
IS, rather than have all tbe berths filled at
a dollur a night and f 24 In hand. Rut It Is
alarming to think of what might happen
should the car carry a full cargo aud only
have on board the usual quantity of air,
either cold or hot. St. Louts Globe-Democrat.
Reflections of a Bachelor
Eaty go, hard to come back.
Girls would get a lot mors fun out of
crying if it did not make their eyes red
and their ncses snufdy.
Some people seem to think tbey Uave to
quarrel so as to show how much they love
each other making It u;.
A man would almost as roon have busi
ness relations with a woman as get bis
arms tangled up with a buss-saw.
When a chap' goes home with a elrl and
she gets up on tbe second step to say good
night It's curious how nearly on a level it
always makes their faces. New York Press.
