Feeling Others' Pain

Quotes of the day:

Look yonder at those poor fellows. I cannot bear it. This suffering, this loss of life is dreadful.

Illinois Congressman Isaac N. Arnold describing President Lincoln's reaction upon seeing a line of wounded men they came upon in Washington in May, 1864, while riding in the Presidential carriage.

White House portraitist Francis Carpenter found him unable to sleep, ‘pacing back and forth…great black rings under his eyes.’

President Lincoln’s reaction to the carnage going on in the Virginia battles as Grant relentlessly pursued Lee (also May, 1864).

Both indented quotes are from Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography by Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III and Peter W. Kunhardt (the descriptions below each quote are my words). Contrast this to the goofy smugness of our 43rd President who sleeps each night like a baby. No doubts cross his simple, unquestioning, self-righteous mind. This despite the fact that he has led us into an unnecessary war which has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, including children.

Back to 1951

2007 had the highest levels of New York City subway ridership since 1951, the year your blogger was born near the A train stop at 168th Street. I took the photo of the Manhattan Bridge on April 29, 2004. This is where the B, D, N and Q lines cross from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

O Sane and Sacred Death

Post title: From Walt Whitman's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (Leaves of Grass: Memories of President Lincoln)
Top photo: Cemetery, Community Church of Yorktown, Baptist Church Road (taken today)
Bottom photo: Hill of Home from this morning - the day after our first plowable snow in over a month. We got about eight inches, our biggest snowfall so far this mild winter.

Quote of the Day: The Good Republican

On President Lincoln:

Remember also that he was plain, funny, kind, withdrawn. He could talk up a storm or be as quiet as the prairie on a still night. He sounded like a backwoodsman, even in high hat. Up close, it was impossible to fear him. His heart broke over fallen birds and fallen men. He could get fired up or fed up. He was absentminded. He was slow to act. Straining, he grew out of his prejudices. He wrote like a poet. He laughed like a hyena. He cried real tears. Everything about him was real.

Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt from the introduction to Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography. Now we wait once again for a man from Illinois to turn us away from the darkness.
Photo: Abraham and Tad Lincoln, February 9, 1864 by Mathew Brady