end! It was not an hurrah that they gave, but a
wild, jubilant cry of inexpressible joy.

They gathered round the President, ran ahead, hovered upon the flanks of
the little company, and hung like a dark cloud upon the rear. Men,
women, and children joined the constantly increasing throng. They came
from all the by-streets, running in breathless haste, shouting and
hallooing and dancing with delight. The men threw up their hats, the
women waved their bonnets and handkerchiefs, clapped their hands, and
sang, "Glory to God! glory! glory! glory!"--rendering all the praise to
God, who had heard their wailings in the past, their meanings for wives,
husbands, children, and friends sold out of their sight, had given them
freedom, and, after long years of waiting, had permitted them thus
unexpectedly to behold the face of their great benefactor.

"I thank you, dear Jesus, that I behold President Linkum!" was the
exclamation of a woman who stood upon the threshold of her humble home,
and with streaming eyes and clasped hands gave thanks aloud to the
Saviour of men.

Another, more demonstrative in her joy, was jumping and striking her
hands with all her might, crying,--"Bless de Lord! Bless de Lord! Bless
de Lord!" as if there could be no end of her thanksgiving.

The air rang with a tumultuous chorus of voices. The street became
almost impassable on account of the increasing multitude. Soldiers were
summoned to clear the way. How strange the event! The President of the
United States--he who had been hated, despised, maligned above all other
men living, to whom the vilest epithets had been applied by the people
of Richmond--was walking their streets, receiving thanksgivings,
blessings, and praises from thousands who hailed him as the ally of the
Messiah! How bitter the reflections of that moment to some who beheld
him!--memory running back, perhaps, to that day in May, 1861, when
Jefferson Davis, their President, entered the city,--the pageant of that
hour, his speech, his promise to smite the smiter, to drench the fields
of Virginia with richer blood than that shed at Buena Vista! How that
part of the promise had been kept!--how their sons, brothers, and
friends had fallen!--how all else predicted had failed!--how the land
had been filled with mourning!--how the State had become a
desolation!--how their property, their hoarded wealth, had disappeared!
They had been invited to a gorgeous banquet; the fruit was fair to the
eye