impressive personality. He had never seen him before and was trying to
form a just and accurate judgment of his character. Beyond a doubt he
was big physically--this impression was overwhelming--everything
large--the head with its high crown of skull and thick, bushy hair, deep
cavernous eyes, heavy eyebrows which moved in quick sympathy with every
emotion, large nose, large ears, large mouth, large, thick under lip,
very high cheek bones, massive jaw bones with upturned chin, a sinewy
long neck, long arms, and large hands, long legs, and big feet. A giant
physically--and yet somehow he gave the impression of excessive
gauntness and about his face there dwelt a strange impression of sadness
and spiritual anguish. The hollowness of his cheeks accented by his
swarthy complexion emphasized this.

The crowd had recognized him instantly, but without the slightest
applause. The silence was intense, oppressive, painful. John glanced up
and saw the huge figure of Senator Wigfall, of Texas, looking down on
the scene from the base of one of the white columns of the central
facade. He waved his arm defiantly and laughed. His presence in the
Senate after all his associates had withdrawn was the subject of keen
speculation. He was believed to be a spy of the Confederate Government.
He had asked General Scott, half in jest, if he would dare to arrest a
Senator of the United States for treason. The answer was significant of
the times. Looking the Senator straight in the eye the old hero slowly
said:

"No--I'd blow him to hell!"

Evidently the Senator was not as yet unduly alarmed. His expression of
triumphant contempt for the evident lack of enthusiasm could not be
mistaken. When John Vaughan recalled the confusion in the ranks of the
triumphant party he knew that the Senator's scorn would he redoubled if
he but knew half the truth. Again he turned toward the tall, lonely man
with sinking heart.

The ceremony moved swiftly. The silence was too oppressive to admit
delay. Senator Baker, of Oregon, the warm personal friend of Lincoln,
stepped quickly to the edge of the platform. With hand outstretched in
an easy graceful gesture, he said:

"Fellow Citizens: I introduce to you Abraham Lincoln, the
President-elect of the United States of America."

Again the silence of death, as the once ragged, lonely, barefoot boy
from a Kentucky cabin stepped forward into the fiercest light that ever
beat on human head.

He quickly adjusted hi