nd Mrs. Lincoln and Tad had gone away
for a visit. "Tell dear Tad," he wrote, "that poor Nanny Goat is lost,
and Mrs. Cuthbert and I are in distress about it. The day you left,
Nanny was found resting herself and chewing her little cud on the middle
of Tad's bed; but now she's gone! The gardener kept complaining that she
destroyed the flowers, till it was concluded to bring her down to the
White House. This was done, and the second day she had disappeared and
has not been heard of since. This is the last we know of poor Nanny."

Tad was evidently consoled by, not one, but a whole family of new goats,
for about a year later Mr. Lincoln ended a business telegram to his
wife in New York with the words: "Tell Tad the goats and Father are very
well." Then, as the weight of care rolled back upon this greathearted,
patient man, he added, with humorous weariness, "especially the goats."

Mr. Lincoln was so forgetful of self as to be absolutely without
personal fear. He not only paid no attention to the threats which
were constantly made against his life, but when, on July 11, 1864, the
Confederate General Early appeared suddenly and unexpectedly before
the city with a force of 17,000 men, and Washington was for two days
actually in danger of assault and capture, his unconcern gave his
friends great uneasiness. On the tenth he rode out, as was his custom,
to spend the night at the Soldiers' Home, but Secretary Stanton,
learning that Early was advancing, sent after him, to compel his return.
Twice afterward, intent upon watching the fighting which took place near
Fort Stevens, north of the city, he exposed his tall form to the gaze
and bullets of the enemy, utterly heedless of his own peril; and it was
not until an officer had fallen mortally wounded within a few feet of
him, that he could be persuaded to seek a place of greater safety.

XI. THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR

In the summer of 1863 the Confederate armies reached their greatest
strength. It was then that, flushed with military ardor, and made bold
by what seemed to the southern leaders an unbroken series of victories
on the Virginia battlefields, General Lee again crossed the Potomac
River, and led his army into the North. He went as far as Gettysburg
in Pennsylvania; but there, on the third of July, 1863, suffered a
disastrous defeat, which shattered forever the Confederate dream of
taking Philadelphia and dictating peace from Independence Hall. This
battle of