Light in Darkness

It’s
a worthwhile experience to put down whatever you’re doing for half an
hour today and read something about one of the world’s great men. It
doesn’t matter which of the books about him you read. His wisdom and
humor and particularly his compassion come through in all of them, even
in the vignettes in Reader’s Digest.

I’ve been reading Mark Van Doren’s recently published play, "The Last Days of Lincoln," which covers the last few weeks before his death.

The
end of the war was imminent and the big issue was whether the terms of
surrender should be harsh or generous. Some hotheads were for hanging
the generals and destroying the South. Lincoln patiently tried to
convey to them his feeling that such rash action would only add to the
tragedy of a divided, stricken nation.

AT ONE POINT
Benjamin Franklin Wade, senator from Ohio, bitterly assails Lincoln.
"Be soft and you’ll be sorry. You will unmake or make yourself for
good."

Lincoln replies, "You flatter me. I have never thought of
myself as my own Maker, nor do I now . . . I shall do nothing softer
than reality permits. Reality is my guide in time of darkness."

LATER,
to Gen. Grant, Lincoln says, "I don’t find fault any more with anybody.
Not with fate, even . . . I tried to keep the war from meaning too
much. At the very least it meant enough. Half of this country had
decided to be half of nothing. But half of nothing is exactly nothing,
and the war, I still think, means all it needs to mean if it restores
those people to existence."

To Sens. Wade, Chandler and Sumner
he says, "Your only thought is about how they must learn to live with
us. You don’t appear to consider that we must live with them, and that
this will take some learning, too. I’m doing my best to remember both
parties to the divorce — a miserable divorce, if any at all, for
neither party could move away. Meanwhile, gentlemen, let us all study
to avoid a certain dictatorial tone — it may be mine, it may be yours
— that is not to be tolerated in such perilous times."

FATHER & SON STUFF — This is for those who despair of educational standards. In explaining something a boy said, "I brang it to school." Pater snapped, "What’s that!" "Oh," the boy said, "I brung it to school" . . . At the dinner table a 6th
grader repeated a comment his teacher had made in class about a state
official. His father slammed down his knife and fork and fumed, "I’ll
not have you misled about politics! I’m going to do something about
this!" "Whoa, dad," the boy soothed, "wait’ll after I get my report card."

CONFUSION
in Washington note: On Page 21 of the printed report of testimony
before a Senate subcommittee on the subject, "Experimental Research in
Cloud Modification," there’s a rather classic typo "Dr. Reichelderfer of the U.S. Whether Bureau . . ." 

AMID OHS and ahs
an Anaheim girl was opening her gifts after her wedding a few nights
ago. One lady, known to enjoy a cocktail, watched avidly, and when her
gift came up she exclaimed, "Melanie, you should have seen us wrapping
that package last night. It took three bottles of Scotch tape!"

ONLY IN HOLLYWOOD — Tom Lempertz
did a double take and looked cautiously over his shoulder for the
little green men at a Vine Street market when he heard a man say,
"Well, if you run into anyone who can use a galaxy, let me know." The
man was referring, of course, to the new Ford model, the Galaxie. 

* *

AROUND TOWN — While covering the flooded area in Benedict Canyon yesterday Jack Leppert,
NBC cameraman, couldn’t help noticing the sandbags propped against
doors and garages were red, green, blue and whatnot. Apparently a
sandbag salesman had given residents a choice . . . Wreckers
demolishing a building on W 2nd Street with the inscription, "Since 1918," have posted a hand-lettered sign, "Adios mis amigos."