Chapter 1

EPILOGUE--VICTORY. The Platform of the second Inauguration, March 4, 1865, before the Capitol at Washington.

A MAN OF THE PEOPLE

PROLOGUE

PERSONS OF THE PROLOGUE

ABE _A Boy of Ten._ SARAH _His Sister._ TOM LINCOLN _His Father._ NANCY _His Mother._ THE DOCTOR _An Old-fashioned Pioneer._

PROLOGUE

SET SCENE: _The rough-hewn log cabin of Tom Lincoln is seen in the center surrounded by the forest wilderness of Southern Indiana, 1820._

_The cabin door is cut in level with the ground. There is no shutter to the door and no window to the cabin._

_Right and Left of the door opening are rude benches of split logs. On the walls are stretched a coon and a small bear, squirrel and muskrat skins. In the foreground on the right is seen an old-fashioned wash pot set on three stones. Near the wash pot is fixed in the ground a pole, on the top of which are hung six gourds cut for martin swallows to nest in. Beside it are a rude bench and two wash tubs. On the left is a crude settee made of a split log with legs set in augur holes and a rough back made of saplings. An old-fashioned doctor's saddle-bags hang across the back of the settee. The trees are walnut, beech and oak--undergrowth of dogwood, sumac and wild grapevines. These vines, festooned over the cabin, give a sinister impression. A creek winds down through the hills behind the cabin._

AT RISE: SARAH _is seen softly tiptoeing toward the cabin door. She pauses, listens and slowly peeps inside. She listens again and then slips away and calls_.

SARAH

Abe! Abe!

[SARAH _goes back to the door and peeps in and runs to the gate._]

Abe----! Ma's awake now!

[_She returns to the door, peeps in again and runs once more to the gate._]

Abe----! He's feelin' her pulse! Come on in--don't stay out there in the woods....

[ABE _enters slowly._]

ABE

What does he say?

SARAH

He ain't said nothin' yet.

ABE

He's a dumb doctor, anyhow. I couldn't get him to say a word comin', last night.

SARAH

Well, he's here now, and there's his saddle-bags full of medicine. You've been ridin' all night--you look terrible tired! Go to bed and sleep a little----

ABE

I can't--while Ma's so sick--I'm afraid to go to sleep----

SARAH

Why----?

ABE

You know why--Sarah----

SARAH

Ah, she ain't goin' to die now. She's talkin' to the doctor--lie down just a little while and get to sleep before the sun comes up or ye can't sleep----

[_Pleading._]

--come on----

ABE

No--I'm scared--the plague's killin' folks every day--and nobody knows what to do for 'em----

[_The_ DOCTOR _and_ TOM _enter from the cabin and come down slowly--the_ DOCTOR _seems to be debating his course of action._]

[_Eagerly to_ DOCTOR.]

You can do somethin' for her, Doctor?

DOCTOR

[_Hesitates._]

Yes--Get me a clean towel and a bowl----

ABE

Run, SARAH--quick----

SARAH

[_Running to cabin._]

Yes--I'll get 'em----

[_The_ DOCTOR _opens his saddle-bags, takes out his lancet and examines its keen point._]

TOM

What are ye goin' ter do with that knife?

DOCTOR

Bleed her, of course--it's the only thing to do----

[_Starts toward cabin._]

ABE

[_To his father._]

Don't let him do it----!

DOCTOR

What's that?

TOM

You shan't bleed her--I don't know nothin' 'bout doctorin'--but I know that'll kill her----

DOCTOR

I've a notion to give you the worst cussin' you ever had in your life, Tom Lincoln....

TOM

'Twouldn't do no good--Doctor----

DOCTOR

[_Throwing his arms up._]

'Twould do _me_ good! I've rode all night--thirty-five miles--from my home in Kentucky across the Ohio, into this wilderness, just for you to insult me----

TOM

I didn't mean to----

DOCTOR

Well, you're doin' it--and I'd give ye the cussin' that'ud pay me for my trouble comin' up here--if I hadn't heard what you've been doin' for your neighbors, in this plague. There's no doctor in thirty miles---- You've been the doctor and nurse--mother and father to 'em all. And when they die, you go into the woods, cut down a tree, rip out the boards, make the coffin, dig the grave and lower the dead with a prayer--I'd like to cuss you, Tom Lincoln--but I can't--damn ye----!

TOM

I'm sorry, Doctor--but I just couldn't let ye bleed her----

DOCTOR

All right--good-by----

[_With a snort of anger, the_ DOCTOR _throws his lancet into his saddle-bags, snaps them together, and starts for the gate._]

ABE

[_Following the_ DOCTOR _to gate._]

Doctor----!

DOCTOR

What do ye want----?

ABE

[_Seizing his hand._]

Please don't go--I'm mighty sorry we made ye mad--I didn't go to do it--you see----

[_He falters._]

I love my Ma so, I just couldn't see ye cut her arm open. And Pa didn't mean to hurt yer feelin's--won't ye stay and help us? Can't ye do somethin' else for her----?

[_Pauses._]

I'll pay ye----! I'll work for ye a whole--year----

DOCTOR

You'd work for me a year?

ABE

[_Eagerly._]

I'll work for ye _five_ years if you'll just save her--just save her life--that's all--don't go--please, don't----

DOCTOR

[_The_ DOCTOR _slips his arm around the boy, draws him close and holds him a moment._]

You're a good boy, Abe----

ABE

You'll stay----?

DOCTOR

I'd stay and do something if I could, Sonny, but to tell ye the truth, I don't know what to do--I'm not quite sure I'm right about the bleedin', or I'd stay and make you both help me----

[_He pauses._]

But I'm not sure----! I'm not sure! And I don't know what else to do--I've got no medicine--so I can't stay. All I can tell ye is to keep her warm--and give her everything good to eat that she can take--she's in God's hands--Good-by----

[_The_ DOCTOR _hurries through the gate--and leaves_ ABE _and_ TOM _gazing forlornly after him, as_ SARAH _comes from the house._]

SARAH

I've got the towel and bowl all ready----

[_Pauses._]

What's the matter----?

[_Looks around._]

Where's the doctor----?

ABE

He's gone----

SARAH

Gone----?

TOM

Yes----

[NANCY _enters by door of cabin._]

[NANCY'S _sudden appearance in the door swings_ ABE _around with a quick cry of pain. The sun is tinging the eastern sky with the splendor of an Indian Summer morning. The mother's figure in blue homespun suggests against the dark background of the cabin door the coming of a spirit from the unseen world. She pauses a moment in the doorway and smiles at her son._]

ABE

Oh, Ma, you mustn't----

TOM

[_Following._]

Nancy----!

NANCY

I'm better, I'm a lot better----

ABE

You're too sick to come out here, Ma----

NANCY

[_Smiling._]

I can walk--as well as you can,--see----

[_She sways slightly toward the settee._]

ABE

But the Doctor says you must keep warm----

NANCY

Well--I have on the warm stockings that Sarah knit for me and the coon skin moccasins you made--don't you see, I'm better now----?

ABE

[_Joyfully._]

Look, Pa, she's better!

SARAH

Yes--she's better!

TOM

[_Alarmed._]

Don't try to walk--set down, honey!

NANCY

[_Sinking on bench._]

Yes--I will----

[_The boy comes closer, staring eagerly into his mother's face._]

NANCY

Come closer, my boy----

[ABE _kneels at her feet._]

TOM

I'm a feared of this, Nancy--you better let me git a hot rock and wrap it up for your feet.

NANCY

Yes, Tom--and bring me the Bible. I want Abe to read to me.

[TOM _goes into the cabin worried over her._]

ABE

Feel all right, Ma----?

NANCY

[_She nods and breathes deeply--her eyes alight._]

I wanted to see the sun rise through the trees! You remember the day you cut down your first tree to begin the clearing and the sunlight came through the hole you'd made to the sky----

ABE

Yes--I remember.

NANCY

You called me to come and see it----

ABE

[_In a whisper._]

Yes----

NANCY

I was proud that morning as I saw you stand with your ax on that big log--anything my boy starts to do--he does----

[_Pauses._]

Your father taught you to use the ax and----

[_Turns and looks at_ ABE.]

Your father's a good man, my son--kind-hearted and true and everybody likes him. They made him road supervisor of his township in Kentucky once. If he could read and write he would have gone to the legislature----

[TOM _enters from the cabin with the rock and Bible, he crosses to_ NANCY, _and_ ABE _takes the rock and puts it under her feet_--SARAH _kneels and helps him._ NANCY'S _hand drops on the bench._ TOM _picks up her hand, and the chill of it worries him._]

[ABE _and_ SARAH _rise._]

NANCY

Read to me, son--I like to hear your voice----

ABE

[_Brightly._]

All right--what----?

NANCY

The Twenty-third Psalm.

[ABE _looks for the place._]

I love to hear you read, my boy. It means that you can do what any other man can--it means so much!

ABE

[_Reads._]

The Lord is my shepherd--I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake----

NANCY

[_In a whisper._]

Yea, tho' I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me----

[ABE _stops, looks up at his mother in amazement._]

ABE

Ma----

NANCY

Remember always, my boy, that God _is_ with you! He is in the day and the night. He is in the sun and the wind, the trees and the grass--and not a sparrow falls to the ground without He knows. You recollect the year you put up those gourds there----

[_She points to the pole._]

for your martins----? You cried when they circled away in the fall----

[ABE _nods._]

I told you God would send them back in the spring, didn't I----?

[_She laughs softly._]

You said that He'd forget to tell them and they'd never find the way--but they came--didn't they----?

ABE

Yes, Ma, and I know now they'll come again next spring.

NANCY

So--I want you never again to doubt God, my boy, and I want you never to doubt yourself. Your bare feet, your ragged clothes, how poor you are--this is nothing! It doesn't count here--it's what you feel, it's what you believe--it's what you see that counts! I've taught you to read and write, and now you can do anything! If God takes me----

[_She pauses exhausted._]

ABE

But you mustn't say that, Ma----!

NANCY

"The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether!"

ABE

No! no, Ma! Don't talk that way! You'll give up if you do----!

NANCY

If He calls, my son, then _my_ work is done--and _you_ can do all I've tried and failed to do----

ABE

[_Alarmed._]

Had she better talk so much, Pa----

[_Stoops to fix her feet._]

TOM

[_Feeling her hand._]

Nancy----!

NANCY

Just a minute more, Tom----! Don't let him know yet--_you_ know----!

TOM

[_With upward look of faith._]

Yes, I know----

[_To_ ABE.]

It's all right--boy----

NANCY

Come back close, my son, I want to tell you something I saw last night! I had a dream--the same one I had the night before you were born. You had grown a man--strong and brave--wise and gentle. The people hung on your words, and did you homage. But you remembered this cabin here in the deep woods and you were humble. I walked with you between two white pillars. It was still and solemn, in there. Outside I could hear the people calling your name. You bowed low and whispered in my ear: "This is all yours, my Mother. I bought it for you with my life. All that I am I owe to you----"

[_Her voice sinks to a whisper that is half a laugh of religious ecstasy._]

ABE

[_Joyfully._]

See how she's smilin'--Pa! She's getting well--I tell you----!

TOM

[_Whispering._]

Don't ye understand, boy----?

ABE

No--what----?

SARAH

What--what is it----?

TOM

[_In deep religious awe._]

Look--look at her eyes----! She's not telling ye a dream--she's looking through the gates of Heaven----

ABE

No--no--no----!

TOM

It's death--boy--it's come--Lord, God, have mercy----

[ABE _springs to his feet and stares in anguish, as_ TOM _falls on his knees beside_ NANCY. NANCY'S _hand rests gently on_ TOM'S _shaggy head, while he sobs. With her other hand she feels for_ ABE'S _and holds it feebly._]

NANCY

Be good to your Father,----

[_She pauses and breathes with difficulty._]

In the days to come, he will be the child and you the man----

ABE

Yes----

NANCY

And love your sister----

[ABE _nods._]

If dark hours come, my spirit will be watching, my son--and I'll help you if I can----

ABE

Yes, I know it!

NANCY

And remember that you can be a great man in this free country if you only say--I will----

[NANCY'S _body sinks in death as the boy lifts his face illumined by the light of a great purpose._]

ABE

Yes, Ma,--I will!

CURTAIN

PERSONS OF THE PLAY

ABRAHAM LINCOLN _The President._ MRS. LINCOLN _His Wife._ COLONEL NICOLAY _His Secretary._ EDWARD _The Doorman._ EDWIN M. STANTON _Secretary of War._ GEN. GEO. B. MCCLELLAN _Lincoln's Rival._ CAPTAIN VAUGHAN _Of the U. S. Army._ BETTY WINTER _His Sweetheart._ THADDEUS STEVENS _Leader of Congress._ HENRY RAYMOND _Editor of the New York Times._ JOHN R. GILMORE _Of the New York Tribune._ COLONEL JACQUESS _A Methodist Clergyman._ JEFFERSON DAVIS _President of the Confederacy._ JUDAH P. BENJAMIN _His Secretary of State._ JUDGE ROBERT OULD _Commissioner of Exchange._ ROBERT E. LEE _Commanding General._ A SISTER _Who begs for her brother's life._ A CONGRESSMAN _Who demands a hearing._ A LITTLE GIRL _From Virginia._ A MOTHER _With a baby._ A WOMAN _Who has lost two sons._ A TELEGRAPH OPERATOR _In the White House._ A DOORMAN _At Richmond._ COMMITTEEMEN, SOLDIERS AND GUARDS.