Page:Abraham Lincoln, A Story and a Play.djvu/51

 the same afterwards.

After Willie's death President Lincoln tried to comfort himself with his youngest son "Tad," a merry little fellow. No matter how busy his father might be, Tad was allowed to run in and out of the office whenever he wished. Many a time the little boy spent the whole evening there, curling himself up upon the floor when he was tired out, and dropping off to sleep. Then his father would lift the child tenderly in his strong arms and carry him off to bed.

Tad probably had more freedom in the White House than any other President's child since then. The little boy was very fond of a tame goat and once when he was away with his mother, Mr. Lincoln wrote his wife: "Tell dear Tad 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 is gone. The gardner 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 disappeared and has not been heard of since. This is the last we know of poor Nanny."