Page:Behind the scenes, or, Thirty years a slave and four years in the White House.djvu/123

Rh "All imagination. What does any one want to harm me for? Don't worry about me, mother, as if I were a little child, for no one is going to molest me;" and with a confident, unsuspecting air he would close the door behind him, descend the stairs, and pass out to his lonely walk. For weeks, when trouble was anticipated, friends of the President would sleep in the White House to guard him from danger. Robert would come home every few months, bringing new joy to the family circle. He was very anxious to quit school and enter the army, but the move was sternly opposed by his mother. "We have lost one son, and his loss is as much as I can bear, without being called upon to make another sacrifice," she would say, when the subject was under discussion.

"But many a poor mother has given up all her sons," mildly suggested Mr. Lincoln," and our son is not more dear to us than the sons of other people are to their mothers." 6