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264 of Congress. They had three sons, Robert T. Lincoln who still survives, and Willie and Thaddeus, the latter better known as "Tad." When Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln came into the White House, war, grim-visaged war, threatened our country. The excitement between the North and South was so intense that Mr. Lincoln came to Washington incognito, Mrs. Lincoln and the children and servants following by another route. Many were the forebodings as to what might be the fate of the President-elect before his inauguration. Mrs. Lincoln's temperament was such that she could not bear the excitement with the repose of a woman of less emotional nature. Of all the criticisms that have been made of Mrs. Lincoln, no one has been unkind enough to accuse her of disloyalty to her husband, or lack of appreciation of his exalted position to which she had been elevated through his election to the presidency, and it is to be regretted that a keener appreciation of the trials to which she was subjected was not then understood. The political excitement and war's alarms were enough, but to these was added the great bereavement of President and Mrs. Lincoln by the death of their beloved second son, Willie, and it is recorded that the mother never afterward entered the room in which he died, or the Blue Room in which his body lay. Mrs. Lincoln's hospitality and generosity were well known, and it is a melancholy thought that just after the close of the Civil War, when they were enjoying the victories of Mr. Lincoln's second election that the tragedy of tragedies occurred and beyond question Mrs. Lincoln never rallied from this unspeakable blow. As soon as she was able to leave, she departed from the White House and went to live with her sister at Springfield, Illinois, where her paroxysms of grief were so overwhelming that those nearest and dearest to her could do nothing to alleviate her sufferings. Her sorrow was greatly increased again by the death of her son "Tad." It was suggested that she travel in