This Week's Story
click here to play audioA sixteen year old girl glimpses the last days of President Lincoln's life.
This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.
Abraham Lincoln Outruns A.I. and Flesh and Blood Analysis! part two
A conversation February 23, 2023:
“Daniela, why are tears running down your face while you are looking at a picture of President Abraham Lincoln’s face?”
“Mrs. Steiner, please, look at his face. What do you see?”
“A slight smile and worry wrinkles. His eyes speak suffering. There is no melodrama, just the reality: ‘Our nation is torn and bleeding.’”
“Is he ugly?”
“No. His face has good bone structure and character.”
“I would like to visit him. I know he is a great storyteller. Maybe he would tell a folksy tale and we would laugh together.
“Daniela, you have not told me why tears are on your face.”
“A horrible movie is playing in my mind. I see the last days of President Lincoln’s life. April 9, 1865 the Civil War is officially over. Four years of death and destruction! Americans fighting and killing Americans! I do not understand the insanity. I see battlefields with thousands of dead and wounded bodies.
“How is it possible that both July 4, 1776 and April 9, 1865 are both important dates on the American calendar? Six hundred thousand Americans died because of the Civil War. That is more than died in all the other United States’ wars combined.
“I see General Ulysses S. Grant representing the North, and General Robert E. Lee representing the South, signing the terms of surrender.
“The next day, April 10, 1865, this picture of Lincoln is taken. The President plans for reconciliation between the North and South. Is healing possible or will there be years of hatred between the North and South? Will blacks and whites share opportunities?
“Todd, please describe the next part. I cannot.”
“Four days later, April 14, 1865, the president watches a play with his wife Mary. They laugh at a funny part. A man steps into the president’s balcony box and shoots President Lincoln in the head with a .44 caliber derringer pistol. The assassin is John Wilkes Booth, a famous stage actor. He yells, ‘thus ever to tyrants’, in Latin, drops his pistol, and jumps from the balcony. His leg breaks as he hits the stage.
“The president is moved to a boarding house across the street. Through the night, five doctors work over him. In the morning he dies at age fifty-six. His plans for unity of the North and South are halted.
“Nathan, what are you thinking?”
“I know I never want to see Americans fighting each other. We need understanding, personal discipline, and courage to work together. We must not ignore today’s national diseases such as violence, senseless immigration policies, homelessness, loss of freedoms, human trafficking, and the importance of God in public discourse.”
Please return as we examine more of Lincoln’s years. Go to: thisweeksstory.com.
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