Chapter V: Epilogue

SET SCENE: _The great pillars of the Capitol at Washington fill the entire stage from arch to arch. In the foreground stands the platform on which the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, headed by Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice, are grouped about the President, who is delivering his Second Inaugural._ JOHN VAUGHAN _beside_ BETTY WINTER _is conspicuously leading the applause._

AT RISE: _The President is reading his Inaugural. A great burst of cheering follows the sentence he is closing before the curtain rises:_

LINCOLN

[_Before rise._]

Shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?

[_Applause as curtain rises._]

Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

[_Applause._]

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and all nations.

[_Fade out with the light on Lincoln's face as he utters the last
word._]

CURTAIN