Lincoln in the Bardo

Goodwin, op. cit.

Paregoric may ease the racking abdominal pain; delirium may take the child into a haven of sweet dreams, or it may deliver him into a labyrinth of nightmares.

Epstein, op. cit.

The patient was wandering of mind and did not recognize the distracted loving face of the tall man who bent over him.

Kunhardt and Kunhardt, op. cit.

The President would come in from his work for the country and pace about the room, head in his hands at the agonized moans his poor boy was making.

Flagg, op. cit.



“Kind little words, which are of the same blood as great and holy deeds,” flowed from his lips constantly.

In “Lincoln as I Knew Him,” by Harold Holzer, account of Elizabeth Todd Grimsley.

Lincoln had the tenderest heart for any one in distress, whether man, beast, or bird.

Holzer, ibid., account of Joshua Fry Speed.

He had a great kindness of heart. His mind was full of tender sensibilities; he was extremely humane.

Wilson and Davis, op. cit., account of Leonard Swett.

I never in my life associated with a man who seemed so ready to serve another.

Holzer, op. cit., account of John H. Littlefield.

He was certainly a very poor hater.

In “Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life,” by William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik.

How that beloved boy’s sufferings must have tormented one so naturally sympathetic.

Flagg, op. cit.



Willie Lincoln thrashed and moaned and nothing at all could be done.

Hilyard, op. cit., account of D. Strumphort, butler.

The burning cheeks, the frantically roving eyes, the low moans of despair, seemed to signal a great torment within and a corresponding desire to escape it, and be himself again, a happy little fellow.

Hohner, op. cit.

In his thrashing young Willie kicked off the gold and purple bedspread. It lay in a heap on the floor.

Sternlet, op. cit.

The yellow trimmings, gold tassels and fringes did not relieve the gloominess of the regal décor, but instead reminded visitors that darkness and death came even to princes.

Epstein, op. cit.

Now the eyes went dim, all that restless motion came to a halt. That stillness seemed the most terrifying thing of all. He was on his own now. None could help or hinder him on the profound journey which, it seemed, had now begun.

Hohner, op. cit.

The death-dew gathered on his brow.

Keckley, op. cit.



In the room of Death, just before the cessation of breath, time seems to stop entirely.

Sternlet, op. cit.

The President could only stand and watch, eyes wide, having no power at all in this new-arrived and brutal realm.

Hohner, op. cit.





LXXXVII.

Wait, the lad said.

He sat there, within his father, a look of consternation on his little face, seeming more upset than comforted by whatever he was hearing.

Come out, I ordered.

I don’t understand, he said.

Come out at once, I said.

hans vollman





LXXXVIII.

The body was embalmed on February 22 by Doctors Brown and Alexander, who were assisted by Dr. Wood.

In “Lincoln Lore: Bulletin of the Lincoln Life Foundation,” No. 1511, January 1964.

Neither Brown nor Alexander personally embalmed Willie; that job fell to their master embalmer, Henry P. Cattell.

In “Stealing Lincoln’s Body,” by Thomas J. Craughwell.

Frank T. Sands was the chief undertaker. Perhaps it was he who suggested the precaution of covering the breast of the corpse with the green and white blossoms of the mignonette (Reseda odorata), known for its overpoweringly sweet fragrance.

Epstein, op. cit.

The method of Sagnet of Paris was used.

“Lincoln Lore,” op. cit.

Sagnet had pioneered the innovative use of zinc chloride.

In “Pausing Death: Nineteenth Century Embalming and the Cult of Immortality,” by Steven Wedge and Emily Wedge.

Five quarts of a 20 percent solution of zinc chloride injected through the popliteal artery not only preserved a body for a minimum of two years, but also wrought a wondrous transformation, giving the body the appearance of luminous white marble.

Craughwell, op. cit.



Extravagant claims were made of the Sagnet process, stating that the remains became a “shell in effigy; a sculpture.”

“Lincoln Lore,” op. cit.

A trestle table was assembled in place for the procedure. The carpets in the Green Room were rolled back and the flooring protected by use of a large square of tenting fabric.

In “The Doctor’s Assistant: Memoirs of D. Root,” by Donovan G. Root, M.D.

The procedure did not require draining the body of the blood. The boy was undressed and an incision made in the left thigh. The zinc chloride was pumped in using a small-diameter metal pump. No unusual difficulties were encountered. The entry point required a small suture and the boy was re-dressed.

Wedge and Wedge, op. cit.

The mother being distraught, the burial clothes had been selected by the father and sent down to us in an oversized hat-box.

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