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[354]
he replied, and then repeated very emphatically the expression he used when the design was first sketched upon the canvas: “It is as good as it can be made.”
I then referred at some length, to the enthusiasm in which the picture was conceived and had been executed, concluding with an expression of my profound appreciation of the very unusual opportunities afforded me in the prosecution of the work, and his unvarying kindness and consideration through the many weeks of our intercourse.
He listened pensively,--almost passively, to me, -his eyes fastened upon the picture.
As I finished he turned, and in his simile-hearted, earnest way, said: “C-, I believe I am about as glad over the success of this work as you are.”
And with these words in my ear, and a cordial “goodbye” grasp of the hand, President and painter separated: the one to gather into and around himself more and more the affections of a mighty people, till in the culmination and attainment of all his heart's desires he should be called from “glory to glory;” the other, in his humble sphere, to garner as a precious legacy to him and his these fragments of leaves from the daily life of one whose name and fame — inseparably bound up with devotion to freedom and reverence for law, fragrant with the tender memories and sweet humanities of life — are to grow brighter and stronger with God's eternal years, as men learn to appreciate and emulate a true Christian manhood.
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