THE day of the first meeting of the National Congress after the war was one of intense excitement.
The galleries of the House were packed. Elsie was there with Ben in a fever of secret anxiety lest the stirring drama should cloud her own life. She watched her father limp to his seat with every eye fixed on him.
The President had pursued with persistence the plan of Lincoln for the immediate restoration of the Union. Would Congress follow the lead of the President or challenge him to mortal combat?
Civil governments had been restored in all the Southern states, with men of the highest ability chosen as governors and lawmakers. Their legislatures had unanimously voted for the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery, and elected Senators and Representatives to Congress. Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State had declared the new amendment a part of the organic law of the Nation by the vote of these states.
General Grant went to the South to report its condition and boldly declared:
"I am satisfied that the mass of thinking people of the South accept the situation in good faith. Slavery and secession they regard as settled forever by the highest
