disavow, are here entirely done away with.

In the first place the marriage relations differ materially from those of
earth, and no false sentiment nor custom, nor religious belief, holds
together as companions those who are dissimilar in their nature. Neither
do men crucify their tastes and feelings from a mistaken idea of duty.

The miseries and disasters which are attendant on a life on earth they
view as a parent would view the whooping-cough or scarlatina which
afflict the body of his child--as necessary steps toward his growth and
progress from youth to manhood.

A remarkable instance of this came under my own observation. You remember
that the singular and sudden death of Abraham Lincoln was a matter of
surprise to us. We could not see the purpose of an all-wise Providence in
this sudden closing of an eventful career. It was discussed in every
newspaper in the land, and the conclusion was that the Creator had some
special purpose in his removal, and this we all believed.

But here the enigma is solved.

Standing face to face and walking side by side, as I have done for the
last few days with this man, raised as some suppose for the special
purpose of freeing the slave--a martyr for principle--I find that he
enjoys as a good joke, this martyrdom, and I have also ascertained the
solemn fact that he was removed, not by God, but by spirit politicians,
God's agents.

And the state of the case is this: the Southern rebels, hot-blooded and
revengeful, who were arriving daily by scores and hundreds, in the spirit