Stars & Stripes Forever by Harry Harrison

complete openness. He sighed and opened the door to the dining room, closing it behind him with a satisfactory thud.
    The table was already laid when he came in; buttermilk cakes with honey, always a family favorite.
    "You start with that, Father," Mary said. There was a thunder of feet as the boys rushed in.
    "Paw, Paw!" Tad shouted as he rushed at his father and seized him around the leg. Willie, always more restrained, seated himself at the table.
    "Tad—you stop that," Mary ordered, but was completely ignored. The boy climbed his father as though he were a tree, wrinkling his already wrinkled trousers and jacket in the process. He did not stop until he was perched triumphantly on his father's shoulder. Lincoln marched twice around the table while Tad screeched with pleasure, before he lowered the boy into his chair. Willie had already poured honey on his cakes and was chewing an immense mouthful.
    Keckley and Mary were bringing in more food, as well as hot freshly brewed coffee. Lincoln poured a cup and sipped it as the table slowly filled with more and more attractive dishes. Under Mary's watchful eye he forked a spicy Virginia sausage onto his plate, took some hominy grits and poured some red-eye gravy over them. He ate slowly, his thoughts a hundred miles from this warm domestic scene. The war, the endless dreadful war. Mary saw this clearly, pressed her hand to his shoulder in silence, then joined them at the table. She ate well, too well if the tightness of her dress meant anything.
    She went to fetch more milk for the boys and he was gone when she returned, his plate scarcely touched. He worked too hard and ate too little she thought. And he was losing weight steadily. The war was eating him up. He would be back in his office now and it might be another day before she saw him again.

    "John," Lincoln said, "I want you to write a letter for me." Hay used his own system of shorthand to record Lincoln's dictation. Now it was yet another memorandum from the President to General McClellan asking some sharply pointed questions about a possible forward movement of the Army of the Potomac. There was exasperation in Lincoln's voice as he concluded.
    " 'And how long would it require to actually get into motion? You have the army and you have the recruits and all are well trained, if I can believe the reports. But to win this war this army must be used in battle and Richmond must be taken.' End there and have that telegraphed to him at once. Now cheer me up, John. Tell me some good news from the morning reports."
    "Good news indeed, sir. We now occupy ShipIsland and all resistance is ended. The mouth of the Mississippi is close to this island so that part of the blockading fleet will be well supported and supplied. More news at sea. The USS Santiago de Cuba has halted a British schooner, the Eugenia Smith, near the mouth of the Rio GrandeRiver."
    "Are any reasons given why?"
    "Indeed. Commander Daniel Ridgely has explained that the British vessel had called at a Texas port. His suspicions were confirmed when a well-known Confederate purchasing agent was found aboard. J. W. Zacharie, a merchant from New Orleans. He was removed from the schooner which was then allowed to proceed."
    Lincoln shook his head wearily. "This will only add fuel to the fire we are having over the Trent. Is that all?"
    "No, sir. The Rebels are so sure that Savannah will shortly fall to our troops that they are burning all of the cotton on the docks and in the fields. At sea the gunboat Penguin has captured a blockade runner trying to get to Charleston. A rich cargo indeed. The manifest lists small arms, ammunition, salt, provisions of all kinds. Not only fancy fabrics from France but saddles, bridles and cavalry equipment which is valued at $100,000."
    "Capital. Their loss, our gain. Is the Attorney General here yet?"
    "I'll go and see."
    Lincoln looked up from the sprawled papers on his desk when Edward Bates came in.
    "I would like a moment of your