HEARTACHE AT HOME

My boy Willie took a ride on his pony today.  The weather was a 
chilly rain and I was unaware that he had gone out.  He has fallen 
sick and now has a very dangerous high fever.  I’m told that they 
believe he has contracted typhoid fever which may have been caused 
by the water in the White House which is pumped in from the Potomac 
River.

Days have dragged by and Willie is becoming weaker and weaker, and 
his features more shadowlike.  I fear that he will not be of this 
world much longer.  Mrs. Lincoln is becoming more distraught.  After 
losing Eddie several years earlier, it almost destroyed her and I’m 
concerned over her well being now.  

My heart is broken -- today is February 20, 1862 and I have lost my 
boy Willie.  I was called to his room and I found him in his bed, I 
lifted the cover and saw his gentle meek face.  "My boy is gone, he’s 
actually gone."  It’s hard for me to control my grief and I feel 
devastated.  My tears flow easily and my heart aches.  For Mrs. 
Lincoln’s sake, I must be strong, but how can I?
 
                         --------

It seems like its been forever but some time has passed since that 
terrible day in February but I feel that I’m finally coming to terms 
with Willie’s death and "I believe it is the alienable right of man 
to be happy or miserable and I for one make the choice of the former".  
It is time to live again....