Submitted without comment are the following two expressions of comfort and consolation, to survivors upon the deaths of loved ones.  Both are to parents newly bereft of children in wartime; both were delivered by high American government officials in the executive branch; and both are exemplary of the best of their respective authors' inner lights. The first: "Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864. Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the...(Read Full Post)