“Oh, Secretary Stanton, how shall I ever undertake such a stewardship at my time of life?” He looked sternly at me, and replied: 

“Mrs. Swisshelm, don’t be a fool! take care of yourself!  It is time you would begin.  The property is yours now.  You are morally responsible for it, and can surely make some better use of it than giving it away to rich men around Pittsburg.  Go at once and attend to your interests.”

This was our last interview.  I instituted the suit he advised, and he would have plead my cause before the Supreme Court, but when it came up he was holding possession of the War Department to defeat President Johnson’s policy of making the South triumphant.  However, the decree of the court was in my favor, and through it I have been able to rescue the old log block house from the tooth of decay, and to sit in it and recall those passages of life with which it is so intimately connected.

THE END.