EXCERPT FROM SCENE 10:

JOHN HAY
Mr. Stanton thinks you pardon too
many. Hes generally apoplectic on
the subject -

LINCOLN
He oughtnt to have done that,
crippled his horse, that was cruel,
but you dont just hang a sixteen
year old boy for that -

JOHN HAY
Ask the horse what he thinks.

LINCOLN
- for cruelty. Thered be no
sixteen year old boys left.
(a beat, then:)
Grant wants me to bring the secesh
delegates to Washington.

JOHN HAY
So... There are secesh delegates?

LINCOLN
(scribbling a note,
signing the petition:)
He was afraid, thats all it was.
I dont care to hang a boy for
being frightened, either. What good
would it do him?

He signs the pardon. Then he gives Hays leg a few hard thwacks and a
squeeze. It hurts a little. Hay winces.

LINCOLN (CONTD)
Wars nearly done. Aint that so?
What use one more corpse? Any more
corpses?
(Kushner 73-74)