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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Lincoln's Yarns and Stories by Colonel
+Alexander K. McClure
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+Lincoln's Yarns and Stories
+
+by Colonel Alexander K. McClure
+
+February, 2001  [Etext #2517]
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Lincoln's Yarns and Stories by Colonel
+Alexander K. McClure
+******This file should be named lioys10.txt or lioys10.zip******
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+
+
+LINCOLN'S YARNS AND STORIES
+
+A Complete Collection of the Funny and
+Witty Anecdotes that made Abraham Lincoln
+Famous as America's Greatest Story Teller
+
+With Introduction and Anecdotes
+
+By Colonel Alexander K. McClure
+
+Profusely Illustrated
+
+THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY
+
+CHICAGO & PHILADELPHIA
+
+
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the Great Story Telling President, whose
+Emancipation Proclamation freed more than four million slaves,
+was a keen politician, profound statesman, shrewd diplomatist, a
+thorough judge of men and possessed of an intuitive knowledge of
+affairs. He was the first Chief Executive to die at the hands of
+an assassin. Without school education he rose to power by sheer
+merit and will-power. Born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1809, his
+surroundings being squalid, his chances for advancement were
+apparently hopeless. President Lincoln died April 15th, 1865,
+having been shot by J. Wilkes Booth the night before.
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+Dean Swift said that the man who makes two blades of grass grow
+where one grew before serves well of his kind. Considering how
+much grass there is in the world and comparatively how little
+fun, we think that a still more deserving person is the man who
+makes many laughs grow where none grew before.
+
+Sometimes it happens that the biggest crop of laugh is produced
+by a man who ranks among the greatest and wisest. Such a man was
+Abraham Lincoln whose wholesome fun mixed with true philosophy
+made thousands laugh and think at the same time. He was a firm
+believer in the saying, "Laugh and the world laughs with you."
+
+Whenever Abraham Lincoln wanted to make a strong point he usually
+began by saying, "Now, that reminds me of a story." And when he
+had told a story every one saw the point and was put into a good
+humor.
+
+The ancients had Aesop and his fables. The moderns had Abraham
+Lincoln and his stories.
+
+Aesop's Fables have been printed in book form in almost every
+language and millions have read them with pleasure and profit.
+Lincoln's stories were scattered in the recollections of
+thousands of people in various parts of the country. The
+historians who wrote histories of Lincoln's life remembered only
+a few of them, but the most of Lincoln's stories and the best of
+them remained unwritten. More than five years ago the author of
+this book conceived the idea of collecting all the yarns and
+stories, the droll sayings, and witty and humorous anecdotes of
+Abraham Lincoln into one large book, and this volume is the
+result of that idea.
+
+Before Lincoln was ever heard of as a lawyer or politician, he
+was famous as a story teller. As a politician, he always had a
+story to fit the other side; as a lawyer, he won many cases by
+telling the jury a story which showed them the justice of his
+side better than any argument could have done.
+
+While nearly all of Lincoln's stories have a humorous side, they
+also contain a moral, which every good story should have.
+
+They contain lessons that could be taught so well in no other
+way. Every one of them is a sermon. Lincoln, like the Man of
+Galilee, spoke to the people in parables.
+
+Nothing that can be written about Lincoln can show his character
+in such a true light as the yarns and stories he was so fond of
+telling, and at which he would laugh as heartily as anyone.
+
+For a man whose life was so full of great responsibilities,
+Lincoln had many hours of laughter when the humorous, fun-loving
+side of his great nature asserted itself.
+
+Every person to keep healthy ought to have one good hearty laugh
+every day. Lincoln did, and the author hopes that the stories at
+which he laughed will continue to furnish laughter to all who
+appreciate good humor, with a moral point and spiced with that
+true philosophy bred in those who live close to nature and to the
+people around them.
+
+In producing this new Lincoln book, the publishers have followed
+an entirely new and novel method of illustrating it. The old
+shop-worn pictures that are to be seen in every "History of
+Lincoln," and in every other book written about him, such as "A
+Flatboat on the Sangamon River," "State Capitol at Springfield,"
+"Old LogCabin," etc., have all been left out and in place of them
+the best special artists that could be employed have supplied
+original drawings illustrating the "point" of Lincoln's stories.
+
+These illustrations are not copies of other pictures, but are
+original drawings made from the author's original text expressly
+for this book.
+
+In these high-class outline pictures the artists have caught the
+true spirit of Lincoln's humor, and while showing the laughable
+side of many incidents in his career, they are true to life in
+the scenes and characters they portray.
+
+In addition to these new and original pictures, the book contains
+many rare and valuable photograph portraits, together with
+biographies, of the famous men of Lincoln's day, whose lives
+formed a part of his own life history.
+
+No Lincoln book heretofore published has ever been so profusely,
+so artistically and expensively illustrated.
+
+The parables, yarns, stories, anecdotes and sayings of the
+"Immortal Abe" deserve a place beside Aesop's Fables, Bunyan's
+Pilgrim's Progress and all other books that have added to the
+happiness and wisdom of mankind.
+
+Lincoln's stories are like Lincoln himself. The more we know of
+them the better we like them.
+
+BY COLONEL ALEXANDER K. McCLURE.
+
+
+
+While Lincoln would have been great among the greatest of the
+land as a statesman and politician if like Washington, Jefferson
+and Jackson, he had never told a humorous story, his sense of
+humor was the most fascinating feature of his personal qualities.
+
+He was the most exquisite humorist I have ever known in my life.
+His humor was always spontaneous, and that gave it a zest and
+elegance that the professional humorist never attains.
+
+As a rule, the men who have become conspicuous in the country as
+humorists have excelled in nothing else. S. S. Cox, Proctor
+Knott, John P. Hale and others were humorists in Congress. When
+they arose to speak if they failed to be humorous they utterly
+failed, and they rarely strove to be anything but humorous. Such
+men often fail, for the professional humorist, however gifted,
+cannot always be at his best, and when not at his best he is
+grievously disappointing.
+
+I remember Corwin, of Ohio, who was a great statesman as well as
+a great humorist, but whose humor predominated in his public
+speeches in Senate and House, warning a number of the younger
+Senators and Representatives on a social occasion when he had
+returned to Congress in his old age, against seeking to acquire
+the reputation of humorists. He said it was the mistake of his
+life. He loved it as did his hearers, but the temptation to be
+humorous was always uppermost, and while his speech on the
+Mexican War was the greatest ever delivered in the Senate,
+excepting Webster's reply to Hayne, he regretted that he was more
+known as a humorist than as a statesman.
+
+His first great achievement in the House was delivered in 1840 in
+reply to General Crary, of Michigan, who had attacked General
+Harrison's military career. Corwin's reply in defense of Harrison
+is universally accepted as the most brilliant combination of
+humor and invective ever delivered in that body. The venerable
+John Quincy Adams a day or two after Corwin's speech, referred to
+Crary as "the late General Crary," and the justice of the remark
+from the "Old Man Eloquent" was accepted by all. Mr. Lincoln
+differed from the celebrated humorists of the country in the
+important fact that his humor was unstudied. He was not in any
+sense a professional humorist, but I have never in all my
+intercourse with public men, known one who was so apt in humorous
+illustration us Mr. Lincoln, and I have known him many times to
+silence controversy by a humorous story with pointed application
+to the issue.
+
+His face was the saddest in repose that I have ever seen among
+accomplished and intellectual men, and his sympathies for the
+people, for the untold thousands who were suffering bereavement
+from the war, often made him speak with his heart upon his
+sleeve, about the sorrows which shadowed the homes of the land
+and for which his heart was freely bleeding.
+
+I have many times seen him discussing in the most serious and
+heartfelt manner the sorrows and bereavements of the country, and
+when it would seem as though the tension was so strained that the
+brittle cord of life must break, his face would suddenly brighten
+like the sun escaping from behind the cloud to throw its
+effulgence upon the earth, and he would tell an appropriate
+story, and much as his stories were enjoyed by his hearers none
+enjoyed them more than Mr. Lincoln himself.
+
+I have often known him within the space of a few minutes to be
+transformed from the saddest face I have ever looked upon to one
+of the brightest and most mirthful. It was well known that he had
+his great fountain of humor as a safety valve; as an escape and
+entire relief from the fearful exactions his endless duties put
+upon him. In the gravest consultations of the cabinet where he
+was usually a listener rather than a speaker, he would often end
+dispute by telling a story and none misunderstood it; and often
+when he was pressed to give expression on particular subjects,
+and his always abundant caution was baffled, he many times ended
+the interview by a story that needed no elaboration.
+
+I recall an interview with Mr. Lincoln at the White House in the
+spring of 1865, just before Lee retreated from Petersburg. It was
+well understood that the military power of the Confederacy was
+broken, and that the question of reconstruction would soon be
+upon us.
+
+Colonel Forney and I had called upon the President simply to pay
+our respects, and while pleasantly chatting with him General
+Benjamin F. Butler entered. Forney was a great enthusiast, and
+had intense hatred of the Southern leaders who had hindered his
+advancement when Buchanan was elected President, and he was
+bubbling over with resentment against them. He introduced the
+subject to the President of the treatment to be awarded to the
+leaders of the rebellion when its powers should be confessedly
+broken, and he was earnest in demanding that Davis and other
+conspicuous leaders of the Confederacy should be tried, condemned
+and executed as traitors.
+
+General Butler joined Colonel Forney in demanding that treason
+must be made odious by the execution of those who had wantonly
+plunged the country into civil war. Lincoln heard them patiently,
+as he usually heard all, and none could tell, however carefully
+they scanned his countenance what impression the appeal made upon
+him.
+
+I said to General Butler that, as a lawyer pre-eminent in his
+profession, he must know that the leaders of a government that
+had beleaguered our capital for four years, and was openly
+recognized as a belligerent power not only by our government but
+by all the leading governments of the world, could not be held to
+answer to the law for the crime of treason.
+
+Butler was vehement in declaring that the rebellious leaders must
+be tried and executed. Lincoln listened to the discussion for
+half an hour or more and finally ended it by telling the story of
+a common drunkard out in Illinois who had been induced by his
+friends time and again to join the temperance society, but had
+always broken away. He was finally gathered up again and given
+notice that if he violated his pledge once more they would
+abandon him as an utterly hopeless vagrant. He made an earnest
+struggle to maintain his promise, and finally he called for
+lemonade and said to the man who was preparing it: "Couldn't you
+put just a drop of the cratur in unbeknownst to me?"
+
+After telling the story Lincoln simply added: "If these men could
+get away from the country unbeknownst to us, it might save a
+world of trouble." All understood precisely what Lincoln meant,
+although he had given expression in the most cautious manner
+possible and the controversy was ended.
+
+Lincoln differed from professional humorists in the fact that he
+never knew when he was going to be humorous. It bubbled up on the
+most unexpected occasions, and often unsettled the most carefully
+studied arguments. I have many times been with him when he gave
+no sign of humor, and those who saw him under such conditions
+would naturally suppose that he was incapable of a humorous
+expression. At other times he would effervesce with humor and
+always of the most exquisite and impressive nature. His humor was
+never strained; his stories never stale, and even if old, the
+application he made of them gave them the freshness of
+originality.
+
+I recall sitting beside him in the White House one day when a
+message was brought to him telling of the capture of several
+brigadier-generals and a number of horses somewhere out in
+Virginia. He read the dispatch and then in an apparently
+soliloquizing mood, said: "Sorry for the horses; I can make
+brigadier-generals."
+
+There are many who believe that Mr. Lincoln loved to tell obscene
+or profane stories, but they do great injustice to one of the
+purest and best men I have ever known. His humor must be judged
+by the environment that aided in its creation.
+
+As a prominent lawyer who traveled the circuit in Illinois, he
+was much in the company of his fellow lawyers, who spent their
+evenings in the rude taverns of what was then almost frontier
+life. The Western people thus thrown together with but limited
+sources of culture and enjoyment, logically cultivated the story
+teller, and Lincoln proved to be the most accomplished in that
+line of all the members of the Illinois bar. They had no private
+rooms for study, and the evenings were always spent in the common
+barroom of the tavern, where Western wit, often vulgar or
+profane, was freely indulged in, and the best of them at times
+told stories which were somewhat "broad;" but even while thus
+indulging in humor that would grate harshly upon severely refined
+hearers, they despised the vulgarian; none despised vulgarity
+more than Lincoln.
+
+I have heard him tell at one time or another almost or quite all
+of the stories he told during his Presidential term, and there
+were very few of them which might not have been repeated in a
+parlor and none descended to obscene, vulgar or profane
+expressions. I have never known a man of purer instincts than
+Abraham Lincoln, and his appreciation of all that was beautiful
+and good was of the highest order.
+
+It was fortunate for Mr. Lincoln that he frequently sought relief
+from the fearfully oppressive duties which bore so heavily upon
+him. He had immediately about him a circle of men with whom he
+could be "at home" in the White House any evening as he was with
+his old time friends on the Illinois circuit.
+
+David Davis was one upon whom he most relied as an adviser, and
+Leonard Swett was probably one of his closest friends, while Ward
+Lamon, whom he made Marshal of the District of Columbia to have
+him by his side, was one with whom he felt entirely "at home."
+Davis was of a more sober order but loved Lincoln's humor,
+although utterly incapable of a humorous expression himself.
+Swett was ready with Lincoln to give and take in storyland, as
+was Lamon, and either of them, and sometimes all of them, often
+dropped in upon Lincoln and gave him an hour's diversion from his
+exacting cares. They knew that he needed it and they sought him
+for the purpose of diverting him from what they feared was an
+excessive strain.
+
+His devotion to Lamon was beautiful. I well remember at
+Harrisburg on the night of February 22, 1861, when at a dinner
+given by Governor Curtin to Mr. Lincoln, then on his way to
+Washington, we decided, against the protest of Lincoln, that he
+must change his route to Washington and make the memorable
+midnight journey to the capital. It was thought to be best that
+but one man should accompany him, and he was asked to choose.
+There were present of his suite Colonel Sumner, afterwards one of
+the heroic generals of the war, Norman B. Judd, who was chairman
+of the Republican State Committee of Illinois, Colonel Lamon and
+others, and he promptly chose Colonel Lamon, who alone
+accompanied him on his journey from Harrisburg to Philadelphia
+and thence to Washington.
+
+Before leaving the room Governor Curtin asked Colonel Lamon
+whether he was armed, and he answered by exhibiting a brace of
+fine pistols, a huge bowie knife, a black jack, and a pair of
+brass knuckles. Curtin answered: "You'll do," and they were
+started on their journey after all the telegraph wires had been
+cut. We awaited through what seemed almost an endless night,
+until the east was purpled with the coming of another day, when
+Colonel Scott, who had managed the whole scheme, reunited the
+wires and soon received from Colonel Lamon this dispatch: "Plums
+delivered nuts safely," which gave us the intensely gratifying
+information that Lincoln had arrived in Washington.
+
+Of all the Presidents of the United States, and indeed of all the
+great statesmen who have made their indelible impress upon the
+policy of the Republic, Abraham Lincoln stands out single and
+alone in his individual qualities. He had little experience in
+statesmanship when he was called to the Presidency. He had only a
+few years of service in the State Legislature of Illinois, and a
+single term in Congress ending twelve years before he became
+President, but he had to grapple with the gravest problems ever
+presented to the statesmanship of the nation for solution, and he
+met each and all of them in turn with the most consistent
+mastery, and settled them so successfully that all have stood
+unquestioned until the present time, and are certain to endure
+while the Republic lives.
+
+In this he surprised not only his own cabinet and the leaders of
+his party who had little confidence in him when he first became
+President, but equally surprised the country and the world.
+
+He was patient, tireless and usually silent when great conflicts
+raged about him to solve the appalling problems which were
+presented at various stages of the war for determination, and
+when he reached his conclusion he was inexorable. The wrangles of
+faction and the jostling of ambition were compelled to bow when
+Lincoln had determined upon his line of duty.
+
+He was much more than a statesman; he was one of the most
+sagacious politicians I have ever known, although he was entirely
+unschooled in the machinery by which political results are
+achieved. His judgment of men was next to unerring, and when
+results were to be attained he knew the men who should be
+assigned to the task, and he rarely made a mistake.
+
+I remember one occasion when he summoned Colonel Forney and
+myself to confer on some political problem, he opened the
+conversation by saying: "You know that I never was much of a
+conniver; I don't know the methods of political management, and I
+can only trust to the wisdom of leaders to accomplish what is
+needed."
+
+Lincoln's public acts are familiar to every schoolboy of the
+nation, but his personal attributes, which are so strangely
+distinguished from the attributes of other great men, are now the
+most interesting study of young and old throughout our land, and
+I can conceive of no more acceptable presentation to the public
+than a compilation of anecdotes and incidents pertaining to the
+life of the greatest of all our Presidents.
+
+<A.K. McClure>
+
+
+
+LINCOLN'S NAME AROUSES AN AUDIENCE,
+BY DR. NEWMAN HALL, of London.
+
+When I have had to address a fagged and listless audience, I have
+found that nothing was so certain to arouse them as to introduce
+the name of Abraham Lincoln.
+
+REVERE WASHINGTON AND LOVE LINCOLN,
+REV. DR. THEODORE L. CUYLER.
+
+No other name has such electric power on every true heart, from
+Maine to Mexico, as the name of Lincoln. If Washington is the
+most revered, Lincoln is the best loved man that ever trod this
+continent.
+
+
+GREATEST CHARACTER SINCE CHRIST
+BY JOHN HAY, Former Private Secretary to President Lincoln, and
+Later Secretary of State in President McKinley's Cabinet.
+
+As, in spite of some rudeness, republicanism is the sole hope of
+a sick world, so Lincoln, with all his foibles, is the greatest
+character since Christ.
+
+
+STORIES INFORM THE COMMON PEOPLE,
+BY CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, United States Senator from New York.
+
+Mr. Lincoln said to me once: "They say I tell a great many
+stories; I reckon I do, but I have found in the course of a long
+experience that common people, take them as they run, are more
+easily informed through the medium of a broad illustration than
+in any other way, and as to what the hypercritical few may think,
+I don't care."
+
+HUMOR A PASSPORT TO THE HEART
+BY GEO. S. BOUTWELL, Former Secretary of the United States
+Treasury.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's wit and mirth will give him a passport to the
+thoughts and hearts of millions who would take no interest in the
+sterner and more practical parts of his character.
+
+
+DROLL, ORIGINAL AND APPROPRIATE.
+BY ELIHU B. WASHBURNE, Former United States Minister to France.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's anecdotes were all so droll, so original, so
+appropriate and so illustrative of passing incidents, that one
+never wearied.
+
+
+LINCOLN'S HUMOR A SPARKLING SPRING,
+BY DAVID R. LOCKE (PETROLEUM V. NASBY), Lincoln's Favorite
+Humorist.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's flow of humor was a sparkling spring, gushing out
+of a rock--the flashing water had a somber background which made
+it all the brighter.
+
+
+LIKE AESOP'S FABLES,
+BY HUGH McCULLOCH, Former Secretary of the United States
+Treasury.
+
+Many of Mr. Lincoln's stories were as apt and instructive as the
+best of Aesop's Fables.
+
+
+FULL OF FUN,
+BY GENERAL JAMES B. FRY, Former Adjutant-General United States
+Army.
+
+Mr. Lincoln was a humorist so full of fun that he could not keep
+it all in.
+
+
+INEXHAUSTIBLE FUND OF STORIES,
+BY LAWRENCE WELDON, Judge United States Court of Claims.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's resources as a story-teller were inexhaustible, and
+no condition could arise in a case beyond his capacity to furnish
+an illustration with an appropriate anecdote.
+
+
+CHAMPION STORY-TELLER,
+BY BEN. PERLEY POORE, Former Editor of The Congressional Record.
+
+Mr. Lincoln was recognized as the champion story-teller of the
+Capitol.
+
+
+
+LINCOLN CHRONOLOGY.
+
+1806--Marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, June 12th,
+Washington County, Kentucky.
+1809--Born February 12th, Hardin (now La Rue County), Kentucky.
+1816--Family Removed to Perry County, Indiana.
+1818--Death of Abraham's Mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln.
+1819--Second Marriage Thomas Lincoln; Married Sally Bush
+Johnston, December 2nd, at Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
+1830--Lincoln Family Removed to Illinois, Locating in Macon
+County.
+1831--Abraham Located at New Salem.
+1832--Abraham a Captain in the Black Hawk War.
+1833--Appointed Postmaster at New Salem.
+1834--Abraham as a Surveyor. First Election to the Legislature.
+1835--Love Romance with Anne Rutledge.
+1836--Second Election to the Legislature.
+1837--Licensed to Practice Law.
+1838--Third Election to the Legislature.
+1840--Presidential Elector on Harrison Ticket.
+Fourth Election to the Legislature.
+1842--Married November 4th, to Mary Todd. "Duel" with General
+Shields.
+1843--Birth of Robert Todd Lincoln, August 1st.
+1846--Elected to Congress. Birth of Edward Baker Lincoln, March
+l0th.
+1848--Delegate to the Philadelphia National Convention.
+1850--Birth of William Wallace Lincoln, December 2nd.
+1853--Birth of Thomas Lincoln, April 4th.
+1856--Assists in Formation Republican Party.
+1858--Joint Debater with Stephen A. Douglas. Defeated for the
+United States Senate.
+1860--Nominated and Elected to the Presidency.
+1861--Inaugurated as Prtsident, March 4th. 1863-Issued
+Emancipation Proclamation. 1864-Re-elected to the Presidency.
+1865--Assassinated by J. Wilkes Booth, April 14th. Died April
+15th. Remains Interred at Springfield, Illinois, May 4th.
+
+
+LINCOLN AND McCLURE.
+
+(From Harper's Weekly, April 13, 1901.)
+
+Colonel Alexander K. McClure, the editorial director of the
+Philadelphia Times, which he founded in 1875, began his forceful
+career as a tanner's apprentice in the mountains of Pennsylvania
+threescore years ago. He tanned hides all day, and read exchanges
+nights in the neighboring weekly newspaper office. The learned
+tanner's boy also became the aptest Inner in the county, and the
+editor testified his admiration for young McClure's attainments
+by sending him to edit a new weekly paper which the exigencies of
+politics called into being in an adjoining county.
+
+The lad was over six feet high, had the thews of Ajax and the
+voice of Boanerges, and knew enough about shoe-leather not to be
+afraid of any man that stood in it. He made his paper a success,
+went into politics, and made that a success, studied law with
+William McLellan, and made that a success, and actually went into
+the army--and made that a success, by an interesting accident
+which brought him into close personal relations with Abraham
+Lincoln, whom he had helped to nominate, serving as chairman of
+the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania through the
+campaign.
+
+In 1862 the government needed troops badly, and in each
+Pennsylvania county Republicans and Democrats were appointed to
+assist in the enrollment, under the State laws. McClure, working
+day and night at Harrisburg, saw conscripts coming in at the rate
+of a thousand a day, only to fret in idleness against the army
+red-tape which held them there instead of sending a regiment a
+day to the front, as McClure demanded should be done. The
+military officer continued to dispatch two companies a
+day--leaving the mass of the conscripts to be fed by the
+contractors.
+
+McClure went to Washington and said to the President, "You must
+send a mustering offcer to Harrisburg who will do as I say; I
+can't stay there any longer under existing conditions."
+
+Lincoln sent into another room for Adjutant-General Thomas.
+"General," said he, "what is the highest rank of military officer
+at Harrisburg?" "Captain, sir," said Thomas. "Bring me a
+commission for an Assistant Adjutant-General of the United States
+Army," said Lincoln.
+
+So Adjutant-General McClure was mustered in, and after that a
+regiment a day of boys in blue left Harrisburg for the front.
+Colonel McClure is one of the group of great Celt-American
+editors, which included Medill, McCullagh and McLean.
+
+
+
+"ABE" LINCOLN'S YARNS AND STORIES.
+
+
+LINCOLN ASKED TO BE SHOT.
+
+Lincoln was, naturally enough, much surprised one day, when a man
+of rather forbidding countenance drew a revolver and thrust the
+weapon almost into his face. In such circumstances "Abe" at once
+concluded that any attempt at debate or argument was a waste of
+time and words.
+
+"What seems to be the matter?" inquired Lincoln with all the
+calmness and selfpossession he could muster.
+
+"Well," replied the stranger, who did not appear at all excited,
+"some years ago I swore an oath that if I ever came across an
+uglier man than myself I'd shoot him on the spot."
+
+A feeling of relief evidently took possession of Lincoln at this
+rejoinder, as the expression upon his countenance lost all
+suggestion of anxiety.
+
+"Shoot me," he said to the stranger; "for if I am an uglier man
+than you I don't want to live."
+
+
+TIME LOST DIDN'T COUNT.
+
+Thurlow Weed, the veteran journalist and politician, once related
+how, when he was opposing the claims of Montgomery Blair, who
+aspired to a Cabinet appointment, that Mr. Lincoln inquired of
+Mr. Weed whom he would recommend, "Henry Winter Davis," was the
+response.
+
+"David Davis, I see, has been posting you up on this question,"
+retorted Lincoln. "He has Davis on the brain. I think Maryland
+must be a good State to move from."
+
+The President then told a story of a witness in court in a
+neighboring county, who, on being asked his age, replied,
+"Sixty." Being satisfied he was much older the question was
+repeated, and on receiving the same answer the court admonished
+the witness, saying, "The court knows you to be much older than
+sixty."
+
+"Oh, I understand now," was the rejoinder, "you're thinking of
+those ten years I spent on the eastern share of Maryland; that
+was so much time lost, and didn't count."
+
+Blair was made Postmaster-General.
+
+
+NO VICES, NO VIRTUES.
+
+Lincoln always took great pleasure in relating this yarn:
+
+Riding at one time in a stage with an old Kentuckian who was
+returning from Missouri, Lincoln excited the old gentleman's
+surprise by refusing to accept either of tobacco or French
+brandy.
+
+When they separated that afternoon--the Kentuckian to take
+another stage bound for Louisville--he shook hands warmly with
+Lincoln, and said, good-humoredly:
+
+"See here, stranger, you're a clever but strange companion. I may
+never see you again, and I don't want to offend you, but I want
+to say this: My experience has taught me that a man who has no
+vices has d--d few virtues. Good-day."
+
+
+LINCOLN'S DUES.
+
+Miss Todd (afterwards Mrs. Lincoln) had a keen sense of the
+ridiculous, and wrote several articles in the Springfield (Ill.)
+"Journal" reflecting severefy upon General James Shields (who won
+fame in the Mexican and Civil Wars, and was United States Senator
+from three states), then Auditor of State.
+
+Lincoln assumed the authorship, and was challenged by Shields to
+meet him on the "field of honor." Meanwhile Miss Todd increased
+Shields' ire by writing another letter to the paper, in which she
+said: "I hear the way of these fire-eaters is to give the
+challenged party the choice of weapons, which being the case,
+I'll tell you in confidence that I never fight with anything but
+broom-sticks, or hot water, or a shovelful of coals, the former
+of which, being somewhat like a shillalah, may not be
+objectionable to him."
+
+Lincoln accepted the challenge, and selected broadswords as the
+weapons. Judge Herndon (Lincoln's law partner) gives the closing
+of this affair as follows
+
+"The laws of Illinois prohibited dueling, and Lincoln demanded
+that the meeting should be outside the state. Shields undoubtedly
+knew that Lincoln was opposed to fighting a duel--that his moral
+sense would revolt at the thought, and that he would not be
+likely to break the law by fighting in the state. Possibly he
+thought Lincoln would make a humble apology. Shields was brave,
+but foolish, and would not listen to overtures for explanation.
+It was arranged that the meeting should be in Missouri, opposite
+Alton. "They proceeded to the place selected, but friends
+interfered, and there was no duel. There is little doubt that the
+man who had swung a beetle and driven iron wedges into gnarled
+hickory logs could have cleft the skull of his antagonist, but he
+had no such intention. He repeatedly said to the friends of
+Shields that in writing the first article he had no thought of
+anything personal. The Auditor's vanity had been sorely wounded
+by the second letter, in regard to which Lincoln could not make
+any explanation except that he had had no hand in writing it. The
+affair set all Springfield to laughing at Shields."
+
+
+"DONE WITH THE BIBLE."
+
+Lincoln never told a better story than this:
+
+A country meeting-house, that was used once a month, was quite a
+distance from any other house.
+
+The preacher, an old-line Baptist, was dressed in coarse linen
+pantaloons, and shirt of the same material. The pants,
+manufactured after the old fashion, with baggy legs, and a flap
+in the front, were made to attach to his frame without the aid of
+suspenders.
+
+A single button held his shirt in position, and that was at the
+collar. He rose up in the pulpit, and with a loud voice announced
+his text thus: "I am the Christ whom I shall represent to-day."
+
+About this time a little blue lizard ran up his roomy pantaloons.
+The old preacher, not wishing to interrupt the steady flow of his
+sermon, slapped away on his leg, expecting to arrest the
+intruder, but his efforts were unavailing, and the little fellow
+kept on ascending higher and higher.
+
+Continuing the sermon, the preacher loosened the central button
+which graced the waistband of his pantaloons, and with a kick off
+came that easyfitting garment.
+
+But, meanwhile, Mr. Lizard had passed the equatorial line of the
+waistband, and was calmly exploring that part of the preacher's
+anatomy which lay underneath the back of his shirt.
+
+Things were now growing interesting, but the sermon was still
+grinding on. The next movement on the preacher's part was for the
+collar button, and with one sweep of his arm off came the tow
+linen shirt.
+
+The congregation sat for an instant as if dazed; at length one
+old lady in the rear part of the room rose up, and, glancing at
+the excited object in the pulpit, shouted at the top of her
+voice: "If you represent Christ, then I'm done with the Bible."
+
+
+HIS KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATURE.
+
+Once, when Lincoln was pleading a case, the opposing lawyer had
+all the advantage of the law; the weather was warm, and his
+opponent, as was admissible in frontier courts, pulled off his
+coat and vest as he grew warm in the argument.
+
+At that time, shirts with buttons behind were unusual. Lincoln
+took in the situation at once. Knowing the prejudices of the
+primitive people against pretension of all sorts, or any
+affectation of superior social rank, arising, he said: "Gentlemen
+of the jury, having justice on my side, I don't think you will be
+at all influenced by the gentleman's pretended knowledge of the
+law, when you see he does not even know which side of his shirt
+should be in front." There was a general laugh, and Lincoln's
+case was won.
+
+
+A MISCHIEVOUS OX.
+
+President Lincoln once told the following story of Colonel W.,
+who had been elected to the Legislature, and had also been judge
+of the County Court. His elevation, however, had made him
+somewhat pompous, and he became very fond of using big words. On
+his farm he had a very large and mischievous ox, called "Big
+Brindle," which very frequently broke down his neighbors' fences,
+and committed other depredations, much to the Colonel's
+annoyance.
+
+One morning after breakfast, in the presence of Lincoln, who had
+stayed with him over night, and who was on his way to town, he
+called his overseer and said to him:
+
+"Mr. Allen, I desire you to impound 'Big Brindle,' in order that
+I may hear no animadversions on his eternal depredations,"
+
+Allen bowed and walked off, sorely puzzled to know what the
+Colonel wanted him to do. After Colonel W. left for town, he went
+to his wife and asked her what the Colonel meant by telling him
+to impound the ox.
+
+"Why, he meant to tell you to put him in a pen," said she.
+
+Allen left to perform the feat, for it was no inconsiderable one,
+as the animal was wild and vicious, but, after a great deal of
+trouble and vexation, succeeded.
+
+"Well," said he, wiping the perspiration from his brow and
+soliloquizing, "this is impounding, is it? Now, I am dead sure
+that the Colonel will ask me if I impounded 'Big Brindle,' and
+I'll bet I puzzle him as he did me."
+
+The next day the Colonel gave a dinner party, and as he was not
+aristrocratic, Allen, the overseer, sat down with the company.
+After the second or third glass was discussed, the Colonel turned
+to the overseer and said
+
+"Eh, Mr. Allen, did you impound 'Big Brindle,' sir?"
+
+Allen straightened himself, and looking around at the company,
+replied:
+
+"Yes, I did, sir; but 'Old Brindle' transcended the impannel of
+the impound, and scatterlophisticated all over the equanimity of
+the forest."
+
+The company burst into an immoderate fit of laughter, while the
+Colonel's face reddened with discomfiture.
+
+"What do you mean by that, sir?" demanded the Colonel.
+
+"Why, I mean, Colonel," replied Allen, "that 'Old Brindle,' being
+prognosticated with an idea of the cholera, ripped and teared,
+snorted and pawed dirt, jumped the fence, tuck to the woods, and
+would not be impounded nohow."
+
+This was too much; the company roared again, the Colonel being
+forced to join in the laughter, and in the midst of the jollity
+Allen left the table, saying to himself as he went, "I reckon the
+Colonel won't ask me to impound any more oxen."
+
+
+THE PRESIDENTIAL "CHIN-FLY."
+
+Some of Mr. Lincoln's intimate friends once called his attention
+to a certain member of his Cabinet who was quietly working to
+secure a nomination for the Presidency, although knowing that Mr.
+Lincoln was to be a candidate for re-election. His friends
+insisted that the Cabinet officer ought to be made to give up his
+Presidential aspirations or be removed from office. The situation
+reminded Mr. Lincoln of a story:
+
+"My brother and I," he said, "were once plowing corn, I driving
+the horse and he holding the plow. The horse was lazy, but on one
+occasion he rushed across the field so that I, with my long legs,
+could scarcely keep pace with him. On reaching the end of the
+furrow, I found an enormous chin-fly fastened upon him, and
+knocked him off. My brother asked me what I did that for. I told
+him I didn't want the old horse bitten in that way. 'Why,' said
+my brother, 'that's all that made him go.' Now," said Mr.
+Lincoln, "if Mr.-- has a Presidential chin-fly biting him, I'm
+not going to knock him off, if it will only make his department
+go."
+
+
+'SQUIRE BAGLY'S PRECEDENT.
+
+Mr. T. W. S. Kidd, of Springfield, says that he once heard a
+lawyer opposed to Lincoln trying to convince a jury that
+precedent was superior to law, and that custom made things legal
+in all cases. When Lincoln arose to answer him he told the jury
+he would argue his case in the same way.
+
+"Old 'Squire Bagly, from Menard, came into my office and said,
+'Lincoln, I want your advice as a lawyer. Has a man what's been
+elected justice of the peace a right to issue a marriage
+license?'
+I told him he had not; when the old 'squire threw himself back in
+his chair very indignantly, and said, 'Lincoln, I thought you was
+a lawyer. Now Bob Thomas and me had a bet on this thing, and we
+agreed to let you decide; but if this is your opinion I don't
+want it, for I know a thunderin' sight better, for I have been
+'squire now for eight years and have done it all the time.'"
+
+
+HE'D NEED HIS GUN.
+
+When the President, early in the War, was anxious about the
+defenses of Washington, he told a story illustrating his feelings
+in the case. General Scott, then Commander-in-Chief of the United
+States Army, had but 1,500 men, two guns and an old sloop of war,
+the latter anchored in the Potomac, with which to protect the
+National Capital, and the President was uneasy.
+
+To one of his queries as to the safety of Washington, General
+Scott had replied, "It has been ordained, Mr. President, that the
+city shall not be captured by the Confederates."
+
+"But we ought to have more men and guns here," was the Chief
+Executive's answer. "The Confederates are not such fools as to
+let a good chance to capture Washington go by, and even if it has
+been ordained that the city is safe, I'd feel easier if it were
+better protected. All this reminds me of the old trapper out in
+the West who had been assured by some 'city folks' who had hired
+him as a guide that all matters regarding life and death were
+prearranged.
+
+"'It is ordained,' said one of the party to the old trapper,
+'that you are to die at a certain time, and no one can kill you
+before that time. If you met a thousand Indians, and your death
+had not been ordained for that day, you would certainly escape.'
+
+"'I don't exactly understand this "ordained" business,' was the
+trapper's reply. 'I don't care to run no risks. I always have my
+gun with me, so that if I come across some reds I can feel sure
+that I won't cross the Jordan 'thout taking some of 'em with me.
+Now, for instance, if I met an Indian in the woods; he drew a
+bead on me--sayin', too, that he wasn't more'n ten feet away--an'
+I didn't have nothing to protect myself; say it was as bad as
+that, the redskin bein' dead ready to kill me; now, even if it
+had been ordained that the Indian (sayin' he was a good shot),
+was to die that very minute, an' I wasn't, what would I do 'thout
+my gun?'
+
+"There you are," the President remarked; "even if it has been
+ordained that the city of Washington will never be taken by the
+Southerners, what would we do in case they made an attack upon
+the place, without men and heavy guns?"
+
+
+KEPT UP THE ARGUMENT.
+
+Judge T. Lyle Dickey of Illinois related that when the excitement
+over the Kansas Nebraska bill first broke out, he was with
+Lincoln
+and several friends attending court. One evening several persons,
+including himself and Lincoln, were discussing the slavery
+question. Judge Dickey contended that slavery was an institution
+which the Constitution recognized, and which could not be
+disturbed. Lincoln argued that ultimately slavery must become
+extinct. "After awhile," said Judge Dickey, "we went upstairs to
+bed. There were two beds in our room, and I remember that Lincoln
+sat up in his night shirt on the edge of the bed arguing the
+point with me. At last we went to sleep. Early in the morning I
+woke up and there was Lincoln half sitting up in bed. 'Dickey,'
+said he, 'I tell you this nation cannot exist half slave and half
+free.' 'Oh, Lincoln,' said I, 'go to sleep."'
+
+
+EQUINE INGRATITUDE.
+
+President Lincoln, while eager that the United States troops
+should be supplied with the most modern and serviceable weapons,
+often took occasion to put his foot down upon the mania for
+experimenting with which some of his generals were afflicted.
+While engaged in these experiments much valuable time was wasted,
+the enemy was left to do as he thought best, no battles were
+fought, and opportunities for winning victories allowed to pass.
+
+The President was an exceedingly practical man, and when an
+invention, idea or discovery was submitted to him, his first step
+was to ascertain how any or all of them could be applied in a way
+to be of benefit to the army. As to experimenting with
+"contrivances" which, to his mind, could never be put to
+practical use, he had little patience.
+
+"Some of these generals," said he, "experiment so long and so
+much with newfangled, fancy notions that when they are finally
+brought to a head they are useless. Either the time to use them
+has gone by, or the machine, when put in operation, kills more
+than it cures.
+
+"One of these generals, who has a scheme for 'condensing'
+rations, is willing to swear his life away that his idea, when
+carried to perfection, will reduce the cost of feeding the Union
+troops to almost nothing, while the soldiers themselves will get
+so fat that they'll 'bust out' of their uniforms. Of course,
+uniforms cost nothing, and real fat men are more active and
+vigorous than lean, skinny ones, but that is getting away from my
+story.
+
+"There was once an Irishman--a cabman--who had a notion that he
+could induce his horse to live entirely on shavings. The latter
+he could get for nothing, while corn and oats were pretty
+high-priced. So he daily lessened the amount of food to the
+horse, substituting shavings for the corn and oats abstracted, so
+that the horse wouldn't know his rations were being cut down.
+
+"However, just as he had achieved success in his experiment, and
+the horse had been taught to live without other food than
+shavings, the ungrateful animal 'up and died,' and he had to buy
+another.
+
+"So far as this general referred to is concerned, I'm afraid the
+soldiers will all be dead at the time when his experiment is
+demonstrated as thoroughly successful."
+
+
+'TWAS "MOVING DAY."
+
+Speed, who was a prosperous young merchant of Springfield,
+reports that Lincoln's personal effects consisted of a pair of
+saddle-bags, containing two or three lawbooks, and a few pieces
+of clothing. Riding on a borrowed horse, he thus made his
+appearance in Springfield. When he discovered that a single
+bedstead would cost seventeen dollars he said, "It is probably
+cheap enough, but I have not enough money to pay for it." When
+Speed offered to trust him, he said: "If I fail here as a lawyer,
+I will probably never pay you at all." Then Speed offered to
+share large double bed with him.
+
+"Where is your room?" Lincoln asked.
+
+"Upstairs," said Speed, pointing from the store leading to his
+room.
+
+Without saying a word, he took his saddle-bags on his arm, went
+upstairs, set them down on the floor, came down again, and with a
+face beaming with pleasure and smiles, exclaimed: "Well, Speed,
+I'm moved."
+
+
+"ABE'S" HAIR NEEDED COMBING.
+
+"By the way," remarked President Lincoln one day to Colonel
+Cannon, a close personal friend, "I can tell you a good story
+about my hair. When I was nominated at Chicago, an enterprising
+fellow thought that a great many people would like to see how
+'Abe' Lincoln looked, and, as I had not long before sat for a
+photograph, the fellow, having seen it, rushed over and bought
+the negative.
+
+"He at once got no end of wood-cuts, and so active was their
+circulation they were soon selling in all parts of the country.
+
+"Soon after they reached Springfield, I heard a boy crying them
+for sale on the streets. 'Here's your likeness of "Abe" Lincoln!'
+he shouted. 'Buy one; price only two shillings! Will look a great
+deal better when he gets his hair combed!"'
+
+
+WOULD "TAKE TO THE WOODS."
+
+Secretary of State Seward was bothered considerably regarding the
+complication into which Spain had involved the United States
+government in connection with San Domingo, and related his
+troubles to the President. Negotiations were not proceeding
+satisfactorily, and things were mixed generally. We wished to
+conciliate Spain, while the negroes had appealed against Spanish
+oppression.
+
+The President did not, to all appearances, look at the matter
+seriously, but, instead of treating the situation as a grave one,
+remarked that Seward's dilemma reminded him of an interview
+between two negroes in Tennessee.
+
+One was a preacher, who, with the crude and strange notions of
+his ignorant race, was endeavoring to admonish and enlighten his
+brother African of the importance of religion and the danger of
+the future.
+
+"Dar are," said Josh, the preacher, "two roads befo' you, Joe; be
+ca'ful which ob dese you take. Narrow am de way dat leads
+straight to destruction; but broad am de way dat leads right to
+damnation."
+
+Joe opened his eyes with affright, and under the spell of the
+awful danger before him, exclaimed, "Josh, take which road you
+please; I shall go troo de woods."
+
+"I am not willing," concluded the President, "to assume any new
+troubles or responsibilities at this time, and shall therefore
+avoid going to the one place with Spain, or with the negro to the
+other, but shall 'take to the woods.' We will maintain an honest
+and strict neutrality."
+
+
+LINCOLN CARRIED HER TRUNK.
+
+"My first strong impression of Mr. Lincoln," says a lady of
+Springfield, "was made by one of his kind deeds. I was going with
+a little friend for my first trip alone on the railroad cars. It
+was an epoch of my life. I had planned for it and dreamed of it
+for weeks. The day I was to go came, but as the hour of the train
+approached, the hackman, through some neglect, failed to call for
+my trunk. As the minutes went on, I realized, in a panic of
+grief, that I should miss the train. I was standing by the gate,
+my hat and gloves on, sobbing as if my heart would break, when
+Mr. Lincoln came by.
+
+"'Why, what's the matter?' he asked, and I poured out all my
+story.
+
+"'How big's the trunk? There's still time, if it isn't too big.'
+And he pushed through the gate and up to the door. My mother and
+I took him up to my room, where my little old-fashioned trunk
+stood, locked and tied. 'Oh, ho,' he cried, 'wipe your eyes and
+come on quick.' And before I knew what he was going to do, he had
+shouldered the trunk, was down stairs, and striding out of the
+yard. Down the street he went fast as his long legs could carry
+him, I trotting behind, drying my tears as I went. We reached the
+station in time. Mr. Lincoln put me on the train, kissed me
+good-bye, and told me to have a good time. It was just like him."
+
+
+BOAT HAD TO STOP.
+
+Lincoln never failed to take part in all political campaigns in
+Illinois, as his reputation as a speaker caused his services to
+be in great demand. As was natural, he was often the target at
+which many of the "Smart Alecks" of that period shot their feeble
+bolts, but Lincoln was so ready with his answers that few of them
+cared to engage him a second time.
+
+In one campaign Lincoln was frequently annoyed by a young man who
+entertained the idea that he was a born orator. He had a loud
+voice, was full of language, and so conceited that he could not
+understand why the people did not recognize and appreciate his
+abilities.
+
+This callow politician delighted in interrupting public speakers,
+and at last Lincoln determined to squelch him. One night while
+addressing a large meeting at Springfield, the fellow became so
+offensive that "Abe" dropped the threads of his speech and turned
+his attention to the tormentor.
+
+"I don't object," said Lincoln, "to being interrupted with
+sensible questions, but I must say that my boisterous friend does
+not always make inquiries which properly come under that head. He
+says he is afflicted with headaches, at which I don't wonder, as
+it is a well-known fact that nature abhors a vacuum, and takes
+her own way of demonstrating it.
+
+"This noisy friend reminds me of a certain steamboat that used to
+run on the Illinois river. It was an energetic boat, was always
+busy. When they built it, however, they made one serious mistake,
+this error being in the relative sizes of the boiler and the
+whistle. The latter was usually busy, too, and people were aware
+that it was in existence.
+
+"This particular boiler to which I have reference was a six-foot
+one, and did all that was required of it in the way of pushing
+the boat along; but as the builders of the vessel had made the
+whistle a six-foot one, the consequence was that every time the
+whistle blew the boat had to stop."
+
+
+MCCLELLAN'S "SPECIAL TALENT."
+
+President Lincoln one day remarked to a number of personal
+friends who had called upon him at the White House:
+
+"General McClellan's tardiness and unwillingness to fight the
+enemy or follow up advantages gained, reminds me of a man back in
+Ilinois who knew a few law phrases but whose lawyer lacked
+aggressiveness. The man finally lost all patience and springing
+to his feet vociferated, 'Why don't you go at him with a fi. fa.,
+a demurrer, a capias, a surrebutter, or a ne exeat, or something;
+or a nundam pactum or a non est?'
+
+"I wish McClellan would go at the enemy with something--I don't
+care what. General McClellan is a pleasant and scholarly
+gentleman. He is an admirable engineer, but he seems to have a
+special talent for a stationary engine."
+
+
+HOW "JAKE" GOT AWAY.
+
+One of the last, if not the very last story told by President
+Lincoln, was to one of his Cabinet who came to see him, to ask if
+it would be proper to permit "Jake" Thompson to slip through
+Maine in disguise and embark for Portland.
+
+The President, as usual, was disposed to be merciful, and to
+permit the arch-rebel to pass unmolested, but Secretary Stanton
+urged that he should be arrested as a traitor.
+
+"By permitting him to escape the penalties of treason," persisted
+the War Secretary, "you sanction it."
+
+"Well," replied Mr. Lincoln, "let me tell you a story. There was
+an Irish soldier here last summer, who wanted something to drink
+stronger than water, and stopped at a drug-shop, where he espied
+a soda-fountain. 'Mr. Doctor,' said he, 'give me, plase, a glass
+of soda-wather, an' if yez can put in a few drops of whiskey
+unbeknown to any one, I'll be obleeged.' Now, continued Mr.
+Lincoln, "if 'Jake' Thompson is permitted to go through Maine
+unbeknown to any one, what's the harm? So don't have him
+arrested."
+
+MORE LIGHT AND LESS NOISE.
+
+The President was bothered to death by those persons who
+boisterously demanded that the War be pushed vigorously; also,
+those who shouted their advice and opinions into his weary ears,
+but who never suggested anything practical. These fellows were
+not in the army, nor did they ever take any interest, in a
+personal way, in military matters, except when engaged in dodging
+drafts.
+
+"That reminds me," remarked Mr. Lincoln one day, "of a farmer who
+lost his way on the Western frontier. Night came on, and the
+embarrassments of his position were increased by a furious
+tempest which suddenly burst upon him. To add to his discomfort,
+his horse had given out, leaving him exposed to all the dangers
+of the pitiless storm.
+
+"The peals of thunder were terrific, the frequent flashes of
+lightning affording the only guide on the road as he resolutely
+trudged onward, leading his jaded steed. The earth seemed fairly
+to tremble beneath him in the war of elements. One bolt threw him
+suddenly upon his knees.
+
+"Our traveler was not a prayerful man, but finding himself
+involuntarily brought to an attitude of devotion, he addressed
+himself to the Throne of Grace in the following prayer for his
+deliverance
+
+"'O God! hear my prayer this time, for Thou knowest it is not
+often that I call upon Thee. And, O Lord! if it is all the same
+to Thee, give us a little more light and a little less noise.'
+
+"I wish," the President said, sadly, "there was a stronger
+disposition manifested on the part of our civilian warriors to
+unite in suppressing the rebellion, and a little less noise as to
+how and by whom the chief executive office shall be
+administered."
+
+
+ONE BULLET AND A HATFUL.
+
+Lincoln made the best of everything, and if he couldn't get what
+he wanted he took what he could get. In matters of policy, while
+President he acted according to this rule. He would take perilous
+chances, even when the result was, to the minds of his friends,
+not worth the risk he had run.
+
+One day at a meeting of the Cabinet, it being at the time when it
+seemed as though war with England and France could not be
+avoided, Secretary of State Seward and Secretary of War Stanton
+warmly advocated that the United States maintain an attitude, the
+result of which would have been a declaration of hostilities by
+the European Powers mentioned.
+
+"Why take any more chances than are absolutely necessary?" asked
+the President.
+
+"We must maintain our honor at any cost," insisted Secretary
+Seward.
+
+"We would be branded as cowards before the entire world,"
+Secretary Stanton said.
+
+"But why run the greater risk when we can take a smaller one?"
+queried the President calmly. "The less risk we run the better
+for us. That reminds me of a story I heard a day or two ago, the
+hero of which was on the firing line during a recent battle,
+where the bullets were flying thick.
+
+"Finally his courage gave way entirely, and throwing down his
+gun,
+he ran for dear life.
+
+"As he was flying along at top speed he came across an officer
+who drew his revolver and shouted, 'Go back to your regiment at
+once or I will shoot you !'
+
+"'Shoot and be hanged,' the racer exclaimed. 'What's one bullet
+to a whole hatful?'"
+
+
+LINCOLN'S STORY TO PEACE COMMISSIONERS.
+
+Among the reminiscences of Lincoln left by Editor Henry J.
+Raymond, is the following:
+
+Among the stories told by Lincoln, which is freshest in my mind,
+one which he related to me shortly after its occurrence, belongs
+to the history of the famous interview on board the River Queen,
+at Hampton Roads, between himself and Secretary Seward and the
+rebel Peace Commissioners. It was reported at the time that the
+President told a "little story" on that occasion, and the inquiry
+went around among the newspapers, "What was it?"
+
+The New York Herald published what purported to be a version of
+it, but the "point" was entirely lost, and it attracted no
+attention. Being in Washington a few days subsequent to the
+interview with the Commissioners (my previous sojourn there
+having terminated about the first of last August), I asked Mr.
+Lincoln one day if it was true that he told Stephens, Hunter and
+Campbell a story.
+
+"Why, yes," he replied, manifesting some surprise, "but has it
+leaked out? I was in hopes nothing would be said about it, lest
+some over-sensitive people should imagine there was a degree of
+levity in the intercourse between us." He then went on to relate
+the circumstances which called it out.
+
+"You see," said he, "we had reached and were discussing the
+slavery question. Mr. Hunter said, substantially, that the
+slaves, always accustomed to an overseer, and to work upon
+compulsion, suddenly freed, as they would be if the South should
+consent to peace on the basis of the 'Emancipation Proclamation,'
+would precipitate not only themselves, but the entire Southern
+society, into irremediable ruin. No work would be done, nothing
+would be cultivated, and both blacks and whites would starve!"
+
+Said the President: "I waited for Seward to answer that argument,
+but as he was silent, I at length said: 'Mr. Hunter, you ought to
+know a great deal better about this argument than I, for you have
+always lived under the slave system. I can only say, in reply to
+your statement of the case, that it reminds me of a man out in
+Illinois, by the name of Case, who undertook, a few years ago, to
+raise a very large herd of hogs. It was a great trouble to feed
+them, and how to get around this was a puzzle to him. At length
+he hit on the plan of planting an immense field of potatoes, and,
+when they were sufficiently grown, he turned the whole herd into
+the field, and let them have full swing, thus saving not only the
+labor of feeding the hogs, but also that of digging the potatoes.
+Charmed with his sagacity, he stood one day leaning against the
+fence, counting his hogs, when a neighbor came along.
+
+"'Well, well,' said he, 'Mr. Case, this is all very fine. Your
+hogs are doing very well just now, but you know out here in
+Illinois the frost comes early, and the ground freezes for a foot
+deep. Then what you going to do?'
+
+"This was a view of the matter which Mr. Case had not taken into
+account. Butchering time for hogs was 'way on in December or
+January! He scratched his head, and at length stammered: 'Well,
+it may come pretty hard on their snouts, but I don't see but that
+it will be "root, hog, or die."'"
+
+
+"ABE" GOT THE WORST OF IT.
+
+When Lincoln was a young lawyer in Illinois, he and a certain
+Judge once got to bantering one another about trading horses; and
+it was agreed that the next morning at nine o'clock they should
+make a trade, the horses to be unseen up to that hour, and no
+backing out, under a forfeiture of $25. At the hour appointed,
+the Judge came up, leading the sorriest-looking specimen of a
+horse ever seen in those parts. In a few minutes Mr. Lincoln was
+seen approaching with a wooden saw-horse upon his shoulders.
+
+Great were the shouts and laughter of the crowd, and both were
+greatly increased when Lincoln, on surveying the Judge's animal,
+set down his saw-horse, and exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Judge, this is the first time I ever got the worst of it
+in a horse trade."
+
+
+IT DEPENDED UPON HIS CONDITION.
+
+The President had made arrangements to visit New York, and was
+told that President Garrett, of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
+would be glad to furnish a special train.
+
+"I don't doubt it a bit," remarked the President, "for I know Mr.
+Garrett, and like him very well, and if I believed--which I
+don't, by any means--all the things some people say about his
+'secesh' principles, he might say to you as was said by the
+Superintendent of a certain railroad to a son of one my
+predecessors in office. Some two years after the death of
+President Harrison, the son of his successor in this office
+wanted to take his father on an excursion somewhere or other, and
+went to the Superintendent's office to order a special train.
+
+"This Superintendent was a Whig of the most uncompromising sort,
+who hated a Democrat more than all other things on the earth, and
+promptly refused the young man's request, his language being to
+the effect that this particular railroad was not running special
+trains for the accommodation of Presidents of the United States
+just at that season.
+
+"The son of the President was much surprised and exceedingly
+annoyed. 'Why,' he said, 'you have run special Presidential
+trains, and I know it. Didn't you furnish a special train for the
+funeral of President Harrison?'
+
+"'Certainly we did,' calmly replied the Superintendent, with no
+relaxation of his features, 'and if you will only bring your
+father here in the same shape as General Harrison was, you shall
+have the best train on the road."'
+
+When the laughter had subsided, the President said: "I shall take
+pleasure in accepting Mr. Garrett's offer, as I have no doubts
+whatever as to his loyalty to the United States government or his
+respect for the occupant of the Presidential office."
+
+
+"GOT DOWN TO THE RAISINS."
+
+A. B. Chandler, chief of the telegraph office at the War
+Department, occupied three rooms, one of which was called "the
+President's room," so much of his time did Mr. Lincoln spend
+there. Here he would read over the telegrams received for the
+several heads of departments. Three copies of all messages
+received were made--one for the President, one for the War
+Department records and one for Secretary Stanton.
+
+Mr. Chandler told a story as to the manner in which the President
+read the despatches:
+
+"President Lincoln's copies were kept in what we called the
+'President's drawer' of the 'cipher desk.' He would come in at
+any time of the night or day, and go at once to this drawer, and
+take out a file of telegrams, and begin at the top to read them.
+His position in running over these telegrams was sometimes very
+curious.
+
+"He had a habit of sitting frequently on the edge of his chair,
+with his right knee dragged down to the floor. I remember a
+curious expression of his when he got to the bottom of the new
+telegrams and began on those that he had read before. It was,
+'Well, I guess I have got down to the raisins.'
+
+"The first two or three times he said this he made no
+explanation, and I did not ask one. But one day, after he had
+made the remark, he looked up under his eyebrows at me with a
+funny twinkle in his eyes, and said: 'I used to know a little
+girl out West who sometimes was inclined to eat too much. One day
+she ate a good many more raisins than she ought to, and followed
+them up with a quantity of other goodies. They made her very
+sick. After a time the raisins began to come.
+
+"She gasped and looked at her mother and said: 'Well, I will be
+better now I guess, for I have got down to the raisins.'"
+
+
+"HONEST ABE" SWALLOWS HIS ENEMIES.
+
+"'Honest Abe' Taking Them on the Half-Shell" was one of the
+cartoons published in 1860 by one of the illustrated periodicals.
+As may be seen, it represents Lincoln in a "Political Oyster
+House," preparing to swallow two of his Democratic opponents for
+the Presidency--Douglas and Breckinridge. He performed the feat
+at the November election. The Democratic party was hopelessly
+split in 1860 The Northern wing nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of
+Illinois, as their candidate, the Southern wing naming John C.
+Breckinridge, of Kentucky; the Constitutional Unionists (the old
+American of Know-Nothing party) placed John Bell, of Tennessee,
+in the field, and against these was put Abraham Lincoln, who
+received the support of the Abolitionists.
+
+Lincoln made short work of his antagonists when the election came
+around. He received a large majority in the Electoral College,
+while nearly every Northern State voted majorities for him at the
+polls. Douglas had but twelve votes in the Electoral College,
+while Bell had thirty-nine. The votes of the Southern States,
+then preparing to secede, were, for the most part, thrown for
+Breckinridge. The popular vote was: Lincoln, 1,857,610; Douglas,
+1,365,976; Breckinridge, 847,953; Bell, 590,631; total vote,
+4,662,170. In the Electoral College Lincoln received 180;
+Douglas, 12; Breckinridge, 72; Bell, 39; Lincoln's majority over
+all, 57.
+
+
+SAVING HIS WIND.
+
+Judge H. W. Beckwith of Danville, Ill., said that soon after the
+Ottawa debate between Lincoln and Douglas he passed the Chenery
+House, then the principal hotel in Springfield. The lobby was
+crowded with partisan leaders from various sections of the state,
+and Mr. Lincoln, from his greater height, was seen above the
+surging mass that clung about him like a swarm of bees to their
+ruler. The day was warm, and at the first chance he broke away
+and came out for a little fresh air, wiping the sweat from his
+face.
+
+"As he passed the door he saw me," said Judge Beckwith, "and,
+taking my hand, inquired for the health and views of his 'friends
+over in Vermillion county.' He was assured they were wide awake,
+and further told that they looked forward to the debate between
+him and Senator Douglas with deep concern. From the shadow that
+went quickly over his face, the pained look that came to give way
+quickly to a blaze of eyes and quiver of lips, I felt that Mr.
+Lincoln had gone beneath my mere words and caught my inner and
+current fears as to the result. And then, in a forgiving, jocular
+way peculiar to him, he said: 'Sit down; I have a moment to
+spare, and will tell you a story.' Having been on his feet for
+some time, he sat on the end of the stone step leading into the
+hotel door, while I stood closely fronting him.
+
+" You have,' he continued, 'seen two men about to fight?'
+
+"'Yes, many times.'
+
+"'Well, one of them brags about what he means to do. He jumps
+high in the air, cracking his heels together, smites his fists,
+and wastes his wreath trying to scare somebody. You see the other
+fellow, he says not a word,'--here Mr. Lincoln's voice and manner
+changed to great earnestness, and repeating--'you see the other
+man says not a word. His arms are at his sides, his fists are
+closely doubled up, his head is drawn to the shoulder, and his
+teeth are set firm together. He is saving his wind for the fight,
+and as sure as it comes off he will win it, or die a-trying.'"
+
+
+RIGHT FOR, ONCE, ANYHOW.
+
+Where men bred in courts, accustomed to the world, or versed in
+diplomacy, would use some subterfuge, or would make a polite
+speech, or give a shrug of the shoulders, as the means of getting
+out of an embarrassing position, Lincoln raised a laugh by some
+bold west-country anecdote, and moved off in the cloud of
+merriment produced by the joke. When Attorney-General Bates was
+remonstrating apparently against the appointment of some
+indifferent lawyer to a place of judicial importance, the
+President interposed with: "Come now, Bates, he's not half as bad
+as you think. Besides that, I must tell you, he did me a good
+turn long ago. When I took to the law, I was going to court one
+morning, with some ten or twelve miles of bad road before me, and
+I had no horse.
+
+"The judge overtook me in his carriage.
+
+"'Hallo, Lincoln! are you not going to the court-house? Come in
+and I will give you a seat!'
+
+"Well, I got in, and the Judge went on reading his papers.
+Presently the carriage struck a stump on one side of the road,
+then it hopped off to the other. I looked out, and I saw the
+driver was jerking from side to side in his seat, so I says
+
+"'Judge, I think your coachman has been taking a little too much
+this morning.'
+
+"'Well, I declare, Lincoln,' said he, 'I should not much wonder
+if you were right, for he has nearly upset me half a dozen times
+since starting.'
+
+"So, putting his head out of the window, he shouted, 'Why, you
+infernal scoundrel, you are drunk!'
+
+"Upon which, pulling up his horses, and turning round with great
+gravity, the coachman said:
+
+"'Begorra! that's the first rightful decision that you have
+given for the last twelvemonth.'"
+
+While the company were laughing, the President beat a quiet
+retreat from the neighborhood.
+
+
+"PITY THE POOR ORPHAN."
+
+After the War was well on, and several battles had been fought,
+a lady from Alexandria asked the President for an order to
+release a certain church which had been taken for a Federal
+hospital. The President said he could do nothing, as the post
+surgeon at Alexandria was immovable, and then asked the lady why
+she did not donate money to build a hospital.
+
+"We have been very much embarrassed by the war," she replied,
+"and our estates are much hampered."
+
+"You are not ruined?" asked the President.
+
+"No, sir, but we do not feel that we should give up anything we
+have left."
+
+The President, after some reflection, then said: "There are more
+battles yet to be fought, and I think God would prefer that your
+church be devoted to the care and alleviation of the sufferings
+of our poor fellows. So, madam, you will excuse me. I can do
+nothing for you."
+
+Afterward, in speaking of this incident, President Lincoln said
+that the lady, as a representative of her class in Alexandria,
+reminded him of the story of the young man who had an aged father
+and mother owning considerable property. The young man being an
+only son, and believing that the old people had outlived their
+usefulness, assassinated them both. He was accused, tried and
+convicted of the murder. When the judge came to pass sentence
+upon him, and called upon him to give any reason he might have
+why the sentence of death should not be passed upon him, he with
+great promptness replied that he hoped the court would be lenient
+upon him because he was a poor orphan!
+
+"BAP." McNABB'S BOOSTER.
+
+It is true that Lincoln did not drink, never swore, was a
+stranger to smoking and lived a moral life generally, but he did
+like horse-racing and chicken fighting. New Salem, Illinois,
+where Lincoln was "clerking," was known the neighborhood around
+as a "fast" town, and the average young man made no very
+desperate resistance when tempted to join in the drinking and
+gambling bouts.
+
+"Bap." McNabb was famous for his ability in both the raising and
+the purchase of roosters of prime fighting quality, and when his
+birds fought the attendance was large. It was because of the
+"flunking" of one of "Bap.'s" roosters that Lincoln was enabled
+to make a point when criticising McClellan's unreadiness and lack
+of energy.
+
+One night there was a fight on the schedule, one of "Bap."
+McNabb's birds being a contestant. "Bap." brought a little red
+rooster, whose fighting qualities had been well advertised for
+days in advance, and much interest was manifested in the outcome.
+As the result of these contests was generally a quarrel, in which
+each man, charging foul play, seized his victim, they chose
+Lincoln umpire, relying not only on his fairness but his ability
+to enforce his decisions. Judge Herndon, in his "Abraham
+Lincoln," says of this notable event:
+
+"I cannot improve on the description furnished me in February,
+1865, by one who was present.
+
+"They formed a ring, and the time having arrived, Lincoln, with
+one hand on each hip and in a squatting position, cried, 'Ready.'
+Into the ring they toss their fowls, 'Bap.'s' red rooster along
+with the rest. But no sooner had the little beauty discovered
+what was to be done than he dropped his tail and ran.
+
+"The crowd cheered, while 'Bap.,' in disappointment, picked him
+up and started away, losing his quarter (entrance fee) and
+carrying home his dishonored fowl. Once arrived at the latter
+place he threw his pet down with a feeling of indignation and
+chagrin.
+
+"The little fellow, out of sight of all rivals, mounted a
+woodpile and proudly flirting out his feathers, crowed with all
+his might. 'Bap.' looked on in disgust.
+
+"'Yes, you little cuss,' he exclaimed, irreverently, 'you're
+great on dress parade, but not worth a darn in a fight."'
+
+It is said, according to Judge Herndon, that Lincoln considered
+McClellan as "great on dress parade," but not so much in a fight.
+
+
+A LOW-DOWN TRICK.
+
+When Lincoln was a candidate of the Know Nothings for the State
+Legislature, the party was over-confident, and the Democrats
+pursued a stillhunt. Lincoln was defeated. He compared the
+situation to one of the camp-followers of General Taylor's army,
+who had secured a barrel of cider, erected a tent, and commenced
+selling it to the thirsty soldiers at twenty-five cents a drink,
+but he had sold but little before another sharp one set up a tent
+at his back, and tapped the barrel so as to flow on his side, and
+peddled out No. 1 cider at five cents a drink, of course, getting
+the latter's entire trade on the borrowed capital.
+
+"The Democrats," said Mr. Lincoln, "had played Knownothing on a
+cheaper scale than had the real devotees of Sam, and had raked
+down his pile with his own cider!"
+
+
+END FOR END.
+
+Judge H. W. Beckwith, of Danville, Ill., in his "Personal
+Recollections of Lincoln," tells a story which is a good example
+of Lincoln's way of condensing the law and the facts of an issue
+in a story: "A man, by vile words, first provoked and then made a
+bodily attack upon another. The latter, in defending himself,
+gave the other much the worst of the encounter. The aggressor, to
+get even, had the one who thrashed him tried in our Circuit Court
+on a charge of an assault and battery. Mr. Lincoln defended, and
+told the jury that his client was in the fix of a man who, in
+going along the highway with a pitchfork on his shoulder, was
+attacked by a fierce dog that ran out at him from a farmer's
+dooryard. In parrying off the brute with the fork, its prongs
+stuck into the brute and killed him.
+
+"'What made you kill my dog?' said the farmer.
+
+"'What made him try to bite me?'
+
+"'But why did you not go at him with the other end of the
+pitchfork?'
+
+"'Why did he not come after me with his other end?'
+
+"At this Mr. Lincoln whirled about in his long arms an imaginary
+dog, and pushed its tail end toward the jury. This was the
+defensive plea of 'son assault demesne'--loosely, that 'the other
+fellow brought on the fight,'--quickly told, and in a way the
+dullest mind would grasp and retain."
+
+
+LET SIX SKUNKS GO.
+
+The President had decided to select a new War Minister, and the
+Leading Republican Senators thought the occasion was opportune to
+change the whole seven Cabinet ministers. They, therefore,
+earnestly advised him to make a clean sweep, and select seven new
+men, and so restore the waning confidence of the country.
+
+The President listened with patient courtesy, and when the
+Senators had concluded, he said, with a characteristic gleam of
+humor in his eye:
+
+"Gentlemen, your request for a change of the whole Cabinet
+because I have made one change reminds me of a story I once heard
+in Illinois, of a farmer who was much troubled by skunks. His
+wife insisted on his trying to get rid of them.
+
+"He loaded his shotgun one moonlight night and awaited
+developments. After some time the wife heard the shotgun go off,
+and in a few minutes the farmer entered the house.
+
+"'What luck have you?' asked she.
+
+"'I hid myself behind the wood-pile,' said the old man, 'with
+the shotgun pointed towards the hen roost, and before long there
+appeared not one skunk, but seven. I took aim, blazed away,
+killed one, and he raised such a fearful smell that I concluded
+it was best to let the other six go."'
+
+The Senators laughed and retired.
+
+
+HOW HE GOT BLACKSTONE.
+
+The following story was told by Mr. Lincoln to Mr. A. J. Conant,
+the artist, who painted his portrait in Springfield in 1860:
+
+"One day a man who was migrating to the West drove up in front of
+my store with a wagon which contained his family and household
+plunder. He asked me if I would buy an old barrel for which he
+had no room in his wagon, and which he said contained nothing of
+special value. I did not want it, but to oblige him I bought it,
+and paid him, I think, half a dollar for it. Without further
+examination, I put it away in the store and forgot all about it.
+Some time after, in overhauling things, I came upon the barrel,
+and, emptying it upon the floor to see what it contained, I found
+at the bottom of the rubbish a complete edition of Blackstone's
+Commentaries. I began to read those famous works, and I had
+plenty of time; for during the long summer days, when the farmers
+were busy with their crops, my customers were few and far
+between. The more I read"--this he said with unusual
+emphasis--"the more intensely interested I became. Never in my
+whole life was my mind so thoroughly absorbed. I read until I
+devoured them."
+
+
+A JOB FOR THE NEW CABINETMAKER.
+
+This cartoon, labeled "A Job for the New Cabinetmaker," was
+printed in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" on February 2d,
+1861, a month and two days before Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated
+President of the United States. The Southern states had seceded
+from the Union, the Confederacy was established, with Jefferson
+Davis as its President, the Union had been split in two, and the
+task Lincoln had before him was to glue the two parts of the
+Republic together. In his famous speech, delivered a short time
+before his nomination for the Presidency by the Republican
+National Convention at Chicago, in 1860, Lincoln had said: "A
+house divided against itself cannot stand; this nation cannot
+exist half slave and half free." After his inauguration as
+President, Mr. Lincoln went to work to glue the two pieces
+together, and after four years of bloody war, and at immense
+cost, the job was finished; the house of the Great American
+Republic was no longer divided; the severed sections--the North
+and the South--were cemented tightly; the slaves were freed,
+peace was firmly established, and the Union of states was glued
+together so well that the nation is stronger now than ever
+before. Lincoln was just the man for that job, and the work he
+did will last for all time. "The New Cabinetmaker" knew his
+business thoroughly, and finished his task of glueing in a
+workmanlike manner. At the very moment of its completion, five
+days after the surrender of Lee to Grant at Appomattox, the
+Martyr President fell at the hands of the assassin, J. Wilkes
+Booth.
+
+
+"I CAN STAND IT IF THEY CAN."
+
+United States Senator Benjamin Wade, of Ohio, Henry Winter Davis,
+of Maryland, and Wendell Phillips were strongly opposed to
+President Lincoln's re-election, and Wade and Davis issued a
+manifesto. Phillips made several warm speeches against Lincoln
+and his policy.
+
+When asked if he had read the manifesto or any of Phillips'
+speeches, the President replied:
+
+"I have not seen them, nor do I care to see them. I have seen
+enough to satisfy me that I am a failure, not only in the opinion
+of the people in rebellion, but of many distinguished politicians
+of my own party. But time will show whether I am right or they
+are right, and I am content to abide its decision.
+
+"I have enough to look after without giving much of my time to
+the consideration of the subject of who shall be my successor in
+office. The position is not an easy one; and the occupant,
+whoever he may be, for the next four years, will have little
+leisure to pluck a thorn or plant a rose in his own pathway."
+
+It was urged that this opposition must be embarrassing to his
+Administration, as well as damaging to the party. He replied:
+"Yes, that is true; but our friends, Wade, Davis, Phillips, and
+others are hard to please. I am not capable of doing so. I cannot
+please them without wantonly violating not only my oath, but the
+most vital principles upon which our government was founded.
+
+"As to those who, like Wade and the rest, see fit to depreciate
+my policy and cavil at my official acts, I shall not complain of
+them. I accord them the utmost freedom of speech and liberty of
+the press, but shall not change the policy I have adopted in the
+full belief that I am right.
+
+"I feel on this subject as an old Illinois farmer once expressed
+himself while eating cheese. He was interrupted in the midst of
+his repast by the entrance of his son, who exclaimed, 'Hold on,
+dad! there's skippers in that cheese you're eating!'
+
+"'Never mind, Tom,' said he, as he kept on munching his cheese,
+'if they can stand it I can.'"
+
+
+LINCOLN MISTAKEN FOR ONCE.
+
+President Lincoln was compelled to acknowledge that he made at
+least one mistake in "sizing up" men. One day a very dignified
+man called at the White House, and Lincoln's heart fell when his
+visitor approached. The latter was portly, his face was full of
+apparent anxiety, and Lincoln was willing to wager a year's
+salary that he represented some Society for the Easy and Speedy
+Repression of Rebellions.
+
+The caller talked fluently, but at no time did he give advice or
+suggest a way to put down the Confederacy. He was full of humor,
+told a clever story or two, and was entirely self-possessed.
+
+At length the President inquired, "You are a clergyman, are you
+not, sir?"
+
+"Not by a jug full," returned the stranger heartily.
+
+Grasping him by the hand Lincoln shook it until the visitor
+squirmed. "You must lunch with us. I am glad to see you. I was
+afraid you were a preacher."
+
+"I went to the Chicago Convention," the caller said, "as a friend
+of Mr. Seward. I have watched you narrowly ever since your
+inauguration, and I called merely to pay my respects. What I want
+to say is this: I think you are doing everything for the good of
+the country that is in the power of man to do. You are on the
+right track. As one of your constituents I now say to you, do in
+future as you d-- please, and I will support you!"
+
+This was spoken with tremendous effect.
+
+"Why," said Mr. Lincoln in great astonishment, "I took you to be
+a preacher. I thought you had come here to tell me how to take
+Richmond," and he again grasped the hand of his strange visitor.
+
+Accurate and penetrating as Mr. Lincoln's judgment was concerning
+men, for once he had been wholly mistaken. The scene was comical
+in the extreme. The two men stood gazing at each other. A smile
+broke from the lips of the solemn wag and rippled over the wide
+expanse of his homely face like sunlight overspreading a
+continent, and Mr. Lincoln was convulsed with laughter.
+
+He stayed to lunch.
+
+
+FORGOT EVERYTHING HE KNEW.
+
+President Lincoln, while entertaining a few friends, is said to
+have related the following anecdote of a man who knew too much:
+
+During the administration of President Jackson there was a
+singular young gentleman employed in the Public Postoffice in
+Washington.
+
+His name was G.; he was from Tennessee, the son of a widow, a
+neighbor of the President, on which account the old hero had a
+kind feeling for him, and always got him out of difficulties with
+some of the higher officials, to whom his singular interference
+was distasteful.
+
+Among other things, it is said of him that while employed in the
+General Postoffice, on one occasion he had to copy a letter to
+Major H., a high official, in answer to an application made by an
+old gentleman in Virginia or Pennsylvania, for the establishment
+of a new postoffice.
+
+The writer of the letter said the application could not be
+granted, in consequence of the applicant's "proximity" to another
+office.
+
+When the letter came into G.'s hand to copy, being a great
+stickler for plainness, he altered "proximity" to "nearness to."
+
+Major H. observed it, and asked G. why he altered his letter.
+
+"Why," replied G., "because I don't think the man would
+understand what you mean by proximity."
+
+"Well," said Major H., "try him; put in the 'proximity' again."
+
+In a few days a letter was received from the applicant, in which
+he very indignantly said that his father had fought for liberty
+in the second war for independence, and he should like to have
+the name of the scoundrel who brought the charge of proximity or
+anything else wrong against him.
+
+"There," said G., "did I not say so?"
+
+G. carried his improvements so far that Mr. Berry, the
+Postmaster-General, said to him: "I don't want you any longer;
+you know too much."
+
+Poor G. went out, but his old friend got him another place.
+
+This time G.'s ideas underwent a change. He was one day very
+busy writing, when a stranger called in and asked him where the
+Patent Office was.
+
+"I don't know," said G.
+
+"Can you tell me where the Treasury Department is?" said the
+stranger.
+
+"No," said G.
+
+"Nor the President's house?"
+
+"No."
+
+ The stranger finally asked him if he knew where the Capitol was.
+
+"No," replied G.
+
+"Do you live in Washington, sir."
+
+"Yes, sir," said G.
+
+"Good Lord! and don't you know where the Patent Office, Treasury,
+President's House and Capitol are?"
+
+"Stranger," said G., "I was turned out of the postoffice for
+knowing too much. I don't mean to offend in that way again.
+
+"I am paid for keeping this book.
+
+"I believe I know that much; but if you find me knowing anything
+more you may take my head."
+
+"Good morning," said the stranger.
+
+
+HE LOVED A GOOD STORY.
+
+Judge Breese, of the Supreme bench, one of the most distinguished
+of American jurists, and a man of great personal dignity, was
+about to open court at Springfield, when Lincoln called out in
+his hearty way: "Hold on, Breese! Don't open court yet! Here's
+Bob Blackwell just going to tell a story!" The judge passed on
+without replying, evidently regarding it as beneath the dignity
+of the Supreme Court to delay proceedings for the sake of a
+story.
+
+
+HEELS RAN AWAY WITH THEM.
+
+In an argument against the opposite political party at one time
+during a campaign, Lincoln said: "My opponent uses a figurative
+expression to the effect that 'the Democrats are vulnerable in
+the heel, but they are sound in the heart and head.' The first
+branch of the figure--that is the Democrats are vulnerable in the
+heel--I admit is not merely figuratively but literally true. Who
+that looks but for a moment at their hundreds of officials
+scampering away with the public money to Texas, to Europe, and to
+every spot of the earth where a villain may hope to find refuge
+from justice, can at all doubt that they are most distressingly
+affected in their heels with a species of running itch?
+
+"It seems that this malady of their heels operates on the
+sound-headed and honest-hearted creatures very much as the cork
+leg in the comic song did on its owner, which, when he once got
+started on it, the more he tried to stop it, the more it would
+run away.
+
+"At the hazard of wearing this point threadbare, I will relate an
+anecdote the situation calls to my mind, which seems to be too
+strikingly in point to be omitted. A witty Irish soldier, who was
+always boasting of his bravery when no danger was near, but who
+invariably retreated without orders at the first charge of the
+engagement, being asked by his captain why he did so, replied,
+'Captain, I have as brave a heart as Julius Caesar ever had, but
+somehow or other, whenever danger approaches, my cowardly legs
+will run away with it.'
+
+"So with the opposite party--they take the public money into
+their hands for the most laudable purpose that wise heads and
+honest hearts can dictate; but before they can possibly get it
+out again, their rascally, vulnerable heels will run away with
+them."
+
+
+WANTED TO BURN HIM DOWN TO THE STUMP.
+
+Preston King once introduced A. J. Bleeker to the President, and
+the latter, being an applicant for office, was about to hand Mr.
+Lincoln his vouchers, when he was asked to read them. Bleeker had
+not read very far when the President disconcerted him by the
+exclamation, "Stop a minute! You remind me exactly of the man who
+killed the dog; in fact, you are just like him."
+
+"In what respect?" asked Bleeker, not feeling he had received a
+compliment.
+
+"Well," replied the President, "this man had made up his mind to
+kill his dog, an ugly brute, and proceeded to knock out his
+brains with a club. He continued striking the dog after the
+latter was dead until a friend protested, exclaiming, 'You
+needn't strike him any more; the dog is dead; you killed him at
+the first blow.'
+
+"'Oh, yes,' said he, 'I know that; but I believe in punishment
+after death.' So, I see, you do."
+
+Bleeker acknowledged it was possible to overdo a good thing, and
+then came back at the President with an anecdote of a good priest
+who converted an Indian from heathenism to Christianity; the only
+difficulty he had with him was to get him to pray for his
+enemies. "This Indian had been taught to overcome and destroy all
+his friends he didn't like," said Bleeker, "but the priest told
+him that while that might be the Indian method, it was not the
+doctrine of Christianity or the Bible. 'Saint Paul distinctly
+says,' the priest told him, 'If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if
+he thirst, give him drink.'
+
+"The Indian shook his head at this, but when the priest added,
+'For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head,' Poor
+Lo was overcome with emotion, fell on his knees, and with
+outstretched hands and uplifted eyes invoked all sorts of
+blessings on the heads of all his enemies, supplicating for
+pleasant hunting-grounds, a large supply of squaws, lots of
+papooses, and all other Indian comforts.
+
+"Finally the good priest interrupted him (as you did me, Mr.
+President), exclaiming, 'Stop, my son! You have discharged your
+Christian duty, and have done more than enough.'
+
+"'Oh, no, father,' replied the Indian; 'let me pray! I want to
+burn him down to the stump! "
+
+
+HAD A "KICK" COMING.
+
+During the war, one of the Northern Governors, who was able,
+earnest and untiring in aiding the administration, but always
+complaining, sent dispatch after dispatch to the War Office,
+protesting against the methods used in raising troops. After
+reading all his papers, the President said, in a cheerful and
+reassuring tone to the Adjutant-General:
+
+"Never mind, never mind; those dispatches don't mean anything.
+Just go right ahead. The Governor is like a boy I once saw at a
+launching. When everything was ready, they picked out a boy and
+sent him under the ship to knock away the trigger and let her go.
+
+"At the critical moment everything depended on the boy. He had to
+do the job well by a direct, vigorous blow, and then lie flat and
+keep still while the boat slid over him.
+
+"The boy did everything right, but he yelled as if he were being
+murdered from the time he got under the keel until he got out. I
+thought the hide was all scraped off his back, but he wasn't hurt
+at all.
+
+"The master of the yard told me that this boy was always chosen
+for that job; that he did his work well; that he never had been
+hurt, but that he always squealed in that way.
+
+"That's just the way with Governor --. Make up your mind that he
+is not hurt, and that he is doing the work right, and pay no
+attention to his squealing. He only wants to make you understand
+how hard his task is, and that he is on hand performing it."
+
+
+THE CASE OF BETSY ANN DOUGHERTY.
+
+Many requests and petitions made to Mr. Lincoln when he was
+President were ludicrous and trifling, but he always entered into
+them with that humor-loving spirit that was such a relief from
+the grave duties of his great office.
+
+Once a party of Southerners called on him in behalf of one Betsy
+Ann Dougherty. The spokesman, who was an ex-Governor, said:
+
+"Mr. President, Betsy Ann Dougherty is a good woman. She lived in
+my county and did my washing for a long time. Her husband went
+off and joined the rebel army, and I wish you would give her a
+protection paper." The solemnity of this appeal struck Mr.
+Lincoln as uncommonly ridiculous.
+
+The two men looked at each other--the Governor desperately
+earnest, and the President masking his humor behind the gravest
+exterior. At last Mr. Lincoln asked, with inimitable gravity,
+"Was Betsy Ann a good washerwoman?" "Oh, yes, sir, she was,
+indeed."
+
+"Was your Betsy Ann an obliging woman?" "Yes, she was certainly
+very kind," responded the Governor, soberly. "Could she do other
+things than wash?" continued Mr. Lincoln with the same portentous
+gravity.
+
+"Oh, yes; she was very kind--very."
+
+"Where is Betsy Ann?"
+
+"She is now in New York, and wants to come back to Missouri, but
+she is afraid of banishment."
+
+"Is anybody meddling with her?"
+
+"No; but she is afraid to come back unless you will give her a
+protection paper."
+
+Thereupon Mr. Lincoln wrote on a visiting card the following:
+
+"Let Betsy Ann Dougherty alone as long as she behaves herself.
+
+"A. LINCOLN."
+
+He handed this card to her advocate, saying, "Give this to Betsy
+Ann."
+
+"But, Mr. President, couldn't you write a few words to the
+officers that would insure her protection?"
+
+"No," said Mr. Lincoln, "officers have no time now to read
+letters. Tell Betsy Ann to put a string in this card and hang it
+around her neck. When the officers see this, they will keep their
+hands off your Betsy Ann."
+
+
+HAD TO WEAR A WOODEN SWORD.
+
+Captain "Abe" Lincoln and his company (in the Black Hawk War)
+were without any sort of military knowledge, and both were forced
+to acquire such knowledge by attempts at drilling. Which was the
+more awkward, the "squad" or the commander, it would have been
+difficult to decide.
+
+In one of Lincoln's earliest military problems was involved the
+process of getting his company "endwise" through a gate. Finally
+he shouted, "This company is dismissed for two minutes, when it
+will fall in again on the other side of the gate!"
+
+Lincoln was one of the first of his company to be arraigned for
+unmilitary conduct. Contrary to the rules he fired a gun "within
+the limits," and had his sword taken from him. The next
+infringement of rules was by some of the men, who stole a
+quantity of liquor, drank it, and became unfit for duty,
+straggling out of the ranks the next day, and not getting
+together again until late at night.
+
+For allowing this lawlessness the captain was condemned to wear a
+wooden sword for two days. These were merely interesting but
+trivial incidents of the campaign. Lincoln was from the very
+first popular with his men, although one of them told him to "go
+to the devil."
+
+
+"ABE" STIRRING THE "BLACK" COALS.
+
+Under the caption, "The American Difficulty," "Punch" printed on
+May 11th, 1861, the cartoon reproduced here. The following text
+was placed beneath the illustration: PRESIDENT ABE: "What a nice
+White House this would be, if it were not for the blacks!" It was
+the idea in England, and, in fact, in all the countries on the
+European continent, that the War of the Rebellion was fought to
+secure the freedom of the negro slaves. Such was not the case.
+The freedom of the slaves was one of the necessary consequences
+of the Civil War, but not the cause of that bloody four years'
+conflict. The War was the result of the secession of the states
+of the South from the Union, and President "Abe's" main aim was
+to compel the seceding states to resume their places in the
+Federal Union of states.
+
+The blacks did not bother President "Abe" in the least as he knew
+he would be enabled to give them their freedom when the proper
+time came. He had the project of freeing them in his mind long
+before he issued his Emancipation Proclamation, the delay in
+promulgating that document being due to the fact that he did not
+wish to estrange the hundreds of thousands of patriots of the
+border states who were fighting for the preservation of the
+Union, and not for the freedom of the negro slaves. President
+"Abe" had patience, and everything came out all right in the end.
+
+
+GETTING RID OF AN ELEPHANT.
+
+Charles A. Dana, who was Assistant Secretary of War under Mr.
+Stanton, relates the following: A certain Thompson had been
+giving the government considerable trouble. Dana received
+information that Thompson was about to escape to Liverpool.
+
+Calling upon Stanton, Dana was referred to Mr. Lincoln.
+
+"The President was at the White House, business hours were over,
+Lincoln was washing his hands. 'Hallo, Dana,' said he, as I
+opened the door, 'what is it now?' 'Well, sir,' I said, 'here is
+the Provost Marshal of Portland, who reports that Jacob Thompson
+is to be in town to-night, and inquires what orders we have to
+give.' 'What does Stanton say?' he asked. 'Arrest him,' I
+replied. 'Well,' he continued, drawling his words, 'I rather
+guess not. When you have an elephant on your hands, and he wants
+to run away, better let him run.'"
+
+
+GROTESQUE, YET FRIGHTFUL.
+
+The nearest Lincoln ever came to a fight was when he was in the
+vicinity of the skirmish at Kellogg's Grove, in the Black Hawk
+War. The rangers arrived at the spot after the engagement and
+helped bury the five men who were killed.
+
+Lincoln told Noah Brooks, one of his biographers, that he
+"remembered just how those men looked as we rode up the little
+hill where their camp was. The red light of the morning sun was
+streaming upon them as they lay, heads toward us, on the ground.
+And every man had a round, red spot on the top of his head about
+as big as a dollar, where the redskins had taken his scalp. It
+was frightful, but it was grotesque; and the red sunlight seemed
+to paint everything all over."
+
+Lincoln paused, as if recalling the vivid picture, and added,
+somewhat irrelevantly, "I remember that one man had on buckskin
+breeches."
+
+
+"ABE" WAS NO DUDE.
+
+Always indifferent in matters of dress, Lincoln cut but small
+figure in social circles, even in the earliest days of Illinois.
+His trousers were too short, his hat too small, and, as a rule,
+the buttons on the back of his coat were nearer his shoulder
+blades than his waist.
+
+No man was richer than his fellows, and there was no aristocracy;
+the women wore linsey-woolsey of home manufacture, and dyed them
+in accordance with the tastes of the wearers; calico was rarely
+seen, and a woman wearing a dress of that material was the envy
+of her sisters.
+
+There being no shoemakers the women wore moccasins, and the men
+made their own boots. A hunting shirt, leggins made of skins,
+buckskin breeches, dyed green, constituted an apparel no maiden
+could withstand.
+
+
+CHARACTERISTIC OF LINCOLN.
+
+One man who knew Lincoln at New Salem, says the first time he saw
+him he was lying on a trundle-bed covered with books and papers
+and rocking a cradle with his foot.
+
+The whole scene was entirely characteristic--Lincoln reading and
+studying, and at the same time helping his landlady by quieting
+her child.
+
+A gentleman who knew Mr. Lincoln well in early manhood says:
+"Lincoln at this period had nothing but plenty of friends."
+
+After the customary hand-shaking on one occasion in the White
+House at Washington several gentlemen came forward and asked the
+President for his autograph. One of them gave his name as
+"Cruikshank." "That reminds me," said Mr. Lincoln, "of what I
+used to be called when a young man--'Long-shanks!'"
+
+
+"PLOUGH ALL 'ROUND HIM."
+
+Governor Blank went to the War Department one day in a towering
+rage:
+
+"I suppose you found it necessary to make large concessions to
+him, as he returned from you perfectly satisfied," suggested a
+friend.
+
+"Oh, no," the President replied, "I did not concede anything. You
+have heard how that Illinois farmer got rid of a big log that was
+too big to haul out, too knotty to split, and too wet and soggy
+to burn.
+
+"'Well, now,' said he, in response to the inquiries of his
+neighbors one Sunday, as to how he got rid of it, 'well, now,
+boys, if you won't divulge the secret, I'll tell you how I got
+rid of it--I ploughed around it.'
+
+"Now," remarked Lincoln, in conclusion, "don't tell anybody, but
+that's the way I got rid of Governor Blank. I ploughed all round
+him, but it took me three mortal hours to do it, and I was afraid
+every minute he'd see what I was at."
+
+
+"I'VE LOST MY APPLE."
+
+During a public "reception," a farmer from one of the border
+counties of Virginia told the President that the Union soldiers,
+in passing his farm, had helped themselves not only to hay, but
+his horse, and he hoped the President would urge the proper
+officer to consider his claim immediately.
+
+Mr. Lincoln said that this reminded him of an old acquaintance of
+his, "Jack" Chase, a lumberman on the Illinois, a steady, sober
+man, and the best raftsman on the river. It was quite a trick to
+take the logs over the rapids; but he was skilful with a raft,
+and always kept her straight in the channel. Finally a steamer
+was put on, and "Jack" was made captain of her. He always used to
+take the wheel, going through the rapids. One day when the boat
+was plunging and wallowing along the boiling current, and
+"Jack's" utmost vigilance was being exercised to keep her in the
+narrow channel, a boy pulled his coat-tail and hailed him with:
+
+"Say, Mister Captain! I wish you would just stop your boat a
+minute--I've lost my apple overboard!"
+
+
+LOST HIS CERTIFICATE OF CHARACTER.
+
+Mr. Lincoln prepared his first inaugural address in a room over a
+store in Springfield. His only reference works were Henry Clay's
+great compromise speech of 1850, Andrew Jackson's Proclamation
+against Nullification, Webster's great reply to Hayne, and a copy
+of the Constitution.
+
+When Mr. Lincoln started for Washington, to be inugurated, the
+inaugural address was placed in a special satchel and guarded
+with special care. At Harrisburg the satchel was given in charge
+of Robert T. Lincoln, who accompanied his father. Before the
+train started from Harrisburg the precious satchel was missing.
+Robert thought he had given it to a waiter at the hotel, but a
+long search failed to reveal the missing satchel with its
+precious document. Lincoln was annoyed, angry, and finally in
+despair. He felt certain that the address was lost beyond
+recovery, and, as it only lacked ten days until the inauguration,
+he had no time to prepare another. He had not even preserved the
+notes from which the original copy had been written.
+
+Mr. Lincoln went to Ward Lamon, his former law partner, then one
+of his bodyguards, and informed him of the loss in the following
+words:
+
+"Lamon, I guess I have lost my certificate of moral character,
+written by myself. Bob has lost my gripsack containing my
+inaugural address." Of course, the misfortune reminded him of a
+story.
+
+"I feel," said Mr. Lincoln, "a good deal as the old member of the
+Methodist Church did when he lost his wife at the camp meeting,
+and went up to an old elder of the church and asked him if he
+could tell him whereabouts in h--l his wife was. In fact, I am in
+a worse fix than my Methodist friend, for if it were only a wife
+that were missing, mine would be sure to bob up somewhere."
+
+The clerk at the hotel told Mr. Lincoln that he would probably
+find his missing satchel in the baggage-room. Arriving there, Mr.
+Lincoln saw a satchel which he thought was his, and it was passed
+out to him. His key fitted the lock, but alas! when it was opened
+the satchel contained only a soiled shirt, some paper collars, a
+pack of cards and a bottle of whisky. A few minutes later the
+satchel containing the inaugural address was found among the pile
+of baggage.
+
+The recovery of the address also reminded Mr. Lincoln of a story,
+which is thus narrated by Ward Lamon in his "Recollections of
+Abraham Lincoln"
+
+The loss of the address and the search for it was the subject of
+a great deal of amusement. Mr. Lincoln said many funny things in
+connection with the incident. One of them was that he knew a
+fellow once who had saved up fifteen hundred dollars, and had
+placed it in a private banking establishment. The bank soon
+failed, and he afterward received ten per cent of his investment.
+He then took his one hundred and fifty dollars and deposited it
+in a savings bank, where he was sure it would be safe. In a short
+time this bank also failed, and he received at the final
+settlement ten per cent on the amount deposited. When the fifteen
+dollars was paid over to him, he held it in his hand and looked
+at it thoughtfully; then he said, "Now, darn you, I have got you
+reduced to a portable shape, so I'll put you in my pocket."
+Suiting the action to the word, Mr. Lincoln took his address from
+the bag and carefully placed it in the inside pocket of his vest,
+but held on to the satchel with as much interest as if it still
+contained his "certificate of moral character."
+
+
+NOTE PRESENTED FOR PAYMENT.
+
+The great English funny paper, London "Punch," printed this
+cartoon on September 27th, 1862. It is intended to convey the
+idea that Lincoln, having asserted that the war would be over in
+ninety days, had not redeemed his word: The text under the
+Cartoon in Punch was:
+
+MR. SOUTH TO MR. NORTH: "Your 'ninety-day' promissory note isn't
+taken up yet, sirree!"
+
+The tone of the cartoon is decidedly unfriendly. The North
+finally took up the note, but the South had to pay it. "Punch"
+was not pleased with the result, but "Mr. North" did not care
+particularly what this periodical thought about it. The United
+States, since then, has been prepared to take up all of its
+obligations when due, but it must be acknowledged that at the
+time this cartoon was published the outlook was rather dark and
+gloomy. Lincoln did not despair, however; but although business
+was in rather bad shape for a time, the financial skies finally
+cleared, business was resumed at the old stand, and Uncle Sam's
+credit is now as good, or better, than other nations' cash in
+hand.
+
+
+DOG WAS A "LEETLE BIT AHEAD."
+
+Lincoln could not sympathize with those Union generals who were
+prone to indulge in high-sounding promises, but whose
+performances did not by any means come up to their predictions as
+to what they would do if they ever met the enemy face to face. He
+said one day, just after one of these braggarts had been soundly
+thrashed by the Confederates:
+
+"These fellows remind me of the fellow who owned a dog which, so
+he said, just hungered and thirsted to combat and eat up wolves.
+It was a difficult matter, so the owner declared, to keep that
+dog from devoting the entire twenty-four hours of each day to the
+destruction of his enemies. He just 'hankered' to get at them.
+
+"One day a party of this dog-owner's friends thought to have some
+sport. These friends heartily disliked wolves, and were anxious
+to see the dog eat up a few thousand. So they organized a hunting
+party and invited the dog-owner and the dog to go with them. They
+desired to be personally present when the wolf-killing was in
+progress.
+
+"It was noticed that the dog-owner was not over-enthusiastic in
+the matter; he pleaded a 'business engagement,' but as he was the
+most notorious and torpid of the town loafers, and wouldn't have
+recognized a 'business engagement' had he met it face to face,
+his excuse was treated with contempt. Therefore he had to go.
+
+"The dog, however, was glad enough to go, and so the party
+started out. Wolves were in plenty, and soon a pack was
+discovered, but when the 'wolf-hound' saw the ferocious animals
+he lost heart, and, putting his tail between his legs, endeavored
+to slink away. At last--after many trials--he was enticed into
+the small growth of underbrush where the wolves had secreted
+themselves, and yelps of terror betrayed the fact that the battle
+was on.
+
+"Away flew the wolves, the dog among them, the hunting party
+following on horseback. The wolves seemed frightened, and the dog
+was restored to public favor. It really looked as if he had the
+savage creatures on the run, as he was fighting heroically when
+last sighted.
+
+"Wolves and dog soon disappeared, and it was not until the party
+arrived at a distant farmhouse that news of the combatants was
+gleaned.
+
+'Have you seen anything of a wolf-dog and a pack of wolves around
+here?' was the question anxiously put to the male occupant of the
+house, who stood idly leaning upon the gate.
+
+"'Yep,' was the short answer.
+
+"'How were they going?'
+
+"'Purty fast.'
+
+"'What was their position when you saw them?'
+
+"'Well,' replied the farmer, in a most exasperatingly deliberate
+way, 'the dog was a leetle bit ahead.'
+
+"Now, gentlemen," concluded the President, "that's the position
+in which you'll find most of these bragging generals when they
+get into a fight with the enemy. That's why I don't like military
+orators."
+
+
+"ABE'S" FIGHT WITH NEGROES.
+
+When Lincoln was nineteen years of age, he went to work for a Mr.
+Gentry, and, in company with Gentry's son, took a flatboat load
+of provisions to New Orleans. At a plantation six miles below
+Baton Rouge, while the boat was tied up to the shore in the dead
+hours of the night, and Abe and Allen were fast asleep in the
+bed, they were startled by footsteps on board. They knew
+instantly that it was a gang of negroes come to rob and perhaps
+murder them. Allen, thinking to frighten the negroes, called out,
+"Bring guns, Lincoln, and shoot them!" Abe came without the guns,
+but fell among the negroes with a huge bludgeon and belabored
+them most cruelly, following them onto the bank. They rushed back
+to their boat and hastily put out into the stream. It is said
+that Lincoln received a scar in this tussle which he carried with
+him to his grave. It was on this trip that he saw the workings of
+slavery for the first time. The sight of New Orleans was like a
+wonderful panorama to his eyes, for never before had he seen
+wealth, beauty, fashion and culture. He returned home with new
+and larger ideas and stronger opinions of right and justice.
+
+
+NOISE LIKE A TURNIP.
+
+"Every man has his own peculiar and particular way of getting at
+and doing things," said President Lincoln one day, "and he is
+often criticised because that way is not the one adopted by
+others. The great idea is to accomplish what you set out to do.
+When a man is successful in whatever he attempts, he has many
+imitators, and the methods used are not so closely scrutinized,
+although no man who is of good intent will resort to mean,
+underhanded, scurvy tricks.
+
+"That reminds me of a fellow out in Illinois, who had better luck
+in getting prairie chickens than any one in the neighborhood. He
+had a rusty old gun no other man dared to handle; he never seemed
+to exert himself, being listless and indifferent when out after
+game, but he always brought home all the chickens he could carry,
+while some of the others, with their finely trained dogs and
+latest improved fowling-pieces, came home alone.
+
+"'How is it, Jake?' inquired one sportsman, who, although a good
+shot, and knew something about hunting, was often unfortunate,
+'that you never come home without a lot of birds?'
+
+"Jake grinned, half closed his eyes, and replied: 'Oh, I don't
+know that there's anything queer about it. I jes' go ahead an'
+git 'em.'
+
+"'Yes, I know you do; but how do you do it?'
+
+"'You'll tell.'
+
+"'Honest, Jake, I won't say a word. Hope to drop dead this
+minute.'
+
+"'Never say nothing, if I tell you?'
+
+"'Cross my heart three times.'
+
+"This reassured Jake, who put his mouth close to the ear of his
+eager questioner, and said, in a whisper:
+
+"'All you got to do is jes' to hide in a fence corner an' make a
+noise like a turnip. That'll bring the chickens every time.'"
+
+
+WARDING OFF GOD'S VENGEANCE.
+
+When Lincoln was a candidate for re-election to the Illinois
+Legislature in 1836, a meeting was advertised to be held in the
+court-house in Springfield, at which candidates of opposing
+parties were to speak. This gave men of spirit and capacity a
+fine opportunity to show the stuff of which they were made.
+
+George Forquer was one of the most prominent citizens; he had
+been a Whig, but became a Democrat--possibly for the reason that
+by means of the change he secured the position of Government land
+register, from President Andrew Jackson. He had the largest and
+finest house in the city, and there was a new and striking
+appendage to it, called a lightning-rod! The meeting was very
+large. Seven Whig and seven Democratic candidates spoke.
+
+Lincoln closed the discussion. A Kentuckian (Joshua F. Speed),
+who had heard Henry Clay and other distinguished Kentucky
+orators, stood near Lincoln, and stated afterward that he "never
+heard a more effective speaker; . . . the crowd seemed to be
+swayed by him as he pleased." What occurred during the closing
+portion of this meeting must be given in full, from Judge
+Arnold's book:
+
+"Forquer, although not a candidate, asked to be heard for the
+Democrats, in reply to Lincoln. He was a good speaker, and well
+known throughout the county. His special task that day was to
+attack and ridicule the young countryman from Salem.
+
+"Turning to Lincoln, who stood within a few feet of him, he said:
+'This young man must be taken down, and I am truly sorry that the
+task devolves upon me.' He then proceeded, in a very overbearing
+way, and with an assumption of great superiority, to attack
+Lincoln and his speech. He was fluent and ready with the rough
+sarcasm of the stump, and he went on to ridicule the person,
+dress and arguments of Lincoln with so much success that
+Lincoln's friends feared that he would be embarrassed and
+overthrown."
+
+The Clary's Grove boys were present, and were restrained with
+difficulty from "getting up a fight" in behalf of their favorite
+(Lincoln), they and all his friends feeling that the attack was
+ungenerous and unmanly.)
+
+"Lincoln, however, stood calm, but his flashing eye and pale
+cheek indicated his indignation. As soon as Forquer had closed he
+took the stand, and first answered his opponent's arguments fully
+and triumphantly. So impressive were his words and manner that a
+hearer (Joshua F. Speed) believes that he can remember to this
+day and repeat some of the expressions.
+
+"Among other things he said: 'The gentleman commenced his speech
+by saying that "this young man," alluding to me, "must be taken
+down." I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks and the
+trades of a politician, but,' said he, pointing to Forquer, 'live
+long or die young, I would rather die now than, like the
+gentleman, change my politics, and with the change receive an
+office worth $3,000 a year, and then,' continued he, 'feel
+obliged to erect a lightning-rod over my house, to protect a
+guilty conscience from an offended God!'"
+
+
+JEFF DAVIS AND CHARLES THE FIRST.
+
+Jefferson Davis insisted on being recognized by his official
+title as commander or President in the regular negotiation with
+the Government. This Mr. Lincoln would not consent to.
+
+Mr. Hunter thereupon referred to the correspondence between King
+Charles the First and his Parliament as a precedent for a
+negotiation between a constitutional ruler and rebels. Mr.
+Lincoln's face then wore that indescribable expression which
+generally preceded his hardest hits, and he remarked: "Upon
+questions of history, I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is
+posted in such things, and I don't profess to be; but my only
+distinct recollection of the matter is, that Charles lost his
+head."
+
+
+LOVED SOLDIERS' HUMOR.
+
+Lincoln loved anything that savored of wit or humor among the
+soldiers. He used to relate two stories to show, he said, that
+neither death nor danger could quench the grim humor of the
+American soldier:
+
+"A soldier of the Army of the Potomac was being carried to the
+rear of battle with both legs shot off, who, seeing a pie-woman,
+called out, 'Say, old lady, are them pies sewed or pegged?'
+
+"And there was another one of the soldiers at the battle of
+Chancellorsville, whose regiment, waiting to be called into the
+fight, was taking coffee. The hero of the story put to his lips a
+crockery mug which he had carried with care through several
+campaigns. A stray bullet, just missing the tinker's head, dashed
+the mug into fragments and left only the handle on his finger.
+Turning his head in that direction, he scowled, 'Johnny, you
+can't do that again!'"
+
+
+BAD TIME FOR A BARBECUE.
+
+Captain T. W. S. Kidd of Springfield was the crier of the court
+in the days when Mr. Lincoln used to ride the circuit.
+
+"I was younger than he," says Captain Kidd, "but he had a sort of
+admiration for me, and never failed to get me into his stories. I
+was a story-teller myself in those days, and he used to laugh
+very heartily at some of the stories I told him.
+
+"Now and then he got me into a good deal of trouble. I was a
+Democrat, and was in politics more or less. A good many of our
+Democratic voters at that time were Irishmen. They came to
+Illinois in the days of the old canal, and did their honest share
+in making that piece of internal improvement an accomplished
+fact.
+
+"One time Mr. Lincoln told the story of one of those important
+young fellows--not an Irishman--who lived in every town, and have
+the cares of state on their shoulders. This young fellow met an
+Irishman on the street, and called to him, officiously: 'Oh,
+Mike, I'm awful glad I met you. We've got to do something to wake
+up the boys. The campaign is coming on, and we've got to get out
+voters. We've just had a meeting up here, and we're going to have
+the biggest barbecue that ever was heard of in Illinois. We are
+going to roast two whole oxen, and we're going to have Douglas
+and Governor Cass and some one from Kentucky, and all the big
+Democratic guns, and we're going to have a great big time.'
+
+"'By dad, that's good!' says the Irishman. 'The byes need
+stirrin' up.'
+
+"'Yes, and you're on one of the committees, and you want to
+hustle around and get them waked up, Mike.'
+
+"'When is the barbecue to be?' asked Mike.
+
+"'Friday, two weeks.'
+
+"'Friday, is it? Well, I'll make a nice committeeman, settin'
+the barbecue on a day with half of the Dimocratic party of
+Sangamon county can't ate a bite of mate. Go on wid ye.'
+
+"Lincoln told that story in one of his political speeches, and
+when the laugh was over he said: 'Now, gentlemen, I know that
+story is true, for Tom Kidd told it to me.' And then the
+Democrats would make trouble for me for a week afterward, and I'd
+have to explain."
+
+
+HE'D SEE IT AGAIN.
+
+About two years before Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency
+he went to Bloomington, Illinois, to try a case of some
+importance. His opponent--who afterward reached a high place in
+his profession--was a young man of ability, sensible but
+sensitive, and one to whom the loss of a case was a great blow.
+He therefore studied hard and made much preparation.
+
+This particular case was submitted to the jury late at night,
+and, although anticipating a favorable verdict, the young
+attorney spent a sleepless night in anxiety. Early next morning
+he learned, to his great chagrin, that he had lost the case.
+
+Lincoln met him at the court-house some time after the jury had
+come in, and asked him what had become of his case.
+
+With lugubrious countenance and in a melancholy tone the young
+man replied, "It's gone to hell."
+
+"Oh, well," replied Lincoln, "then you will see it again."
+
+
+CALL ANOTHER WITNESS.
+
+When arguing a case in court, Mr. Lincoln never used a word which
+the dullest juryman could not understand. Rarely, if ever, did a
+Latin term creep into his arguments. A lawyer, quoting a legal
+maxim one day in court, turned to Lincoln, and said: "That is so,
+is it not, Mr. Lincoln?"
+
+"If that's Latin." Lincoln replied, "you had better call another
+witness."
+
+
+A CONTEST WITH LITTLE "TAD."
+
+Mr. Carpenter, the artist, relates the following incident: "Some
+photographers came up to the White House to make some
+stereoscopic studies for me of the President's office. They
+requested a dark closet in which to develop the pictures, and,
+without a thought that I was infringing upon anybody's rights, I
+took them to an unoccupied room of which little 'Tad' had taken
+possession a few days before, and, with the aid of a couple of
+servants, had fitted up a miniature theater, with stage,
+curtains, orchestra, stalls, parquette and all. Knowing that the
+use required would interfere with none of his arrangements, I led
+the way to this apartment.
+
+"Everything went on well, and one or two pictures had been taken,
+when suddenly there was an uproar. The operator came back to the
+office and said that 'Tad' had taken great offense at the
+occupation of his room without his consent, and had locked the
+door, refusing all admission.
+
+"The chemicals had been taken inside, and there was no way of
+getting at them, he having carried off the key. In the midst of
+this conversation 'Tad' burst in, in a fearful passion. He laid
+all the blame upon me--said that I had no right to use his room,
+and the men should not go in even to get their things. He had
+locked the door and they should not go there again--'they had no
+business in his room!'
+
+"Mr. Lincoln was sitting for a photograph, and was still in the
+chair. He said, very mildly, 'Tad, go and unlock the door.' Tad
+went off muttering into his mother's room, refusing to obey. I
+followed him into the passage, but no coaxing would pacify him.
+Upon my return to the President, I found him still patiently in
+the chair, from which he had not risen. He said: 'Has not the boy
+opened the door?' I replied that we could do nothing with him--he
+had gone off in a great pet. Mr. Lincoln's lips came together
+firmly, and then, suddenly rising, he strode across the passage
+with the air of one bent on punishment, and disappeared in the
+domestic apartments. Directly he returned with the key to the
+theater, which he unlocked himself.
+
+"'Tad,' said he, half apologetically, 'is a peculiar child. He
+was violently excited when I went to him. I said, "Tad, do you
+know that you are making your father a great deal of trouble?" He
+burst into tears, instantly giving me up the key.'"
+
+
+REMINDED HIM OF "A LITTLE STORY."
+
+When Lincoln's attention was called to the fact that, at one time
+in his boyhood, he had spelled the name of the Deity with a small
+"g," he replied:
+
+"That reminds me of a little story. It came about that a lot of
+Confederate mail was captured by the Union forces, and, while it
+was not exactly the proper thing to do, some of our soldiers
+opened several letters written by the Southerners at the front to
+their people at home.
+
+"In one of these missives the writer, in a postscript, jotted
+down this assertion
+
+"'We'll lick the Yanks termorrer, if goddlemity (God Almighty)
+spares our lives.'
+
+"That fellow was in earnest, too, as the letter was written the
+day before the second battle of Manassas."
+
+
+"FETCHED SEVERAL SHORT ONES."
+
+"The first time I ever remember seeing 'Abe' Lincoln," is the
+testimony of one of his neighbors, "was when I was a small boy
+and had gone with my father to attend some kind of an election.
+One of the neighbors, James Larkins, was there.
+
+"Larkins was a great hand to brag on anything he owned. This time
+it was his horse. He stepped up before 'Abe,' who was in a crowd,
+and commenced talking to him, boasting all the while of his
+animal.
+
+"'I have got the best horse in the country,' he shouted to his
+young listener. 'I ran him nine miles in exactly three minutes,
+and he never fetched a long breath.'
+
+"'I presume,' said 'Abe,' rather dryly, 'he fetched a good many
+short ones, though.'"
+
+
+LINCOLN LUGS THE OLD MAN.
+
+On May 3rd, 1862, "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" printed
+this cartoon, over the title of "Sandbag Lincoln and the Old Man
+of the Sea, Secretary of the Navy Welles." It was intended to
+demonstrate that the head of the Navy Department was incompetent
+to manage the affairs of the Navy; also that the Navy was not
+doing as good work as it might.
+
+When this cartoon was published, the United States Navy had
+cleared and had under control the Mississippi River as far south
+as Memphis; had blockaded all the cotton ports of the South; had
+assisted in the reduction of a number of Confederate forts; had
+aided Grant at Fort Donelson and the battle of Shiloh; the
+Monitor had whipped the ironclad terror, Merrimac (the
+Confederates called her the Virginia); Admiral Farragut's fleet
+had compelled the surrender of the city of New Orleans, the great
+forts which had defended it, and the Federal Government obtained
+control of the lower Mississippi.
+
+"The Old Man of the Sea" was therefore, not a drag or a weight
+upon President Lincoln, and the Navy was not so far behind in
+making a good record as the picture would have the people of the
+world believe. It was not long after the Monitor's victory that
+the United States Navy was the finest that ever plowed the seas.
+The building of the Monitor also revolutionized naval warfare.
+
+
+McCLELLAN WAS "INTRENCHING."
+
+About a week after the Chicago Convention, a gentleman from New
+York called upon the President, in company with the Assistant
+Secretary of War, Mr. Dana.
+
+In the course of conversation, the gentleman said: "What do you
+think, Mr. President, is the reason General McClellan does not
+reply to the letter from the Chicago Convention?"
+
+"Oh!" replied Mr. Lincoln, with a characteristic twinkle of the
+eye, "he is intrenching!"
+
+
+MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF IT, ANYWAY.
+
+>From the day of his nomination by the Chicago convention, gifts
+poured in upon Lincoln. Many of these came in the form of wearing
+apparel. Mr. George Lincoln, of Brooklyn, who brought to
+Springfield, in January, 1861, a handsome silk hat to the
+President-elect, the gift of a New York hatter, told some friends
+that in receiving the hat Lincoln laughed heartily over the gifts
+of clothing, and remarked to Mrs. Lincoln: "Well, wife, if
+nothing else comes out of this scrape, we are going to have some
+new clothes, are we not?"
+
+
+VICIOUS OXEN HAVE SHORT HORNS.
+
+In speaking of the many mean and petty acts of certain members of
+Congress, the President, while talking on the subject one day
+with friends, said:
+
+"I have great sympathy for these men, because of their temper and
+their weakness; but I am thankful that the good Lord has given to
+the vicious ox short horns, for if their physical courage were
+equal to their vicious disposition, some of us in this neck of
+the woods would get hurt."
+
+
+LINCOLN'S NAME FOR "WEEPING WATER."
+
+"I was speaking one time to Mr. Lincoln," said Governor Saunders,
+of Nebraska, of a little Nebraskan settlement on the Weeping
+Water, a stream in our State."
+
+"'Weeping Water!' said he.
+
+"Then with a twinkle in his eye, he continued.
+
+"'I suppose the Indians out there call Minneboohoo, don't they?
+They ought to, if Laughing Water is Minnehaha in their
+language.'"
+
+
+PETER CARTWRIGHT'S DESCRIPTION OF LINCOLN.
+
+Peter Cartwright, the famous and eccentric old Methodist
+preacher, who used to ride a church circuit, as Mr. Lincoln and
+others did the court circuit, did not like Lincoln very well,
+probably because Mr. Lincoln was not a member of his flock, and
+once defeated the preacher for Congress. This was Cartwright's
+description of Lincoln: "This Lincoln is a man six feet four
+inches tall, but so angular that if you should drop a plummet
+from the center of his head it would cut him three times before
+it touched his feet."
+
+
+NO DEATHS IN HIS HOUSE.
+
+A gentleman was relating to the President how a friend of his had
+been driven away from New Orleans as a Unionist, and how, on his
+expulsion, when he asked to see the writ by which he was
+expelled, the deputation which called on him told him the
+Government would do nothing illegal, and so they had issued no
+illegal writs, and simply meant to make him go of his own free
+will.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Lincoln, "that reminds me of a hotel-keeper down
+at St. Louis, who boasted that he never had a death in his hotel,
+for whenever a guest was dying in his house he carried him out to
+die in the gutter."
+
+
+PAINTED HIS PRINCIPLES.
+
+The day following the adjournment of the Baltimore Convention, at
+which President Lincoln was renominated, various political
+organizations called to pay their respects to the President.
+While the Philadelphia delegation was being presented, the
+chairman of that body, in introducing one of the members, said:
+
+"Mr. President, this is Mr. S., of the second district of our
+State,--a most active and earnest friend of yours and the cause.
+He has, among other things, been good enough to paint, and
+present to our league rooms, a most beautiful portrait of
+yourself."
+
+President Lincoln took the gentleman's hand in his, and shaking
+it cordially said, with a merry voice, "I presume, sir, in
+painting your beautiful portrait, you took your idea of me from
+my principles and not from my person."
+
+
+DIGNIFYING THE STATUTE.
+
+Lincoln was married--he balked at the first date set for the
+ceremony and did not show up at all--November 4, 1842, under most
+happy auspices. The officiating clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Dresser,
+used the Episcopal church service for marriage. Lincoln placed
+the ring upon the bride's finger, and said, "With this ring I now
+thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow."
+
+Judge Thomas C. Browne, who was present, exclaimed, "Good
+gracious, Lincoln! the statute fixes all that!"
+
+"Oh, well," drawled Lincoln, "I just thought I'd add a little
+dignity to the statute."
+
+
+LINCOLN CAMPAIGN MOTTOES.
+
+The joint debates between Lincoln and Douglas were attended by
+crowds of people, and the arrival of both at the places of
+speaking were in the nature of a triumphal procession. In these
+processions there were many banners bearing catchphrases and
+mottoes expressing the sentiment of the people on the candidates
+and the issues.
+
+The following were some of the mottoes on the Lincoln banners:
+
+[Westward the star of empire takes its way;
+The girls link on to Lincoln, their mothers were for Clay.]
+
+[Abe, the Giant-Killer.]
+
+[Edgar County for the Tall Sucker.]
+
+[Free Territories and Free Men,
+  Free Pulpits and Free Preachers,
+Free Press and a Free Pen,
+  Free Schools and Free Teachers.]
+
+
+GIVING AWAY THE CASE.
+
+Between the first election and inauguration of Mr. Lincoln the
+disunion sentiment grew rapidly in the South, and President
+Buchanan's failure to stop the open acts of secession grieved Mr.
+Lincoln sorely. Mr. Lincoln had a long talk with his friend,
+Judge Gillespie, over the state of affairs. One incident of the
+conversation is thus narrated by the Judge:
+
+"When I retired, it was the master of the house and chosen ruler
+of the country who saw me to my room. 'Joe,' he said, as he was
+about to leave me, 'I am reminded and I suppose you will never
+forget that trial down in Montgomery county, where the lawyer
+associated with you gave away the whole case in his opening
+speech. I saw you signaling to him, but you couldn't stop him.
+
+"'Now, that's just the way with me and Buchanan. He is giving
+away the case, and I have nothing to say, and can't stop him.
+Good-night.'"
+
+
+POSING WITH A BROOMSTICK.
+
+Mr. Leonard Volk, the artist, relates that, being in Springfield
+when Lincoln's nomination for President was announced, he called
+upon Mr. Lincoln, whom he found looking smiling and happy. "I
+exclaimed, 'I am the first man from Chicago, I believe, who has
+had the honor of congratulating you on your nomination for
+President.' Then those two great hands took both of mine with a
+grasp never to be forgotten, and while shaking, I said, 'Now that
+you will doubtless be the next President of the United States, I
+want to make a statue of you, and shall try my best to do you
+justice.'
+
+"Said he, 'I don't doubt it, for I have come to the conclusion
+that you are an honest man,' and with that greeting, I thought my
+hands in a fair way of being crushed.
+
+"On the Sunday following, by agreement, I called to make a cast
+of Mr. Lincoln's hands. I asked him to hold something in his
+hands, and told him a stick would do. Thereupon he went to the
+woodshed, and I heard the saw go, and he soon returned to the
+dining-room, whittling off the end of a piece of broom handle. I
+remarked to him that he need not whittle off the edges. 'Oh,
+well,' said he, 'I thought I would like to have it nice.'"
+
+
+"BOTH LENGTH AND BREADTH."
+
+During Lincoln's first and only term in Congress--he was elected
+in 1846--he formed quite a cordial friendship with Stephen A.
+Douglas, a member of the United States Senate from Illinois, and
+the beaten one in the contest as to who should secure the hand of
+Miss Mary Todd. Lincoln was the winner; Douglas afterwards beat
+him for the United States Senate, but Lincoln went to the White
+House.
+
+During all of the time that they were rivals in love and in
+politics they remained the best of friends personally. They were
+always glad to see each other, and were frequently together. The
+disparity in their size was always the more noticeable upon such
+occasions, and they well deserved their nicknames of "Long Abe"
+and the "Little Giant." Lincoln was the tallest man in the
+National House of Representatives, and Douglas the shortest (and
+perhaps broadest) man the Senate, and when they appeared on the
+streets together much merriment was created. Lincoln, when joked
+about the matter, replied, in a very serious tone, "Yes, that's
+about the length and breadth of it."
+
+
+"ABE" RECITES A SONG.
+
+Lincoln couldn't sing, and he also lacked the faculty of musical
+adaptation. He had a liking for certain ballads and songs, and
+while he memorized and recited their lines, someone else did the
+singing. Lincoln often recited for the delectation of his
+friends, the following, the authorship of which is unknown:
+
+The first factional fight in old Ireland, they say,
+Was all on account of St. Patrick's birthday;
+It was somewhere about midnight without any doubt,
+And certain it is, it made a great rout.
+
+On the eighth day of March, as some people say,
+St. Patrick at midnight he first saw the day;
+While others assert 'twas the ninth he was born--
+'Twas all a mistake--between midnight and morn.
+
+Some blamed the baby, some blamed the clock;
+Some blamed the doctor, some the crowing cock.
+With all these close questions sure no one could know,
+Whether the babe was too fast or the clock was too slow.
+
+Some fought for the eighth, for the ninth some would die;
+He who wouldn't see right would have a black eye.
+At length these two factions so positive grew,
+They each had a birthday, and Pat he had two.
+
+Till Father Mulcahay who showed them their sins,
+He said none could have two birthdays but as twins.
+"Now boys, don't be fighting for the eight or the nine;
+Don't quarrel so always, now why not combine."
+
+Combine eight with nine. It is the mark;
+Let that be the birthday. Amen! said the clerk.
+So all got blind drunk, which completed their bliss,
+And they've kept up the practice from that day to this.
+
+
+"MANAGE TO KEEP HOUSE."
+
+Senator John Sherman, of Ohio, introduced his brother, William T.
+Sherman (then a civilian) to President Lincoln in March, 1861.
+Sherman had offered his services, but, as in the case of Grant,
+they had been refused.
+
+After the Senator had transacted his business with the President,
+he said: "Mr. President, this is my brother, Colonel Sherman, who
+is just up from Louisiana; he may give you some information you
+want."
+
+To this Lincoln replied, as reported by Senator Sherman himself:
+"Ah! How are they getting along down there?"
+
+Sherman answered: "They think they are getting along swimmingly;
+they are prepared for war."
+
+To which Lincoln responded: "Oh, well, I guess we'll manage to
+keep the house."
+
+"Tecump," whose temper was not the mildest, broke out on "Brother
+John" as soon as they were out of the White House, cursed the
+politicians roundly, and wound up with, "You have got things in a
+h--l of a fix, and you may get out as best you can."
+
+Sherman was one of the very few generals who gave Lincoln little
+or no worry.
+
+
+GRANT "TUMBLED" RIGHT AWAY.
+
+General Grant told this story about Lincoln some years after the
+War:
+
+"Just after receiving my commission as lieutenant-general the
+President called me aside to speak to me privately. After a brief
+reference to the military situation, he said he thought he could
+illustrate what he wanted to say by a story. Said he:
+
+"'At one time there was a great war among the animals, and one
+side had great difficulty in getting a commander who had
+sufficient confidence in himself. Finally they found a monkey by
+the name of Jocko, who said he thought he could command their
+army if his tail could be made a little longer. So they got more
+tail and spliced it on to his caudal appendage.
+
+"'He looked at it admiringly, and then said he thought he ought
+to have still more tail. This was added, and again he called for
+more. The splicing process was repeated many times until they had
+coiled Jocko's tail around the room, filling all the space.
+
+"'Still he called for more tail, and, there being no other place
+to coil it, they began wrapping it around his shoulders. He
+continued his call for more, and they kept on winding the
+additional tail around him until its weight broke him down.'
+
+"I saw the point, and, rising from my chair, replied, 'Mr.
+President, I will not call for any more assistance unless I find
+it impossible to do with what I already have.'"
+
+
+"DON'T KILL HIM WITH YOUR FIST."
+
+Ward Lamon, Marshal of the District of Columbia during Lincoln's
+time in Washington, was a powerful man; his strength was
+phenomenal, and a blow from his fist was like unto that coming
+from the business end of a sledge.
+
+Lamon tells this story, the hero of which is not mentioned by
+name, but in all probability his identity can be guessed:
+
+"On one occasion, when the fears of the loyal element of the city
+(Washington) were excited to fever-heat, a free fight near the
+old National Theatre occurred about eleven o'clock one night. An
+officer, in passing the place, observed what was going on, and
+seeing the great number of persons engaged, he felt it to be his
+duty to command the peace.
+
+"The imperative tone of his voice stopped the fighting for a
+moment, but the leader, a great bully, roughly pushed back the
+officer and told him to go away or he would whip him. The officer
+again advanced and said, 'I arrest you,' attempting to place his
+hand on the man's shoulder, when the bully struck a fearful blow
+at the officer's face.
+
+"This was parried, and instantly followed by a blow from the fist
+of the officer, striking the fellow under the chin and knocking
+him senseless. Blood issued from his mouth, nose and ears. It was
+believed that the man's neck was broken. A surgeon was called,
+who pronounced the case a critical one, and the wounded man was
+hurried away on a litter to the hospital.
+
+"There the physicians said there was concussion of the brain, and
+that the man would die. All the medical skill that the officer
+could procure was employed in the hope of saving the life of the
+man. His conscience smote him for having, as he believed, taken
+the life of a fellow-creature, and he was inconsolable.
+
+"Being on terms of intimacy with the President, about two o'clock
+that night the officer went to the White House, woke up Mr.
+Lincoln, and requested him to come into his office, where he told
+him his story. Mr. Lincoln listened with great interest until the
+narrative was completed, and then asked a few questions, after
+which he remarked:
+
+"'I am sorry you had to kill the man, but these are times of
+war, and a great many men deserve killing. This one, according to
+your story, is one of them; so give yourself no uneasiness about
+the matter. I will stand by you.'
+
+"'That is not why I came to you. I knew I did my duty, and had
+no fears of your disapproval of what I did,' replied the officer;
+and then he added: 'Why I came to you was, I felt great grief
+over the unfortunate affair, and I wanted to talk to you about
+it.'
+
+"Mr. Lincoln then said, with a smile, placing his hand on the
+officer' shoulder: 'You go home now and get some sleep; but let
+me give you this piece of advice--hereafter, when you have
+occasion to strike a man, don't hit him with your fist; strike
+him with a club, a crowbar, or with something that won't kill
+him.'"
+
+
+COULD BE ARBITRARY.
+
+Lincoln could be arbitrary when occasion required. This is the
+letter he wrote to one of the Department heads:
+
+"You must make a job of it, and provide a place for the bearer
+of this, Elias Wampole. Make a job of it with the collector and
+have it done. You can do it for me, and you must."
+
+There was no delay in taking action in this matter. Mr. Wampole,
+or "Eli," as he was thereafter known, "got there."
+
+
+A GENERAL BUSTIFICATION.
+
+Many amusing stories are told of President Lincoln and his
+gloves. At about the time of his third reception he had on a
+tight-fitting pair of white kids, which he had with difficulty
+got on. He saw approaching in the distance an old Illinois friend
+named Simpson, whom he welcomed with a genuine Sangamon county
+(Illeenoy) shake, which resulted in bursting his white kid glove,
+with an audible sound. Then, raising his brawny hand up before
+him, looking at it with an indescribable expression, he said,
+while the whole procession was checked, witnessing this scene:
+
+"Well, my old friend, this is a general bustification. You and I
+were never intended to wear these things. If they were stronger
+they might do well enough to keep out the cold, but they are a
+failure to shake hands with between old friends like us. Stand
+aside, Captain, and I'll see you shortly."
+
+Simpson stood aside, and after the unwelcome ceremony was
+terminated he rejoined his old Illinois friend in familiar
+intercourse.
+
+
+MAKING QUARTERMASTERS.
+
+H. C. Whitney wrote in 1866: "I was in Washington in the Indian
+service for a few days before August, 1861, and I merely said to
+President Lincoln one day: 'Everything is drifting into the war,
+and I guess you will have to put me in the army.'
+
+"The President looked up from his work and said, good-humoredly:
+
+'I'm making generals now; in a few days I will be making
+quartermasters, and then I'll fix you.'"
+
+
+NO POSTMASTERS IN HIS POCKET.
+
+In the "Diary of a Public Man" appears this jocose anecdote:
+
+"Mr. Lincoln walked into the corridor with us; and, as he bade us
+good-by and thanked Blank for what he had told him, he again
+brightened up for a moment and asked him in an abrupt kind of
+way, laying his hand as he spoke with a queer but not uncivil
+familiarity on his shoulder, 'You haven't such a thing as a
+postmaster in your pocket, have you?'
+
+Blank stared at him in astonishment, and I thought a little in
+alarm, as if he suspected a sudden attack of insanity; then Mr.
+Lincoln went on:
+
+'You see it seems to me kind of unnatural that you shouldn't have
+at least a postmaster in your pocket. Everybody I've seen for
+days past has had foreign ministers and collectors, and all
+kinds, and I thought you couldn't have got in here without having
+at least a postmaster get into your pocket!'"
+
+
+HE "SKEWED" THE LINE.
+
+When a surveyor, Mr. Lincoln first platted the town of
+Petersburg, Ill. Some twenty or thirty years afterward the
+property-owners along one of the outlying streets had trouble in
+fixing their boundaries. They consulted the official plat and got
+no relief. A committee was sent to Springfield to consult the
+distinguished surveyor, but he failed to recall anything that
+would give them aid, and could only refer them to the record. The
+dispute therefore went into the courts. While the trial was
+pending, an old Irishman named McGuire, who had worked for some
+farmer during the summer, returned to town for the winter. The
+case being mentioned in his presence, he promptly said: "I can
+tell you all about it. I helped carry the chain when Abe Lincoln
+laid out this town. Over there where they are quarreling about
+the lines, when he was locating the street, he straightened up
+from his instrument and said: 'If I run that street right
+through, it will cut three or four feet off the end of --'s
+house. It's all he's got in the world and he never could get
+another. I reckon it won't hurt anything out here if I skew the
+line a little and miss him."'
+
+The line was "skewed," and hence the trouble, and more testimony
+furnished as to Lincoln's abounding kindness of heart, that would
+not willingly harm any human being.
+
+
+"WHEREAS," HE STOLE NOTHING.
+
+One of the most celebrated courts-martial during the War was that
+of Franklin W. Smith and his brother, charged with defrauding the
+government. These men bore a high character for integrity. At
+this time, however, courts-martial were seldom invoked for any
+other purpose than to convict the accused, and the Smiths shared
+the usual fate of persons whose cases were submitted to such
+arbitrament. They were kept in prison, their papers seized, their
+business destroyed, and their reputations ruined, all of which
+was followed by a conviction.
+
+The finding of the court was submitted to the President, who,
+after a careful investigation, disapproved the judgment, and
+wrote the following endorsement upon the papers:
+
+"Whereas, Franklin W. Smith had transactions with the Navy
+Department to the amount of a millon and a quarter of dollars;
+and:
+
+"Whereas, he had a chance to steal at least a quarter of a
+million and was only charged with stealing twenty-two hundred
+dollars, and the question now is about his stealing one hundred,
+I don't believe he stole anything at all.
+
+"Therefore, the record and the findings are disapproved, declared
+null and void, and the defendants are fully discharged."
+
+
+NOT LIKE THE POPE'S BULL.
+
+President Lincoln, after listening to the arguments and appeals
+of a committee which called upon him at the White House not long
+before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, said:
+
+"I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see
+must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the
+comet."
+
+
+COULD HE TELL?
+
+A "high" private of the One Hundred and Fortieth Infantry
+Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, wounded at Chancellorsville,
+was taken to Washington. One day, as he was becoming
+convalescent, a whisper ran down the long row of cots that the
+President was in the building and would soon pass by. Instantly
+every boy in blue who was able arose, stood erect, hands to the
+side, ready to salute his Commanderin-Chief.
+
+The Pennsylvanian stood six feet seven inches in his stockings.
+Lincoln was six feet four. As the President approached this giant
+towering above him, he stopped in amazement, and casting his eyes
+from head to foot and from foot to head, as if contemplating the
+immense distance from one extremity to the other, he stood for a
+moment speechless.
+
+At length, extending his hand, he exclaimed, "Hello, comrade, do
+you know when your feet get cold?"
+
+
+DARNED UNCOMFORTABLE SITTING.
+
+"Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" of March 2nd, 1861, two
+days previous to the inauguration of President-elect Lincoln,
+contained the caricature reproduced here. It was intended to
+convey the idea that the National Administration would thereafter
+depend upon the support of bayonets to uphold it, and the text
+underneath the picture ran as follows:
+
+OLD ABE: "Oh, it's all well enough to say that I must support the
+dignity of my high office by force--but it's darned uncomfortable
+sitting, I can tell yer."
+
+This journal was not entirely friendly to the new Chief
+Magistrate, but it could not see into the future. Many of the
+leading publications of the East, among them some of those which
+condemned slavery and were opposed to secession, did not believe
+Lincoln was the man for the emergency, but instead of doing what
+they could do to help him along, they attacked him most
+viciously. No man, save Washington, was more brutally lied about
+than Lincoln, but he bore all the slurs and thrusts, not to
+mention the open, cruel antagonism of those who should have been
+his warmest friends, with a fortitude and patience few men have
+ever shown. He was on the right road, and awaited the time when
+his course should receive the approval it merited.
+
+
+"WHAT'S-HIS-NAME" GOT THERE.
+
+General James B. Fry told a good one on Secretary of War Stanton,
+who was worsted in a contention with the President. Several
+brigadier-generals were to be selected, and Lincoln maintained
+that "something must be done in the interest of the Dutch." Many
+complaints had come from prominent men, born in the Fatherland,
+but who were fighting for the Union.
+
+"Now, I want Schimmelpfennig given one of those brigadierships."
+
+Stanton was stubborn and headstrong, as usual, but his manner and
+tone indicated that the President would have his own way in the
+end. However, he was not to be beaten without having made a
+fight.
+
+"But, Mr. President," insisted the Iron War Secretary, "it may be
+that this Mr. Schim--what's-his-name--has no recommendations
+showing his fitness. Perhaps he can't speak English."
+
+"That doesn't matter a bit, Stanton," retorted Lincoln, "he may
+be deaf and dumb for all I know, but whatever language he speaks,
+if any, we can furnish troops who will understand what he says.
+That name of his will make up for any differences in religion,
+politics or understanding, and I'll take the risk of his coming
+out all right."
+
+Then, slamming his great hand upon the Secretary's desk, he said,
+"Schim-mel-fen-nig must be appointed."
+
+And he was, there and then.
+
+
+A REALLY GREAT GENERAL.
+
+"Do you know General A--?" queried the President one day to a
+friend who had "dropped in" at the White House.
+
+"Certainly; but you are not wasting any time thinking about him,
+are you?" was the rejoinder.
+
+"You wrong him," responded the President, "he is a really great
+man, a philosopher."
+
+"How do you make that out? He isn't worth the powder and ball
+necessary to kill him so I have heard military men say," the
+friend remarked.
+
+"He is a mighty thinker," the President returned, "because he has
+mastered that ancient and wise admonition, 'Know thyself;' he has
+formed an intimate acquaintance with himself, knows as well for
+what he is fitted and unfitted as any man living. Without doubt
+he is a remarkable man. This War has not produced another like
+him."
+
+"How is it you are so highly pleased with General A-- all at
+once?"
+
+"For the reason," replied Mr. Lincoln, with a merry twinkle of
+the eye, "greatly to my relief, and to the interests of the
+country, he has resigned. The country should express its
+gratitude in some substantial way."
+
+
+"SHRUNK UP NORTH."
+
+There was no member of the Cabinet from the South when
+Attorney-General Bates handed in his resignation, and President
+Lincoln had a great deal of trouble in making a selection.
+Finally Titian F. Coffey consented to fill the vacant place for a
+time, and did so until the appointment of Mr. Speed.
+
+In conversation with Mr. Coffey the President quaintly remarked:
+
+"My Cabinet has shrunk up North, and I must find a Southern man.
+I suppose if the twelve Apostles were to be chosen nowadays, the
+shrieks of locality would have to be heeded."
+
+
+LINCOLN ADOPTED THE SUGGESTION.
+
+It is not generally known that President Lincoln adopted a
+suggestion made by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in
+regard to the Emancipation Proclamation, and incorporated it in
+that famous document.
+
+After the President had read it to the members of the Cabinet he
+asked if he had omitted anything which should be added or
+inserted to strengthen it. It will be remembered that the closing
+paragraph of the Proclamation reads in this way:
+
+"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice
+warranted by the Constitution, I invoke the considerate judgment
+of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God!" President
+Lincoln's draft of the paper ended with the word "mankind," and
+the words, "and the gracious favor of Almighty God," were those
+suggested by Secretary Chase.
+
+
+SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.
+
+It was the President's overweening desire to accommodate all
+persons who came to him soliciting favors, but the opportunity
+was never offered until an untimely and unthinking disease, which
+possessed many of the characteristics of one of the most dreaded
+maladies, confined him to his bed at the White House.
+
+The rumor spread that the President was afflicted with this
+disease, while the truth was that it was merely a very mild
+attack of varioloid. The office-seekers didn't know the facts,
+and for once the Executive Mansion was clear of them.
+
+One day, a man from the West, who didn't read the papers, but
+wanted the postoffice in his town, called at the White House. The
+President, being then practically a well man, saw him. The caller
+was engaged in a voluble endeavor to put his capabilities in the
+most favorable light, when the President interrupted him with the
+remark that he would be compelled to make the interview short, as
+his doctor was due.
+
+"Why, Mr. President, are you sick?" queried the visitor.
+
+"Oh, nothing much," replied Mr. Lincoln, "but the physician says
+he fears the worst."
+
+"What worst, may I ask?"
+
+"Smallpox," was the answer; "but you needn't be scared. I'm only
+in the first stages now."
+
+The visitor grabbed his hat, sprang from his chair, and without a
+word bolted for the door.
+
+"Don't be in a hurry," said the President placidly; "sit down and
+talk awhile."
+
+"Thank you, sir; I'll call again," shouted the Westerner, as he
+disappeared through the opening in the wall.
+
+"Now, that's the way with people," the President said, when
+relating the story afterward. "When I can't give them what they
+want, they're dissatisfied, and say harsh things about me; but
+when I've something to give to everybody they scamper off."
+
+
+TOO MANY PIGS FOR THE TEATS.
+
+An applicant for a sutlership in the army relates this story: "In
+the winter of 1864, after serving three years in the Union Army,
+and being honorably discharged, I made application for the post
+sutlership at Point Lookout. My father being interested, we made
+application to Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War. We obtained an
+audience, and were ushered into the presence of the most pompous
+man I ever met. As I entered he waved his hand for me to stop at
+a given distance from him, and then put these questions, viz.:
+
+"'Did you serve three years in the army?'
+
+"'I did, sir.'
+
+"'Were you honorably discharged?'
+
+"'I was, sir.'
+
+"'Let me see your discharge.'
+
+"I gave it to him. He looked it over, then said:
+
+'Were you ever wounded?' I told him yes, at the battle of
+Williamsburg, May 5, 1861.
+
+"He then said: 'I think we can give this position to a soldier
+who has lost an arm or leg, he being more deserving; and he then
+said I looked hearty and healthy enough to serve three years
+more. He would not give me a chance to argue my case.
+
+The audience was at an end. He waved his hand to me. I was then
+dismissed from the august presence of the Honorable Secretary of
+War. "My father was waiting for me in the hallway, who saw by my
+countenance that I was not successful. I said to my father:
+
+"'Let us go over to Mr. Lincoln; he may give us more
+satisfaction.'
+
+"He said it would do me no good, but we went over. Mr. Lincoln's
+reception room was full of ladies and gentlemen when we entered.
+
+"My turn soon came. Lincoln turned to my father and said
+
+"'Now, gentlemen, be pleased to be as quick as possible with
+your business, as it is growing late.'
+
+"My father then stepped up to Lincoln and introduced me to him.
+Lincoln then said:
+
+"'Take a seat, gentlemen, and state your business as quickly as
+possible.'
+
+"There was but one chair by Lincoln, so he motioned my father to
+sit, while I stood. My father stated the business to him as
+stated above. He then said:
+
+"'Have you seen Mr. Stanton?'
+
+"We told him yes, that he had refused. He (Mr. Lincoln) then
+said:
+
+"'Gentlemen, this is Mr. Stanton's business; I cannot interfere
+with him; he attends to all these matters and I am sorry I cannot
+help you.'
+
+"He saw that we were disappointed, and did his best to revive our
+spirits. He succeeded well with my father, who was a Lincoln man,
+and who was a staunch Republican.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln then said:
+
+"'Now, gentlemen, I will tell you, what it is; I have thousands
+of applications like this every day, but we cannot satisfy all
+for this reason, that these positions are like office
+seekers--there are too many pigs for the teats.'
+
+"The ladies who were listening to the conversation placed their
+handkerchiefs to their faces and turned away. But the joke of
+'Old Abe' put us all in a good humor. We then left the presence
+of the greatest and most just man who ever lived to fill the
+Presidential chair.'"
+
+
+GREELEY CARRIES LINCOLN TO THE LUNATIC ASYLUM.
+
+No sooner was Abraham Lincoln made the candidate for the
+Presidency of the Republican Party, in 1860, than the opposition
+began to lampoon and caricature him. In the cartoon here
+reproduced, which is given the title of:
+
+"The Republican Party Going to the Right House," Lincoln is
+represented as entering the Lunatic Asylum, riding on a rail,
+carried by Horace Greeley, the great Abolitionist; Lincoln,
+followed by his "fellow-cranks," is assuring the latter that the
+millennium is "going to begin," and that all requests will be
+granted.
+
+Lincoln's followers are depicted as those men and women composing
+the "free love" element; those who want religion abolished;
+negroes, who want it understood that the white man has no rights
+his black brother is bound to respect; women suffragists, who
+demand that men be made subject to female authority; tramps, who
+insist upon free lodging-houses; criminals, who demand the right
+to steal from all they meet; and toughs, who want the police
+forces abolished, so that "the b'hoys" can "run wid de masheen,"
+and have "a muss" whenever they feel like it, without
+interference by the authorities.
+
+
+THE LAST TIME HE SAW DOUGLAS.
+
+Speaking of his last meeting with Judge Douglas, Mr. Lincoln
+said: "One day Douglas came rushing in and said he had just got a
+telegraph dispatch from some friends in Illinois urging him to
+come out and help set things right in Egypt, and that he would
+go, or stay in Washington, just where I thought he could do the
+most good.
+
+"I told him to do as he chose, but that probably he could do best
+in Illinois. Upon that he shook hands with me, and hurried away
+to catch the next train. I never saw him again."
+
+
+HURT HIS LEGS LESS.
+
+Lincoln was one of the attorneys in a case of considerable
+importance, court being held in a very small and dilapidated
+schoolhouse out in the country; Lincoln was compelled to stoop
+very much in order to enter the door, and the seats were so low
+that he doubled up his legs like a jackknife.
+
+Lincoln was obliged to sit upon a school bench, and just in front
+of him was another, making the distance between him and the seat
+in front of him very narrow and uncomfortable.
+
+His position was almost unbearable, and in order to carry out his
+preference which he secured as often as possible, and that was
+"to sit as near to the jury as convenient," he took advantage of
+his discomfort and finally said to the Judge on the "bench":
+
+"Your Honor, with your permission, I'll sit up nearer to the
+gentlemen of the jury, for it hurts my legs less to rub my calves
+against the bench than it does to skin my shins."
+
+
+A LITTLE SHY OR GRAMMAR.
+
+When Mr. Lincoln had prepared his brief letter accepting the
+Presidential nomination he took it to Dr. Newton Bateman, the
+State Superintendent of Education.
+
+"Mr. Schoolmaster," he said, "here is my letter of acceptance. I
+am not very strong on grammar and I wish you to see if it is all
+right. I wouldn't like to have any mistakes in it.".
+
+The doctor took the letter and after reading it, said:
+
+"There is only one change I should suggest, Mr. Lincoln, you have
+written 'It shall be my care to not violate or disregard it in
+any part,' you should have written 'not to violate.' Never split
+an infinitive, is the rule."
+
+Mr. Lincoln took the manuscript, regarding it a moment with a
+puzzled air, "So you think I better put those two little fellows
+end to end, do you?" he said as he made the change.
+
+
+HIS FIRST SATIRICAL WRITING.
+
+Reuben and Charles Grigsby were married in Spencer county,
+Indiana, on the same day to Elizabeth Ray and Matilda Hawkins,
+respectively. They met the next day at the home of Reuben
+Grigsby, Sr., and held a double infare, to which most of the
+county was invited, with the exception of the Lincolns. This
+Abraham duly resented, and it resulted in his first attempt at
+satirical writing, which he called "The Chronicles of Reuben."
+
+The manuscript was lost, and not recovered until 1865, when a
+house belonging to one of the Grigsbys was torn down. In the loft
+a boy found a roll of musty old papers, and was intently reading
+them, when he was asked what he was doing.
+
+"Reading a portion of the Scriptures that haven't been revealed
+yet," was the response. This was Lincoln's "Chronicles," which is
+herewith given
+
+"THE CHRONICLES OF REUBEN."
+
+"Now, there was a man whose name was Reuben, and the same was
+very great in substance, in horses and cattle and swine, and a
+very great household.
+
+"It came to pass when the sons of Reuben grew up that they were
+desirous of taking to themselves wives, and, being too well known
+as to honor in their own country, they took a journey into a far
+country and there procured for themselves wives.
+
+"It came to pass also that when they were about to make the
+return home they sent a messenger before them to bear the tidings
+to their parents.
+
+"These, inquiring of the messenger what time their sons and wives
+would come, made a great feast and called all their kinsmen and
+neighbors in, and made great preparation.
+
+"When the time drew nigh, they sent out two men to meet the
+grooms and their brides, with a trumpet to welcome them, and to
+accompany them.
+
+"When they came near unto the house of Reuben, the father, the
+messenger came before them and gave a shout, and the whole
+multitude ran out with shouts of joy and music, playing on all
+kinds of instruments.
+
+"Some were playing on harps, some on viols, and some blowing on
+rams' horns.
+
+"Some also were casting dust and ashes toward Heaven, and chief
+among them all was Josiah, blowing his bugle and making sounds so
+great the neighboring hills and valleys echoed with the
+resounding acclamation.
+
+"When they had played and their harps had sounded till the grooms
+and brides approached the gates, Reuben, the father, met them and
+welcomed them to his house.
+
+"The wedding feast being now ready, they were all invited to sit
+down and eat, placing the bridegrooms and their brides at each
+end of the table.
+
+"Waiters were then appointed to serve and wait on the guests.
+When all had eaten and were full and merry, they went out again
+and played and sung till night.
+
+"And when they had made an end of feasting and rejoicing the
+multitude dispersed, each going to his own home.
+
+"The family then took seats with their waiters to converse while
+preparations were being made in two upper chambers for the brides
+and grooms.
+
+"This being done, the waiters took the two brides upstairs,
+placing one in a room at the right hand of the stairs and the
+other on the left.
+
+"The waiters came down, and Nancy, the mother, then gave
+directions to the waiters of the bridegrooms, and they took them
+upstairs, but placed them in the wrong rooms.
+
+"The waiters then all came downstairs.
+
+"But the mother, being fearful of a mistake, made inquiry of the
+waiters, and learning the true facts, took the light and sprang
+upstairs.
+
+"It came to pass she ran to one of the rooms and exclaimed, 'O
+Lord, Reuben, you are with the wrong wife.'
+
+"The young men, both alarmed at this, ran out with such violence
+against each other, they came near knocking each other down.
+
+"The tumult gave evidence to those below that the mistake was
+certain.
+
+"At last they all came down and had a long conversation about who
+made the mistake, but it could not be decided.
+
+"So ended the chapter."
+
+The original manuscript of "The Chronicles of Reuben" was last in
+the possession of Redmond Grigsby, of Rockport, Indiana. A
+newspaper which had obtained a copy of the "Chronicles," sent a
+reporter to interview Elizabeth Grigsby, or Aunt Betsy, as she
+was called, and asked her about the famous manuscript and the
+mistake made at the double wedding.
+
+"Yes, they did have a joke on us," said Aunt Betsy. "They said my
+man got into the wrong room and Charles got into my room. But it
+wasn't so. Lincoln just wrote that for mischief. Abe and my man
+often laughed about that.
+
+
+LIKELY TO DO IT.
+
+An officer, having had some trouble with General Sherman, being
+very angry, presented himself before Mr. Lincoln, who was
+visiting the camp, and said, "Mr. President, I have a cause of
+grievance. This morning I went to General Sherman and he
+threatened to shoot me."
+
+"Threatened to shoot you?" asked Mr. Lincoln. "Well, (in a stage
+whisper) if I were you I would keep away from him; if he
+threatens to shoot, I would not trust him, for I believe he would
+do it."
+
+
+"THE ENEMY ARE 'OURN'"
+
+Early in the Presidential campaign of 1864, President Lincoln
+said one night to a late caller at the White House:
+
+"We have met the enemy and they are 'ourn!' I think the cabal of
+obstructionists 'am busted.' I feel certain that, if I live, I am
+going to be re-elected. Whether I deserve to be or not, it is not
+for me to say; but on the score even of remunerative chances for
+speculative service, I now am inspired with the hope that our
+disturbed country further requires the valuable services of your
+humble servant. 'Jordan has been a hard road to travel,' but I
+feel now that, notwithstanding the enemies I have made and the
+faults I have committed, I'll be dumped on the right side of that
+stream.
+
+"I hope, however, that I may never have another four years of
+such anxiety, tribulation and abuse. My only ambition is and has
+been to put down the rebellion and restore peace, after which I
+want to resign my office, go abroad, take some rest, study
+foreign governments, see something of foreign life, and in my old
+age die in peace with all of the good of God's creatures."
+
+
+"AND--HERE I AM!"
+
+An old acquaintance of the President visited him in Washington.
+Lincoln desired to give him a place. Thus encouraged, the
+visitor, who was an honest man, but wholly inexperienced in
+public affairs or business, asked for a high office,
+Superintendent of the Mint.
+
+The President was aghast, and said: "Good gracious! Why didn't he
+ask to be Secretary of the Treasury, and have done with it?"
+
+Afterward, he said: "Well, now, I never thought Mr.-- had
+anything more than average ability, when we were young men
+together. But, then, I suppose he thought the same thing about
+me, and--here I am!"
+
+
+SAFE AS LONG AS THEY WERE GOOD.
+
+At the celebrated Peace Conference, whereat there was much
+"pow-wow" and no result, President Lincoln, in response to
+certain remarks by the Confederate commissioners, commented with
+some severity upon the conduct of the Confederate leaders, saying
+they had plainly forfeited all right to immunity from punishment
+for their treason.
+
+Being positive and unequivocal in stating his views concerning
+individual treason, his words were of ominous import. There was a
+pause, during which Commissioner Hunter regarded the speaker with
+a steady, searching look. At length, carefully measuring his
+words, Mr. Hunter said:
+
+"Then, Mr. President, if we understand you correctly, you think
+that we of the Confederacy have committed treason; are traitors
+to your Government; have forfeited our rights, and are proper
+subjects for the hangman. Is not that about what your words
+imply?"
+
+"Yes," replied President Lincoln, "you have stated the
+proposition better than I did. That is about the size of it!"
+
+Another pause, and a painful one succeeded, and then Hunter, with
+a pleasant smile remarked:
+
+"Well, Mr. Lincoln, we have about concluded that we shall not be
+hanged as long as you are President--if we behave ourselves."
+
+And Hunter meant what he said.
+
+
+"SMELT NO ROYALTY IN OUR CARRIAGE."
+
+On one occasion, in going to meet an appointment in the southern
+part of the Sucker State--that section of Illinois called
+Egypt--Lincoln, with other friends, was traveling in the
+"caboose" of a freight train, when the freight was switched off
+the main track to allow a special train to pass.
+
+Lincoln's more aristocratic rival (Stephen A. Douglas) was being
+conveyed to the same town in this special. The passing train was
+decorated with banners and flags, and carried a band of music,
+which was playing "Hail to the Chief."
+
+As the train whistled past, Lincoln broke out in a fit of
+laughter, and said: "Boys, the gentleman in that car evidently
+smelt no royalty in our carriage."
+
+
+HELL A MILE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.
+
+Ward Lamon told this story of President Lincoln, whom he found
+one day in a particularly gloomy frame of mind. Lamon said:
+
+"The President remarked, as I came in, 'I fear I have made
+Senator Wade, of Ohio, my enemy for life.'
+
+"'How?' I asked.
+
+"'Well,' continued the President, 'Wade was here just now urging
+me to dismiss Grant, and, in response to something he said, I
+remarked, "Senator, that reminds me of a story.'"
+
+"'What did Wade say?' I inquired of the President.
+
+"'He said, in a petulant way,' the President responded, '"It is
+with you, sir, all story, story! You are the father of every
+military blunder that has been made during the war. You are on
+your road to hell, sir, with this government, by your obstinacy,
+and you are not a mile off this minute."'
+
+"'What did you say then?'
+
+" I good-naturedly said to him,' the President replied,
+'"Senator, that is just about from here to the Capitol, is it
+not?" He was very angry, grabbed up his hat and cane, and went
+away.'"
+
+
+HIS "GLASS HACK"
+
+President Lincoln had not been in the White House very long
+before Mrs. Lincoln became seized with the idea that a fine new
+barouche was about the proper thing for "the first lady in the
+land." The President did not care particularly about it one way
+or the other, and told his wife to order whatever she wanted.
+
+Lincoln forgot all about the new vehicle, and was overcome with
+astonishment one afternoon when, having acceded to Mrs. Lincoln's
+desire to go driving, he found a beautiful barouche standing in
+front of the door of the White House.
+
+His wife watched him with an amused smile, but the only remark he
+made was, "Well, Mary, that's about the slickest 'glass hack' in
+town, isn't it?"
+
+
+LEAVE HIM KICKING.
+
+Lincoln, in the days of his youth, was often unfaithful to his
+Quaker traditions. On the day of election in 1840, word came to
+him that one Radford, a Democratic contractor, had taken
+possession of one of the polling places with his workmen, and was
+preventing the Whigs from voting. Lincoln started off at a gait
+which showed his interest in the matter in hand.
+
+He went up to Radford and persuaded him to leave the polls,
+remarking at the same time: "Radford, you'll spoil and blow, if
+you live much longer."
+
+Radford's prudence prevented an actual collision, which, it is
+said, Lincoln regretted. He told his friend Speed he wanted
+Radford to show fight so that he might "knock him down and leave
+him kicking."
+
+
+"WHO COMMENCED THIS FUSS?"
+
+President Lincoln was at all times an advocate of peace, provided
+it could be obtained honorably and with credit to the United
+States. As to the cause of the Civil War, which side of Mason and
+Dixon's line was responsible for it, who fired the first shots,
+who were the aggressors, etc., Lincoln did not seem to bother
+about; he wanted to preserve the Union, above all things.
+Slavery, he was assured, was dead, but he thought the former
+slaveholders should be recompensed.
+
+To illustrate his feelings in the matter he told this story:
+
+"Some of the supporters of the Union cause are opposed to
+accommodate or yield to the South in any manner or way because
+the Confederates began the war; were determined to take their
+States out of the Union, and, consequently, should be held
+responsible to the last stage for whatever may come in the
+future. Now this reminds me of a good story I heard once, when I
+lived in Illinois.
+
+"A vicious bull in a pasture took after everybody who tried to
+cross the lot, and one day a neighbor of the owner was the
+victim. This man was a speedy fellow and got to a friendly tree
+ahead of the bull, but not in time to climb the tree. So he led
+the enraged animal a merry race around the tree, finally
+succeeding in seizing the bull by the tail.
+
+"The bull, being at a disadvantage, not able to either catch the
+man or release his tail, was mad enough to eat nails; he dug up
+the earth with his feet, scattered gravel all around, bellowed
+until you could hear him for two miles or more, and at length
+broke into a dead run, the man hanging onto his tail all the
+time.
+
+"While the bull, much out of temper, was legging it to the best
+of his ability, his tormentor, still clinging to the tail, asked,
+'Darn you, who commenced this fuss?'
+
+"It's our duty to settle this fuss at the earliest possible
+moment, no matter who commenced it. That's my idea of it."
+
+
+"ABE'S" LITTLE JOKE.
+
+When General W. T. Sherman, November 12th, 1864, severed all
+communication with the North and started for Savannah with his
+magnificent army of sixty thousand men, there was much anxiety
+for a month as to his whereabouts. President Lincoln, in response
+to an inquiry, said: "I know what hole Sherman went in at, but I
+don't know what hole he'll come out at."
+
+Colonel McClure had been in consultation with the President one
+day, about two weeks after Sherman's disappearance, and in this
+connection related this incident
+
+"I was leaving the room, and just as I reached the door the
+President turned around, and, with a merry twinkling of the eye,
+inquired, 'McClure, wouldn't you like to hear something from
+Sherman?'
+
+"The inquiry electrified me at the instant, as it seemed to imply
+that Lincoln had some information on the subject. I immediately
+answered, 'Yes, most of all, I should like to hear from Sherman.'
+
+"To this President Lincoln answered, with a hearty laugh: 'Well,
+I'll be hanged if I wouldn't myself.'"
+
+
+WHAT SUMMER THOUGHT.
+
+Although himself a most polished, even a fastidious, gentleman,
+Senator Sumner never allowed Lincoln's homely ways to hide his
+great qualities. He gave him a respect and esteem at the start
+which others accorded only after experience. The Senator was most
+tactful, too, in his dealings with Mrs. Lincoln, and soon had a
+firm footing in the household. That he was proud of this, perhaps
+a little boastful, there is no doubt.
+
+Lincoln himself appreciated this. "Sumner thinks he runs me," he
+said, with an amused twinkle, one day.
+
+
+A USELESS DOG.
+
+When Hood's army had been scattered into fragments, President
+Lincoln, elated by the defeat of what had so long been a menacing
+force on the borders of Tennessee was reminded by its collapse of
+the fate of a savage dog belonging to one of his neighbors in the
+frontier settlements in which he lived in his youth. "The dog,"
+he said, "was the terror of the neighborhood, and its owner, a
+churlish and quarrelsome fellow, took pleasure in the brute's
+forcible attitude.
+
+"Finally, all other means having failed to subdue the creature, a
+man loaded a lump of meat with a charge of powder, to which was
+attached a slow fuse; this was dropped where the dreaded dog
+would find it, and the animal gulped down the tempting bait.
+
+"There was a dull rumbling, a muffled explosion, and fragments of
+the dog were seen flying in every direction. The grieved owner,
+picking up the shattered remains of his cruel favorite, said: 'He
+was a good dog, but as a dog, his days of usefulness are over.'
+Hood's army was a good army," said Lincoln, by way of comment,
+"and we were all afraid of it, but as an army, its usefulness is
+gone."
+
+
+ORIGIN OF THE "INFLUENCE" STORY.
+
+Judge Baldwin, of California, being in Washington, called one day
+on General Halleck, then Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces,
+and, presuming upon a familiar acquaintance in California a few
+years since, solicited a pass outside of our lines to see a
+brother in Virginia, not thinking that he would meet with a
+refusal, as both his brother and himself were good Union men.
+
+"We have been deceived too often," said General Halleck, "and I
+regret I can't grant it."
+
+Judge B. then went to Stanton, and was very briefly disposed of
+with the same result. Finally, he obtained an interview with Mr.
+Lincoln, and stated his case.
+
+"Have you applied to General Halleck?" inquired the President.
+
+"Yes, and met with a flat refusal," said Judge B.
+
+"Then you must see Stanton," continued the President.
+
+"I have, and with the same result," was the reply.
+
+"Well, then," said Mr. Lincoln, with a smile, "I can do nothing;
+for you must know that I have very little influence with this
+Administration, although I hope to have more with the next."
+
+
+FELT SORRY FOR BOTH.
+
+Many ladies attended the famous debates between Lincoln and
+Douglas, and they were the most unprejudiced listeners. "I can
+recall only one fact of the debates," says Mrs. William Crotty,
+of Seneca, Illinois, "that I felt so sorry for Lincoln while
+Douglas was speaking, and then to my surprise I felt so sorry for
+Douglas when Lincoln replied."
+
+The disinterested to whom it was an intellectual game, felt the
+power and charm of both men.
+
+
+WHERE DID IT COME FROM?
+
+"What made the deepest impression upon you?" inquired a friend
+one day, "when you stood in the presence of the Falls of Niagara,
+the greatest of natural wonders?"
+
+"The thing that struck me most forcibly when I saw the Falls,"
+Lincoln responded, with characteristic deliberation, "was, where
+in the world did all that water come from?"
+
+
+"LONG ABE" FOUR YEARS LONGER.
+
+The second election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency of the
+United States was the reward of his courage and genius bestowed
+upon him by the people of the Union States. General George B.
+McClellan was his opponent in 1864 upon the platform that "the
+War is a failure," and carried but three States--New Jersey,
+Delaware and Kentucky. The States which did not think the War was
+a failure were those in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, all
+the Western commonwealths, West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana,
+Arkansas and the new State of Nevada, admitted into the Union on
+October 31st. President Lincoln's popular majority over
+McClellan, who never did much toward making the War a success,
+was more than four hundred thousand. Underneath the cartoon
+reproduced here, from "Harper's Weekly" of November 26th, 1864,
+were the words, "Long Abraham Lincoln a Little Longer."
+
+But the beloved President's time upon earth was not to be much
+longer, as he was assassinated just one month and ten days after
+his second inauguration. Indeed, the words, "a little longer,"
+printed below the cartoon, were strangely prophetic, although not
+intended to be such.
+
+The people of the United States had learned to love "Long Abe,"
+their affection being of a purely personal nature, in the main.
+No other Chief Executive was regarded as so sincerely the friend
+of the great mass of the inhabitants of the Republic as Lincoln.
+He was, in truth, one of "the common people," having been born
+among them, and lived as one of them.
+
+Lincoln's great height made him an easy subject for the
+cartoonist, and they used it in his favor as well as against him.
+
+
+"ALL SICKER'N YOUR MAN."
+
+A Commissioner to the Hawaiian Islands was to be appointed, and
+eight applicants had filed their papers, when a delegation from
+the South appeared at the White House on behalf of a ninth. Not
+only was their man fit--so the delegation urged--but was also in
+bad health, and a residence in that balmy climate would be of
+great benefit to him.
+
+The President was rather impatient that day, and before the
+members of the delegation had fairly started in, suddenly closed
+the interview with this remark:
+
+"Gentlemen, I am sorry to say that there are eight other
+applicants for that place, and they are all 'sicker'n' your man."
+
+
+EASIER TO EMPTY THE POTOMAC.
+
+An officer of low volunteer rank persisted in telling and
+re-telling his troubles to the President on a summer afternoon
+when Lincoln was tired and careworn.
+
+After listening patiently, he finally turned upon the man, and,
+looking wearily out upon the broad Potomac in the distance, said
+in a peremptory tone that ended the interview:
+
+"Now, my man, go away, go away. I cannot meddle in your case. I
+could as easily bail out the Potomac River with a teaspoon as
+attend to all the details of the army."
+
+
+HE WANTED A STEADY HAND.
+
+When the Emancipation Proclamation was taken to Mr. Lincoln by
+Secretary Seward, for the President's signature, Mr. Lincoln took
+a pen, dipped it in the ink, moved his hand to the place for the
+signature, held it a moment, then removed his hand and dropped
+the pen. After a little hesitation, he again took up the pen and
+went through the same movement as before. Mr. Lincoln then turned
+to Mr. Seward and said:
+
+"I have been shaking hands since nine o'clock this morning, and
+my right arm is almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into
+history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If
+my hand trembles when I sign the Proclamation, all who examine
+the document hereafter will say, 'He hesitated.'"
+
+He then turned to the table, took up the pen again, and slowly,
+firmly wrote "Abraham Lincoln," with which the whole world is now
+familiar.
+
+He then looked up, smiled, and said, "That will do."
+
+
+LINCOLN SAW STANTON ABOUT IT.
+
+Mr. Lovejoy, heading a committee of Western men, discussed an
+important scheme with the President, and the gentlemen were then
+directed to explain it to Secretary of War Stanton.
+
+Upon presenting themselves to the Secretary, and showing the
+President's order, the Secretary said: "Did Lincoln give you an
+order of that kind?"
+
+"He did, sir."
+
+"Then he is a d--d fool," said the angry Secretary.
+
+"Do you mean to say that the President is a d--d fool?" asked
+Lovejoy, in amazement.
+
+"Yes, sir, if he gave you such an order as that."
+
+The bewildered Illinoisan betook himself at once to the President
+and related the result of the conference.
+
+"Did Stanton say I was a d--d fool?" asked Lincoln at the close
+of the recital.
+
+"He did, sir, and repeated it."
+
+After a moment's pause, and looking up, the President said: "If
+Stanton said I was a d--d fool, then I must be one, for he is
+nearly always right, and generally says what he means. I will
+slip over and see him."
+
+
+MRS. LINCOLN'S SURPRISE.
+
+A good story is told of how Mrs. Lincoln made a little surprise
+for her husband.
+
+In the early days it was customary for lawyers to go from one
+county to another on horseback, a journey which often required
+several weeks. On returning from one of these trips, late one
+night, Mr. Lincoln dismounted from his horse at the familiar
+corner and then turned to go into the house, but stopped; a
+perfectly unknown structure was before him. Surprised, and
+thinking there must be some mistake, he went across the way and
+knocked at a neighbor's door. The family had retired, and so
+called out:
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"Abe Lincoln," was the reply. "I am looking for my house. I
+thought it was across the way, but when I went away a few weeks
+ago there was only a one-story house there and now there is a
+two-story house in its place. I think I must be lost."
+
+The neighbors then explained that Mrs. Lincoln had added another
+story during his absence. And Mr. Lincoln laughed and went to his
+remodeled house.
+
+
+MENACE TO THE GOVERNMENT.
+
+The persistence of office-seekers nearly drove President Lincoln
+wild. They slipped in through the half-opened doors of the
+Executive Mansion; they dogged his steps if he walked; they edged
+their way through the crowds and thrust their papers in his hands
+when he rode; and, taking it all in all, they well-nigh worried
+him to death.
+
+He once said that if the Government passed through the Rebellion
+without dismemberment there was the strongest danger of its
+falling a prey to the rapacity of the office-seeking class.
+
+"This human struggle and scramble for office, for a way to live
+without work, will finally test the strength of our
+institutions," were the words he used.
+
+
+TROOPS COULDN'T FLY OVER IT.
+
+On April 20th a delegation from Baltimore appeared at the White
+House and begged the President that troops for Washington be sent
+around and not through Baltimore.
+
+President Lincoln replied, laughingly: "If I grant this
+concession, you will be back tomorrow asking that no troops be
+marched 'around' it."
+
+The President was right. That afternoon, and again on Sunday and
+Monday, committees sought him, protesting that Maryland soil
+should not be "polluted" by the feet of soldiers marching against
+the South.
+
+The President had but one reply: "We must have troops, and as
+they can neither crawl under Maryland nor fly over it, they must
+come across it."
+
+
+PAT WAS "FORNINST THE GOVERNMENT."
+
+The Governor-General of Canada, with some of his principal
+officers, visited President Lincoln in the summer of 1864.
+
+They had been very troublesome in harboring blockade runners, and
+they were said to have carried on a large trade from their ports
+with the Confederates. Lincoln treated his guests with great
+courtesy.
+
+After a pleasant interview, the Governor, alluding to the coming
+Presidential election said, jokingly, but with a grain of
+sarcasm: "I understand Mr. President, that everybody votes in
+this country. If we remain until November, can we vote?"
+
+"You remind me, replied the President, "of a countryman of yours,
+a green emigrant from Ireland. Pat arrived on election day, and
+perhaps was as eager a your Excellency to vote, and to vote
+early, and late and often.
+
+"So, upon landing at Castle Garden, he hastened to the nearest
+voting place, and as he approached, the judge who received the
+ballots inquired, 'Who do you want to vote for? On which side are
+you?' Poor Pat was embarrassed; he did not know who were the
+candidates. He stopped, scratched his head, then, with the
+readiness of his countrymen, he said:
+
+"'I am forninst the Government, anyhow. Tell me, if your Honor
+plase: which is the rebellion side, and I'll tell you haw I want
+to vote. In ould Ireland, I was always on the rebellion side,
+and, by Saint Patrick, I'll do that same in America.' Your
+Excellency," said Mr. Lincoln, "would, I should think, not be at
+all at a loss on which side to vote!"
+
+
+"CAN'T SPARE THIS MAN."
+
+One night, about eleven o'clock, Colonel A. K. McClure, whose
+intimacy with President Lincoln was so great that he could obtain
+admittance to the Executive Mansion at any and all hours, called
+at the White House to urge Mr. Lincoln to remove General Grant
+from command.
+
+After listening patiently for a long time, the President,
+gathering himself up in his chair, said, with the utmost
+earnestness:
+
+"I can't spare this man; he fights!"
+
+In relating the particulars of this interview, Colonel McClure
+said:
+
+"That was all he said, but I knew that it was enough, and that
+Grant was safe in Lincoln's hands against his countless hosts of
+enemies. The only man in all the nation who had the power to save
+Grant was Lincoln, and he had decided to do it. He was not
+influenced by any personal partiality for Grant, for they had
+never met.
+
+"It was not until after the battle of Shiloh, fought on the 6th
+and 7th of April, 1862, that Lincoln was placed in a position to
+exercise a controlling influence in shaping the destiny of Grant.
+The first reports from the Shiloh battle-field created profound
+alarm throughout the entire country, and the wildest
+exaggerations were spread in a floodtide of vituperation against
+Grant.
+
+"The few of to-day who can recall the inflamed condition of
+public sentiment against Grant caused by the disastrous first
+day's battle at Shiloh will remember that he was denounced as
+incompetent for his command by the public journals of all parties
+in the North, and with almost entire unanimity by Senators and
+Congressmen, regardless of political affinities.
+
+"I appealed to Lincoln for his own sake to remove Grant at once,
+and in giving my reasons for it I simply voiced the admittedly
+overwhelming protest from the loyal people of the land against
+Grant's continuance in command.
+
+"I did not forget that Lincoln was the one man who never allowed
+himself to appear as wantonly defying public sentiment. It seemed
+to me impossible for him to save Grant without taking a crushing
+load of condemnation upon himself; but Lincoln was wiser than all
+those around him, and he not only saved Grant, but he saved him
+by such well-concerted effort that he soon won popular applause
+from those who were most violent in demanding Grant's dismissal."
+
+
+HIS TEETH CHATTERED.
+
+During the Lincoln-Douglas joint debates of 1858, the latter
+accused Lincoln of having, when in Congress, voted against the
+appropriation for supplies to be sent the United States soldiers
+in Mexico. In reply, Lincoln said: "This is a perversion of the
+facts. I was opposed to the policy of the administration in
+declaring war against Mexico; but when war was declared I never
+failed to vote for the support of any proposition looking to the
+comfort of our poor fellows who were maintaining the dignity of
+our flag in a war that I thought unnecessary and unjust."
+
+He gradually became more and more excited; his voice thrilled and
+his whole frame shook. Sitting on the stand was O. B. Ficklin,
+who had served in Congress with Lincoln in 1847. Lincoln reached
+back, took Ficklin by the coat-collar, back of his neck, and in
+no gentle manner lifted him from his seat as if he had been a
+kitten, and roared: "Fellow-citizens, here is Ficklin, who was at
+that time in Congress with me, and he knows it is a lie."
+
+He shook Ficklin until his teeth chattered. Fearing he would
+shake Ficklin's head off, Ward Lamon grasped Lincoln's hand and
+broke his grip.
+
+After the speaking was over, Ficklin, who had warm personal
+friendship with him, said: "Lincoln, you nearly shook all the
+Democracy out of me to-day."
+
+
+"AARON GOT HIS COMMISSION."
+
+President Lincoln was censured for appointing one that had
+zealously opposed his second term.
+
+He replied: "Well, I suppose Judge E., having been disappointed
+before, did behave pretty ugly, but that wouldn't make him any
+less fit for the place; and I think I have Scriptural authority
+for appointing him.
+
+"You remember when the Lord was on Mount Sinai getting out a
+commission for Aaron, that same Aaron was at the foot of the
+mountain making a false god for the people to worship. Yet Aaron
+got his commission, you know."
+
+
+LINCOLN AND THE MINISTERS.
+
+At the time of Lincoln's nomination, at Chicago, Mr. Newton
+Bateman, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of
+Illinois, occupied a room adjoining and opening into the
+Executive Chamber at Springfield. Frequently this door was open
+during Mr. Lincoln's receptions, and throughout the seven months
+or more of his occupation he saw him nearly every day. Often,
+when Mr. Lincoln was tired, he closed the door against all
+intruders, and called Mr. Bateman into his room for a quiet talk.
+On one of these occasions, Mr. Lincoln took up a book containing
+canvass of the city of Springfield, in which he lived, showing
+the candidate for whom each citizen had declared it his intention
+to vote in the approaching election. Mr.Lincoln's friends had,
+doubtless at his own request, placed the result of the canvass in
+his hands. This was towards the close of October, and only a few
+days before election. Calling Mr. Bateman to a seat by his side,
+having previously locked all the doors, he said:
+
+"Let us look over this book; I wish particularly to see how the
+ministers if Springfield are going to vote." The leaves were
+turned, one by one, and as the names were examined Mr. Lincoln
+frequently asked if this one and that one was not a minister, 
+or an elder, or a member of such and such a church, and sadly 
+expressed his surprise on receiving an affirmative answer.
+In that manner he went through the book, and then he closed it,
+and sat silently for some minutes regarding a memorandum in
+pencil which lay before him. At length he turned to Mr. Bateman,
+with a face full of sadness, and said:
+
+"Here are twenty-three ministers of different denominations, and
+all of them are against me but three, and here are a great many
+prominent members of churches, a very large majority are against
+me. Mr. Bateman, I am not a Christian--God knows I would be one
+--but I have carefully read the Bible, and I do not so understand
+this book," and he drew forth a pocket New Testament.
+
+"These men well know," he continued, "that I am for freedom in
+the Territories, freedom everywhere, as free as the Constitution
+and the laws will permit, and that my opponents are for slavery.
+They know this, and yet, with this book in their hands, in the
+light of which human bondage cannot live a moment, they are going
+to vote against me; I do not understand it at all."
+
+Here Mr. Lincoln paused--paused for long minutes, his features
+surcharged with emotion. Then he rose and walked up and down the
+reception-room in the effort to retain or regain his
+self-possession. Stopping at last, he said, with a trembling
+voice and cheeks wet with tears:
+
+"I know there is a God, and that He hates injustice and slavery.
+I see the storm coming, and I know that His hand is in it. If He
+has a place and work for me, and I think He has, I believe I am
+ready. I am nothing, but Truth is everything. I know I am right,
+because I know that liberty is right, for Christ teaches it, and
+Christ is God. I have told them that a house divided against
+itself cannot stand; and Christ and Reason say the same, and they
+will find it so.
+
+"Douglas doesn't care whether slavery is voted up or down, but
+God cares, and humanity cares, and I care; and with God's help I
+shall not fail. I may not see the end, but it will come, and I
+shall be vindicated; and these men will find they have not read
+their Bible right."
+
+Much of this was uttered as if he were speaking to himself, and
+with a sad, earnest solemnity of manner impossible to be
+described. After a pause he resumed:
+
+"Doesn't it seem strange that men can ignore the moral aspect of
+this contest? No revelation could make it plainer to me that
+slavery or the Government must be destroyed. The future would be
+something awful, as I look at it, but for this rock on which I
+stand" (alluding to the Testament which he still held in his
+hand), "especially with the knowledge of how these ministers are
+going to vote. It seems as if God had borne with this thing
+(slavery) until the teachers of religion have come to defend it
+from the Bible, and to claim for it a divine character and
+sanction; and now the cup of iniquity is full, and the vials of
+wrath will be poured out."
+
+Everything he said was of a peculiarly deep, tender, and
+religious tone, and all was tinged with a touching melancholy. He
+repeatedly referred to his conviction that the day of wrath was
+at hand, and that he was to be an actor in the terrible struggle
+which would issue in the overthrow of slavery, although he might
+not live to see the end.
+
+After further reference to a belief in the Divine Providence and
+the fact of God in history, the conversation turned upon prayer.
+He freely stated his belief in the duty, privilege, and efficacy
+of prayer, and intimated, in no unmistakable terms, that he had
+sought in that way Divine guidance and favor. The effect of this
+conversation upon the mind of Mr. Bateman, a Christian gentleman
+whom Mr. Lincoln profoundly respected, was to convince him that
+Mr. Lincoln had, in a quiet way, found a path to the Christian
+standpoint--that he had found God, and rested on the eternal
+truth of God. As the two men were about to separate, Mr. Bateman
+remarked:
+
+"I have not supposed that you were accustomed to think so much
+upon this class of subjects; certainly your friends generally are
+ignorant of the sentiments you have expressed to me."
+
+He replied quickly: "I know they are, but I think more on these
+subjects than upon all others, and I have done so for years; and
+I am willing you should know it."
+
+
+HARDTACK BETTER THAN GENERALS.
+
+Secretary of War Stanton told the President the following story,
+which greatly amused the latter, as he was especially fond of a
+joke at the expense of some high military or civil dignitary.
+
+Stanton had little or no sense of humor.
+
+When Secretary Stanton was making a trip up the Broad River in
+North Carolina, in a tugboat, a Federal picket yelled out, "What
+have you got on board of that tug?"
+
+The severe and dignified answer was, "The Secretaty of War and
+Major-General Foster."
+
+Instantly the picket roared back, "We've got Major-Generals
+enough up here. Why don't you bring us up some hardtack?"
+
+
+GOT THE PREACHER.
+
+A story told by a Cabinet member tended to show how accurately
+Lincoln could calculate political results in advance--a faculty
+which remained with him all his life.
+
+"A friend, who was a Democrat, had come to him early in the
+canvass and told him he wanted to see him elected, but did not
+like to vote against his party; still he would vote for him, if
+the contest was to be so close that every vote was needed.
+
+"A short time before the election Lincoln said to him: 'I have
+got the preacher, and I don't want your vote.'"
+
+
+BIG JOKE ON HALLECK.
+
+When General Halleck was Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces,
+with headquarters at Washington, President Lincoln unconsciously
+played a big practical joke upon that dignified officer. The
+President had spent the night at the Soldiers' Home, and the next
+morning asked Captain Derickson, commanding the company of
+Pennsylvania soldiers, which was the Presidential guard at the
+White House and the Home--wherever the President happened to be
+--to go to town with him.
+
+Captain Derickson told the story in a most entertaining way:
+
+"When we entered the city, Mr. Lincoln said he would call at
+General Halleck's headquarters and get what news had been
+received from the army during the night. I informed him that
+General Cullum, chief aid to General Halleck, was raised in
+Meadville, and that I knew him when I was a boy.
+
+"He replied, 'Then we must see both the gentlemen.' When the
+carriage stopped, he requested me to remain seated, and said he
+would bring the gentlemen down to see me, the office being on the
+second floor. In a short time the President came down, followed
+by the other gentlemen. When he introduced them to me, General
+Cullum recognized and seemed pleased to see me.
+
+"In General Halleck I thought I discovered a kind of quizzical
+look, as much as to say, 'Isn't this rather a big joke to ask the
+Commander-in-Chief of the army down to the street to be
+introduced to a country captain?'"
+
+
+STORIES BETTER THAN DOCTORS.
+
+A gentleman, visiting a hospital at Washington, heard an occupant
+of one of the beds laughing and talking about the President, who
+had been there a short time before and gladdened the wounded with
+some of his stories. The soldier seemed in such good spirits that
+the gentleman inquired:
+
+"You must be very slightly wounded?"
+
+"Yes," replied the brave fellow, "very slightly--I have only lost
+one leg, and I'd be glad enough to lose the other, if I could
+hear some more of 'Old Abe's' stories."
+
+
+SHORT, BUT EXCITING.
+
+William B. Wilson, employed in the telegraph office at the War
+Department, ran over to the White House one day to summon Mr.
+Lincoln. He described the trip back to the War Department in this
+manner:
+
+"Calling one of his two younger boys to join him, we then started
+from the White House, between stately trees, along a gravel path
+which led to the rear of the old War Department building. It was
+a warm day, and Mr. Lincoln wore as part of his costume a faded
+gray linen duster which hung loosely around his long gaunt frame;
+his kindly eye was beaming with good nature, and his
+ever-thoughtful brow was unruffled.
+
+"We had barely reached the gravel walk before he stooped over,
+picked up a round smooth pebble, and shooting it off his thumb,
+challenged us to a game of 'followings,' which we accepted. Each
+in turn tried to hit the outlying stone, which was being
+constantly projected onward by the President. The game was short,
+but exciting; the cheerfulness of childhood, the ambition of
+young manhood, and the gravity of the statesman were all injected
+into it.
+
+"The game was not won until the steps of the War Department were
+reached. Every inch of progression was toughly contested, and
+when the President was declared victor, it was only by a hand
+span. He appeared to be as much pleased as if he had won a
+battle."
+
+
+MR. BULL DIDN'T GET HIS COTTON.
+
+Because of the blockade, by the Union fleets, of the Southern
+cotton ports, England was deprived of her supply of cotton, and
+scores of thousands of British operatives were thrown out of
+employment by the closing of the cotton mills at Manchester and
+other cities in Great Britain. England (John Bull) felt so badly
+about this that the British wanted to go to war on account of it,
+but when the United States eagle ruffled up its wings the English
+thought over the business and concluded not to fight.
+
+"Harper's Weekly" of May 16th, 1863, contained the cartoon we
+reproduce, which shows John Bull as manifesting much anxiety
+regarding the cotton he had bought from the Southern planters,
+but which the latter could not deliver. Beneath the cartoon is
+this bit of dialogue between John Bull and President Lincoln: MR.
+BULL (confiding creature): "Hi want my cotton, bought at fi'pence
+a pound."
+
+MR. LINCOLN: "Don't know anything about it, my dear sir. Your
+friends, the rebels, are burning all the cotton they can find,
+and I confiscate the rest. Good-morning, John!"
+
+As President Lincoln has a big fifteen-inch gun at his side, the
+black muzzle of which is pressed tightly against Mr. Bull's
+waistcoat, the President, to all appearances, has the best of the
+argument "by a long shot." Anyhow, Mr. Bull had nothing more to
+say, but gave the cotton matter up as a bad piece of business,
+and pocketed the loss.
+
+
+STICK TO AMERICAN PRINCIPLES.
+
+President Lincoln's first conclusion (that Mason and Slidell
+should be released) was the real ground on which the
+Administration submitted. "We must stick to American principles
+concerning the rights of neutrals." It was to many, as Secretary
+of the Treasury Chase declared it was to him, "gall and
+wormwood." James Russell Lowell's verse expressed best the
+popular feeling:
+
+We give the critters back, John,
+Cos Abram thought 'twas right;
+It warn't your bullyin' clack, John,
+Provokin' us to fight.
+
+The decision raised Mr. Lincoln immeasurably in the view of
+thoughtful men, especially in England.
+
+
+USED "RUDE TACT."
+
+General John C. Fremont, with headquarters at St. Louis,
+astonished the country by issuing a proclamation declaring, among
+other things, that the property, real and personal, of all the
+persons in the State of Missouri who should take up arms against
+the United States, or who should be directly proved to have taken
+an active part with its enemies in the field, would be
+confiscated to public use and their slaves, if they had any,
+declared freemen.
+
+The President was dismayed; he modified that part of the
+proclamation referring to slaves, and finally replaced Fremont
+with General Hunter.
+
+Mrs. Fremont (daughter of Senator T. H. Benton), her husband's
+real chief of staff, flew to Washington and sought Mr. Lincoln.
+It was midnight, but the President gave her an audience. Without
+waiting for an explanation, she violently charged him with
+sending an enemy to Missouri to look into Fremont's case, and
+threatening that if Fremont desired to he could set up a
+government for himself.
+
+"I had to exercise all the rude tact I have to avoid quarreling
+with her," said Mr. Lincoln afterwards.
+
+
+"ABE" ON A WOODPILE.
+
+Lincoln's attempt to make a lawyer of himself under adverse and
+unpromising circumstances--he was a bare-footed farm-hand
+--excited comment. And it was not to be wondered. One old man,
+who
+was yet alive as late as 1901, had often employed Lincoln to do
+farm work for him, and was surprised to find him one day sitting
+barefoot on the summit of a woodpile and attentively reading a
+book.
+
+"This being an unusual thing for farm-hands in that early day to
+do," said the old man, when relating the story, "I asked him what
+he was reading.
+
+"'I'm not reading,' he answered. 'I'm studying.'
+
+"'Studying what?' I inquired.
+
+"'Law, sir,' was the emphatic response.
+
+"It was really too much for me, as I looked at him sitting there
+proud as Cicero. 'Great God Almighty!' I exclaimed, and passed
+on." Lincoln merely laughed and resumed his "studies."
+
+
+TAKING DOWN A DANDY.
+
+In a political campaign, Lincoln once replied to Colonel Richard
+Taylor, a self-conceited, dandified man, who wore a gold chain
+and ruffled shirt. His party at that time was posing as the
+hard-working bone and sinew of the land, while the Whigs were
+stigmatized as aristocrats, ruffled-shirt gentry. Taylor making a
+sweeping gesture, his overcoat became torn open, displaying his
+finery. Lincoln in reply said, laying his hand on his jeans-clad
+breast:
+
+"Here is your aristocrat, one of your silk-stocking gentry, at
+your service." Then, spreading out his hands, bronzed and gaunt
+with toil: "Here is your rag-basin with lily-white hands. Yes, I
+suppose, according to my friend Taylor, I am a bloated
+aristocrat."
+
+
+WHEN OLD ABE GOT MAD.
+
+Soon after hostilities broke out between the North and South,
+Congress appointed a Committee on the Conduct of the War. This
+committee beset Mr. Lincoln and urged all sorts of measures. Its
+members were aggressive and patriotic, and one thing they
+determined upon was that the Army of the Potomac should move. But
+it was not until March that they became convinced that anything
+would be done.
+
+One day early in that month, Senator Chandler, of Michigan, a
+member of the committee, met George W. Julian. He was in high
+glee. "'Old' Abe is mad," said Julian, "and the War will now go
+on."
+
+
+WANTED TO "BORROW" THE ARMY.
+
+During one of the periods when things were at a standstill, the
+Washington authorities, being unable to force General McClellan
+to assume an aggressive attitude, President Lincoln went to the
+general's headquarters to have a talk with him, but for some
+reason he was unable to get an audience.
+
+Mr. Lincoln returned to the White House much disturbed at his
+failure to see the commander of the Union forces, and immediately
+sent for two general officers, to have a consultation. On their
+arrival, he told them he must have some one to talk to about the
+situation, and as he had failed to see General McClellan, he
+wished their views as to the possibility or probability of
+commencing active operations with the Army of the Potomac.
+
+"Something's got to be done," said the President, emphatically,
+"and done right away, or the bottom will fall out of the whole
+thing. Now, if McClellan doesn't want to use the army for awhile,
+I'd like to borrow it from him and see if I can't do something or
+other with it.
+
+"If McClellan can't fish, he ought at least to be cutting bait at
+a time like this."
+
+
+YOUNG "SUCKER" VISITORS.
+
+After Mr. Lincoln's nomination for the Presidency, the Executive
+Chamber, a large, fine room in the State House at Springfield,
+was set apart for him, where he met the public until after his
+election.
+
+As illustrative of the nature of many of his calls, the following
+incident was related by Mr. Holland, an eye-witness: "Mr. Lincoln
+being in conversation with a gentleman one day, two raw,
+plainly-dressed young 'Suckers' entered the room, and bashfully
+lingered near the door. As soon as he observed them, and saw
+their embarrassment, he rose and walked to them, saying: 'How do
+you do, my good fellows? What can I do for you? Will you sit
+down?' The spokesman of the pair, the shorter of the two,
+declined to sit, and explained the object of the call thus: He
+had had a talk about the relative height of Mr. Lincoln and his
+companion, and had asserted his belief that they were of exactly
+the same height. He had come in to verify his judgment. Mr.
+Lincoln smiled, went and got his cane, and, placing the end of it
+upon the wall, said" 'Here, young man, come under here.' "The
+young man came under the cane as Mr. Lincoln held it, and when it
+was perfectly adjusted to his height, Mr. Lincoln said:
+
+"'Now, come out, and hold the cane.'
+
+"This he did, while Mr. Lincoln stood under. Rubbing his head
+back and forth to see that it worked easily under the
+measurement, he stepped out, and declared to the sagacious fellow
+who was curiously looking on, that he had guessed with remarkable
+accuracy--that he and the young man were exactly the same height.
+Then he shook hands with them and sent them on their way. Mr.
+Lincoln would just as soon have thought of cutting off his right
+hand as he would have thought of turning those boys away with the
+impression that they had in any way insulted his dignity.
+
+
+"AND YOU DON'T WEAR HOOPSKIRTS."
+
+An Ohio Senator had an appointment with President Lincoln at six
+o'clock, and as he entered the vestibule of the White House his
+attention was attracted toward a poorly clad young woman, who was
+violently sobbing. He asked her the cause of her distress. She
+said she had been ordered away by the servants, after vainly
+waiting many hours to see the President about her only brother,
+who had been condemned to death. Her story was this:
+
+She and her brother were foreigners, and orphans. They had been
+in this country several years. Her brother enlisted in the army,
+but, through bad influences, was induced to desert. He was
+captured, tried and sentenced to be shot--the old story.
+
+The poor girl had obtained the signatures of some persons who had
+formerly known him, to a petition for a pardon, and alone had
+come to Washington to lay the case before the President. Thronged
+as the waiting-rooms always were, she had passed the long hours
+of two days trying in vain to get an audience, and had at length
+been ordered away.
+
+The gentleman's feelings were touched. He said to her that he had
+come to see the President, but did not know as he should succeed.
+He told her, however, to follow him upstairs, and he would see
+what could be done for her.
+
+Just before reaching the door, Mr. Lincoln came out, and, meeting
+his friend, said good-humoredly, "Are you not ahead of time?" The
+gentleman showed him his watch, with the hand upon the hour of
+six.
+
+"Well," returned Mr. Lincoln, "I have been so busy to-day that I
+have not had time to get a lunch. Go in and sit down; I will be
+back directly."
+
+The gentleman made the young woman accompany him into the office,
+and when they were seated, said to her: "Now, my good girl, I
+want you to muster all the courage you have in the world. When
+the President comes back, he will sit down in that armchair. I
+shall get up to speak to him, and as I do so you must force
+yourself between us, and insist upon his examination of your
+papers, telling him it is a case of life and death, and admits of
+no delay." These instructions were carried out to the letter. Mr.
+Lincoln was at first somewhat surprised at the apparent
+forwardness of the young woman, but observing her distressed
+appearance, he ceased conversation with his friend, and commenced
+an examination of the document she had placed in his hands.
+
+Glancing from it to the face of the petitioner, whose tears had
+broken forth afresh, he studied its expression for a moment, and
+then his eye fell upon her scanty but neat dress. Instantly his
+face lighted up.
+
+"My poor girl," said he, "you have come here with no Governor, or
+Senator, or member of Congress to plead your cause. You seem
+honest and truthful; and you don't wear hoopskirts--and I will be
+whipped but I will pardon your brother." And he did.
+
+
+LIEUTENANT TAD LINCOLN'S SENTINELS.
+
+President Lincoln's favorite son, Tad, having been sportively
+commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Army by Secretary
+Stanton, procured several muskets and drilled the men-servants of
+the house in the manual of arms without attracting the attention
+of his father. And one night, to his consternation, he put them
+all on duty, and relieved the regular sentries, who, seeing the
+lad in full uniform, or perhaps appreciating the joke, gladly
+went to their quarters. His brother objected; but Tad insisted
+upon his rights as an officer. The President laughed but declined
+to interfere, but when the lad had lost his little authority in
+his boyish sleep, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of
+the United States went down and personally discharged the
+sentries his son had put on the post.
+
+
+DOUGLAS HELD LINCOLN'S HAT.
+
+When Mr. Lincoln delivered his first inaugural he was introduced
+by his friend, United States Senator E. D. Baker, of Oregon. He
+carried a cane and a little roll--the manuscript of his inaugural
+address. There was moment's pause after the introduction, as he
+vainly looked for a spot where he might place his high silk hat.
+
+Stephen A. Douglas, the political antagonist of his whole public
+life, the man who had pressed him hardest in the campaign of
+1860, was seated just behind him. Douglas stepped forward
+quickly, and took the hat which Mr. Lincoln held helplessly in
+his hand.
+
+"If I can't be President," Douglas whispered smilingly to Mrs.
+Brown, a cousin of Mrs. Lincoln and a member of the President's
+party, "I at least can hold his hat."
+
+
+THE DEAD MAN SPOKE.
+
+Mr. Lincoln once said in a speech: "Fellow-citizens, my friend,
+Mr. Douglas, made the startling announcement to-day that the
+Whigs are all dead.
+
+"If that be so, fellow-citizens, you will now experience the
+novelty of hearing a speech from a dead man; and I suppose you
+might properly say, in the language of the old hymn
+
+"'Hark! from the tombs a doleful sound.'"
+
+
+MILITARY SNAILS NOT SPEEDY.
+
+President Lincoln--as he himself put it in conversation one day
+with a friend--"fairly ached" for his generals to "get down to
+business." These slow generals he termed "snails."
+
+Grant, Sherman and Sheridan were his favorites, for they were
+aggressive. They did not wait for the enemy to attack. Too many
+of the others were "lingerers," as Lincoln called them. They were
+magnificent in defense, and stubborn and brave, but their names
+figured too much on the "waiting list."
+
+The greatest fault Lincoln found with so many of the commanders
+on the Union side was their unwillingness to move until
+everything was exactly to their liking.
+
+Lincoln could not understand why these leaders of Northern armies
+hesitated.
+
+
+OUTRAN THE JACK-RABBIT.
+
+When the Union forces were routed in the first battle of Bull
+Run, there were many civilians present, who had gone out from
+Washington to witness the battle. Among the number were several
+Congressmen. One of these was a tall, long-legged fellow, who
+wore a long-tailed coat and a high plug hat. When the retreat
+began, this Congressman was in the lead of the entire crowd
+fleeing toward Washington. He outran all the rest, and was the
+first man to arrive in the city. No person ever made such good
+use of long legs as this Congressman. His immense stride carried
+him yards at every bound. He went over ditches and gullies at a
+single leap, and cleared a six-foot fence with a foot to spare.
+As he went over the fence his plug hat blew off, but he did not
+pause. With his long coat-tails flying in the wind, he continued
+straight ahead for Washington.
+
+Many of those behind him were scared almost to death, but the
+flying Congressman was such a comical figure that they had to
+laugh in spite of their terror.
+
+Mr. Lincoln enjoyed the description of how this Congressman led
+the race from Bull's Run, and laughed at it heartily.
+
+"I never knew but one fellow who could run like that," he said,
+"and he was a young man out in Illinois. He had been sparking a
+girl, much against the wishes of her father. In fact, the old
+man took such a dislike to him that he threatened to shoot him if
+he ever ought him around his premises again.
+
+"One evening the young man learned that the girl's father had
+gone to the city, and he ventured out to the house. He was
+sitting in the parlor, with his arm around Betsy's waist, when he
+suddenly spied the old man coming around the corner of the house
+with a shotgun. Leaping through a window into the garden, he
+started down a path at the top of his speed. He was a long-legged
+fellow, and could run like greased lightning. Just then a
+jack-rabbit jumped up in the path in front of him. In about two
+leaps he overtook the rabbit. Giving it a kick that sent it high
+in the air, he exclaimed: 'Git out of the road, gosh dern you,
+and let somebody run that knows how.'
+
+"I reckon," said Mr. Lincoln, "that the long-legged Congressman,
+when he saw the rebel muskets, must have felt a good deal like
+that young fellow did when he saw the old man's shot-gun."
+
+"FOOLING" THE PEOPLE.
+
+Lincoln was a strong believer in the virtue of dealing honestly
+with the people.
+
+"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens," he
+said to a caller at the White House, "you can never regain their
+respect and esteem.
+
+"It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time;
+you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't
+fool all of the people all the time."
+
+
+"ABE, YOU CAN'T PLAY THAT ON ME."
+
+The night President-elect Lincoln arrived at Washington, one man
+was observed watching Lincoln very closely as he walked out of
+the railroad station. Standing a little to one side, the man
+looked very sharply at Lincoln, and, as the latter passed, seized
+hold of his hand, and said in a loud tone of voice, "Abe, you
+can't play that on me!"
+
+Ward Lamon and the others with Lincoln were instantly alarmed,
+and would have struck the stranger had not Lincoln hastily said,
+"Don't strike him! It is Washburne. Don't you know him?"
+
+Mr. Seward had given Congressman Washburne a hint of the time the
+train would arrive, and he had the right to be at the station
+when the train steamed in, but his indiscreet manner of loudly
+addressing the President-elect might have led to serious
+consequences to the latter.
+
+
+HIS "BROAD" STORIES.
+
+Mrs. Rose Linder Wilkinson, who often accompanied her father,
+Judge Linder, in the days when he rode circuit with Mr. Lincoln,
+tells the following story:
+
+"At night, as a rule, the lawyers spent awhile in the parlor, and
+permitted the women who happened to be along to sit with them.
+But after half an hour or so we would notice it was time for us
+to leave them. I remember traveling the circuit one season when
+the young wife of one of the lawyers was with him. The place was
+so crowded that she and I were made to sleep together. When the
+time came for banishing us from the parlor, we went up to our
+room and sat there till bed-time, listening to the roars that
+followed each ether swiftly while those lawyers down-stairs told
+stoties and laughed till the rafters rang.
+
+"In the morning Mr. Lincoln said to me: 'Rose, did we disturb
+your sleep last night?' I answered, 'No, I had no sleep'--which
+was not entirely true but the retort amused him. Then the young
+lawyer's wife complained to him that we were not fairly used. We
+came along with them, young women, and when they were having the
+best time we were sent away like children to go to bed in the
+dark.
+
+"'But, Madame,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'you would not enjoy the
+things we laugh at.' And then he entered into a discussion on
+what have been termed his 'broad' stories. He deplored the fact
+that men seemed to remember them longer and with less effort than
+any others.
+
+"My father said: 'But, Lincoln, I don't remember the "broad" part
+of your stories so much as I do the moral that is in them,' and
+it was a thing in which they were all agreed."
+
+
+SORRY FOR THE HORSES.
+
+When President Lincoln heard of the Confederate raid at Fairfax,
+in which a brigadier-general and a number of valuable horses were
+captured, he gravely observed:
+
+"Well, I am sorry for the horses."
+
+"Sorry for the horses, Mr. President!" exclaimed the Secretary of
+War, raising his spectacles and throwing himself back in his
+chair in astonishment.
+
+"Yes," replied Mr., Lincoln, "I can make a brigadier-general in
+five minutes, but it is not easy to replace a hundred and ten
+horses."
+
+
+MILD REBUKE TO A DOCTOR.
+
+Dr. Jerome Walker, of Brooklyn, told how Mr. Lincoln once
+administered to him a mild rebuke. The doctor was showing Mr.
+Lincoln through the hospital at City Point.
+
+"Finally, after visiting the wards occupied by our invalid and
+convalescing soldiers," said Dr. Walker, "we came to three wards
+occupied by sick and wounded Southern prisoners. With a feeling
+of patriotic duty, I said: 'Mr. President, you won't want to go
+in there; they are only rebels.'
+
+"I will never forget how he stopped and gently laid his large
+hand upon my shoulder and quietly answered, 'You mean
+Confederates!' And I have meant Confederates ever since.
+
+"There was nothing left for me to do after the President's remark
+but to go with him through these three wards; and I could not see
+but that he was just as kind, his hand-shakings just as hearty,
+his interest just as real for the welfare of the men, as when he
+was among our own soldiers."
+
+
+COLD MOLASSES WAS SWIFTER.
+
+"Old Pap," as the soldiers called General George H. Thomas, was
+aggravatingly slow at a time when the President wanted him to
+"get a move on"; in fact, the gallant "Rock of Chickamauga" was
+evidently entered in a snail-race.
+
+"Some of my generals are so slow," regretfully remarked Lincoln
+one day, "that molasses in the coldest days of winter is a race
+horse compared to them.
+
+"They're brave enough, but somehow or other they get fastened in
+a fence corner, and can't figure their way out."
+
+
+LINCOLN CALLS MEDILL A COWARD.
+
+Joseph Medill, for many years editor of the Chicago Tribune, not
+long before his death, told the following story regarding the
+"talking to" President Lincoln gave himself and two other Chicago
+gentlemen who went to Washington to see about reducing Chicago's
+quota of troops after the call for extra men was made by the
+President in 1864:
+
+"In 1864, when the call for extra troops came, Chicago revolted.
+She had already sent 22,000 troops up to that time, and was
+drained. When the call came there were no young men to go, and no
+aliens except what were bought. The citizens held a mass meeting
+and appointed three persons, of whom I was one, to go to
+Washington and ask Stanton to give Cook County a new enrollment.
+"On reaching Washington, we went to Stanton with our statement.
+He refused entirely to give us the desired aid. Then we went to
+Lincoln. 'I cannot do it,' he said, 'but I will go with you to
+the War Department, and Stanton and I will hear both sides.'
+
+"So we all went over to the War Department together. Stanton and
+General Frye were there, and they, of course, contended that the
+quota should not be changed. The argument went on for some time,
+and was finally referred to Lincoln, who had been sitting
+silently listening.
+
+"I shall never forget how he suddenly lifted his head and turned
+on us a black and frowning face.
+
+"'Gentlemen,' he said, in a voice full of bitterness, 'after
+Boston, Chicago has been the chief instrument in bringing war on
+this country. The Northwest has opposed the South as New England
+has opposed the South. It is you who are largely responsible for
+making blood flow as it has.
+
+"'You called for war until we had it. You called for
+Emancipation, and I have given it to you. Whatever you have
+asked, you have had. Now you come here begging to be let off from
+the call for men, which I have made to carry out the war which
+you demanded. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. I have a
+right to expect better things of you.
+
+"'Go home and raise your six thousand extra men. And you,
+Medill, you are acting like a coward. You and your Tribune have
+had more influence than any paper in the Northwest in making this
+war. You can influence great masses, and yet you cry to be spared
+at a moment when your cause is suffering. Go home and send us
+those men!'
+
+"I couldn't say anything. It was the first time I ever was
+whipped, and I didn't have an answer. We all got up and went out,
+and when the door closed one of my colleagues said:
+
+"'Well, gentlemen, the old man is right. We ought to be ashamed
+of ourselves. Let us never say anything about this, but go home
+and raise the men.'
+
+"And we did--six thousand men--making twenty-eight thousand in
+the War from a city of one hundred and fifty-six thousand. But
+there might have been crape on every door, almost, in Chicago,
+for every family had lost a son or a husband. I lost two
+brothers. It was hard for the mothers."
+
+
+THEY DIDN'T BUILD IT.
+
+In 1862 a delegation of New York millionaires waited upon
+President Lincoln to request that he furnish a gunboat for the
+protection of New York harbor.
+
+Mr. Lincoln, after listening patiently, said: "Gentlemen, the
+credit of the Government is at a very low ebb; greenbacks are not
+worth more than forty or fifty cents on the dollar; it is
+impossible for me, in the present condition of things, to furnish
+you a gunboat, and, in this condition of things, if I was worth
+half as much as you, gentlemen, are represented to be, and as
+badly frightened as you seem to be, I would build a gunboat and
+give it to the Government."
+
+
+STANTON'S ABUSE OF LINCOLN.
+
+President Lincoln's sense of duty to the country, together with
+his keen judgment of men, often led to the appointment of persons
+unfriendly to him. Some of these appointees were, as well, not
+loyal to the National Government, for that matter.
+
+Regarding Secretary of War Stanton's attitude toward Lincoln,
+Colonel A. K. McClure, who was very close to President Lincoln,
+said:
+
+"After Stanton's retirement from the Buchanan Cabinet when
+Lincoln was inaugurated, he maintained the closest confidential
+relations with Buchanan, and wrote him many letters expressing
+the utmost contempt for Lincoln, the Cabinet, the Republican
+Congress, and the general policy of the Administration.
+
+"These letters speak freely of the 'painful imbecility of
+Lincoln,' of the 'venality and corruption' which ran riot in the
+government, and expressed the belief that no better condition of
+things was possible 'until Jeff Davis turns out the whole
+concern.'
+
+"He was firmly impressed for some weeks after the battle of Bull
+Run that the government was utterly overthrown, as he repeatedly
+refers to the coming of Davis into the National Capital.
+
+"In one letter he says that 'in less than thirty days Davis will
+be in possession of Washington;' and it is an open secret that
+Stanton advised the revolutionary overthrow of the Lincoln
+government, to be replaced by General McClellan as military
+dictator. These letters, bad as they are, are not the worst
+letters written by Stanton to Buchanan. Some of them were so
+violent in their expressions against Lincoln and the
+administration that they have been charitably withheld from the
+public, but they remain in the possession of the surviving
+relatives of President Buchanan.
+
+"Of course, Lincoln had no knowledge of the bitterness exhibited
+by Stanton to himself personally and to his administration, but
+if he had known the worst that Stanton ever said or wrote about
+him, I doubt not that he would have called him to the Cabinet in
+January, 1862. The disasters the army suffered made Lincoln
+forgetful of everything but the single duty of suppressing the
+rebellion.
+
+"Lincoln was not long in discovering that in his new Secretary of
+War he had an invaluable but most troublesome Cabinet officer,
+but he saw only the great and good offices that Stanton was
+performing for the imperilled Republic.
+
+"Confidence was restored in financial circles by the appointment
+of Stanton, and his name as War Minister did more to strengthen
+the faith of the people in the government credit than would have
+been probable from the appointment of any other man of that day.
+
+"He was a terror to all the hordes of jobbers and speculators and
+camp-followers whose appetites had been whetted by a great war,
+and he enforced the strictest discipline throughout our armies.
+
+"He was seldom capable of being civil to any officer away from
+the army on leave of absence unless he had been summoned by the
+government for conference or special duty, and he issued the
+strictest orders from time to time to drive the throng of
+military idlers from the capital and keep them at their posts. He
+was stern to savagery in his enforcement of military law. The
+wearied sentinel who slept at his post found no mercy in the
+heart of Stanton, and many times did Lincoln's humanity overrule
+his fiery minister.
+
+"Any neglect of military duty was sure of the swiftest
+punishment, and seldom did he make even just allowance for
+inevitable military disaster. He had profound, unfaltering faith
+in the Union cause, and, above all, he had unfaltering faith in
+himself.
+
+"He believed that he was in all things except in name
+Commander-in-Chief of the armies and the navy of the nation, and
+it was with unconcealed reluctance that he at times deferred to
+the authority of the President."
+
+
+THE NEGRO AND THE CROCODILE.
+
+In one of his political speeches, Judge Douglas made use of the
+following figure of speech: "As between the crocodile and the
+negro, I take the side of the negro; but as between the negro and
+the white man--I would go for the white man every time."
+
+Lincoln, at home, noted that; and afterwards, when he had
+occasion to refer to the remark, he said: "I believe that this is
+a sort of proposition in proportion, which may be stated thus:
+'As the negro is to the white man, so is the crocodile to the
+negro; and as the negro may rightfully treat the crocodile as a
+beast or reptile, so the white man may rightfully treat the negro
+as a beast or reptile.'"
+
+
+LINCOLN WAS READY TO FIGHT.
+
+On one occasion, Colonel Baker was speaking in a court-house,
+which had been a storehouse, and, on making some remarks that
+were offensive to certain political rowdies in the crowd, they
+cried: "Take him off the stand!"
+
+Immediate confusion followed, and there was an attempt to carry
+the demand into execution. Directly over the speaker's head was
+an old skylight, at which it appeared Mr. Lincoln had been
+listening to the speech. In an instant, Mr. Lincoln's feet came
+through the skylight, followed by his tall and sinewy frame, and
+he was standing by Colonel Baker's side. He raised his hand and
+the assembly subsided into silence. "Gentlemen," said Mr.
+Lincoln, "let us not disgrace the age and country in which we
+live. This is a land where freedom of speech is guaranteed. Mr.
+Baker has a right to speak, and ought to be permitted to do so. I
+am here to protect him, and no man shall take him from this stand
+if I can prevent it." The suddenness of his appearance, his
+perfect calmness and fairness, and the knowledge that he would do
+what he had promised to do, quieted all disturbance, and the
+speaker concluded his remarks without difficulty.
+
+
+IT WAS UP-HILL WORK.
+
+Two young men called on the President from Springfield, Illinois.
+Lincoln shook hands with them, and asked about the crops, the
+weather, etc.
+
+Finally one of the young men said, "Mother is not well, and she
+sent me up to inquire of you how the suit about the Wells
+property is getting on."
+
+Lincoln, in the same even tone with which he had asked the
+question, said: "Give my best wishes and respects to your mother,
+and tell her I have so many outside matters to attend to now that
+I have put that case, and others, in the hands of a lawyer friend
+of mine, and if you will call on him (giving name and address) he
+will give you the information you want."
+
+After they had gone, a friend, who was present, said: "Mr.
+Lincoln, you did not seem to know the young men?"
+
+He laughed and replied: "No, I had never seen them before, and I
+had to beat around the bush until I found who they were. It was
+up-hill work, but I topped it at last."
+
+
+LEE'S SLIM ANIMAL.
+
+President Lincoln wrote to General Hooker on June 5, 1863,
+warning Hooker not to run any risk of being entangled on the
+Rappahannock "like an ox jumped half over a fence and liable to
+be torn by dogs, front and rear, without a fair chance to give
+one way or kick the other." On the l0th he warned Hooker not to
+go south of the Rappahannock upon Lee's moving north of it. "I
+think Lee's army and not Richmond is your true objective power.
+If he comes toward the upper Potomac, follow on his flank, and on
+the inside track, shortening your lines while he lengthens his.
+Fight him, too, when opportunity offers. If he stay where he is,
+fret him, and fret him."
+
+On the 14th again he says: "So far as we can make out here, the
+enemy have Milroy surrounded at Winchester, and Tyler at
+Martinsburg. If they could hold out for a few days, could you
+help them? If the head of Lee's army is at Martinsburg, and the
+tail of it on the flank road between Fredericksburg and
+Chancellorsville, the animal must be very slim somewhere; could
+you not break him?"
+
+
+"MRS. NORTH AND HER ATTORNEY."
+
+In the issue of London "Punch" of September 24th, 1864, President
+Lincoln is pictured as sitting at a table in his law office,
+while in a chair to his tight is a client, Mrs. North. The latter
+is a fine client for any attorney to have on his list, being
+wealthy and liberal, but as the lady is giving her counsel, who
+has represented her in a legal way for four years, notice that
+she proposes to put her legal business in the hands of another
+lawyer, the dejected look upon the face of Attorney Lincoln is
+easily accounted for. "Punch" puts these words in the lady's
+mouth:
+
+MRS. NORTH: "You see, Mr. Lincoln, we have failed utterly in our
+course of action; I want peace, and so, if you cannot effect an
+amicable arrangement, I must put the case into other hands."
+
+In this cartoon, "Punch" merely reflected the idea, or sentiment,
+current in England in 1864, that the North was much dissatisfied
+with the War policy of President Lincoln; and would surely elect
+General McClellan to succeed the Westerner in the White House. At
+the election McClellan carried but one Northern State--New
+Jersey, where he was born--President Lincoln sweeping the country
+like a prairie fire.
+
+"Punch" had evidently been deceived by some bold, bad man, who
+wanted a little spending money, and sold the prediction to the
+funny journal with a certificate of character attached, written
+by--possibly--a member of the Horse Marines. "Punch," was very
+much disgusted to find that its credulity and faith in mankind
+had been so imposed upon, especially when the election returns
+showed that "the-War-is-a-failure" candidate ran so slowly that
+Lincoln passed him as easily as though the Democratic nominee was
+tied to a post.
+
+
+SATISFACTION TO THE SOUL.
+
+In the far-away days when "Abe" went to school in Indiana, they
+had exercises, exhibitions and speaking-meetings in the
+schoolhouse or the church, and "Abe" was the "star." His father
+was a Democrat, and at that time "Abe" agreed with his parent. He
+would frequently make political and other speeches to the boys
+and explain tangled questions.
+
+Booneville was the county seat of Warrick county, situated about
+fifteen miles from Gentryville. Thither "Abe" walked to be
+present at the sittings of the court, and listened attentively to
+the trials and the speeches of the lawyers.
+
+One of the trials was that of a murderer. He was defended by Mr.
+John Breckinridge, and at the conclusion of his speech "Abe" was
+so enthusiastic that he ventured to compliment him. Breckinridge
+looked at the shabby boy, thanked him, and passed on his way.
+
+Many years afterwards, in 1862, Breckinridge called on the
+President, and he was told, "It was the best speech that I, up to
+that time, had ever heard. If I could, as I then thought, make as
+good a speech as that, my soul would be satisfied."
+
+
+WITHDREW THE COLT.
+
+Mr. Alcott, of Elgin, Ill., tells of seeing Mr. Lincoln coming
+away from church unusually early one Sunday morning. "The sermon
+could not have been more than half way through," says Mr. Alcott.
+"'Tad' was slung across his left arm like a pair of saddlebags,
+and Mr. Lincoln was striding along with long, deliberate steps
+toward his home. On one of the street corners he encountered a
+group of his fellow-townsmen. Mr. Lincoln anticipated the
+question which was about to be put by the group, and, taking his
+figure of speech from practices with which they were only too
+familiar, said: 'Gentlemen, I entered this colt, but he kicked
+around so I had to withdraw him."'
+
+
+"TAD" GOT HIS DOLLAR.
+
+No matter who was with the President, or how intently absorbed,
+his little son "Tad" was always welcome. He almost always
+accompanied his father.
+
+Once, on the way to Fortress Monroe, he became very troublesome.
+The President was much engaged in conversation with the party who
+accompanied him, and he at length said:
+
+"'Tad,' if you will be a good boy, and not disturb me any more
+until we get to Fortress Monroe, I will give you a dollar."
+
+The hope of reward was effectual for awhile in securing silence,
+but, boylike, "Tad" soon forgot his promise, and was as noisy as
+ever. Upon reaching their destination, however, he said, very
+promptly: "Father, I want my dollar." Mr. Lincoln looked at him
+half-reproachfully for an instant, and then, taking from his
+pocketbook a dollar note, he said "Well, my son, at any rate, I
+will keep my part of the bargain."
+
+
+TELLS AN EDITOR ABOUT NASBY.
+
+Henry J. Raymond, the famous New York editor, thus tells of Mr.
+Lincoln's fondness for the Nasby letters:
+
+"It has been well said by a profound critic of Shakespeare, and
+it occurs to me as very appropriate in this connection, that the
+spirit which held the woe of Lear and the tragedy of "Hamlet"
+would have broken had it not also had the humor of the "Merry
+Wives of Windsor" and the merriment of the "Midsummer Night's
+Dream."
+
+"This is as true of Mr. Lincoln as it was of Shakespeare. The
+capacity to tell and enjoy a good anecdote no doubt prolonged his
+life.
+
+"The Saturday evening before he left Washington to go to the
+front, just previous to the capture of Richmond, I was with him
+from seven o'clock till nearly twelve. It had been one of his
+most trying days. The pressure of office-seekers was greater at
+this juncture than I ever knew it to be, and he was almost worn
+out.
+
+"Among the callers that evening was a party composed of two
+Senators, a Representative, an ex-Lieutenant-Governor of a
+Western State, and several private citizens. They had business of
+great importance, involving the necessity of the President's
+examination of voluminous documents. Pushing everything aside,
+he said to one of the party:
+
+"'Have you seen the Nasby papers?'
+
+"'No, I have not,' was the reply; 'who is Nasby?'
+
+"'There is a chap out in Ohio,' returned the President, 'who has
+been writing a series of letters in the newspapers over the
+signature of Petroleum V. Nasby. Some one sent me a pamphlet
+collection of them the other day. I am going to write to
+"Petroleum" to come down here, and I intend to tell him if he
+will communicate his talent to me, I will swap places with him!'
+
+"Thereupon he arose, went to a drawer in his desk, and, taking
+out the 'Letters,' sat down and read one to the company, finding
+in their enjoyment of it the temporary excitement and relief
+which another man would have found in a glass of wine. The
+instant he had ceased, the book was thrown aside, his countenance
+relapsed into its habitual serious expression, and the business
+was entered upon with the utmost earnestness."
+
+
+LONG AND SHORT OF IT.
+
+On the occasion of a serenade, the President was called for by
+the crowd assembled. He appeared at a window with his wife (who
+was somewhat below the medium height), and made the following
+"brief remarks":
+
+"Here I am, and here is Mrs. Lincoln. That's the long and the
+short of it."
+
+
+MORE PEGS THAN HOLES.
+
+Some gentlemen were once finding fault with the President because
+certain generals were not given commands.
+
+"The fact is," replied President Lincoln, "I have got more pegs
+than I have holes to put them in."
+
+
+"WEBSTER COULDN'T HAVE DONE MORE."
+
+Lincoln "got even" with the Illinois Central Railroad Company, in
+1855, in a most substantial way, at the same time secured sweet
+revenge for an insult, unwarranted in every way, put upon him by
+one of the officials of that corporation.
+
+Lincoln and Herndon defended the Illinois Central Railroad in an
+action brought by McLean County, Illinois, in August, 1853, to
+recover taxes alleged to be due the county from the road. The
+Legislature had granted the road immunity from taxation, and this
+was a case intended to test the constitutionality of the law. The
+road sent a retainer fee of $250.
+
+In the lower court the case was decided in favor of the railroad.
+An appeal to the Supreme Court followed, was argued twice, and
+finally decided in favor of the road. This last decision was
+rendered some time in 1855. Lincoln then went to Chicago and
+presented the bill for legal services. Lincoln and Herndon only
+asked for $2,000 more.
+
+The official to whom he was referred, after looking at the bill,
+expressed great surprise.
+
+"Why, sir," he exclaimed, "this is as much as Daniel Webster
+himself would have charged. We cannot allow such a claim."
+
+"Why not?" asked Lincoln.
+
+"We could have hired first-class lawyers at that figure," was the
+response.
+
+"We won the case, didn't we?" queried Lincoln.
+
+"Certainly," replied the official.
+
+"Daniel Webster, then," retorted Lincoln in no amiable tone,
+"couldn't have done more," and "Abe" walked out of the official's
+office.
+
+Lincoln withdrew the bill, and started for home. On the way he
+stopped at Bloomington, where he met Grant Goodrich, Archibald
+Williams, Norman B. Judd, O. H. Browning, and other attorneys,
+who, on learning of his modest charge for the valuable services
+rendered the railroad, induced him to increase the demand to
+$5,000, and to bring suit for that sum.
+
+This was done at once. On the trial six lawyers certified that
+the bill was reasonable, and judgment for that sum went by
+default; the judgment was promptly paid, and, of course, his
+partner, Herndon, got "your half Billy," without delay.
+
+
+LINCOLN MET CLAY.
+
+When a member of Congress, Lincoln went to Lexington, Kentucky,
+to hear Henry Clay speak. The Westerner, a Kentuckian by birth,
+and destined to reach the great goal Clay had so often sought,
+wanted to meet the "Millboy of the Slashes." The address was a
+tame affair, as was the personal greeting when Lincoln made
+himself known. Clay was courteous, but cold. He may never have
+heard of the man, then in his presence, who was to secure,
+without solicitation, the prize which he for many years had
+unsuccessfully sought. Lincoln was disenchanted; his ideal was
+shattered. One reason why Clay had not realized his ambition had
+become apparent.
+
+Clay was cool and dignified; Lincoln was cordial and hearty.
+Clay's hand was bloodless and frosty, with no vigorous grip in
+it; Lincoln's was warm, and its clasp was expressive of
+kindliness and sympathy.
+
+
+REMINDED "ABE" OF A LITTLE JOKE.
+
+President Lincoln had a little joke at the expense of General
+George B. McClellan, the Democratic candidate for the Presidency
+in opposition to the Westerner in 1864. McClellan was nominated
+by the Democratic National Convention, which assembled at
+Chicago, but after he had been named, and also during the
+campaign, the military candidate was characteristically slow in
+coming to the front.
+
+President Lincoln had his eye upon every move made by General
+McClellan during the campaign, and when reference was made one
+day, in his presence, to the deliberation and caution of the New
+Jerseyite, Mr. Lincoln remarked, with a twinkle in his eye,
+"Perhaps he is intrenching."
+
+The cartoon we reproduce appeared in "Harper's Weekly," September
+17th, 1864, and shows General McClellan, with his little spade in
+hand, being subjected to the scrutiny of the President--the man
+who gave McClellan, when the latter was Commander-in-Chief of the
+Union forces, every opportunity in the world to distinguish
+himself. There is a smile on the face of "Honest Abe," which
+shows conclusively that he does not regard his political opponent
+as likely to prove formidable in any way. President Lincoln
+"sized up" McClellan in 1861-2, and knew, to a fraction, how much
+of a man he was, what he could do, and how he went about doing
+it. McClellan was no politician, while the President was the
+shrewdest of political diplomats.
+
+
+HIS DIGNITY SAVED HIM.
+
+When Washington had become an armed camp, and full of soldiers,
+President Lincoln and his Cabinet officers drove daily to one or
+another of these camps. Very often his outing for the day was
+attending some ceremony incident to camp life: a military
+funeral, a camp wedding, a review, a flag-raising. He did not
+often make speeches. "I have made a great many poor speeches," he
+said one day, in excusing himself, "and I now feel relieved that
+my dignity does not permit me to be a public speaker."
+
+
+THE MAN HE WAS LOOKNG FOR
+
+Judge Kelly, of Pennsylvania, who was one of the committee to
+advise Lincoln of his nomination, and who was himself a great
+many feet high, had been eyeing Lincoln's lofty form with a
+mixture of admiration and possibly jealousy.
+
+This had not escaped Lincoln, and as he shook hands with the
+judge he inquired, "What is your height?"
+
+"Six feet three. What is yours, Mr. Lincoln?"
+
+"Six feet four."
+
+"Then," said the judge, "Pennsylvania bows to Illinois. My dear
+man, for years my heart has been aching for a President that I
+could look up to, and I've at last found him."
+
+
+HIS CABINET CHANCES POOR.
+
+Mr. Jeriah Bonham, in describing a visit he paid Lincoln at his
+room in the State House at Springfield, where he found him quite
+alone, except that two of his children, one of whom was "Tad,"
+were with him.
+
+"The door was open.
+
+"We walked in and were at once recognized and seated--the two
+boys
+still continuing their play about the room. "Tad" was spinning
+his top; and Lincoln, as we entered, had just finished adjusting
+the string for him so as to give the top the greatest degree of
+force. He remarked that he was having a little fun with the
+boys."
+
+At another time, at Lincoln's residence, "Tad" came into the
+room, and, putting his hand to his mouth, and his mouth to his
+father's ear, said, in a boy's whisper: "Ma says come to supper."
+
+All heard the announcement; and Lincoln, perceiving this, said:
+"You have heard, gentlemen, the announcement concerning the
+interesting state of things in the dining-room. It will never do
+for me, if elected, to make this young man a member of my
+Cabinet, for it is plain he cannot be trusted with secrets of
+state."
+
+THE GENERAL WAS "HEADED IN"
+
+A Union general, operating with his command in West Virginia,
+allowed himself and his men to be trapped, and it was feared his
+force would be captured by the Confederates. The President heard
+the report read by the operator, as it came over the wire, and
+remarked:
+
+"Once there was a man out West who was 'heading' a barrel, as
+they used to call it. He worked like a good fellow in driving
+down the hoops, but just about the time he thought he had the job
+done, the head would fall in. Then he had to do the work all over
+again.
+
+"All at once a bright idea entered his brain, and he wondered how
+it was he hadn't figured it out before. His boy, a bright, smart
+lad, was standing by,very much interested in the business, and,
+lifting the young one up, he put him inside the barrel, telling
+him to hold the head in its proper place, while he pounded down
+the hoops on the sides. This worked like a charm, and he soon had
+the 'heading' done.
+
+"Then he realized that his boy was inside the barrel, and how to
+get him out he couldn't for his life figure out. General Blank is
+now inside the barrel, 'headed in,' and the job now is to get him
+out."
+
+
+SUGAR-COATED.
+
+Government Printer Defrees, when one of the President's messages
+was being printed, was a good deal disturbed by the use of the
+term "sugar-coated," and finally went to Mr. Lincoln about it.
+
+Their relations to each other being of the most intimate
+character, he told the President frankly that he ought to
+remember that a message to Congress was a different affair from a
+speech at a mass meeting in Illinois; that the messages became a
+part of history, and should be written accordingly.
+
+"What is the matter now?" inquired the President.
+
+"Why," said Defrees, "you have used an undignified expression in
+the message"; and, reading the paragraph aloud, he added, "I
+would alter the structure of that, if I were you."
+
+"Defrees," replied the President, "that word expresses exactly my
+idea, and I am not going to change it. The time will never come
+in this country when people won't know exactly what
+'sugar-coated' means."
+
+
+COULD MAKE "RABBIT-TRACKS."
+
+When a grocery clerk at New Salem, the annual election came
+around. A Mr. Graham was clerk, but his assistant was absent, and
+it was necessary to find a man to fill his place. Lincoln, a
+"tall young man," had already concentrated on himself the
+attention of the people of the town, and Graham easily discovered
+him. Asking him if he could write, "Abe" modestly replied, "I can
+make a few rabbit-tracks." His rabbit-tracks proving to be
+legible and even graceful, he was employed.
+
+The voters soon discovered that the new assistant clerk was
+honest and fair, and performed his duties satisfactorily, and
+when, the work done, he began to "entertain them with stories,"
+they found that their town had made a valuable personal and
+social acquisition.
+
+
+LINCOLN PROTECTED CURRENCY ISSUES.
+
+Marshal Ward Lamon was in President Lincoln's office in the White
+House one day, and casually asked the President if he knew how
+the currency of the country was made. Greenbacks were then under
+full headway of circulation, these bits of paper being the
+representatives of United State money.
+
+"Our currency," was the President's answer, "is made, as the
+lawyers would put it, in their legal way, in the following
+manner, to-wit: The official engraver strikes off the sheets,
+passes them over to the Register of the Currency, who, after
+placing his earmarks upon them, signs the same; the Register
+turns them over to old Father Spinner, who proceeds to embellish
+them with his wonderful signature at the bottom; Father Spinner
+sends them to Secretary of the Treasury Chase, and he, as a final
+act in the matter, issues them to the public as money--and may
+the good Lord help any fellow that doesn't take all he can
+honestly get of them!"
+
+Taking from his pocket a $5 greenback, with a twinkle in his eye,
+the President then said: "Look at Spinner's signature! Was there
+ever anything like it on earth? Yet it is unmistakable; no one
+will ever be able to counterfeit it!"
+
+Lamon then goes on to say:
+
+"'But,' I said, 'you certainly don't suppose that Spinner
+actually wrote his name on that bill, do you?'
+
+"'Certainly, I do; why not?' queried Mr. Lincoln.
+
+"I then asked, 'How much of this currency have we afloat?'
+
+"He remained thoughtful for a moment, and then stated the amount.
+
+"I continued: 'How many times do you think a man can write a
+signature like Spinner's in the course of twenty-four hours?'
+
+"The beam of hilarity left the countenance of the President at
+once. He put the greenback into his vest pocket, and walked the
+floor; after awhile he stopped, heaved a long breath and said:
+'This thing frightens me!' He then rang for a messenger and told
+him to ask the Secretary of the Treasury to please come over to
+see him.
+
+"Mr. Chase soon put in an appearance; President Lincoln stated
+the cause of his alarm, and asked Mr. Chase to explain in detail
+the operations, methods, system of checks, etc., in his office,
+and a lengthy discussion followed, President Lincoln contending
+there were not sufficient safeguards afforded in any degree in
+the money-making department, and Secretary Chase insisting that
+every protection was afforded he could devise."
+
+Afterward the President called the attention of Congress to this
+important question, and devices were adopted whereby a check was
+put upon the issue of greenbacks that no spurious ones ever came
+out of the Treasury Department, at least. Counterfeiters were
+busy, though, but this was not the fault of the Treasury.
+
+
+LINCOLN'S APOLOGY TO GRANT.
+
+"General Grant is a copious worker and fighter," President
+Lincoln wrote to General Burnside in July, 1863, "but a meagre
+writer or telegrapher."
+
+Grant never wrote a report until the battle was over.
+
+President Lincoln wrote a letter to General Grant on July 13th,
+1863, which indicated the strength of the hold the successful
+fighter had upon the man in the White House.
+
+It ran as follows:
+
+"I do not remember that you and I ever met personally.
+
+"I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost
+inestimable service you have done the country.
+
+"I write to say a word further.
+
+"When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you
+should do what you finally did--march the troops across the neck,
+run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I
+never had any faith, except a general hope, that you knew better
+than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could
+succeed.
+
+"When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and
+vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General
+Banks; and when you turned northward, east of Big Black, I feared
+it was a mistake.
+
+"I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were
+right and I was wrong."
+
+
+LINCOLN SAID "BY JING."
+
+
+Lincoln never used profanity, except when he quoted it to
+illustrate a point in a story. His favorite expressions when he
+spoke with emphasis were "By dear!" and "By jing!"
+
+Just preceding the Civil War he sent Ward Lamon on a ticklish
+mission to South Carolina.
+
+When the proposed trip was mentioned to Secretary Seward, he
+opposed it, saying, "Mr. President, I fear you are sending Lamon
+to his grave. I am afraid they will kill him in Charleston, where
+the people are excited and desperate. We can't spare Lamon, and
+we shall feel badly if anything happens to him."
+
+Mr. Lincoln said in reply: "I have known Lamon to be in many a
+close place, and he has never, been in one that he didn't get out
+of, somehow. By jing! I'll risk him. Go ahead, Lamon, and God
+bless you! If you can't bring back any good news, bring a
+palmetto." Lamon brought back a palmetto branch, but no promise
+of peace.
+
+
+IT TICKLED THE LITTLE WOMAN.
+
+Lincoln had been in the telegraph office at Springfield during
+the casting of the first and second ballots in the Republican
+National Convention at Chicago, and then left and went over to
+the office of the State Journal, where he was sitting conversing
+with friends while the third ballot was being taken.
+
+In a few moments came across the wires the announcement of the
+result. The superintendent of the telegraph company wrote on a
+scrap of paper: "Mr. Lincoln, you are nominated on the third
+ballot," and a boy ran with the message to Lincoln.
+
+He looked at it in silence, amid the shouts of those around him;
+then rising and putting it in his pocket, he said quietly:
+"There's a little woman down at our house would like to hear
+this; I'll go down and tell her."
+
+
+"SHALL ALL FALL TOGETHER."
+
+After Lincoln had finished that celebrated speech in "Egypt" (as
+a section of Southern Illinois was formerly designated), in the
+course of which he seized Congressman Ficklin by the coat collar
+and shook him fiercely, he apologized. In return, Ficklin said
+Lincoln had "nearly shaken the Democracy out of him." To this
+Lincoln replied:
+
+"That reminds me of what Paul said to Agrippa, which, in language
+and substance, was about this: 'I would to God that such
+Democracy as you folks here in Egypt have were not only almost,
+but altogether, shaken out of, not only you, but all that heard
+me this day, and that you would all join in assisting in shaking
+off the shackles of the bondmen by all legitimate means, so that
+this country may be made free as the good Lord intended it.'"
+
+Said Ficklin in rejoinder: "Lincoln, I remember of reading
+somewhere in the same book from which you get your Agrippa story,
+that Paul, whom you seem to desire to personate, admonished all
+servants (slaves) to be obedient to them that are their masters
+according to the flesh, in fear and trembling.
+
+"It would seem that neither our Savior nor Paul saw the iniquity
+of slavery as you and your party do. But you must not think that
+where you fail by argument to convince an old friend like myself
+and win him over to your heterodox abolition opinions, you are
+justified in resorting to violence such as you practiced on me
+to-day.
+
+"Why, I never had such a shaking up in the whole course of my
+life. Recollect that that good old book that you quote from
+somewhere says in effect this: 'Woe be unto him who goeth to
+Egypt for help, for he shall fall. The holpen shall fall, and
+they shall all fall together.'"
+
+
+DEAD DOG NO CURE.
+
+Lincoln's quarrel with Shields was his last personal encounter.
+In later years it became his duty to give an official reprimand
+to a young officer who had been court-martialed for a quarrel
+with one of his associates. The reprimand is probably the
+gentlest on record:
+
+"Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself
+can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford
+to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his
+temper and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which
+you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones,
+though clearly your own.
+
+"Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in
+contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the
+bite."
+
+
+"THOROUGH" IS A GOOD WORD.
+
+Some one came to the President with a story about a plot to
+accomplish some mischief in the Government. Lincoln listened to
+what was a very superficial and ill-formed story, and then said:
+"There is one thing that I have learned, and that you have not.
+It is only one word--'thorough.'"
+
+Then, bringing his hand down on the table with a thump to
+emphasize his meaning, he added, "thorough!"
+
+
+THE CABINET WAS A-SETTIN'.
+
+Being in Washington one day, the Rev. Robert Collyer thought he'd
+take a look around. In passing through the grounds surrounding
+the White House, he cast a glance toward the Presidential
+residence, and was astonished to see three pairs of feet resting
+on the ledge of an open window in one of the apartments of the
+second story. The divine paused for a moment, calmly surveyed the
+unique spectacle, and then resumed his walk toward the War
+Department.
+
+Seeing a laborer at work not far from the Executive Mansion, Mr.
+Collyer asked him what it all meant. To whom did the feet belong,
+and, particularly, the mammoth ones? "You old fool," answered the
+workman, "that's the Cabinet, which is a-settin', an' them thar
+big feet belongs to 'Old Abe.'"
+
+
+A BULLET THROUGH HIS HAT.
+
+A soldier tells the following story of an attempt upon the life
+of
+Mr. Lincoln "One night I was doing sentinel duty at the entrance
+to the Soldiers' Home. This was about the middle of August, 1864.
+About eleven o'clock I heard a rifle shot, in the direction of
+the city, and shortly afterwards I heard approaching hoof-beats.
+In two or three minutes a horse came dashing up. I recognized the
+belated President. The President was bareheaded. The President
+simply thought that his horse had taken fright at the discharge
+of the firearms.
+
+"On going back to the place where the shot had been heard, we
+found the President's hat. It was a plain silk hat, and upon
+examination we discovered a bullet hole through the crown.
+
+"The next day, upon receiving the hat, the President remarked
+that it was made by some foolish marksman, and was not intended
+for him; but added that he wished nothing said about the matter.
+
+"The President said, philosophically: 'I long ago made up my mind
+that if anybody wants to kill me, he will do it. Besides, in this
+case, it seems to me, the man who would succeed me would be just
+as objectionable to my enemies--if I have any.'
+
+"One dark night, as he was going out with a friend, he took along
+a heavy cane, remarking, good-naturedly: 'Mother (Mrs. Lincoln)
+has got a notion into her head that I shall be assassinated, and
+to please her I take a cane when I go over to the War Department
+at night--when I don't forget it.'"
+
+
+NO KIND TO GET TO HEAVEN ON.
+
+Two ladies from Tennessee called at the White House one day and
+begged Mr. Lincoln to release their husbands, who were rebel
+prisoners at Johnson's Island. One of the fair petitioners urged
+as a reason for the liberation of her husband that he was a very
+religious man, and rang the changes on this pious plea.
+
+"Madam," said Mr. Lincoln, "you say your husband is a religious
+man. Perhaps I am not a good judge of such matters, but in my
+opinion the religion that makes men rebel and fight against their
+government is not the genuine article; nor is the religion the
+right sort which reconciles them to the idea of eating their
+bread in the sweat of other men's faces. It is not the kind to
+get to heaven on."
+
+Later, however, the order of release was made, President Lincoln
+remarking, with impressive solemnity, that he would expect the
+ladies to subdue the rebellious spirit of their husbands, and to
+that end he thought it would be well to reform their religion.
+"True patriotism," said he, "is better than the wrong kind of
+piety."
+
+
+THE ONLY REAL PEACEMAKER.
+
+During the Presidential campaign of 1864 much ill-feeling was
+displayed by the opposition to President Lincoln. The Democratic
+managers issued posters of large dimensions, picturing the
+Washington Administration as one determined to rule or ruin the
+country, while the only salvation for the United States was the
+election of McClellan.
+
+We reproduce one of these 1864 campaign posters on this page, the
+title of which is, "The True Issue; or 'That's What's the
+Matter.'"
+
+The dominant idea or purpose of the cartoon-poster was to
+demonstrate McClellan's availability. Lincoln, the Abolitionist,
+and Davis, the Secessionist, are pictured as bigots of the worst
+sort, who were determined that peace should not be restored to
+the distracted country, except upon the lines laid down by them.
+McClellan, the patriotic peacemaker, is shown as the man who
+believed in the preservation of the Union above all things--a man
+who had no fads nor vagaries.
+
+This peacemaker, McClellan, standing upon "the War-is-a-failure"
+platform, is portrayed as a military chieftain, who would stand
+no nonsense; who would compel Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Davis to cease
+their quarreling; who would order the soldiers on both sides to
+quit their blood-letting and send the combatants back to the
+farm, workshop and counting-house; and the man whose election
+would restore order out of chaos, and make everything bright and
+lovely.
+
+
+THE APPLE WOMAN'S PASS.
+
+One day when President Lincoln was receiving callers a buxom
+Irish woman came into the office, and, standing before the
+President, with her hands on her hips, said:
+
+"Mr. Lincoln, can't I sell apples on the railroad?"
+
+President Lincoln replied: "Certainly, madam, you can sell all
+you wish."
+
+"But," she said, "you must give me a pass, or the soldiers will
+not let me."
+
+President Lincoln then wrote a few lines and gave them to her.
+
+"Thank you, sir; God bless you!" she exclaimed as she departed
+joyfully.
+
+
+SPLIT RAILS BY THE YARD.
+
+It was in the spring of 1830 that "Abe" Lincoln, "wearing a jean
+jacket, shrunken buckskin trousers, a coonskin cap, and driving
+an ox-team," became a citizen of Illinois. He was physically and
+mentally equipped for pioneer work. His first desire was to
+obtain a new and decent suit of clothes, but, as he had no money,
+he was glad to arrange with Nancy Miller to make him a pair of
+trousers, he to split four hundred fence rails for each yard of
+cloth--fourteen hundred rails in all. "Abe" got the clothes after
+awhile.
+
+It was three miles from his father's cabin to her wood-lot, where
+he made the forest ring with the sound of his ax. "Abe" had
+helped his father plow fifteen acres of land, and split enough
+rails to fence it, and he then helped to plow fifty acres for
+another settler.
+
+
+THE QUESTION OF LEGS.
+
+Whenever the people of Lincoln's neighborhood engaged in dispute;
+whenever a bet was to be decided; when they differed on points of
+religion or politics; when they wanted to get out of trouble, or
+desired advice regarding anything on the earth, below it, above
+it, or under the sea, they went to "Abe."
+
+Two fellows, after a hot dispute lasting some hours, over the
+problem as to how long a man's legs should be in proportion to
+the size of his body, stamped into Lincoln's office one day and
+put the question to him.
+
+Lincoln listened gravely to the arguments advanced by both
+contestants, spent some time in "reflecting" upon the matter, and
+then, turning around in his chair and facing the disputants,
+delivered his opinion with all the gravity of a judge sentencing
+a fellow-being to death.
+
+"This question has been a source of controversy," he said, slowly
+and deliberately, "for untold ages, and it is about time it
+should be definitely decided. It has led to bloodshed in the
+past, and there is no reason to suppose it will not lead to the
+same in the future.
+
+"After much thought and consideration, not to mention mental
+worry and anxiety, it is my opinion, all side issues being swept
+aside, that a man's lower limbs, in order to preserve harmony of
+proportion, should be at least long enough to reach from his body
+to the ground."
+
+
+TOO MANY WIDOWS ALREADY.
+
+A Union officer in conversation one day told this story:
+
+"The first week I was with my command there were twenty-four
+deserters sentenced by court-martial to be shot, and the warrants
+for their execution were sent to the President to be signed. He
+refused.
+
+"I went to Washington and had an interview. I said:
+
+"'Mr. President, unless these men are made an example of, the
+army itself is in danger. Mercy to the few is cruelty to the
+many.'
+
+"He replied: 'Mr. General, there are already too many weeping
+widows in the United States. For God's sake, don't ask me to add
+to the number, for I won't do it.'"
+
+
+GOD NEEDED THAT CHURCH.
+
+In the early stages of the war, after several battles had been
+fought, Union troops seized a church in Alexandria, Va., and used
+it as a hospital.
+
+A prominent lady of the congregation went to Washington to see
+Mr. Lincoln and try to get an order for its release.
+
+"Have you applied to the surgeon in charge at Alexandria?"
+inquired Mr. Lincoln.
+
+"Yes, sir" but I can do nothing with him," was the reply.
+
+"Well, madam," said Mr. Lincoln, "that is an end of it, then. We
+put him there to attend to just such business, and it is
+reasonable to suppose that he knows better what should be done
+under the circumstances than I do."
+
+The lady's face showed her keen disappointment. In order to learn
+her sentiment, Mr. Lincoln asked:
+
+"How much would you be willing to subscribe toward building a
+hospital there?"
+
+She said that the war had depreciated Southern property so much
+that she could afford to give but little.
+
+"This war is not over yet," said Mr. Lincoln, "and there will
+likely be another fight very soon. That church may be very useful
+in which to house our wounded soldiers. It is my candid opinion
+that God needs that church for our wounded fellows; so, madam, I
+can do nothing for you."
+
+
+THE MAN DOWN SOUTH.
+
+An amusing instance of the President's preoccupation of mind
+occurred at one of his levees, when he was shaking hands with a
+host of visitors passing him in a continuous stream.
+
+An intimate acquaintance received the usual conventional
+hand-shake and salutation, but perceiving that he was not
+recognized, kept his ground instead of moving on, and spoke
+again, when the President, roused to a dim consciousness that
+something unusual had happened, perceived who stood before him,
+and, seizing his friend's hand, shook it again heartily, saying:
+
+"How do you do? How do you do? Excuse me for not noticing you. I
+was thinking of a man down South."
+
+"The man down South" was General W. T. Sherman, then on his march
+to the sea.
+
+
+COULDN'T LET GO THE HOG.
+
+When Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania described the terrible
+butchery at the battle of Fredericksburg, Mr. Lincoln was almost
+broken-hearted.
+
+The Governor regretted that his description had so sadly affected
+the President. He remarked: "I would give all I possess to know
+how to rescue you from this terrible war." Then Mr. Lincoln's
+wonderful recuperative powers asserted themselves and this
+marvelous man was himself.
+
+Lincoln's whole aspect suddenly changed, and he relieved his mind
+by telling a story.
+
+"This reminds me, Governor," he said, "of an old farmer out in
+Illinois that I used to know.
+
+"He took it into his head to go into hog-raising. He sent out to
+Europe and imported the finest breed of hogs he could buy.
+
+"The prize hog was put in a pen, and the farmer's two mischievous
+boys, James and John, were told to be sure not to let it out. But
+James, the worst of the two, let the brute out the next day. The
+hog went straight for the boys, and drove John up a tree, then
+the hog went for the seat of James' trousers, and the only way
+the boy could save himself was by holding on to the hog's tail.
+
+"The hog would not give up his hunt, nor the boy his hold! After
+they had made a good many circles around the tree, the boy's
+courage began to give out, and he shouted to his brother, 'I say,
+John, come down, quick, and help me let go this hog!'
+
+"Now, Governor, that is exactly my case. I wish some one would
+come and help me to let the hog go."
+
+
+THE CABINET LINCOLN WANTED.
+
+Judge Joseph Gillespie, of Chicago, was a firm friend of Mr.
+Lincoln, and went to Springfield to see him shortly before his
+departure for the inauguration.
+
+"It was," said judge Gillespie, "Lincoln's Gethsemane. He feared
+he was not the man for the great position and the great events
+which confronted him. Untried in national affairs, unversed in
+international diplomacy, unacquainted with the men who were
+foremost in the politics of the nation, he groaned when he saw
+the inevitable War of the Rebellion coming on. It was in humility
+of spirit that he told me he believed that the American people
+had made a mistake in selecting him.
+
+"In the course of our conversation he told me if he could select
+his cabinet from the old bar that had traveled the circuit with
+him in the early days, he believed he could avoid war or settle
+it without a battle, even after the fact of secession.
+
+"'But, Mr. Lincoln,' said I, 'those old lawyers are all
+Democrats.'
+
+"'I know it,' was his reply. 'But I would rather have Democrats
+whom I know than Republicans I don't know.'"
+
+
+READY FOR "BUTCHER-DAY."
+
+Leonard Swett told this eminently characteristic story:
+
+"I remember one day being in his room when Lincoln was sitting at
+his table with a large pile of papers before him, and after a
+pleasant talk he turned quite abruptly and said: 'Get out of the
+way, Swett; to-morrow is butcher-day, and I must go through these
+papers and see if I cannot find some excuse to let these poor
+fellows off.'
+
+"The pile of papers he had were the records of courts-martial of
+men who on the following day were to be shot."
+
+
+"THE BAD BIRD AND THE MUDSILL."
+
+It took quite a long time, as well as the lives of thousands of
+men, to say nothing of the cost in money, to take Richmond, the
+Capital City of the Confederacy. In this cartoon, taken from
+"Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper," of February 21, 1863,
+Jeff Davis is sitting upon the Secession eggs in the "Richmond"
+nest, smiling down upon President Lincoln, who is up to his waist
+in the Mud of Difficulties.
+
+The President finally waded through the morass, in which he had
+become immersed, got to the tree, climbed its trunk, reached the
+limb, upon which the "bad bird" had built its nest, threw the
+mother out, destroyed the eggs of Secession and then took the
+nest away with him, leaving the "bad bird" without any home at
+all.
+
+The "bad bird" had its laugh first, but the last laugh belonged
+to the "mudsill," as the cartoonist was pleased to call the
+President of the United States. It is true that the President got
+his clothes and hat all covered with mud, but as the job was a
+dirty one, as well as one that had to be done, the President
+didn't care. He was able to get another suit of clothes, as well
+as another hat, but the "bad bird" couldn't, and didn't, get
+another nest.
+
+The laugh was on the "bad bird" after all.
+
+
+GAVE THE SOLDIER HIS FISH.
+
+Once, when asked what he remembered about the war with Great
+Britain, Lincoln replied: "Nothing but this: I had been fishing
+one day and caught a little fish, which I was taking home. I met
+a soldier in the road, and, having been always told at home that
+we must be good to the soldiers, I gave him my fish."
+
+This must have been about 1814, when "Abe" was five years of age.
+
+
+A PECULIAR LAWYER.
+
+Lincoln was once associate counsel for a defendant in a murder
+case. He listened to the testimony given by witness after witness
+against his client, until his honest heart could stand it no
+longer; then, turning to his associate, he said: "The man is
+guilty; you defend him--I can't," and when his associate secured
+a verdict of acquittal, Lincoln refused to share the fee to the
+extent of one cent.
+
+Lincoln would never advise clients to enter into unwise or unjust
+lawsuits, always preferring to refuse a retainer rather than be a
+party to a case which did not commend itself to his sense of
+justice.
+
+
+IF THEY'D ONLY "SKIP."
+
+General Creswell called at the White House to see the President
+the day of the latter's assassination. An old friend, serving in
+the Confederate ranks, had been captured by the Union troops and
+sent to prison. He had drawn an affidavit setting forth what he
+knew about the man, particularly mentioning extenuating
+circumstances.
+
+Creswell found the President very happy. He was greeted with:
+"Creswell, old fellow, everything is bright this morning. The War
+is over. It has been a tough time, but we have lived it out,--or
+some of us have," and he dropped his voice a little on the last
+clause of the sentence. "But it is over; we are going to have
+good times now, and a united country."
+
+General Creswell told his story, read his affidavit, and said, "I
+know the man has acted like a fool, but he is my friend, and a
+good fellow; let him out; give him to me, and I will be
+responsible that he won't have anything more to do with the
+rebs."
+
+"Creswell," replied Mr. Lincoln, "you make me think of a lot of
+young folks who once started out Maying. To reach their
+destination, they had to cross a shallow stream, and did so by
+means of an old flatboat. When the time came to return, they
+found to their dismay that the old scow had disappeared. They
+were in sore trouble, and thought over all manner of devices for
+getting over the water, but without avail.
+
+"After a time, one of the boys proposed that each fellow should
+pick up the girl he liked best and wade over with her. The
+masterly proposition was carried out, until all that were left
+upon the island was a little short chap and a great, long,
+gothic-built, elderly lady.
+
+"Now, Creswell, you are trying to leave me in the same
+predicament. You fellows are all getting your own friends out of
+this scrape; and you will succeed in carrying off one after
+another, until nobody but Jeff Davis and myself will be left on
+the island, and then I won't know what to do. How should I feel?
+How should I look, lugging him over?
+
+"I guess the way to avoid such an embarrassing situation is to
+let them all out at once."
+
+He made a somewhat similar illustration at an informal Cabinet
+meeting, at which the disposition of Jefferson Davis and other
+prominent Confederates was discussed. Each member of the Cabinet
+gave his opinion; most of them were for hanging the traitors, or
+for some severe punishment. President Lincoln said nothing.
+
+Finally, Joshua F. Speed, his old and confidential friend, who
+had been invited to the meeting, said, "I have heard the opinion
+of your Ministers, and would like to hear yours."
+
+"Well, Josh," replied President Lincoln, "when I was a boy in
+Indiana, I went to a neighbor's house one morning and found a boy
+of my own size holding a coon by a string. I asked him what he
+had and what he was doing.
+
+"He says, 'It's a coon. Dad cotched six last night, and killed
+all but this poor little cuss. Dad told me to hold him until he
+came back, and I'm afraid he's going to kill this one too; and
+oh, "Abe," I do wish he would get away!'
+
+"'Well, why don't you let him loose?'
+
+"'That wouldn't be right; and if I let him go, Dad would give me
+h--. But if he got away himself, it would be all right.'
+
+"Now," said the President, "if Jeff Davis and those other fellows
+will only get away, it will be all right. But if we should catch
+them, and I should let them go, 'Dad would give me h--!'"
+
+
+FATHER OF THE "GREENBACK."
+
+Don Piatt, a noted journalist of Washington, told the story of
+the first proposition to President Lincoln to issue
+interest-bearing notes as currency, as follows:
+
+"Amasa Walker, a distinguished financier of New England,
+suggested that notes issued directly from the Government to the
+people, as currency, should bear interest. This for the purpose,
+not only of making the notes popular, but for the purpose of
+preventing inflation, by inducing people to hoard the notes as an
+investment when the demands of trade would fail to call them into
+circulation as a currency.
+
+"This idea struck David Taylor, of Ohio, with such force that he
+sought Mr. Lincoln and urged him to put the project into
+immediate execution. The President listened patiently, and at the
+end said, 'That is a good idea, Taylor, but you must go to Chase.
+He is running that end of the machine, and has time to consider
+your proposition.'
+
+"Taylor sought the Secretary of the Treasury, and laid before him
+Amasa Walker's plan. Secretary Chase heard him through in a cold,
+unpleasant manner, and then said: 'That is all very well, Mr.
+Taylor; but there is one little obstacle in the way that makes
+the plan impracticable, and that is the Constitution.'
+
+"Saying this, he turned to his desk, as if dismissing both Mr.
+Taylor and his proposition at the same moment.
+
+"The poor enthusiast felt rebuked and humiliated. He returned to
+the President, however, and reported his defeat. Mr. Lincoln
+looked at the would-be financier with the expression at times so
+peculiar to his homely face, that left one in doubt whether he
+was jesting or in earnest. 'Taylor!' he exclaimed, 'go back to
+Chase and tell him not to bother himself about the Constitution.
+Say that I have that sacred instrument here at the White House,
+and I am guarding it with great care.'
+
+"Taylor demurred to this, on the ground that Secretary Chase
+showed by his manner that he knew all about it, and didn't wish
+to be bored by any suggestion.
+
+"'We'll see about that,' said the President, and taking a card
+from the table, he wrote upon it
+
+"'The Secretary of the Treasury will please consider Mr.
+Taylor's proposition. We must have money, and I think this a
+good way to get it.
+
+"'A. LINCOLN.'"
+
+
+MAJOR ANDERSON'S BAD MEMORY.
+
+Among the men whom Captain Lincoln met in the Black Hawk campaign
+were Lieutenant-Colonel Zachary Taylor, Lieutenant Jefferson
+Davis, President of the Confederacy, and Lieutenant Robert
+Anderson, all of the United States Army.
+
+Judge Arnold, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," relates that
+Lincoln and Anderson did not meet again until some time in 1861.
+After Anderson had evacuated Fort Sumter, on visiting Washington,
+he called at the White House to pay his respects to the
+President. Lincoln expressed his thanks to Anderson for his
+conduct at Fort Sumter, and then said:
+
+"Major, do you remember of ever meeting me before?"
+
+"No, Mr. President, I have no recollection of ever having had
+that pleasure."
+
+"My memory is better than yours," said Lincoln; "you mustered me
+into the service of the United States in 1832, at Dixon's Ferry,
+in the Black Hawk war."
+
+
+NO VANDERBILT.
+
+In February, 1860, not long before his nomination for the
+Presidency, Lincoln made several speeches in Eastern cities.
+To an Illinois acquaintance, whom he met at the Astor House, 
+in New York, he said: "I have the cottage at Springfield, 
+and about three thousand dollars in money. If they make me 
+Vice-President with Seward, as some say they will, I hope 
+I shall be able to increase it to twenty thousand, and that
+is as much as any man ought to want."
+
+
+SQUASHED A BRUTAL LIE.
+
+In September, 1864, a New York paper printed the following brutal
+story:
+
+"A few days after the battle of Antietam, the President was
+driving over the field in an ambulance, accompanied by Marshal
+Lamon, General McClellan and another officer. Heavy details of
+men were engaged in the task of burying the dead. The ambulance
+had just reached the neighborhood of the old stone bridge, where
+the dead were piled highest, when Mr. Lincoln, suddenly slapping
+Marshal Lamon on the knee, exclaimed: 'Come, Lamon, give us that
+song about "Picayune Butler"; McClellan has never heard it.'
+
+"'Not now, if you please,' said General McClellan, with a
+shudder; 'I would prefer to hear it some other place and time.'"
+
+President Lincoln refused to pay any attention to the story,
+would not read the comments made upon it by the newspapers, and
+would permit neither denial nor explanation to be made. The
+National election was coming on, and the President's friends
+appealed to him to settle the matter for once and all. Marshal
+Lamon was particularly insistent, but the President merely said:
+
+"Let the thing alone. If I have not established character enough
+to give the lie to this charge, I can only say that I am mistaken
+in my own estimate of myself. In politics, every man must skin
+his own skunk. These fellows are welcome to the hide of this one.
+Its body has already given forth its unsavory odor."
+
+But Lamon would not "let the thing alone." He submitted to
+Lincoln a draft of what he conceived to be a suitable
+explanation, after reading which the President said:
+
+"Lamon, your 'explanation' is entirely too belligerent in tone
+for so grave a matter. There is a heap of 'cussedness' mixed up
+with your usual amiability, and you are at times too fond of a
+fight. If I were you, I would simply state the facts as they
+were. I would give the statement as you have here, without the
+pepper and salt. Let me try my hand at it."
+
+The President then took up a pen and wrote the following, which
+was copied and sent out as Marshal Lamon's refutation of the
+shameless slander:
+
+"The President has known me intimately for nearly twenty years,
+and has often heard me sing little ditties. The battle of
+Antietam was fought on the 17th day of September, 1862. On the
+first day of October, just two weeks after the battle, the
+President, with some others, including myself, started from
+Washington to visit the Army, reaching Harper's Ferry at noon of
+that day.
+
+"In a short while General McClellan came from his headquarters
+near the battleground, joined the President, and with him
+reviewed the troops at Bolivar Heights that afternoon, and at
+night returned to his headquarters, leaving the President at
+Harper's Ferry.
+
+"On the morning of the second, the President, with General
+Sumner, reviewed the troops respectively at Loudon Heights and
+Maryland Heights, and at about noon started to General
+McClellan's headquarters, reaching there only in time to see very
+little before night.
+
+"On the morning of the third all started on a review of the Third
+Corps and the cavalry, in the vicinity of the Antietam
+battle-ground. After getting through with General Burnside's
+corps, at the suggestion of General McClellan, he and the
+President left their horses to be led, and went into an ambulance
+to go to General Fitz John Porter's corps, which was two or three
+miles distant.
+
+"I am not sure whether the President and General McClellan were
+in the same ambulance, or in different ones; but myself and some
+others were in the same with the President. On the way, and on no
+part of the battleground, and on what suggestions I do not
+remember, the President asked me to sing the little sad song that
+follows ("Twenty Years Ago, Tom"), which he had often heard me
+sing, and had always seemed to like very much.
+
+"After it was over, some one of the party (I do not think it was
+the President) asked me to sing something else; and I sang two or
+three little comic things, of which 'Picayune Butler' was one.
+Porter's corps was reached and reviewed; then the battle-ground
+was passed over, and the most noted parts examined; then, in
+succession, the cavalry and Franklin's corps were reviewed, and
+the President and party returned to General McClellan's
+headquarters at the end of a very hard, hot and dusty day's work.
+
+"Next day (the 4th), the President and General McClellan visited
+such of the wounded as still remained in the vicinity, including
+the now lamented General Richardson; then proceeded to and
+examined the South-Mountain battle-ground, at which point they
+parted, General McClellan returning to his camp, and the
+President returning to Washington, seeing, on the way, General
+Hartsoff, who lay wounded at Frederick Town.
+
+"This is the whole story of the singing and its surroundings.
+Neither General McClellan nor any one else made any objections to
+the singing; the place was not on the battle-field; the time was
+sixteen days after the battle; no dead body was seen during the
+whole time the President was absent from Washington, nor even a
+grave that had not been rained on since the time it was made."
+
+
+"ONE WAR AT A TIME."
+
+Nothing in Lincoln's entire career better illustrated the
+surprising resources of his mind than his manner of dealing with
+"The Trent Affair." The readiness and ability with which he met
+this perilous emergency, in a field entirely new to his
+experience, was worthy the most accomplished diplomat and
+statesman. Admirable, also, was his cool courage and 
+self-reliance in following a course radically opposed to the
+prevailing sentiment throughout the country and in Congress, and
+contrary to the advice of his own Cabinet.
+
+Secretary of the Navy Welles hastened to approve officially the
+act of Captain Wilkes in apprehending the Confederate
+Commissioners Mason and Slidell, Secretary Stanton publicly
+applauded, and even Secretary of State Seward, whose long public
+career had made him especially conservative, stated that he was
+opposed to any concession or surrender of Mason and Slidell.
+
+But Lincoln, with great sagacity, simply said, "One war at a
+time."
+
+
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS.
+
+The President made his last public address on the evening of
+April 11th, 1865, to a gathering at the White House. Said he
+
+"We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart.
+
+"The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of
+the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy
+peace, whose joyous expression cannot be restrained.
+
+"In the midst of this, however, He from whom all blessings flow
+must not be forgotten.
+
+"Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoicing
+be overlooked; their honors must not be parceled out with others.
+
+"I myself was near the front, and had the high pleasure of
+transmitting the good news to you; but no part of the honor, for
+plan or execution, is mine.
+
+"To General Grant, his skillful officers and brave men, all
+belongs."
+
+
+NO OTHERS LIKE THEM.
+
+One day an old lady from the country called on President Lincoln,
+her tanned face peering up to his through a pair of spectacles.
+Her errand was to present Mr. Lincoln a pair of stockings of her
+own make a yard long. Kind tears came to his eyes as she spoke to
+him, and then, holding the stockings one in each hand, dangling
+wide apart for general inspection, he assured her that he should
+take them with him to Washington, where (and here his eyes
+twinkled) he was sure he should not be able to find any like
+them.
+
+Quite a number of well-known men were in the room with the
+President when the old lady made her presentation. Among them was
+George S. Boutwell, who afterwards became Secretary of the
+Treasury.
+
+The amusement of the company was not at all diminished by Mr.
+Boutwell's remark, that the lady had evidently made a very
+correct estimate of Mr. Lincoln's latitude and longitude.
+
+
+CASH WAS AT HAND.
+
+Lincoln was appointed postmaster at New Salem by President
+Jackson. The office was given him because everybody liked him,
+and because he was the only man willing to take it who could make
+out the returns. Lincoln was pleased, because it gave him a
+chance to read every newspaper taken in the vicinity. He had
+never been able to get half the newspapers he wanted before.
+
+Years after the postoffice had been discontinued and Lincoln had
+become a practicing lawyer at Springfield, an agent of the
+Postoffice Department entered his office and inquired if Abraham
+Lincoln was within. Lincoln responded to his name, and was
+informed that the agent had called to collect the balance due the
+Department since the discontinuance of the New Salem office.
+
+A shade of perplexity passed over Lincoln's face, which did not
+escape the notice of friends present. One of them said at once:
+
+"Lincoln, if you are in want of money, let us help you."
+
+He made no reply, but suddenly rose, and pulled out from a pile
+of books a little old trunk, and, returning to the table, asked
+the agent how much the amount of his debt was.
+
+The sum was named, and then Lincoln opened the trunk, pulled out
+a little package of coin wrapped in a cotton rag, and counted out
+the exact sum, amounting to more than seventeen dollars.
+
+After the agent had left the room, he remarked quietly that he
+had never used any man's money but his own. Although this sum had
+been in his hands during all those years, he had never regarded
+it as available, even for any temporary use of his own.
+
+
+WELCOMED THE LITTLE GIRLS.
+
+At a Saturday afternoon reception at the White House, many
+persons noticed three little girls, poorly dressed, the children
+of some mechanic or laboring man, who had followed the visitors
+into the White House to gratify their curiosity. They passed
+around from room to room, and were hastening through the
+reception-room, with some trepidation, when the President called
+to them:
+
+"Little girls, are you going to pass me without shaking hands?"
+
+Then he bent his tall, awkward form down, and shook each little
+girl warmly by the hand. Everybody in the apartment was
+spellbound by the incident, so simple in itself.
+
+
+"DON'T SWAP HORSES"
+
+Uncle Sam was pretty well satisfied with his horse, "Old Abe,"
+and, as shown at the Presidential election of 1864, made up his
+mind to keep him, and not "swap" the tried and true animal for a
+strange one. "Harper's Weekly" of November 12th, 1864, had a
+cartoon which illustrated how the people of the United States
+felt about the matter better than anything published at the time.
+We reproduce it on this page. Beneath the picture was this text:
+
+JOHN BULL: "Why don't you ride the other horse a bit? He's the
+best animal." (Pointing to McClellan in the bushes at the rear.)
+
+BROTHER JONATHAN: "Well, that may be; but the fact is, OLD ABE is
+just where I can put my finger on him; and as for the other
+--though they say he's some when out in the scrub yonder--I never
+know where to find him."
+
+
+MOST VALUABLE POLITICAL ATTRIBUTE.
+
+"One time I remember I asked Mr. Lincoln what attribute he
+considered most valuable to the successful politician," said
+Captain T. W. S. Kidd, of Springfield.
+
+"He laid his hand on my shoulder and said, very earnestly:
+
+"'To be able to raise a cause which shall produce an effect, and
+then fight the effect.'
+
+"The more you think about it, the more profound does it become."
+
+
+"ABE" RESENTED THE INSULT.
+
+A cashiered officer, seeking to be restored through the power of
+the executive, became insolent, because the President, who
+believed the man guilty, would not accede to his repeated
+requests, at last said, "Well, Mr. President, I see you are fully
+determined not to do me justice!"
+
+This was too aggravating even for Mr. Lincoln; rising he suddenly
+seized the disgraced officer by the coat collar, and marched him
+forcibly to the door, saying as he ejected him into the passage:
+
+"Sir, I give you fair warning never to show your face in this
+room again. I can bear censure, but not insult. I never wish to
+see your face again."
+
+
+ONE MAN ISN'T MISSED.
+
+Salmon P. Chase, when Secretary of the Treasury, had a
+disagreement with other members of the Cabinet, and resigned.
+
+The President was urged not to accept it, as "Secretary Chase is
+to-day a national necessity," his advisers said.
+
+"How mistaken you are!" Lincoln quietly observed. "Yet it is not
+strange; I used to have similar notions. No! If we should all be
+turned out to-morrow, and could come back here in a week, we
+should find our places filled by a lot of fellows doing just as
+well as we did, and in many instances better.
+
+"Now, this reminds me of what the Irishman said. His verdict was
+that 'in this country one man is as good as another; and, for the
+matter of that, very often a great deal better.' No; this
+Government does not depend upon the life of any man."
+
+
+"STRETCHED THE FACTS."
+
+George B. Lincoln, a prominent merchant of Brooklyn, was
+traveling through the West in 1855-56, and found himself one
+night in a town on the Illinois River, by the name of Naples. The
+only tavern of the place had evidently been constructed with
+reference to business on a small scale. Poor as the prospect
+seemed, Mr. Lincoln had no alternative but to put up at the
+place.
+
+The supper-room was also used as a lodging-room. Mr. Lincoln told
+his host that he thought he would "go to bed."
+
+"Bed!" echoed the landlord. "There is no bed for you in this
+house unless you sleep with that man yonder. He has the only one
+we have to spare."
+
+"Well," returned Mr. Lincoln, "the gentleman has possession, and
+perhaps would not like a bed-fellow."
+
+Upon this a grizzly head appeared out of the pillows, and said:
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"They call me Lincoln at home," was the reply.
+
+"Lincoln!" repeated the stranger; "any connection of our Illinois
+Abraham?"
+
+"No," replied Mr. Lincoln. "I fear not."
+
+"Well," said the old gentleman, "I will let any man by the name
+of 'Lincoln' sleep with me, just for the sake of the name. You
+have heard of Abe?" he inquired.
+
+"Oh, yes, very often," replied Mr. Lincoln. "No man could travel
+far in this State without hearing of him, and I would be very
+glad to claim connection if I could do so honestly."
+
+"Well," said the old gentleman, "my name is Simmons. 'Abe' and I
+used to live and work together when young men. Many a job of
+woodcutting and rail-splitting have I done up with him. Abe
+Lincoln was the likeliest boy in God's world. He would work all
+day as hard as any of us and study by firelight in the loghouse
+half the night; and in this way he made himself a thorough,
+practical surveyor. Once, during those days, I was in the upper
+part of the State, and I met General Ewing, whom President
+Jackson had sent to the Northwest to make surveys. I told him
+about Abe Lincoln, what a student he was, and that I wanted he
+should give him a job. He looked over his memorandum, and,
+holding out a paper, said:
+
+"'There is County must be surveyed; if your friend can do the
+work properly, I shall be glad to have him undertake it--the
+compensation will be six hundred dollars.'
+
+"Pleased as I could be, I hastened to Abe, after I got home, with
+an account of what I had secured for him. He was sitting before
+the fire in the log-cabin when I told him; and what do you think
+was his answer? When I finished, he looked up very quietly, and
+said:
+
+"'Mr. Simmons, I thank you very sincerely for your kindness, but
+I don't think I will undertake the job.'
+
+"'In the name of wonder,' said I, 'why? Six hundred does not
+grow upon every bush out here in Illinois.'
+
+"'I know that,' said Abe, 'and I need the money bad enough,
+Simmons, as you know; but I have never been under obligation to a
+Democratic Administration, and I never intend to be so long as I
+can get my living another way. General Ewing must find another
+man to do his work.'"
+
+A friend related this story to the President one day, and asked
+him if it were true.
+
+"Pollard Simmons!" said Lincoln. "Well do I remember him. It is
+correct about our working together, but the old man must have
+stretched the facts somewhat about the survey of the county. I
+think I should have been very glad of the job at the time, no
+matter what Administration was in power."
+
+
+IT LENGTHENED THE WAR.
+
+President Lincoln said, long before the National political
+campaign of 1864 had opened:
+
+"If the unworthy ambition of politicians and the jealousy that
+exists in the army could be repressed, and all unite in a common
+aim and a common endeavor, the rebellion would soon be crushed."
+
+
+HIS THEORY OF THE REBELLION.
+
+The President once explained to a friend the theory of the
+Rebellion by the aid of the maps before him.
+
+Running his long fore-finger down the map, he stopped at
+Virginia.
+
+"We must drive them away from here" (Manassas Gap), he said, "and
+clear them out of this part of the State so that they cannot
+threaten us here (Washington) and get into Maryland.
+
+"We must keep up a good and thorough blockade of their ports. We
+must march an army into East Tennessee and liberate the Union
+sentiment there. Finally we must rely on the people growing tired
+and saying to their leaders, 'We have had enough of this thing,
+we will bear it no longer.'"
+
+Such was President Lincoln's plan for headingoff the Rebellion in
+the summer of 1861. How it enlarged as the War progressed, from a
+call for seventy thousand volunteers to one for five hundred
+thousand men and $500,000,000 is a matter of well-known history.
+
+
+RAN AWAY WHEN VICTORIOUS.
+
+Three or four days after the battle of Bull Run, some gentlemen
+who had been on the field called upon the President.
+
+He inquired very minutely regarding all the circumstances of the
+affair, and, after listening with the utmost attention, said,
+with a touch of humor: "So it is your notion that we whipped the
+rebels and then ran away from them!"
+
+
+WANTED STANTON SPANKED.
+
+Old Dennis Hanks was sent to Washington at one time by persons
+interested in securing the release from jail of several men
+accused of being copperheads. It was thought Old Dennis might
+have some influence with the President.
+
+The latter heard Dennis' story and then said: "I will send for
+Mr. Stanton. It is his business."
+
+Secretary Stanton came into the room, stormed up and down, and
+said the men ought to be punished more than they were. Mr.
+Lincoln sat quietly in his chair and waited for the tempest to
+subside, and then quietly said to Stanton he would like to have
+the papers next day.
+
+When he had gone, Dennis said:
+
+"'Abe,' if I was as big and as ugly as you are, I would take him
+over my knee and spank him."
+
+The President replied: "No, Stanton is an able and valuable man
+for this Nation, and I am glad to bear his anger for the service
+he can give the Nation."
+
+
+STANTON WAS OUT OF TOWN.
+
+The quaint remark of the President to an applicant, "My dear sir,
+I have not much influence with the Administration," was one of
+Lincoln's little jokes.
+
+Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, once replied to an order from the
+President to give a colonel a commission in place of the
+resigning brigadier:
+
+"I shan't do it, sir! I shan't do it! It isn't the way to do it,
+sir, and I shan't do it. I don't propose to argue the question
+with you, sir."
+
+A few days after, the friend of the applicant who had presented
+the order to Secretary Stanton called upon the President and
+related his reception. A look of vexation came over the face of
+the President, and he seemed unwilling to talk of it, and desired
+the friend to see him another day. He did so, when he gave his
+visitor a positive order for the promotion. The latter told him
+he would not speak to Secretary Stanton again until he
+apologized.
+
+"Oh," said the President, "Stanton has gone to Fortress Monroe,
+and Dana is acting. He will attend to it for you."
+
+This he said with a manner of relief, as if it was a piece of
+good luck to find a man there who would obey his orders.
+
+The nomination was sent to the Senate and confirmed.
+
+
+IDENTIFIED THE COLORED MAN.
+
+Many applications reached Lincoln as he passed to and from the
+White House and the War Department. One day as he crossed the
+park
+he was stopped by a negro, who told him a pitiful story. The
+President wrote him out a check, which read. "Pay to colored man
+with one leg five dollars."
+
+
+OFFICE SEEKERS WORSE THAN WAR.
+
+When the Republican party came into power, Washington swarmed
+with office-seekers. They overran the White House and gave the
+President great annoyance. The incongruity of a man in his
+position, and with the very life of the country at stake, pausing
+to appoint postmasters, struck Mr. Lincoln forcibly. "What is
+the matter, Mr. Lincoln," said a friend one day, when he saw him
+looking particularly grave and dispirited. "Has anything gone
+wrong at the front?" "No," said the President, with a tired
+smile. "It isn't the war; it's the postoffice at Brownsville,
+Missouri."
+
+
+HE "SET 'EM UP."
+
+Immediately after Mr. Lincoln's nomination for President at the
+Chicago Convention, a committee, of which Governor Morgan, of New
+York, was chairman, visited him in Springfield, Ill., where he
+was officially informed of his nomination.
+
+After this ceremony had passed, Mr. Lincoln remarked to the
+company that as a fit ending to an interview so important and
+interesting as that which had just taken place, he supposed good
+manners would require that he should treat the committee with
+something to drink; and opening the door that led into the rear,
+he called out, "Mary! Mary!" A girl responded to the call, to
+whom Mr. Lincoln spoke a few words in an undertone, and, closing
+the door, returned again and talked with his guests. In a few
+minutes the maid entered, bearing a large waiter, containing
+several glass tumblers, and a large pitcher, and placed them upon
+the center-table. Mr. Lincoln arose, and, gravely addressing the
+company, said: "Gentlemen, we must pledge our mutual health in
+the most healthy beverage that God has given to man--it is the
+only beverage I have ever used or allowed my family to use, and I
+cannot conscientiously depart from it on the present occasion. It
+is pure Adam's ale from the spring." And, taking the tumbler, he
+touched it to his lips, and pledged them his highest respects in
+a cup of cold water. Of course, all his guests admired his
+consistency, and joined in his example.
+
+
+WASN'T STANTON'S SAY.
+
+A few days before the President's death, Secretary Stanton
+tendered his resignation as Secretary of War. He accompanied the
+act with a most heartfelt tribute to Mr. Lincoln's constant
+friendship and faithful devotion to the country, saying, also,
+that he, as Secretary, had accepted the position to hold it only
+until the war should end, and that now he felt his work was done,
+and his duty was to resign.
+
+Mr. Lincoln was greatly moved by the Secretary's words, and,
+tearing in pieces the paper containing the resignation, and
+throwing his arms about the Secretary, he said:
+
+"Stanton, you have been a good friend and a faithful public
+servant, and it is not for you to say when you will no longer be
+needed here."
+
+Several friends of both parties were present on the occasion, and
+there was not a dry eye that witnessed the scene.
+
+
+"JEFFY" THREW UP THE SPONGE.
+
+When the War was fairly on, many people were astonished to find
+that "Old Abe" was a fighter from "way back." No one was the
+victim of greater amazement than Jefferson Davis, President of
+the Confederate States of America. Davis found out that "Abe" was
+not only a hard hitter, but had staying qualities of a high
+order. It was a fight to a "finish" with "Abe," no compromises
+being accepted. Over the title, "North and South," the issue of
+"Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" of December 24th, 1864,
+contained the cartoon, see reproduce on this page. Underneath the
+picture were the lines:
+
+"Now, Jeffy, when you think you have had enough of this, say so,
+and I'll leave off." (See President's message.) In his message to
+Congress, December 6th,
+
+President Lincoln said: "No attempt at negotiation with the
+insurgent leader could result in any good. He would accept of
+nothing short of the severance of the Union."
+
+Therefore, Father Abraham, getting "Jeffy's" head "in chancery,"
+proceeded to change the appearance and size of the secessionist's
+countenance, much to the grief and discomfort of the Southerner.
+It was Lincoln's idea to re-establish the Union, and he carried
+out his purpose to the very letter. But he didn't "leave off"
+until "Jeffy" cried "enough."
+
+
+DIDN'T KNOW GRANT'S PREFERENCE.
+
+In October, 1864, President Lincoln, while he knew his
+re-election to the White House was in no sense doubtful, knew
+that if he lost New York and with it Pennsylvania on the home
+vote, the moral effect of his triumph would be broken and his
+power to prosecute the war and make peace would be greatly
+impaired. Colonel A. K. McClure was with Lincoln a good deal of
+the time previous to the November election, and tells this story:
+
+"His usually sad face was deeply shadowed with sorrow when I told
+him that I saw no reasonable prospect of carrying Pennsylvania on
+the home vote, although we had about held our own in the
+hand-to-hand conflict through which we were passing.
+
+"'Well, what is to be done?' was Lincoln's inquiry, after the
+whole situation had been presented to him. I answered that the
+solution of the problem was a very simple and easy one--that
+Grant was idle in front of Petersburg; that Sheridan had won all
+possible victories in the Valley; and that if five thousand
+Pennsylvania soldiers could be furloughed home from each army,
+the election could be carried without doubt.
+
+"Lincoln's face' brightened instantly at the suggestion, and I
+saw that he was quite ready to execute it. I said to him: 'Of
+course, you can trust want to make the suggestion to him to
+furlough five thousand Pennsylvania troops for two weeks?'
+
+"'To my surprise, Lincoln made no answer, and the bright face of
+a few moments before was instantly shadowed again. I was much
+disconcerted, as I supposed that Grant was the one man to whom
+Lincoln could turn with absolute confidence as his friend. I then
+said, with some earnestness: 'Surely, Mr. President, you can
+trust Grant with a confidential suggestion to furlough
+Pennsylvania troops?'
+
+"Lincoln remained silent and evidently distressed at the
+proposition I was pressing upon him. After a few moments, and
+speaking with emphasis, I said: 'It can't be possible that Grant
+is not your friend; he can't be such an ingrate?'
+
+"Lincoln hesitated for some time, and then answered in these
+words: 'Well, McClure, I have no reason to believe that Grant
+prefers my election to that of McClellan.'
+
+"I believe Lincoln was mistaken in his distrust of Grant."
+
+
+JUSTICE vs. NUMBERS.
+
+Lincoln was constantly bothered by members of delegations of
+"goody-goodies," who knew all about running the War, but had no
+inside information as to what was going on. Yet, they poured out
+their advice in streams, until the President was heartily sick of
+the whole business, and wished the War would find some way to
+kill off these nuisances.
+
+"How many men have the Confederates now in the field?" asked one
+of these bores one day.
+
+"About one million two hundred thousand," replied the President.
+
+"Oh, my! Not so many as that, surely, Mr. Lincoln."
+
+"They have fully twelve hundred thousand, no doubt of it. You
+see, all of our generals when they get whipped say the enemy
+outnumbers them from three or five to one, and I must believe
+them. We have four hundred thousand men in the field, and three
+times four make twelve,--don't you see it? It is as plain to be
+seen as the nose on a man's face; and at the rate things are now
+going, with the great amount of speculation and the small crop of
+fighting, it will take a long time to overcome twelve hundred
+thousand rebels in arms.
+
+"If they can get subsistence they have everything else, except a
+just cause. Yet it is said that 'thrice is he armed that hath his
+quarrel just.' I am willing, however, to risk our advantage of
+thrice in justice against their thrice in numbers."
+
+
+NO FALSE PRIDE IN LINCOLN.
+
+General McClellan had little or no conception of the greatness of
+Abraham Lincoln. As time went on, he began to show plainly his
+contempt of the President, frequently allowing him to wait in the
+ante-room of his house while he transacted business with others.
+This discourtesy was so open that McClellan's staff noticed it,
+and newspaper correspondents commented on it. The President was
+too keen not to see the situation, but he was strong enough to
+ignore it. It was a battle he wanted from McClellan, not
+deference.
+
+"I will hold McClellan's horse, if he will only bring us
+success," he said one day.
+
+
+EXTRA MEMBER OF THE CABINET.
+
+G. H. Giddings was selected as the bearer of a message from the
+President to Governor Sam Houston, of Texas. A conflict had
+arisen there between the Southern party and the Governor, Sam
+Houston, and on March 18 the latter had been deposed. When Mr.
+Lincoln heard of this, he decided to try to get a message to the
+Governor, offering United States support if he would put himself
+at the head of the Union party of the State.
+
+Mr. Giddings thus told of his interview with the President:
+
+"He said to me that the message was of such importance that,
+before handing it to me, he would read it to me. Before beginning
+to read he said, 'This is a confidential and secret message. No
+one besides my Cabinet and myself knows anything about it, and we
+are all sworn to secrecy. I am going to swear you in as one of my
+Cabinet.'
+
+"And then he said to me in a jocular way, 'Hold up your right
+hand,' which I did.
+
+"'Now,' said he, consider yourself a member of my Cabinet."'
+
+
+HOW LINCOLN WAS ABUSED.
+
+With the possible exception of President Washington, whose
+political opponents did not hesitate to rob the vocabulary of
+vulgarity and wickedness whenever they desired to vilify the
+Chief Magistrate, Lincoln was the most and "best" abused man who
+ever held office in the United States. During the first half of
+his initial term there was no epithet which was not applied to
+him.
+
+One newspaper in New York habitually characterized him as "that
+hideous baboon at the other end of the avenue," and declared that
+"Barnum should buy and exhibit him as a zoological curiosity."
+
+Although the President did not, to all appearances, exhibit
+annoyance because of the various diatribes printed and spoken,
+yet the fact is that his life was so cruelly embittered by these
+and other expressions quite as virulent, that he often declared
+to those most intimate with him, "I would rather be dead than, as
+President, thus abused in the house of my friends."
+
+
+HOW "FIGHTING JOE" WAS APPOINTED.
+
+General "Joe" Hooker, the fourth commander of the noble but
+unfortunate Army of the Potomac, was appointed to that position
+by President Lincoln in January, 1863. General Scott, for some
+reason, disliked Hooker and would not appoint him. Hooker, after
+some months of discouraging waiting, decided to return to
+California, and called to pay his respects to President Lincoln.
+He was introduced as Captain Hooker, and to the surprise of the
+President began the following speech:
+
+"Mr. President, my friend makes a mistake. I am not Captain
+Hooker, but was once Lieutenant-Colonel Hooker of the regular
+army. I was lately a farmer in California, but since the
+Rebellion broke out I have been trying to get into service, but I
+find I am not wanted.
+
+"I am about to return home; but before going, I was anxious to
+pay my respects to you, and express my wishes for your personal
+welfare and success in quelling this Rebellion. And I want to say
+to you a word more.
+
+"I was at Bull Run the other day, Mr. President, and it is no
+vanity in me to say, I am a darned sight better general than you
+had on the field."
+
+This was said, not in the tone of a braggart, but of a man who
+knew what he was talking about. Hooker did not return to
+California, but in a few weeks Captain Hooker received from the
+President a commission as Brigadier-General Hooker.
+
+
+KEPT HIS COURAGE UP.
+
+The President, like old King Saul, when his term was about to
+expire, was in a quandary concerning a further lease of the
+Presidential office. He consulted again the "prophetess" of
+Georgetown, immortalized by his patronage.
+
+She retired to an inner chamber, and, after raising and
+consulting more than a dozen of distinguished spirits from Hades,
+she returned to the reception-parlor, where the chief magistrate
+awaited her, and declared that General Grant would capture
+Richmond, and that "Honest Old Abe" would be next President.
+
+She, however, as the report goes, told him to beware of Chase.
+
+
+A FORTUNE-TELLER'S PREDICTION.
+
+Lincoln had been born and reared among people who were believers
+in premonitions and supernatural appearances all his life, and he
+once declared to his friends that he was "from boyhood
+superstitious."
+
+He at one time said to Judge Arnold that "the near approach of
+the important events of his life were indicated by a presentiment
+or a strange dream, or in some other mysterious way it was
+impressed upon him that something important was to occur." This
+was earlier than 1850.
+
+It is said that on his second visit to New Orleans, Lincoln and
+his companion, John Hanks, visited an old fortune-teller--a
+voodoo negress. Tradition says that "during the interview she
+became very much excited, and after various predictions,
+exclaimed: 'You will be President, and all the negroes will be
+free.'"
+
+That the old voodoo negress should have foretold that the visitor
+would be President is not at all incredible. She doubtless told
+this to many aspiring lads, but Lincoln, so it is avowed took the
+prophecy seriously.
+
+
+TOO MUCH POWDER.
+
+So great was Lincoln's anxiety for the success of the Union arms
+that he considered no labor on his part too arduous, and spent
+much of his time in looking after even the small details.
+
+Admiral Dahlgren was sent for one morning by the President, who
+said "Well, captain, here's a letter about some new powder."
+
+After reading the letter he showed the sample of powder, and
+remarked that he had burned some of it, and did not believe it
+was a good article--here was too much residuum.
+
+"I will show you," he said; and getting a small piece of paper,
+placed thereupon some of the powder, then went to the fire and
+with the tongs picked up a coal, which he blew, clapped it on the
+powder, and after the resulting explosion, added, "You see there
+is too much left there."
+
+
+SLEEP STANDING UP.
+
+McClellan was a thorn in Lincoln's side--"always up in the air,"
+as the President put it--and yet he hesitated to remove him. "The
+Young Napoleon" was a good organizer, but no fighter. Lincoln
+sent him everything necessary in the way of men, ammunition,
+artillery and equipments, but he was forever unready.
+
+Instead of making a forward movement at the time expected, he
+would notify the President that he must have more men. These were
+given him as rapidly as possible, and then would come a demand
+for more horses, more this and that, usually winding up with a
+demand for still "more men."
+
+Lincoln bore it all in patience for a long time, but one day,
+when he had received another request for more men, he made a
+vigorous protest.
+
+"If I gave McClellan all the men he asks for," said the
+President, "they couldn't find room to lie down. They'd have to
+sleep standing up."
+
+
+SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT ANOTHER BATTLE.
+
+General Meade, after the great victory at Gettysburg, was again
+face to face with General Lee shortly afterwards at Williamsport,
+and even the former's warmest friends agree that he might have
+won in another battle, but he took no action. He was not a
+"pushing" man like Grant. It was this negligence on the part of
+Meade that lost him the rank of Lieutenant-General, conferred
+upon General Sheridan.
+
+A friend of Meade's, speaking to President Lincoln and intimating
+that Meade should have, after that battle, been made
+Commander-in-Chief of the Union Armies, received this reply from
+Lincoln:
+
+"Now, don't misunderstand me about General Meade. I am profoundly
+grateful down to the bottom of my boots for what he did at
+Gettysburg, but I think that if I had been General Meade I would
+have fought another battle."
+
+
+LINCOLN UPBRAIDED LAMON.
+
+In one of his reminiscences of Lincoln, Ward Lamon tells how
+keenly the President-elect always regretted the "sneaking in act"
+when he made the celebrated "midnight ride," which he took under
+protest, and landed him in Washington known to but a few. Lamon
+says:
+
+"The President was convinced that he committed a grave mistake in
+listening to the solicitations of a 'professional spy' and of
+friends too easily alarmed, and frequently upbraided me for
+having aided him to degrade himself at the very moment in all his
+life when his behavior should have exhibited the utmost dignity
+and composure.
+
+"Neither he nor the country generally then understood the true
+facts concerning the dangers to his life. It is now an
+acknowledged fact that there never was a moment from the day he
+crossed the Maryland line, up to the time of his assassination,
+that he was not in danger of death by violence, and that his life
+was spared until the night of the 14th of April, 1865, only
+through the ceaseless and watchful care of the guards thrown
+around him."
+
+
+MARKED OUT A FEW WORDS.
+
+President Lincoln was calm and unmoved when England and France
+were blustering and threatening war. At Lincoln's instance
+Secretary of State Seward notified the English Cabinet and the
+French Emperor that as ours was merely a family quarrel of a
+strictly private and confidential nature, there was no call for
+meddling; also that they would have a war on their hands in a
+very few minutes if they didn't keep their hands off.
+
+Many of Seward's notes were couched in decidedly peppery terms,
+some expressions being so tart that President Lincoln ran his pen
+through them.
+
+
+LINCOLN SILENCES SEWARD.
+
+General Farnsworth told the writer nearly twenty years ago that,
+being in the War Office one day, Secretary Stanton told him that
+at the last Cabinet meeting he had learned a lesson he should
+never forget, and thought he had obtained an insight into Mr.
+Lincoln's wonderful power over the masses. The Secretary said a
+Cabinet meeting was called to consider our relations with England
+in regard to the Mason-Slidell affair. One after another of the
+Cabinet presented his views, and Mr. Seward read an elaborate
+diplomatic dispatch, which he had prepared.
+
+Finally Mr. Lincoln read what he termed "a few brief remarks upon
+the subject," and asked the opinions of his auditors. They
+unanimously agreed that our side of the question needed no more
+argument than was contained in the President's "few brief
+remarks."
+
+Mr. Seward said he would be glad to adopt the remarks, and,
+giving them more of the phraseology usual in diplomatic circles,
+send them to Lord Palmerston, the British premier.
+
+"Then," said Secretary Stanton, "came the demonstration. The
+President, half wheeling in his seat, threw one leg over the
+chair-arm, and, holding the letter in his hand, said, 'Seward, do
+you suppose Palmerston will understand our position from that
+letter, just as it is?'
+
+"'Certainly, Mr. President.'
+
+"'Do you suppcse the London Times will?'
+
+"'Certainly.'
+
+"'Do you suppose the average Englishman of affairs will?'
+
+"'Certainly; it cannot be mistaken in England.'
+
+"'Do you suppose that a hackman out on his box (pointing to the
+street) will understand it?'
+
+"'Very readily, Mr. President.'
+
+"'Very well, Seward, I guess we'll let her slide just as she
+is.'
+
+"And the letter did 'slide,' and settled the whole business in a
+manner that was effective."
+
+
+BROUGHT THE HUSBAND UP.
+
+One morning President Lincoln asked Major Eckert, on duty at the
+White House, "Who is that woman crying out in the hall? What is
+the matter with her?"
+
+Eckert said it was a woman who had come a long distance expecting
+to go down to the army to see her husband. An order had gone out
+a short time before to allow no women in the army, except in
+special cases.
+
+Mr. Lincoln sat moodily for a moment after hearing this story,
+and suddenly looking up, said, "Let's send her down. You write
+the order, Major."
+
+Major Eckert hesitated a moment, and replied, "Would it not be
+better for Colonel Hardie to write the order?"
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Lincoln, "that is better; let Hardie write it."
+
+The major went out, and soon returned, saying, "Mr. President,
+would it not be better in this case to let the woman's husband
+come to Washington?"
+
+Mr. Lincoln's face lighted up with pleasure. "Yes, yes," was the
+President's answer in a relieved tone; "that's the best way;
+bring him up."
+
+The order was written, and the man was sent to Washington.
+
+
+NO WAR WITHOUT BLOOD-LETTING.
+
+"You can't carry on war without blood-letting," said Lincoln one
+day.
+
+The President, although almost feminine in his kind-heartedness,
+knew not only this, but also that large bodies of soldiers in
+camp were at the mercy of diseases of every sort, the result
+being a heavy casualty list.
+
+Of the (estimated) half-million men of the Union armies who gave
+up their lives in the War of the Rebellion--1861-65--fullY
+seventy-five per cent died of disease. The soldiers killed upon
+the field of battle constituted a comparatively small proportion
+of the casualties.
+
+
+LINCOLN'S TWO DIFFICULTIES.
+
+London "Punch" caricatured President Lincoln in every possible
+way, holding him and the Union cause up to the ridicule of the
+world so far as it could. On August 23rd, 1862, its cartoon
+entitled "Lincoln's Two Difficulties" had the text underneath:
+LINCOLN: "What? No money! No men!" "Punch" desired to create the
+impression that the Washington Government was in a bad way,
+lacking both money and men for the purpose of putting down the
+Rebellion; that the United States Treasury was bankrupt, and the
+people of the North so devoid of patriotism that they would not
+send men for the army to assist in destroying the Confederacy.
+The truth is, that when this cartoon was printed the North had
+five hundred thousand men in the field, and, before the War
+closed, had provided fully two million and a half troops. The
+report of the Secretary of the Treasury which showed the
+financial affairs and situation of the United States up to July,
+1862. The receipts of the National Government for the year ending
+June 30th, 1862, were $10,000,000 in excess of the expenditures,
+although the War was costing the country $2,000,000 per day; the
+credit of the United States was good, and business matters were
+in a satisfactory state. The Navy, by August 23rd, 1862, had
+received eighteen thousand additional men, and was in fine shape;
+the people of the North stood ready to supply anything the
+Government needed, so that, all things taken together,the "Punch"
+cartoon was not exactly true, as the facts and figures abundantly
+proved.
+
+
+WHITE ELEPHANT ON HIS HANDS.
+
+An old and intimate friend from Springfield called on President
+Lincoln and found him much depressed.
+
+The President was reclining on a sofa, but rising suddenly he
+said to his friend:
+
+"You know better than any man living that from my boyhood up my
+ambition was to be President. I am President of one part of this
+divided country at least; but look at me! Oh, I wish I had never
+been born!
+
+"I've a white elephant on my hands--one hard to manage. With a
+fire in my front and rear to contend with, the jealousies of the
+military commanders, and not receiving that cordial co-operative
+support from Congress that could reasonably be expected with an
+active and formidable enemy in the field threatening the very
+life-blood of the Government, my position is anything but a bed
+of roses."
+
+
+WHEN LINCOLN AND GRANT CLASHED.
+
+Ward Lamon, one of President Lincoln's law partners, and his most
+intimate friend in Washington, has this to relate:
+
+"I am not aware that there was ever a serious discord or
+misunderstanding between Mr. Lincoln and General Grant, except on
+a single occasion. From the commencement of the struggle,
+Lincoln's policy was to break the backbone of the Confederacy by
+depriving it of its principal means of subsistence.
+
+"Cotton was its vital aliment; deprive it of this, and the
+rebellion must necessarily collapse. The Hon. Elihu B. Washburne
+from the outset was opposed to any contraband traffic with the
+Confederates.
+
+"Lincoln had given permits and passes through the lines to two
+persons--Mr. Joseph Mattox of Maryland and General Singleton of
+Illinois--to enable them to bring cotton and other Southern
+products from Virginia. Washburne heard of it, called immediately
+on Mr. Lincoln, and, after remonstrating with him on the
+impropriety of such a demarche, threatened to have General Grant
+countermand the permits if they were not revoked.
+
+"Naturally, both became excited. Lincoln declared that he did not
+believe General Grant would take upon himself the responsibility
+of such an act. 'I will show you, sir; I will show you whether
+Grant will do it or not,' responded Mr. Washburne, as he abruptly
+withdrew.
+
+"By the next boat, subsequent to this interview, the Congressman
+left Washington for the headquarters of General Grant. He
+returned shortly afterward to the city, and so likewise did
+Mattox and Singleton. Grant had countermanded the permits.
+
+"Under all the circumstances, it was, naturally, a source of
+exultation to Mr. Washburne and his friends, and of corresponding
+surprise and mortification to the President. The latter, however,
+said nothing further than this:
+
+"'I wonder when General Grant changed his mind on this subject?
+He was the first man, after the commencement of this War, to
+grant a permit for the passage of cotton through the lines, and
+that to his own father.'
+
+"The President, however, never showed any resentment toward
+General Grant.
+
+"In referring afterwards to the subject, the President said: 'It
+made me feel my insignificance keenly at the moment; but if my
+friends Washburne, Henry Wilson and others derive pleasure from
+so unworthy a victory over me, I leave them to its full
+enjoyment.'
+
+"This ripple on the otherwise unruffled current of their
+intercourse did not disturb the personal relations between
+Lincoln and Grant; but there was little cordiality between the
+President and Messrs. Washburne and Wilson afterwards."
+
+
+WON JAMES GORDON BENNETT'S SUPPORT.
+
+The story as to how President Lincoln won the support of James
+Gordon Bennett, Sr., founder of the New York Herald, is a most
+interesting one. It was one of Lincoln's shrewdest political
+acts, and was brought about by the tender, in an autograph
+letter, of the French Mission to Bennett.
+
+The New York Times was the only paper in the metropolis which
+supported him heartily, and President Lincoln knew how important
+it was to have the support of the Herald. He therefore, according
+to the way Colonel McClure tells it, carefully studied how to
+bring its editor into close touch with himself.
+
+The outlook for Lincoln's re-election was not promising. Bennett
+had strongly advocated the nomination of General McClellan by the
+Democrats, and that was ominous of hostility to Lincoln; and when
+McClellan was nominated he was accepted on all sides as a most
+formidable candidate.
+
+It was in this emergency that Lincoln's political sagacity served
+him sufficiently to win the Herald to his cause, and it was done
+by the confidential tender of the French Mission. Bennett did not
+break over to Lincoln at once, but he went by gradual approaches.
+
+His first step was to declare in favor of an entirely new
+candidate, which was an utter impossibility. He opened a "leader"
+in the Herald on the subject in this way: "Lincoln has proved a
+failure; McClellan has proved a failure; Fremont has proved a
+failure; let us have a new candidate."
+
+Lincoln, McClellan and Fremont were then all in the field as
+nominated candidates, and the Fremont defection was a serious
+threat to Lincoln. Of course, neither Lincoln nor McClellan
+declined, and the Herald, failing to get the new man it knew to
+be an impossibility, squarely advocated Lincoln's re-election.
+
+Without consulting any one, and without any public announcement:
+whatever, Lincoln wrote to Bennett, asking him to accept the
+mission to France. The offer was declined. Bennett valued the
+offer very much more than the office, and from that day until the
+day of the President's death he was one of Lincoln's most
+appreciative friends and hearty supporters on his own independent
+line.
+
+
+STOOD BY THE "SILENT MAN."
+
+Once, in reply to a delegation, which visited the White House,
+the members of which were unusually vociferous in their demands
+that the Silent Man (as General Grant was called) should be
+relieved from duty, the President remarked:
+
+"What I want and what the people want is generals who will fight
+battles and win victories.
+
+"Grant has done this, and I propose to stand by him."
+
+This declaration found its way into the newspapers, and Lincoln
+was upheld by the people of the North, who, also, wanted
+"generals
+who will fight battles and win victories."
+
+
+A VERY BRAINY NUBBIN.
+
+President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward met Alexander H.
+Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, on February 2nd,
+1865, on the River Queen, at Fortress Monroe. Stephens was
+enveloped in overcoats and shawls, and had the appearance of a
+fair-sized man. He began to take off one wrapping after another,
+until the small, shriveled old man stood before them.
+
+Lincoln quietly said to Seward: "This is the largest shucking for
+so small a nubbin that I ever saw."
+
+President Lincoln had a friendly conference, but presented his
+ultimatum that the one and only condition of peace was that
+Confederates "must cease their resistance."
+
+
+SENT TO HIS "FRIENDS."
+
+During the Civil War, Clement L. Vallandigham, of Ohio, had shown
+himself, in the National House of Representatives and elsewhere,
+one of the bitterest and most outspoken of all the men of that
+class which insisted that "the war was a failure." He declared
+that it was the design of "those in power to establish a
+despotism," and that they had "no intention of restoring the
+Union." He denounced the conscription which had been ordered, and
+declared that men who submitted to be drafted into the army were
+"unworthy to be called free men." He spoke of the President as
+"King Lincoln."
+
+Such utterances at this time, when the Government was exerting
+itself to the utmost to recruit the armies, were dangerous, and
+Vallandigham was arrested, tried by court-martial at Cincinnati,
+and sentenced to be placed in confinement during the war,
+
+General Burnside, in command at Cincinnati, approved the
+sentence, and ordered that he be sent to Fort Warren, in Boston
+Harbor; but the President ordered that he be sent "beyond our
+lines into those of his friends." He was therefore escorted to
+the Confederate lines in Tennessee, thence going to Richmond. He
+did not meet with a very cordial reception there, and finally
+sought refuge in Canada.
+
+Vallandigham died in a most peculiar way some years after the
+close of the War, and it was thought by many that his death was
+the result of premeditation upon his part.
+
+
+GO DOWN WITH COLORS FLYING.
+
+In August, 1864, the President called for five hundred thousand
+more men. The country was much depressed. The Confederates had,
+in comparatively small force, only a short time before, been to
+the very gates of Washington, and returned almost unharmed.
+
+The Presidential election was impending. Many thought another
+call for men at such a time would insure, if not destroy, Mr.
+Lincoln's chances for re-election. A friend said as much to him
+one day, after the President had told him of his purpose to make
+such a call.
+
+"As to my re-election," replied Mr. Lincoln, "it matters not. We
+must have the men. If I go down, I intend to go, like the
+Cumberland, with my colors flying!"
+
+
+ALL WERE TRAGEDIES.
+
+The cartoon reproduced below was published in "Harper's Weekly"
+on January 31st, 1863, the explanatory text, underneath, reading
+in this way:
+
+MANAGER LINCOLN: "Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to say that the
+tragedy entitled 'The Army of the Potomac' has been withdrawn on
+account of quarrels among the leading performers, and I have
+substituted three new and striking farces, or burlesques, one,
+entitled 'The Repulse of Vicksburg,' by the well-known favorite,
+E. M. Stanton, Esq., and the others, 'The Loss of the Harriet
+Lane,' and 'The Exploits of the Alabama'--a very sweet thing in
+farces, I assure you--by the veteran composer, Gideon Welles.
+(Unbounded applause by the Copperheads)."
+
+In July, after this cartoon appeared, the Army of the Potomac
+defeated Lee at Gettysburg, and sounded the death-knell of the
+Confederacy; General Hooker, with his corps from this Army opened
+the Tennessee River, thus affording some relief to the Union
+troops in Chattanooga; Hooker's men also captured Lookout
+Mountain, and assisted in taking Missionary Ridge.
+
+General Grant converted the farce "The Repulse of Vicksburg" into
+a tragedy for the Copperheads, taking that stronghold on July
+4th, and Captain Winslow, with the Union man-of-war Kearsarge,
+meeting the Confederate privateer Alabama, off the coast of
+France, near Cherbourg, fought the famous ship to a finish and
+sunk her. Thus the tragedy of "The Army of the Potomac" was given
+after all, and Playwright Stanton and Composer Welles were
+vindicated, their compositions having been received by the public
+with great favor.
+
+
+"HE'S THE BEST OF US."
+
+Secretary of State Seward did not appreciate President Lincoln's
+ability until he had been associated with him for quite a time,
+but he was awakened to a full realization of the greatness of the
+Chief Executive "all of a sudden."
+
+Having submitted "Some Thoughts for the President's
+Consideration"--a lengthy paper intended as an outline of the
+policy, both domestic and foreign, the Administration should
+pursue--he was not more surprised at the magnanimity and kindness
+of President Lincoln's reply than the thorough mastery of the
+subject displayed by the President.
+
+A few months later, when the Secretary had begun to understand
+Mr. Lincoln, he was quick and generous to acknowledge his power.
+
+"Executive force and vigor are rare qualities," he wrote to Mrs.
+Seward. "The President is the best of us."
+
+
+HOW LINCOLN "COMPOSED."
+
+Superintendent Chandler, of the Telegraph Office in the War
+Department, once told how President Lincoln wrote telegrams. Said
+he:
+
+"Mr. Lincoln frequently wrote telegrams in my office. His method
+of composition was slow and laborious. It was evident that he
+thought out what he was going to say before he touched his pen to
+the paper. He would sit looking out of the window, his left elbow
+on the table, his hand scratching his temple, his lips moving,
+and frequently he spoke the sentence aloud or in a half whisper.
+
+"After he was satisfied that he had the proper expression, he
+would write it out. If one examines the originals of Mr.
+Lincoln's telegrams and letters, he will find very few erasures
+and very little interlining. This was because he had them
+definitely in his mind before writing them.
+
+"In this he was the exact opposite of Mr. Stanton, who wrote with
+feverish haste, often scratching out words, and interlining
+frequently. Sometimes he would seize a sheet which he had filled,
+and impatiently tear it into pieces."
+
+
+HAMLIN MIGHT DO IT.
+
+Several United States Senators urged President Lincoln to muster
+Southern slaves into the Union Army. Lincoln replied:
+
+"Gentlemen, I have put thousands of muskets into the hands of
+loyal citizens of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Western North
+Carolina. They have said they could defend themselves, if they
+had guns. I have given them the guns. Now, these men do not
+believe in mustering-in the negro. If I do it, these thousands of
+muskets will be turned against us. We should lose more than we
+should gain."
+
+Being still further urged, President Lincoln gave them this
+answer:
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "I can't do it. I can't see it as you do.
+You may be right, and I may be wrong; but I'll tell you what I
+can do; I can resign in favor of Mr. Hamlin. Perhaps Mr. Hamlin
+could do it."
+
+The matter ended there, for the time being.
+
+
+THE GUN SHOT BETTER.
+
+The President took a lively interest in all new firearm
+improvements and inventions, and it sometimes happened that, when
+an inventor could get nobody else in the Government to listen to
+him, the President would personally test his gun. A former clerk
+in the Navy Department tells an incident illustrative.
+
+He had stayed late one night at his desk, when he heard some one
+striding up and down the hall muttering: "I do wonder if they
+have gone already and left the building all alone." Looking out,
+the clerk was surprised to see the President.
+
+"Good evening," said Mr. Lincoln. "I was just looking for that
+man who goes shooting with me sometimes."
+
+The clerk knew Mr. Lincoln referred to a certain messenger of the
+Ordnance Department who had been accustomed to going with him to
+test weapons, but as this man had gone home, the clerk offered
+his services. Together they went to the lawn south of the White
+House, where Mr. Lincoln fixed up a target cut from a sheet of
+white Congressional notepaper.
+
+"Then pacing off a distance of about eighty or a hundred feet,"
+writes the clerk, "he raised the rifle to a level, took a quick
+aim, and drove the round of seven shots in quick succession, the
+bullets shooting all around the target like a Gatling gun and one
+striking near the center.
+
+"'I believe I can make this gun shoot better,' said Mr. Lincoln,
+after we had looked at the result of the first fire. With this he
+took from his vest pocket a small wooden sight which he had
+whittled from a pine stick, and adjusted it over the sight of the
+carbine. He then shot two rounds, and of the fourteen bullets
+nearly a dozen hit the paper!"
+
+
+LENIENT WITH McCLELLAN.
+
+General McClellan, aside from his lack of aggressiveness, fretted
+the President greatly with his complaints about military matters,
+his obtrusive criticism regarding political matters, and
+especially at his insulting declaration to the Secretary of War,
+dated June 28th, 1862, just after his retreat to the James River.
+
+General Halleck was made Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces
+in July, 1862, and September 1st McClellan was called to
+Washington. The day before he had written his wife that "as a
+matter of self-respect, I cannot go there." President Lincoln and
+General Halleck called at McClellan's house, and the President
+said: "As a favor to me, I wish you would take command of the
+fortifications of Washington and all the troops for the defense
+of the capital."
+
+Lincoln thought highly of McClellan's ability as an organizer and
+his strength in defense, yet any other President would have had
+him court-martialed for using this language, which appeared in
+McClellan's letter of June 28th:
+
+"If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks
+to you or to any other person in Washington. You have done your
+best to sacrifice this army."
+
+This letter, although addressed to the Secretary of War,
+distinctly embraced the President in the grave charge of
+conspiracy to defeat McClellan's army and sacrifice thousands of
+the lives of his soldiers.
+
+
+DIDN'T WANT A MILITARY REPUTATION.
+
+Lincoln was averse to being put up as a military hero.
+
+When General Cass was a candidate for the Presidency his friends
+sought to endow him with a military reputation.
+
+Lincoln, at that time a representative in Congress, delivered a
+speech before the House, which, in its allusion to Mr. Cass, was
+exquisitely sarcastic and irresistibly humorous:
+
+"By the way, Mr. Speaker," said Lincoln, "do you know I am a
+military hero?
+
+"Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk War, I fought, bled, and
+came away.
+
+"Speaking of General Cass's career reminds me of my own.
+
+"I was not at Stillman's defeat, but I was about as near it as
+Cass to Hull's surrender; and like him I saw the place very soon
+afterwards.
+
+"It is quite certain I did not break my sword, for I had none to
+break, but I bent my musket pretty badly on one occasion.
+
+"If General Cass went in advance of me picking whortleberries, I
+guess I surpassed him in charging upon the wild onion.
+
+"If he saw any live, fighting Indians, it was more than I did,
+but I had a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes, and
+although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say that
+I was often very hungry."
+
+Lincoln concluded by saying that if he ever turned Democrat and
+should run for the Presidency, he hoped they would not make fun
+of him by attempting to make him a military hero.
+
+
+"SURRENDER NO SLAVE."
+
+About March, 1862, General Benjamin F. Butler, in command at
+Fortress Monroe, advised President Lincoln that he had determined
+to regard all slaves coming into his camps as contraband of war,
+and to employ their labor under fair compensation, and Secretary
+of War Stanton replied to him, in behalf of the President,
+approving his course, and saying, "You are not to interfere
+between master and slave on the one hand, nor surrender slaves
+who may come within your lines."
+
+This was a significant milestone of progress to the great end
+that was thereafter to be reached.
+
+
+CONSCRIPTING DEAD MEN.
+
+Mr. Lincoln being found fault with for making another "call,"
+said that if the country required it, he would continue to do so
+until the matter stood as described by a Western provost marshal,
+who says:
+
+"I listened a short time since to a butternut-clad individual,
+who succeeded in making good his escape, expatiate most
+eloquently on the rigidness with which the conscription was
+enforced south of the Tennessee River. His response to a question
+propounded by a citizen ran somewhat in this wise:
+
+"'Do they conscript close over the river?'
+
+"'Stranger, I should think they did! They take every man who
+hasn't been dead more than two days!'
+
+"If this is correct, the Confederacy has at least a ghost of a
+chance left."
+
+And of another, a Methodist minister in Kansas, living on a small
+salary, who was greatly troubled to get his quarterly instalment.
+He at last told the non-paying trustees that he must have his
+money, as he was suffering for the necessaries of life.
+
+"Money!" replied the trustees; "you preach for money? We thought
+you preached for the good of souls!"
+
+"Souls!" responded the reverend; "I can't eat souls; and if I
+could it would take a thousand such as yours to make a meal!"
+
+"That soul is the point, sir," said the President.
+
+
+LINCOLN'S REJECTED MANUSCRIPT.
+
+On February 5th, 1865, President Lincoln formulated a message to
+Congress, proposing the payment of $400,000,000 to the South as
+compensation for slaves lost by emancipation, and submitted it to
+his Cabinet, only to be unanimously rejected.
+
+Lincoln sadly accepted the decision, and filed away the
+manuscript message, together with this indorsement thereon, to
+which his signature was added: "February 5, 1865. To-day these
+papers, which explain themselves, were drawn up and submitted to
+the Cabinet unanimously disapproved by them."
+
+When the proposed message was disapproved, Lincoln soberly asked:
+"How long will the war last?"
+
+To this none could make answer, and he added: "We are spending
+now, in carrying on the war, $3,000,000 a day, which will amount
+to all this money, besides all the lives."
+
+
+LINCOLN AS A STORY WRITER.
+
+In his youth, Mr. Lincoln once got an idea for a thrilling,
+romantic story. One day, in Springfield, he was sitting with his
+feet on the window sill, chatting with an acquaintance, when he
+suddenly changed the drift of the conversation by saying: "Did
+you ever write out a story in your mind? I did when I was a
+little codger. One day a wagon with a lady and two girls and a
+man broke down near us, and while they were fixing up, they
+cooked in our kitchen. The woman had books and read us stories,
+and they were the first I had ever heard. I took a great fancy to
+one of the girls; and when they were gone I thought of her a
+great deal, and one day when I was sitting out in the sun by the
+house I wrote out a story in my mind. I thought I took my
+father's horse and followed the wagon, and finally I found it,
+and they were surprised to see me. I talked with the girl, and
+persuaded her to elope with me; and that night I put her on my
+horse, and we started off across the prairie. After several hours
+we came to a camp; and when we rode up we found it was the one we
+had left a few hours before, and went in. The next night we tried
+again, and the same thing happened--the horse came back to the
+same place; and then we concluded that we ought not to elope. I
+stayed until I had persuaded her father to give her to me. I
+always meant to write that story out and publish it, and I began
+once; but I concluded that it was not much of a story. But I
+think that was the beginning of love with me."
+
+
+LINCOLN'S IDEAS ON CROSSING A RIVER WHEN HE GOT TO IT.
+
+Lincoln's reply to a Springfield (Illinois) clergyman, who asked
+him what was to be his policy on the slavery question was most
+apt:
+
+"Well, your question is rather a cool one, but I will answer it
+by telling you a story:
+
+"You know Father B., the old Methodist preacher? and you know Fox
+River and its freshets?
+
+"Well, once in the presence of Father B., a young Methodist was
+worrying about Fox River, and expressing fears that he should be
+prevented from fulfilling some of his appointments by a freshet
+in the river.
+
+"Father B. checked him in his gravest manner. Said he:
+
+"'Young man, I have always made it a rule in my life not to
+cross Fox River till I get to it.'
+
+"And," said the President, "I am not going to worry myself over
+the slavery question till I get to it."
+
+A few days afterward a Methodist minister called on the
+President, and on being presented to him, said, simply:
+
+"Mr. President, I have come to tell you that I think we have got
+to Fox River!"
+
+Lincoln thanked the clergyman, and laughed heartily.
+
+
+PRESIDENT NOMINATED FIRST.
+
+The day of Lincoln's second nomination for the Presidency he
+forgot all about the Republican National Convention, sitting at
+Baltimore, and wandered over to the War Department. While there,
+a telegram came announcing the nomination of Johnson as
+Vice-President.
+
+"What," said Lincoln to the operator, "do they nominate a
+Vice-President before they do a President?"
+
+"Why," replied the astonished official, "have you not heard of
+your own nomination? It was sent to the White House two hours
+ago."
+
+"It is all right," replied the President; "I shall probably find
+it on my return."
+
+
+"THEM GILLITEENS."
+
+The illustrated newspapers of the United States and England had a
+good deal of fun, not only with President Lincoln, but the
+latter's Cabinet officers and military commanders as well. It was
+said by these funny publications that the President had set up a
+guillotine in his "back-yard," where all those who offended were
+beheaded with both neatness, and despatch. "Harper's Weekly" of
+January 3rd, 1863, contained a cartoon labeled "Those
+Guillotines; a Little Incident at the White House," the
+personages figuring in the "incident" being Secretary of War
+Stanton and a Union general who had been unfortunate enough to
+lose a battle to the Confederates. Beneath the cartoon was the
+following dialogue:
+
+SERVANT: "If ye plase, sir, them Gilliteens has arrove." 
+MR. LINCOLN: "All right, Michael. Now, gentlemen, will you be
+kind
+enough to step out in the back-yard?"
+
+The hair and whiskers of Secretary of War Stanton are ruffled and
+awry, and his features are not calm and undisturbed, indicating
+that he has an idea of what's the matter in that back-yard; the
+countenance of the officer in the rear of the Secretary of War
+wears rather an anxious, or worried, look, and his hair isn't
+combed smoothly, either.
+
+President Lincoln's frequent changes among army commanders--
+before he found Grant, Sherman and Sheridan--afforded an
+opportunity the caricaturists did not neglect, and some very
+clever cartoons were the consequence.
+
+
+"CONSIDER THE SYMPATHY OF LINCOLN."
+
+Consider the sympathy of Abraham Lincoln. Do you know the story
+of William Scott, private? He was a boy from a Vermont farm.
+
+There had been a long march, and the night succeeding it he had
+stood on picket. The next day there had been another long march,
+and that night William Scott had volunteered to stand guard in
+the place of a sick comrade who had been drawn for the duty.
+
+It was too much for William Scott. He was too tired. He had been
+found sleeping on his beat.
+
+The army was at Chain Bridge. It was in a dangerous neighborhood.
+Discipline must be kept.
+
+William Scott was apprehended, tried by court-martial, sentenced
+to be shot. News of the case was carried to Lincoln. William
+Scott was a prisoner in his tent, expecting to be shot next day.
+
+But the flaps of his tent were parted, and Lincoln stood before
+him. Scott said:
+
+"The President was the kindest man I had ever seen; I knew him at
+once by a Lincoln medal I had long worn.
+
+"I was scared at first, for I had never before talked with a
+great man; but Mr. Lincoln was so easy with me, so gentle, that I
+soon forgot my fright.
+
+"He asked me all about the people at home, the neighbors, the
+farm, and where I went to school, and who my schoolmates were.
+Then he asked me about mother and how she looked; and I was glad
+I could take her photograph from my bosom and show it to him.
+
+"He said how thankful I ought to be that my mother still lived,
+and how, if he were in my place, he would try to make her a proud
+mother, and never cause her a sorrow or a tear.
+
+"I cannot remember it all, but every word was so kind.
+
+"He had said nothing yet about that dreadful next morning; I
+thought it must be that he was so kind-hearted that he didn't
+like to speak of it.
+
+"But why did he say so much about my mother, and my not causing
+her a sorrow or a tear, when I knew that I must die the next
+morning?
+
+"But I supposed that was something that would have to go
+unexplained; and so I determined to brace up and tell him that I
+did not feel a bit guilty, and ask him wouldn't he fix it so that
+the firing party would not be from our regiment.
+
+"That was going to be the hardest of all--to die by the hands of
+my comrades.
+
+"Just as I was going to ask him this favor, he stood up, and he
+says to me:
+
+"'My boy, stand up here and look me in the face.'
+
+"I did as he bade me.
+
+"'My boy,' he said, 'you are not going to be shot to-morrow. I
+believe you when you tell me that you could not keep awake.
+
+"'I am going to trust you, and send you back to your regiment.
+
+"'But I have been put to a good deal of trouble on your account.
+
+"'I have had to come up here from Washington when I have got a
+great deal to do; and what I want to know is, how are you going
+to pay my bill?'
+
+"There was a big lump in my throat; I could scarcely speak. I had
+expected to die, you see, and had kind of got used to thinking
+that way.
+
+"To have it all changed in a minute! But I got it crowded down,
+and managed to say:
+
+"'I am grateful, Mr. Lincoln! I hope I am as grateful as ever a
+man can be to you for saving my life.
+
+"'But it comes upon me sudden and unexpected like. I didn't lay
+out for it at all; but there is some way to pay you, and I will
+find it after a little.
+
+"'There is the bounty in the savings bank; I guess we could
+borrow some money on the mortgage of the farm.'
+
+"'There was my pay was something, and if he would wait until
+pay-day I was sure the boys would help; so I thought we could
+make it up if it wasn't more than five or six hundred dollars.
+
+"'But it is a great deal more than that,' he said.
+
+"Then I said I didn't just see how, but I was sure I would find
+some way--if I lived.
+
+"Then Mr. Lincoln put his hands on my shoulders, and looked into
+my face as if he was sorry, and said; "'My boy, my bill is a very
+large one. Your friends cannot pay it, nor your bounty, nor the
+farm, nor all your comrades!
+
+"'There is only one man in all the world who can pay it, and his
+name is William Scott!
+
+"'If from this day William Scott does his duty, so that, if I
+was there when he comes to die, he can look me in the face as he
+does now, and say, I have kept my promise, and I have done my
+duty as a soldier, then my debt will be paid.
+
+"'Will you make that promise and try to keep it?"
+
+The promise was given. Thenceforward there never was such a
+soldier as William Scott.
+
+This is the record of the end. It was after one of the awful
+battles of the Peninsula. He was shot all to pieces. He said:
+
+"Boys, I shall never see another battle. I supposed this would be
+my last. I haven't much to say.
+
+"You all know what you can tell them at home about me.
+
+"I have tried to do the right thing! If any of you ever have the
+chance I wish you would tell President Lincoln that I have never
+forgotten the kind words he said to me at the Chain Bridge; that
+I have tried to be a good soldier and true to the flag; that I
+should have paid my whole debt to him if I had lived; and that
+now, when I know that I am dying, I think of his kind face, and
+thank him again, because he gave me the chance to fall like a
+soldier in battle, and not like a coward, by the hands of my
+comrades."
+
+What wonder that Secretary Stanton said, as he gazed upon the
+tall form and kindly face as he lay there, smitten down by the
+assassin's bullet, "There lies the most perfect ruler of men who
+ever lived."
+
+
+SAVED A LIFE.
+
+One day during the Black Hawk War a poor old Indian came into the
+camp with a paper of safe conduct from General Lewis Cass in his
+possession. The members of Lincoln's company were greatly
+exasperated by late Indian barbarities, among them the horrible
+murder of a number of women and children, and were about to kill
+him; they said the safe-conduct paper was a forgery, and
+approached the old savage with muskets cocked to shoot him.
+
+Lincoln rushed forward, struck up the weapons with his hands, and
+standing in front of the victim, declared to the Indian that he
+should not be killed. It was with great difficulty that the men
+could be kept from their purpose, but the courage and firmness of
+Lincoln thwarted them.
+
+Lincoln was physically one of the bravest of men, as his company
+discovered.
+
+
+LINCOLN PLAYED BALL.
+
+Frank P. Blair, of Chicago, tells an incident, showing Mr.
+Lincoln's love for children and how thoroughly he entered into
+all of their sports:
+
+"During the war my grandfather, Francis P. Blair, Sr., lived at
+Silver Springs, north of Washington, seven miles from the White
+House. It was a magnificent place of four or five hundred acres,
+with an extensive lawn in the rear of the house. The
+grandchildren gathered there frequently.
+
+There were eight or ten of us, our ages ranging from eight to
+twelve years. Although I was but seven or eight years of age, Mr.
+Lincoln's visits were of such importance to us boys as to leave a
+clear impression on my memory. He drove out to the place quite
+frequently. We boys, for hours at a time played 'town ball' on
+the vast lawn, and Mr. Lincoln would join ardently in the sport.
+I remember vividly how he ran with the children; how long were
+his strides, and how far his coat-tails stuck out behind, and how
+we tried to hit him with the ball, as he ran the bases. He
+entered into the spirit of the play as completely as any of us,
+and we invariably hailed his coming with delight."
+
+
+HIS PASSES TO RICHMOND NOT HONORED.
+
+A man called upon the President and solicited a pass for
+Richmond.
+
+"Well," said the President, "I would be very happy to oblige, if
+my passes were respected; but the fact is, sir, I have, within
+the past two years, given passes to two hundred and fifty
+thousand men to go to Richmond, and not one has got there yet."
+
+The applicant quietly and respectfully withdrew on his tiptoes.
+
+
+"PUBLIC HANGMAN" FOR THE UNITED STATES.
+
+A certain United States Senator, who believed that every man who
+believed in secession should be hanged, asked the President what
+he intended to do when the War was over.
+
+"Reconstruct the machinery of this Government," quickly replied
+Lincoln.
+
+"You are certainly crazy," was the Senator's heated response.
+"You talk as if treason was not henceforth to be made odious, but
+that the traitors, cutthroats and authors of this War should not
+only go unpunished, but receive encouragement to repeat their
+treason with impunity! They should be hanged higher than Haman,
+sir! Yes, higher than any malefactor the world has ever known!"
+
+The President was entirely unmoved, but, after a moment's pause,
+put a question which all but drove his visitor insane.
+
+"Now, Senator, suppose that when this hanging arrangement has
+been agreed upon, you accept the post of Chief Executioner. If
+you will take the office, I will make you a brigadier general and
+Public Hangman for the United States. That would just about suit
+you, wouldn't it?"
+
+"I am a gentleman, sir," returned the Senator, "and I certainly
+thought you knew me better than to believe me capable of doing
+such dirty work. You are jesting, Mr. President."
+
+The President was extremely patient, exhibiting no signs of ire,
+and to this bit of temper on the part of the Senator responded:
+
+"You speak of being a gentleman; yet you forget that in this free
+country all men are equal, the vagrant and the gentleman standing
+on the same ground when it comes to rights and duties,
+particularly in time of war. Therefore, being a gentleman, as you
+claim, and a law-abiding citizen, I trust, you are not exempt
+from doing even the dirty work at which your high spirit
+revolts."
+
+This was too much for the Senator, who quitted the room abruptly,
+and never again showed his face in the White House while Lincoln
+occupied it.
+
+"He won't bother me again," was the President's remark as he
+departed.
+
+
+FEW, BUT BOISTEROUS.
+
+Lincoln was a very quiet man, and went about his business in a
+quiet way, making the least noise possible. He heartily disliked
+those boisterous people who were constantly deluging him with
+advice, and shouting at the tops of their voices whenever they
+appeared at the White House. "These noisy people create a great
+clamor," said he one day, in conversation with some personal
+friends, "and remind me, by the way, of a good story I heard out
+in Illinois while I was practicing, or trying to practice, some
+law there. I will say, though, that I practiced more law than I
+ever got paid for.
+
+"A fellow who lived just out of town, on the bank of a large
+marsh, conceived a big idea in the money-making line. He took it
+to a prominent merchant, and began to develop his plans and
+specifications. 'There are at least ten million frogs in that
+marsh near me, an' I'll just arrest a couple of carloads of them
+and hand them over to you. You can send them to the big cities
+and make lots of money for both of us. Frogs' legs are great
+delicacies in the big towns, an' not very plentiful. It won't
+take me more'n two or three days to pick 'em. They make so much
+noise my family can't sleep, and by this deal I'll get rid of a
+nuisance and gather in some cash.'
+
+"The merchant agreed to the proposition, promised the fellow he
+would pay him well for the two carloads. Two days passed, then
+three, and finally two weeks were gone before the fellow showed
+up again, carrying a small basket. He looked weary and 'done up,'
+and he wasn't talkative a bit. He threw the basket on the counter
+with the remark, 'There's your frogs.'
+
+"'You haven't two carloads in that basket, have you?' inquired
+the merchant.
+
+"'No,' was the reply, 'and there ain't no two carloads in all
+this blasted world.'
+
+"'I thought you said there were at least ten millions of 'em in
+that marsh near you, according to the noise they made,' observed
+the merchant. 'Your people couldn't sleep because of 'em.'
+
+"'Well,' said the fellow, 'accordin' to the noise they made,
+there was, I thought, a hundred million of 'em, but when I had
+waded and swum that there marsh day and night fer two blessed
+weeks, I couldn't harvest but six. There's two or three left yet,
+an' the marsh is as noisy as it uster be. We haven't catched up
+on any of our lost sleep yet. Now, you can have these here six,
+an' I won't charge you a cent fer 'em.'
+
+"You can see by this little yarn," remarked the President, "that
+these boisterous people make too much noise in proportion to
+their numbers."
+
+
+KEEP PEGGING AWAY.
+
+Being asked one time by an "anxious" visitor as to what he would
+do in certain contingencies--provided the rebellion was not
+subdued after three or four years of effort on the part of the
+Government
+
+"Oh," replied the President, "there is no alternative but to keep
+'pegging' away!"
+
+
+BEWARE OF THE TAIL.
+
+After the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, Governor
+Morgan, of New York, was at the White House one day, when the
+President said:
+
+"I do not agree with those who say that slavery is dead. We are
+like whalers who have been long on a chase--we have at last got
+the harpoon into the monster, but we must now look how we steer,
+or, with one 'flop' of his tail, he will yet send us all into
+eternity!"
+
+
+"LINCOLN'S DREAM."
+
+President Lincoln was depicted as a headsman in a cartoon printed
+in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper," on February 14, 1863,
+the title of the picture being "Lincoln's Dreams; or, There's a
+Good Time Coming."
+
+The cartoon, reproduced here, represents, on the right, the Union
+Generals who had been defeated by the Confederates in battle, and
+had suffered decapitation in consequence--McDowell, who lost at
+Bull Run; McClellan, who failed to take Richmond, when within
+twelve miles of that city and no opposition, comparatively; and
+Burnside, who was so badly whipped at Fredericksburg. To the left
+of the block, where the President is standing with the bloody axe
+in his hand, are shown the members of the Cabinet--Secretary of
+State Seward, Secretary of War Stanton, Secretary of the Navy
+Welles, and others--each awaiting his turn. This part of the
+"Dream" was never realized, however, as the President did not
+decapitate any of his Cabinet officers.
+
+It was the idea of the cartoonist to hold Lincoln up as a man who
+would not countenance failure upon the part of subordinates, but
+visit the severest punishment upon those commanders who did not
+win victories. After Burnside's defeat at Fredericksburg, he was
+relieved by Hooker, who suffered disaster at Chancellorsville;
+Hooker was relieved by Meade, who won at Gettysburg, but was
+refused promotion because he did not follow up and crush Lee;
+Rosecrans was all but defeated at Chickamauga, and gave way to
+Grant, who, of all the Union commanders, had never suffered
+defeat. Grant was Lincoln's ideal fighting man, and the "Old
+Commander" was never superseded.
+
+
+THERE WAS NO NEED OF A STORY.
+
+Dr. Hovey, of Dansville, New York, thought he would call and see
+the President.
+
+Upon arriving at the White House he found the President on
+horseback, ready for a start.
+
+Approaching him, he said:
+
+"President Lincoln, I thought I would call and see you before
+leaving the city, and hear you tell a story."
+
+The President greeted him pleasantly, and asked where he was
+from.
+
+"From Western New York."
+
+"Well, that's a good enough country without stories," replied the
+President, and off he rode.
+
+
+LINCOLN A MAN OF SIMPLE HABITS.
+
+Lincoln's habits at the White House were as simple as they were
+at his old home in Illinois.
+
+He never alluded to himself as "President," or as occupying "the
+Presidency."
+
+His office he always designated as "the place."
+
+"Call me Lincoln," said he to a friend; "Mr. President" had
+become so very tiresome to him.
+
+"If you see a newsboy down the street, send him up this way,"
+said he to a passenger, as he stood waiting for the morning news
+at his gate.
+
+Friends cautioned him about exposing himself so openly in the
+midst of enemies; but he never heeded them.
+
+He frequently walked the streets at night, entirely unprotected;
+and felt any check upon his movements a great annoyance.
+
+He delighted to see his familiar Western friends; and he gave
+them always a cordial welcome.
+
+He met them on the old footing, and fell at once into the
+accustomed habits of talk and story-telling.
+
+An old acquaintance, with his wife, visited Washington. Mr. and
+Mrs. Lincoln proposed to these friends a ride in the Presidential
+carriage.
+
+It should be stated in advance that the two men had probably
+never seen each other with gloves on in their lives, unless when
+they were used as protection from the cold.
+
+The question of each--Lincoln at the White House, and his friend
+at the hotel--was, whether he should wear gloves.
+
+Of course the ladies urged gloves; but Lincoln only put his in
+his pocket, to be used or not, according to the circumstances.
+
+When the Presidential party arrived at the hotel, to take in
+their friends, they found the gentleman, overcome by his wife's
+persuasions, very handsomely gloved.
+
+The moment he took his seat he began to draw off the clinging
+kids, while Lincoln began to draw his on!
+
+"No! no! no!" protested his friend, tugging at his gloves. "It is
+none of my doings; put up your gloves, Mr. Lincoln."
+
+So the two old friends were on even and easy terms, and had their
+ride after their old fashion.
+
+
+HIS LAST SPEECH.
+
+President Lincoln was reading the draft of a speech. Edward, the
+conservative but dignified butler of the White House, was seen
+struggling with Tad and trying to drag him back from the window
+from which was waving a Confederate flag, captured in some fight
+and given to the boy. Edward conquered and Tad, rushing to find
+his father, met him coming forward to make, as it proved, his
+last speech.
+
+The speech began with these words, "We meet this evening, not in
+sorrow, but in gladness of heart." Having his speech written in
+loose leaves, and being compelled to hold a candle in the other
+hand, he would let the loose leaves drop to the floor one by one.
+"Tad" picked them up as they fell, and impatiently called for
+more as they fell from his father's hand.
+
+
+FORGOT EVERYTHING HE KNEW BEFORE. 
+
+President Lincoln, while entertaining a few select friends, is
+said to have related the following anecdote of a man who knew too
+much:
+
+He was a careful, painstaking fellow, who always wanted to be
+absolutely exact, and as a result he frequently got the ill-will
+of his less careful superiors.
+
+During the administration of President Jackson there was a
+singular young gentleman employed in the Public Postoffice in
+Washington.
+
+His name was G.; he was from Tennessee, the son of a widow, a
+neighbor of the President, on which account the old hero had a
+kind feeling for him, and always got him out of difficulties with
+some of the higher officials, to whom his singular interference
+was distasteful.
+
+Among other things, it is said of him that while employed in the
+General Postoffice, on one occasion he had to copy a letter to
+Major H., a high official, in answer to an application made by an
+old gentleman in Virginia or Pennsylvania, for the establishment
+of a new postoffice.
+
+The writer of the letter said the application could not be
+granted, in consequence of the applicant's "proximity" to another
+office.
+
+When the letter came into G.'s hand to copy, being a great
+stickler for plainness, he altered "proximity" to "nearness to."
+
+Major H. observed it, and asked G. why he altered his letter.
+
+"Why," replied G., "because I don't think the man would
+understand what you mean by proximity."
+
+"Well," said Major H., "try him; put in the 'proximity' again."
+
+In a few days a letter was received from the applicant, in which
+he very indignantly said that his father had fought for liberty
+in the second war for independence, and he should like to have
+the name of the scoundrel who brought the charge of proximity or
+anything else wrong against him.
+
+"There," said G., "did I not say so?"
+
+G. carried his improvements so far that Mr. Berry, the
+Postmaster-General, said to him: "I don't want you any longer;
+you know too much."
+
+Poor G. went out, but his old friend got him another place.
+
+This time G.'s ideas underwent a change. He was one day very busy
+writing, when a stranger called in and asked him where the Patent
+Office was.
+
+"I don't know," said G.
+
+"Can you tell me where the Treasury Department is?" said the
+stranger. "No," said G.
+
+'Nor the President's house?"
+
+"No."
+
+The stranger finally asked him if he knew where the Capitol was.
+
+"No," replied G.
+
+"Do you live in Washington, sir?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said G.
+
+"Good Lord! and don't you know where the Patent Office, Treasury,
+President's house and Capitol are?"
+
+"Stranger," said G., "I was turned out of the postoffice for
+knowing too much. I don't mean to offend in that way again.
+
+"I am paid for keeping this book.
+
+"I believe I know that much; but if you find me knowing anything
+more you may take my head."
+
+"Good morning," said the stranger.
+
+
+LINCOLN BELIEVED IN EDUCATION.
+
+"That every man may receive at least a moderate education, and
+thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other
+countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free
+institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance; even
+on this account alone, to say nothing of the advantages and
+satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the
+Scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral nature,
+for themselves.
+
+"For my part, I desire to see the time when education, by its
+means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and integrity, shall become
+much more general than at present, and should be gratified to
+have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of
+any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate the happy
+period."
+
+
+LINCOLN ON THE DRED SCOTT DECISION.
+
+In a speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 26th, 1857, Lincoln
+referred to the decision of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, of the
+United States Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, in this
+manner:
+
+"The Chief justice does not directly assert, but plainly assumes
+as a fact, that the public estimate of the black man is more
+favorable now than it was in the days of the Revolution.
+
+"In those days, by common consent, the spread of the black man's
+bondage in the new countries was prohibited; but now Congress
+decides that it will not continue the prohibition, and the
+Supreme Court decides that it could not if it would.
+
+"In those days, our Declaration of Independence was held sacred
+by all, and thought to include all; but now, to aid in making the
+bondage of the negro universal and eternal, it is assailed and
+sneered at, and constructed and hawked at, and torn, till, if its
+framers could rise from their graves, they could not at all
+recognize it.
+
+"All the powers of earth seem combining against the slave; Mammon
+is after him, ambition follows, philosophy follows, and the
+theology of the day is fast joining the cry."
+
+
+LINCOLN MADE MANY NOTABLE SPEECHES.
+
+Abraham Lincoln made many notable addresses and speeches during
+his career previous to the time of his election to the
+Presidency.
+
+However, beautiful in thought and expression as they were, they
+were not appreciated by those who heard and read them until after
+the people of the United States and the world had come to
+understand the man who delivered them.
+
+Lincoln had the rare and valuable faculty of putting the most
+sublime feeling into his speeches; and he never found it
+necessary to incumber his wisest, wittiest and most famous
+sayings with a weakening mass of words.
+
+He put his thoughts into the simplest language, so that all might
+comprehend, and he never said anything which was not full of the
+deepest meaning.
+
+
+WHAT AILED THE BOYS.
+
+Mr. Roland Diller, who was one of Mr. Lincoln's neighbors in
+Springfield, tells the following:
+
+"I was called to the door one day by the cries of children in the
+street, and there was Mr. Lincoln, striding by with two of his
+boys, both of whom were wailing aloud. 'Why, Mr. Lincoln, what's
+the matter with the boys?' I asked.
+
+"'Just what's the matter with the whole world,' Lincoln replied.
+'I've got three walnuts, and each wants two.'"
+
+
+TAD'S CONFEDERATE FLAG.
+
+One of the prettiest incidents in the closing days of the Civil
+War occurred when the troops, 'marching home again,' passed in
+grand form, if with well-worn uniforms and tattered bunting,
+before the White House.
+
+Naturally, an immense crowd had assembled on the streets, the
+lawns, porches, balconies, and windows, even those of the
+executive mansion itself being crowded to excess. A central
+figure was that of the President, Abraham Lincoln, who, with
+bared head, unfurled and waved our Nation's flag in the midst of
+lusty cheers.
+
+But suddenly there was an unexpected sight.
+
+A small boy leaned forward and sent streaming to the air the
+banner of the boys in gray. It was an old flag which had been
+captured from the Confederates, and which the urchin, the
+President's second son, Tad, had obtained possession of and
+considered an additional triumph to unfurl on this all-important
+day.
+
+Vainly did the servant who had followed him to the window plead
+with him to desist. No, Master Tad, Pet of the White House, was
+not to be prevented from adding to the loyal demonstration of the
+hour.
+
+To his surprise, however, the crowd viewed it differently. Had it
+floated from any other window in the capital that day, no doubt
+it would have been the target of contempt and abuse; but when the
+President, understanding what had happened, turned, with a smile
+on his grand, plain face, and showed his approval by a gesture
+and expression, cheer after cheer rent the air.
+
+
+CALLED BLESSINGS ON THE AMERICAN WOMEN.
+
+President Lincoln attended a Ladies' Fair for the benefit of the
+Union soldiers, at Washington, March 16th, 1864.
+
+In his remarks he said:
+
+"I appear to say but a word.
+
+"This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily
+upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the
+soldiers. For it has been said, 'All that a man hath will he give
+for his life,' and, while all contribute of their substance, the
+soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his
+country's cause.
+
+"The highest merit, then, is due the soldiers.
+
+"In this extraordinary war extraordinary developments have
+manifested themselves such as have not been seen in former wars;
+and among these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable
+than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their
+families, and the chief agents in these fairs are the women of
+America!
+
+"I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy; I have
+never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must
+say that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the
+creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the
+women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct
+during the war.
+
+"I will close by saying, God bless the women of America!"
+
+
+LINCOLN'S "ORDER NO. 252."
+
+After the United States had enlisted former negro slaves as
+soldiers to fight alongside the Northern troops for the
+maintenance of the integrity of the Union, so great was the
+indignation of the Confederate Government that President Davis
+declared he would not recognize blacks captured in battle and in
+uniform as prisoners of war. This meant that he would have them
+returned to their previous owners, have them flogged and fined
+for running away from their masters, or even shot if he felt like
+it. This attitude of the President of the Confederate States of
+America led to the promulgation of President Lincoln's famous
+"Order No. 252," which, in effect, was a notification to the
+commanding officers of the Southern forces that if negro
+prisoners of war were not treated as such, the Union commanders
+would retaliate. "Harper's Weekly" of August 15th, 1863,
+contained a clever cartoon, which we reproduce, representing
+President Lincoln holding the South by the collar, while "Old
+Abe" shouts the following words of warning to Jeff Davis, who,
+cat-o'-nine-tails in hand, is in pursuit of a terrified little
+negro boy:
+
+MR. LINCOLN: "Look here, Jeff Davis! If you lay a finger on that
+boy, to hurt him, I'll lick this ugly cub of yours within an inch
+of his life!"
+
+Much to the surprise of the Confederates, the negro soldiers
+fought valiantly; they were fearless when well led, obeyed orders
+without hesitation, were amenable to discipline, and were eager
+and anxious, at all times, to do their duty. In battle they were
+formidable opponents, and in using the bayonet were the equal of
+the best trained troops. The Southerners hated them beyond power
+of expression.
+
+
+TALKED TO THE NEGROES OF RICHMOND.
+
+The President walked through the streets of Richmond--without a
+guard except a few seamen--in company with his son "Tad," and
+Admiral Porter, on April 4th, 1865, the day following the
+evacuation of the city.
+
+Colored people gathered about him on every side, eager to see and
+thank their liberator. Mr. Lincoln addressed the following
+remarks to one of these gatherings:
+
+"My poor friends, you are free--free as air. You can cast off the
+name of slave and trample upon it; it will come to you no more.
+
+"Liberty is your birthright. God gave it to you as He gave it to
+others, and it is a sin that you have been deprived of it for so
+many years.
+
+"But you must try to deserve this priceless boon. Let the world
+see that you merit it, and are able to maintain it by your good
+work.
+
+"Don't let your joy carry you into excesses; learn the laws, and
+obey them. Obey God's commandments, and thank Him for giving you
+liberty, for to Him you owe all things.
+
+"There, now, let me pass on; I have but little time to spare.
+
+"I want to see the Capitol, and must return at once to Washington
+to secure to you that liberty which you seem to prize so highly."
+
+
+"ABE" ADDED A SAVING CLAUSE.
+
+Lincoln fell in love with Miss Mary S. Owens about 1833 or so,
+and, while she was attracted toward him she was not passionately
+fond of him.
+
+Lincoln's letter of proposal of marriage, sent by him to Miss
+Owens, while singular, unique, and decidedly unconventional, was
+certainly not very ardent. He, after the fashion of the lawyer,
+presented the matter very cautiously, and pleaded his own cause;
+then presented her side of the case, advised her not "to do it,"
+and agreed to abide by her decision.
+
+Miss Owens respected Lincoln, but promptly rejected him--really
+very much to "Abe's" relief.
+
+
+HOW "JACK" WAS "DONE UP."
+
+Not far from New Salem, Illinois, at a place called Clary's
+Grove, a gang of frontier ruffians had established headquarters,
+and the champion wrestler of "The Grove" was "Jack" Armstrong, a
+bully of the worst type.
+
+Learning that Abraham was something of a wrestler himself, "Jack"
+sent him a challenge. At that time and in that community a
+refusal would have resulted in social and business ostracism, not
+to mention the stigma of cowardice which would attach.
+
+It was a great day for New Salem and "The Grove" when Lincoln and
+Armstrong met. Settlers within a radius of fifty miles flocked to
+the scene, and the wagers laid were heavy and many. Armstrong
+proved a weakling in the hands of the powerful Kentuckian, and
+"Jack's" adherents were about to mob Lincoln when the latter's
+friends saved him from probable death by rushing to the rescue.
+
+
+ANGELS COULDN'T SWEAR IT RIGHT.
+
+The President was once speaking about an attack made on him by
+the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War for a
+certain alleged blunder in the Southwest--the matter involved
+being one which had fallen directly under the observation of the
+army officer to whom he was talking, who possessed official
+evidence completely upsetting all the conclusions of the
+Committee.
+
+"Might it not be well for me," queried the officer, "to set this
+matter right in a letter to some paper, stating the facts as they
+actually transpired?"
+
+"Oh, no," replied the President, "at least, not now. If I were to
+try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this
+shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the
+very best I know how the very best I can; and I mean to keep
+doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what
+is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me
+out wrong, ten thousand angels swearing I was right would make no
+difference."
+
+
+"MUST GO, AND GO TO STAY."
+
+Ward Hill Lamon was President Lincoln's Cerberus, his watch dog,
+guardian, friend, companion and confidant. Some days before
+Lincoln's departure for Washington to be inaugurated, he wrote to
+Lamon at Bloomington, that he desired to see him at once. He went
+to Springfield, and Lincoln said:
+
+"Hill, on the 11th I go to Washington, and I want you to go along
+with me. Our friends have already asked me to send you as Consul
+to Paris. You know I would cheerfully give you anything for which
+our friends may ask or which you may desire, but it looks as if
+we might have war.
+
+"In that case I want you with me. In fact, I must have you. So
+get yourself ready and come along. It will be handy to have you
+around. If there is to be a fight, I want you to help me to do my
+share of it, as you have done in times past. You must go, and go
+to stay."
+
+This is Lamon's version of it.
+
+
+LINCOLN WASN'T BUYING NOMINATIONS.
+
+To a party who wished to be empowered to negotiate reward for
+promises of influence in the Chicago Convention, 1860, Mr.
+Lincoln replied:
+
+"No, gentlemen; I have not asked the nomination, and I will not
+now buy it with pledges.
+
+"If I am nominated and elected, I shall not go into the
+Presidency as the tool of this man or that man, or as the
+property of any factor or clique."
+
+
+HE ENVIED THE SOLDIER AT THE FRONT.
+
+After some very bad news had come in from the army in the field,
+Lincoln remarked to Schuyler Colfax:
+
+"How willingly would I exchange places to-day with the soldier
+who sleeps on the ground in the Army of the Potomac!"
+
+
+DON'T TRUST TOO FAIL
+
+In the campaign of 1852, Lincoln, in reply to Douglas' speech,
+wherein he spoke of confidence in Providence, replied: "Let us
+stand by our candidate (General Scott) as faithfully as he has
+always stood by our country, and I much doubt if we do not
+perceive a slight abatement of Judge Douglas' confidence in
+Providence as well as the people. I suspect that confidence is
+not more firmly fixed with the judge than it was with the old
+woman whose horse ran away with her in a buggy. She said she
+'trusted in Providence till the britchen broke,' and then she
+'didn't know what in airth to do.'"
+
+
+HE'D "RISK THE DICTATORSHIP."
+
+Lincoln's great generosity to his leaders was shown when, in
+January, 1863, he assigned "Fighting Joe" Hooker to the command
+of the Army of the Potomac. Hooker had believed in a military
+dictatorship, and it was an open secret that McClellan might have
+become such had he possessed the nerve. Lincoln, however, was not
+bothered by this prattle, as he did not think enough of it to
+relieve McClellan of his command. The President said to Hooker:
+
+"I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently
+saying that both the army and the Government needed a dictator.
+Of course, it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have
+given you the command. Only those generals who gain success can
+be dictators.
+
+"What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the
+dictatorship."
+
+Lincoln also believed Hooker had not given cordial support to
+General Burnside when he was in command of the army. In Lincoln's
+own peculiarly plain language, he told Hooker that he had done "a
+great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious and
+honorable brother officer."
+
+
+"MAJOR GENERAL, I RECKON."
+
+At one time the President had the appointment of a large
+additional number of brigadier and major generals. Among the
+immense number of applications, Mr. Lincoln came upon one wherein
+the claims of a certain worthy (not in the service at all), "for
+a generalship" were glowingly set forth. But the applicant didn't
+specify whether he wanted to be brigadier or major general.
+
+The President observed this difficulty, and solved it by a lucid
+indorsement. The clerk, on receiving the paper again, found
+written across its back, "Major General, I reckon. A. Lincoln."
+
+
+WOULD SEE THE TRACKS.
+
+Judge Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, said that he never saw
+Lincoln more cheerful than on the day previous to his departure
+from Springfield for Washington, and Judge Gillespie, who visited
+him a few days earlier, found him in excellent spirits.
+
+"I told him that I believed it would do him good to get down to
+Washington," said Herndon.
+
+"I know it will," Lincoln replied. "I only wish I could have got
+there to lock the door before the horse was stolen. But when I
+get to the spot, I can find the tracks."
+
+
+"ABE" GAVE HER A "SURE TIP."
+
+If all the days Lincoln attended school were added together, they
+would not make a single year's time, and he never studied grammar
+or geography or any of the higher branches. His first teacher in
+Indiana was Hazel Dorsey, who opened a school in a log
+schoolhouse a mile and a half from the Lincoln cabin. The
+building had holes for windows, which were covered over with
+greased paper to admit light. The roof was just high enough for a
+man to stand erect. It did not take long to demonstrate that
+"Abe" was superior to any scholar in his class. His next teacher
+was Andrew Crawford, who taught in the winter of 1822-3, in the
+same little schoolhouse. "Abe" was an excellent speller, and it
+is said that he liked to show off his knowledge, especially if he
+could help out his less fortunate schoolmates. One day the
+teacher gave out the word "defied." A large class was on the
+floor, but it seemed that no one would be able to spell it. The
+teacher declared he would keep the whole class in all day and
+night if "defied" was not spelled correctly.
+
+When the word came around to Katy Roby, she was standing where
+she could see young "Abe." She started, "d-e-f," and while trying
+to decide whether to spell the word with an "i" or a "y," she
+noticed that Abe had his finger on his eye and a smile on his
+face, and instantly took the hint. She spelled the word correctly
+and school was dismissed.
+
+
+THE PRESIDENT HAD KNOWLEDGE OF HIM.
+
+Lincoln never forgot anyone or anything.
+
+At one of the afternoon receptions at the White House a stranger
+shook hands with him, and, as he did so, remarked casually, that
+he was elected to Congress about the time Mr. Lincoln's term as
+representative expired, which happened many years before.
+
+"Yes," said the President, "You are from--(mentioning the
+State). "I remember reading of your election in a newspaper one
+morning on a steamboat going down to Mount Vernon."
+
+At another time a gentleman addressed him, saying, "I presume,
+Mr, President, you have forgotten me?"
+
+"No," was the prompt reply; "your name is Flood. I saw you last,
+twelve years ago, at--" (naming the place and the occasion).
+
+"I am glad to see," he continued, "that the Flood goes on."
+
+Subsequent to his re-election a deputation of bankers from
+various sections were introduced one day by the Secretary of the
+Treasury.
+
+After a few moments of general conversation, Lincoln turned to
+one of them and said:
+
+"Your district did not give me so strong a vote at the last
+election as it did in 1860."
+
+"I think, sir, that you must be mistaken," replied the banker. "I
+have the impression that your majority was considerably increased
+at the last election."
+
+"No," rejoined the President, "you fell off about six hundred
+votes."
+
+Then taking down from the bookcase the official canvass of 1860
+and 1864, he referred to the vote of the district named, and
+proved to be quite right in his assertion.
+
+
+ONLY HALF A MAN.
+
+As President Lincoln, arm in arm with ex-President Buchanan,
+entered the Capitol, and passed into the Senate Chamber, filled
+to overflowing with Senators, members of the Diplomatic Corps,
+and visitors, the contrast between the two men struck every
+observer.
+
+"Mr. Buchanan was so withered and bowed with age," wrote George
+W. Julian, of Indiana, who was among the spectators, "that in
+contrast with the towering form of Mr. Lincoln he seemed little
+more than half a man."
+
+
+GRANT CONGRATULATED LINCOLN.
+
+As soon as the result of the Presidential election of 1864 was
+known, General Grant telegraphed from City Point his
+congratulations, and added that "the election having passed off
+quietly . . . is a victory worth more to the country than a
+battle won."
+
+
+"BRUTUS AND CAESAR."
+
+London "Punch" persistently maintained throughout the War for the
+Union that the question of what to do with the blacks was the
+most bothersome of all the problems President Lincoln had to
+solve. "Punch" thought the Rebellion had its origin in an effort
+to determine whether there should or should not be slavery in the
+United States, and was fought with this as the main end in view.
+"Punch" of August 15th, 1863, contained the cartoon reproduced on
+this page, the title being "Brutus and Caesar."
+
+President Lincoln was pictured as Brutus, while the ghost of
+Caesar, which appeared in the tent of the American Brutus during
+the dark hours of the night, was represented in the shape of a
+husky and anything but ghost-like African, whose complexion would
+tend to make the blackest tar look like skimmed milk in
+comparison. This was the text below the cartoon: (From the
+American Edition of Shakespeare.) The Tent of Brutus (Lincoln).
+Night. Enter the Ghost of Caesar.
+
+BRUTUS: "Wall, now! Do tell! Who's you?"
+
+CAESAR: "I am dy ebil genus, Massa Linking. Dis child am awful
+impressional!"
+
+"Punch's" cartoons were decidedly unfriendly in tone toward
+President Lincoln, some of them being not only objectionable in
+the display of bad taste, but offensive and vulgar. It is true
+that after the assassination of the President, "Punch," in
+illustrations, paid marked and deserved tribute to the memory of
+the Great Emancipator, but it had little that was good to say of
+him while he was among the living and engaged in carrying out the
+great work for which he was destined to win eternal fame.
+
+
+HOW STANTON GOT INTO THE CABINET.
+
+President Lincoln, well aware of Stanton's unfriendliness, was
+surprised when Secretary of the Treasury Chase told him that
+Stanton had expressed the opinion that the arrest of the
+Confederate Commissioners, Mason and Slidell, was legal and
+justified by international law. The President asked Secretary
+Chase to invite Stanton to the White House, and Stanton came. Mr.
+Lincoln thanked him for the opinion he had expressed, and asked
+him to put it in writing.
+
+Stanton complied, the President read it carefully, and, after
+putting it away, astounded Stanton by offering him the portfolio
+of War. Stanton was a Democrat, had been one of the President's
+most persistent vilifiers, and could not realize, at first, that
+Lincoln meant what he said. He managed, however to say:
+
+"I am both surprised and embarrassed, Mr. President, and would
+ask a couple of days to consider this most important matter."
+
+Lincoln fully understood what was going on in Stanton's mind, and
+then said:
+
+"This is a very critical period in the life of the nation, Mr.
+Stanton, as you are well aware, and I well know you are as much
+interested in sustaining the government as myself or any other
+man. This is no time to consider mere party issues. The life of
+the nation is in danger. I need the best counsellors around me. I
+have every confidence in your judgment, and have concluded to ask
+you to become one of my counsellors. The office of the Secretary
+of War will soon be vacant, and I am anxious to have you take Mr.
+Cameron's place."
+
+Stanton decided to accept.
+
+"ABE" LIKE HIS FATHER.
+
+"Abe" Lincoln's father was never at loss for an answer. An old
+neighbor of Thomas Lincoln--"Abe's" father--was passing the
+Lincoln farm one day, when he saw "Abe's" father grubbing up some
+hazelnut bushes, and said to him: "Why, Grandpap, I thought you
+wanted to sell your farm?"
+
+"And so I do," he replied, "but I ain't goin' to let my farm know
+it."
+
+"'Abe's' jes' like his father," the old ones would say.
+
+
+"NO MOON AT ALL."
+
+One of the most notable of Lincoln's law cases was that in which
+he defended William D. Armstrong, charged with murder. The case
+was one which was watched during its progress with intense
+interest, and it had a most dramatic ending.
+
+The defendant was the son of Jack and Hannah Armstrong. The
+father was dead, but Hannah, who had been very motherly and
+helpful to Lincoln during his life at New Salem, was still
+living, and asked Lincoln to defend him. Young Armstrong had been
+a wild lad, and was often in bad company.
+
+The principal witness had sworn that he saw young Armstrong
+strike the fatal blow, the moon being very bright at the time.
+
+Lincoln brought forward the almanac, which showed that at the
+time the murder was committed there was no moon at all. In his
+argument, Lincoln's speech was so feelingly made that at its
+close all the men in the jury-box were in tears. It was just half
+an hour when the jury returned a verdict of acquittal.
+
+Lincoln would accept no fee except the thanks of the anxious
+mother.
+
+
+"ABE" A SUPERB MIMIC.
+
+Lincoln's reading in his early days embraced a wide range. He was
+particularly fond of all stories containing fun, wit and humor,
+and every one of these he came across he learned by heart, thus
+adding to his personal store.
+
+He improved as a reciter and retailer of the stories he had read
+and heard, and as the reciter of tales of his own invention, and
+he had ready and eager auditors.
+
+Judge Herndon, in his "Abraham Lincoln," relates that as a mimic
+Lincoln was unequalled. An old neighbor said: "His laugh was
+striking. Such awkward gestures belonged to no other man. They
+attracted universal attention, from the old and sedate down to
+the schoolboy. Then, in a few moments, he was as calm and
+thoughtful as a judge on the bench, and as ready to give advice
+on the most important matters; fun and gravity grew on him
+alike."
+
+
+WHY HE WAS CALLED "HONEST ABE."
+
+During the year Lincoln was in Denton Offutt's store at New
+Salem, that gentleman, whose business was somewhat widely and
+unwisely spread about the country, ceased to prosper in his
+finances and finally failed. The store was shut up, the mill was
+closed, and Abraham Lincoln was out of business.
+
+The year had been one of great advance, in many respects. He had
+made new and valuable acquaintances, read many books, mastered
+the grammar of his own tongue, won multitudes of friends, and
+became ready for a step still further in advance.
+
+Those who could appreciate brains respected him, and those whose
+ideas of a man related to his muscles were devoted to him. It was
+while he was performing the work of the store that he acquired
+the sobriquet of "Honest Abe"--a characterization he never
+dishonored, and an abbreviation that he never outgrew.
+
+He was judge, arbitrator, referee, umpire, authority, in all
+disputes, games and matches of man-flesh, horse-flesh, a
+pacificator in all quarrels; everybody's friend; the
+best-natured, the most sensible, the best-informed, the most
+modest and unassuming, the kindest, gentlest, roughest,
+strongest, best fellow in all New Salem and the region round
+about.
+
+
+"ABE'S" NAME REMAINED ON THE SIGN.
+
+Enduring friendship and love of old associations were prominent
+characteristics of President Lincoln. When about to leave
+Springfield for Washington, he went to the dingy little law
+office which had sheltered his saddest hours.
+
+He sat down on the couch, and said to his law partner, Judge
+Herndon:
+
+"Billy, you and I have been together for more than twenty years,
+and have never passed a word. Will you let my name stay on the
+old sign until I come back from Washington?"
+
+The tears started to Herndon's eyes. He put out his hand. "Mr.
+Lincoln," said he, "I never will have any other partner while you
+live"; and to the day of assassination, all the doings of the
+firm were in the name of "Lincoln & Herndon."
+
+
+VERY HOMELY AT FIRST SIGHT.
+
+Early in January, 1861, Colonel Alex. K. McClure, of
+Philadelphia, received a telegram from President-elect Lincoln,
+asking him (McClure) to visit him at Springfield, Illinois.
+Colonel McClure described his disappointment at first sight of
+Lincoln in these words:
+
+"I went directly from the depot to Lincoln's house and rang the
+bell, which was answered by Lincoln himself opening the door. I
+doubt whether a wholly concealed my disappointment at meeting
+him.
+
+"Tall, gaunt, ungainly, ill clad, with a homeliness of manner
+that was unique in itself, I confess that my heart sank within me
+as I remembered that this was the man chosen by a great nation to
+become its ruler in the gravest period of its history.
+
+"I remember his dress as if it were but yesterday--snuff-colored
+and slouchy pantaloons, open black vest, held by a few brass
+buttons; straight or evening dresscoat, with tightly fitting
+sleeves to exaggerate his long, bony arms, and all supplemented
+by an awkwardness that was uncommon among men of intelligence.
+
+"Such was the picture I met in the person of Abraham Lincoln. We
+sat down in his plainly furnished parlor, and were uninterrupted
+during the nearly four hours that I remained with him, and little
+by little, as his earnestness, sincerity and candor were
+developed in conversation, I forgot all the grotesque qualities
+which so confounded me when I first greeted him."
+
+
+THE MAN TO TRUST.
+
+"If a man is honest in his mind," said Lincoln one day, long
+before he became President, "you are pretty safe in trusting
+him."
+
+
+"WUZ GOIN' TER BE 'HITCHED."'
+
+"Abe's" nephew--or one of them--related a story in connection
+with Lincoln's first love (Anne Rutledge), and his subsequent
+marriage to Miss Mary Todd. This nephew was a plain, every-day
+farmer, and thought everything of his uncle, whose greatness he
+quite thoroughly appreciated, although he did not pose to any
+extreme as the relative of a President of the United States.
+
+Said he one day, in telling his story:
+
+"Us child'en, w'en we heerd Uncle 'Abe' wuz a-goin' to be
+married, axed Gran'ma ef Uncle 'Abe' never hed hed a gal afore,
+an' she says, sez she, 'Well, "Abe" wuz never a han' nohow to run
+'round visitin' much, or go with the gals, neither, but he did
+fall in love with a Anne Rutledge, who lived out near
+Springfield, an' after she died he'd come home an' ev'ry time
+he'd talk 'bout her, he cried dreadful. He never could talk of
+her nohow 'thout he'd jes' cry an' cry, like a young feller.'
+
+"Onct he tol' Gran'ma they wuz goin' ter be hitched, they havin'
+promised each other, an' thet is all we ever heered 'bout it.
+But, so it wuz, that arter Uncle 'Abe' hed got over his mournin',
+he wuz married ter a woman w'ich hed lived down in Kentuck.
+
+"Uncle 'Abe' hisself tol' us he wuz married the nex' time he come
+up ter our place, an' w'en we ast him why he didn't bring his
+wife up to see us, he said: 'She's very busy and can't come.'
+
+"But we knowed better'n that. He wuz too proud to bring her
+up,'cause nothin' would suit her, nohow. She wuzn't raised the
+way we wuz, an' wuz different from us, and we heerd, tu, she wuz
+as proud as cud be.
+
+"No, an' he never brought none uv the child'en, neither.
+
+"But then, Uncle 'Abe,' he wuzn't to blame. We never thought he
+wuz stuck up."
+
+
+HE PROPOSED TO SAVE THE UNION.
+
+Replying to an editorial written by Horace Greeley, the President
+wrote:
+
+"My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save
+or to destroy slavery.
+
+"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do
+it.
+
+"If I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and
+if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I
+would also do that.
+
+"What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I
+believe it helps to save this Union; and what I forbear, I
+forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.
+
+"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts
+the cause, and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will
+help the cause."
+
+
+THE SAME OLD RUM.
+
+One of President Lincoln's friends, visiting at the White House,
+was finding considerable fault with the constant agitation in
+Congress of the slavery question. He remarked that, after the
+adoption of the Emancipation policy, he had hoped for something
+new.
+
+"There was a man down in Maine," said the President, in reply,
+"who kept a grocery store, and a lot of fellows used to loaf
+around for their toddy. He only gave 'em New England rum, and
+they drank pretty considerable of it. But after awhile they began
+to get tired of that, and kept asking for something new--
+something new--all the time. Well, one night, when the whole
+crowd were around, the grocer brought out his glasses, and says
+he, 'I've got something New for you to drink, boys, now.'
+
+"'Honor bright?' said they.
+
+"'Honor bright,' says he, and with that he sets out a jug.
+'Thar' says he, 'that's something new; it's New England rum!'
+says he.
+
+"Now," remarked the President, in conclusion, "I guess we're a
+good deal like that crowd, and Congress is a good deal like that
+store-keeper!"
+
+
+SAVED LINCOLN'S LIFE
+
+When Mr. Lincoln was quite a small boy he met with an accident
+that almost cost him his life. He was saved by Austin Gollaher, a
+young playmate. Mr. Gollaher lived to be more than ninety years
+of age, and to the day of his death related with great pride his
+boyhood association with Lincoln.
+
+"Yes," Mr. Gollaher once said, "the story that I once saved
+Abraham Lincoln's life is true. He and I had been going to school
+together for a year or more, and had become greatly attached to
+each other. Then school disbanded on account of there being so
+few scholars, and we did not see each other much for a long
+while.
+
+"One Sunday my mother visited the Lincolns, and I was taken
+along. 'Abe' and I played around all day. Finally, we concluded
+to cross the creek to hunt for some partridges young Lincoln had
+seen the day before. The creek was swollen by a recent rain, and,
+in crossing on the narrow footlog, 'Abe' fell in. Neither of us
+could swim. I got a long pole and held it out to 'Abe,' who
+grabbed it. Then I pulled him ashore.
+
+"He was almost dead, and I was badly scared. I rolled and pounded
+him in good earnest. Then I got him by the arms and shook him,
+the water meanwhile pouring out of his mouth. By this means I
+succeeded in bringing him to, and he was soon all right.
+
+"Then a new difficulty confronted us. If our mothers discovered
+our wet clothes they would whip us. This we dreaded from
+experience, and determined to avoid. It was June, the sun was
+very warm, and we soon dried our clothing by spreading it on the
+rocks about us. We promised never to tell the story, and I never
+did until after Lincoln's tragic end."
+
+
+WOULD NOT RECALL A SINGLE WORD.
+
+In conversation with some friends at the White House on New
+Year's evening, 1863, President Lincoln said, concerning his
+Emancipation Proclamation
+
+"The signature looks a little tremulous, for my hand was tired,
+but my resolution was firm.
+
+"I told them in September, if they did not return to their
+allegiance, and cease murdering our soldiers, I would strike at
+this pillar of their strength.
+
+"And now the promise shall be kept, and not one word of it will I
+ever recall."
+
+
+OLD BROOM BEST AFTER ALL.
+
+During the time the enemies of General Grant were making their
+bitterest attacks upon him, and demanding that the President
+remove him from command, "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper,"
+of June 13, 1863, came out with the cartoon reproduced. The text
+printed under the picture was to the following effect:
+
+OLD ABE: "Greeley be hanged! I want no more new brooms. I begin
+to think that the worst thing about my old ones was in not being
+handled right."
+
+The old broom the President holds in his right hand is labeled
+"Grant." The latter had captured Fort Donelson, defeated the
+Confederates at Shiloh, Iuka, Port Gibson, and other places, and
+had Vicksburg in his iron grasp. When the demand was made that
+Lincoln depose Grant, the President answered, "I can't spare this
+man; he fights!" Grant never lost a battle and when he found the
+enemy he always fought him. McClellan, Burnside, Pope and Hooker
+had been found wanting, so Lincoln pinned his faith to Grant. As
+noted in the cartoon, Horace Greeley, editor of the New York
+Tribune, Thurlow Weed, and others wanted Lincoln to try some
+other new brooms, but President Lincoln was wearied with defeats,
+and wanted a few victories to offset them. Therefore; he stood by
+Grant, who gave him victories.
+
+
+GOD WITH A LITTLE "g."
+
+Abraham Lincoln
+  his hand and pen
+he will be good
+  but god Knows When
+
+These lines were found written in young Lincoln's own hand at the
+bottom of a page whereon he had been ciphering. Lincoln always
+wrote a clear, regular "fist." In this instance he evidently did
+not appreciate the sacredness of the name of the Deity, when he
+used a little "g."
+
+Lincoln once said he did not remember the time when he could not
+write.
+
+
+"ABE'S" LOG.
+
+It was the custom in Sangamon for the "menfolks" to gather at
+noon and in the evening, when resting, in a convenient lane near
+the mill. They had rolled out a long peeled log, on which they
+lounged while they whittled and talked.
+
+Lincoln had not been long in Sangamon before he joined this
+circle. At once he became a favorite by his jokes and good-humor.
+As soon as he appeared at the assembly ground the men would start
+him to story-telling. So irresistibly droll were his "yarns" that
+whenever he'd end up in his unexpected way the boys on the log
+would whoop and roll off. The result of the rolling off was to
+polish the log like a mirror. The men, recognizing Lincoln's part
+in this polishing, christened their seat "Abe's log."
+
+Long after Lincoln had disappeared from Sangamon, "Abe's log"
+remained, and until it had rotted away people pointed it out, and
+repeated the droll stories of the stranger.
+
+
+IT WAS A FINE FIZZLE.
+
+President Lincoln, in company with General Grant, was inspecting
+the Dutch Gap Canal at City Point. "Grant, do you know what this
+reminds me of? Out in Springfield, Ill., there was a blacksmith
+who, not having much to do, took a piece of soft iron and
+attempted to weld it into an agricultural implement, but
+discovered that the iron would not hold out; then he concluded it
+would make a claw hammer; but having too much iron, attempted to
+make an ax, but decided after working awhile that there was not
+enough iron left. Finally, becoming disgusted, he filled the
+forge full of coal and brought the iron to a white heat; then
+with his tongs he lifted it from the bed of coals, and thrusting
+it into a tub of water near by, exclaimed: 'Well, if I can't make
+anything else of you, I will make a fizzle, anyhow.'" "I was
+afraid that was about what we had done with the Dutch Gap Canal,"
+said General Grant.
+
+
+A TEETOTALER.
+
+When Lincoln was in the Black Hawk War as captain, the volunteer
+soldiers drank in with delight the jests and stories of the tall
+captain. Aesop's Fables were given a new dress, and the tales of
+the wild adventures that he had brought from Kentucky and Indiana
+were many, but his inspiration was never stimulated by recourse
+to the whisky jug.
+
+When his grateful and delighted auditors pressed this on him he
+had one reply: "Thank you, I never drink it."
+
+
+NOT TO "OPEN SHOP" THERE.
+
+President Lincoln was passing down Pennsylvania avenue in
+Washington one day, when a man came running after him, hailed
+him, and thrust a bundle of papers in his hands.
+
+It angered him not a little, and he pitched the papers back,
+saying, "I'm not going to open shop here."
+
+
+WE HAVE LIBERTY OF ALL KINDS.
+
+Lincoln delivered a remarkable speech at Springfield, Illinois,
+when but twenty-eight years of age, upon the liberty possessed by
+the people of the United States.
+
+In part, he said:
+
+"In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the
+American people, find our account running under date of the
+nineteenth century of the Christian era.
+
+"We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest
+portion of the earth as regards extent of territory, fertility of
+soil, and salubrity of climate.
+
+"We find ourselves under the government of a system of political
+institutions conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and
+religious liberty than any of which history of former times tells
+us.
+
+"We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the
+legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings.
+
+"We toiled not in the acquisition or establishment of them; they
+are a legacy bequeathed to us by a once hardy, brave, and
+patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.
+
+"Theirs was the task (and nobly did they perform it) to possess
+themselves, us, of this goodly land, to uprear upon its hills and
+valleys a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis
+ours to transmit these--the former unprofaned by the foot of an
+intruder, the latter undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by
+usurpation--to the generation that fate shall permit the world to
+know.
+
+"This task, gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty
+to posterity--all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.
+
+"How, then, shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect
+the approach of danger?
+
+"Shall we expect some trans-Atlantic military giant to step the
+ocean and crush us at a blow?
+
+"Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa, combined, with
+all the treasures of the earth (our own excepted) in their
+military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not, by
+force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue
+Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
+
+"At what point, then, is this approach of danger to be expected?
+
+"I answer, if ever it reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It
+cannot come from abroad.
+
+"If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and
+finisher.
+
+"As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by
+suicide.
+
+"I hope I am not over-wary; but, if I am not, there is even now
+something of ill-omen amongst us.
+
+"I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the
+country, the disposition to substitute the wild and furious
+passions in lieu of the sober judgment of courts, and the worse
+than savage mobs for the executive ministers of justice.
+
+"This disposition is awfully fearful in any community, and that
+it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit
+it, it would be a violation of truth and an insult to deny.
+
+"Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the every-day news
+of the times.
+
+"They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana;
+they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former, nor
+the burning sun of the latter.
+
+"They are not the creatures of climate, neither are they confined
+to the slave-holding or non-slave-holding States.
+
+"Alike they spring up among the pleasure-hunting Southerners and
+the order-loving citizens of the land of steady habits.
+
+"Whatever, then, their cause may be, it is common to the whole
+country.
+
+"Many great and good men, sufficiently qualified for any task
+they may undertake, may ever be found, whose ambition would
+aspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or
+Presidential chair; but such belong not to the family of the
+lion, or the tribe of the eagle.
+
+"What! Think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a
+Caesar, or a Napoleon? Never!
+
+"Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions
+hitherto unexplored.
+
+"It seeks no distinction in adding story to story upon the
+monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others.
+
+"It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief.
+
+"It scorns to tread in the footpaths of any predecessor, however
+illustrious.
+
+"It thirsts and burns for distinction, and, if possible, it will
+have it, whether at the expense of emancipating the slaves or
+enslaving freemen.
+
+"Another reason which once was, but which to the same extent is
+now no more, has done much in maintaining our institutions thus
+far.
+
+"I mean the powerful influence which the interesting scenes of
+the Revolution had upon the passions of the people, as
+distinguished from their judgment.
+
+"But these histories are gone. They can be read no more forever.
+They were a fortress of strength.
+
+"But what the invading foeman could never do, the silent
+artillery of time has done,the levelling of the walls.
+
+"They were a forest of giant oaks, but the all-resisting
+hurricane swept over them and left only here and there a lone
+trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage, unshading
+and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle breezes and to
+combat with its mutilated limbs a few more rude storms, then to
+sink and be no more.
+
+"They were the pillars of the temple of liberty, and now that
+they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless we, the
+descendants, supply the places with pillars hewn from the same
+solid quarry of sober reason.
+
+"Passion has helped us, but can do so no more. It will in future
+be our enemy.
+
+"Reason--cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason--must furnish
+all the materials for our support and defense.
+
+"Let those materials be molded into general intelligence, sound
+morality, and, in particular, a reverence for the Constitution
+and the laws; and then our country shall continue to improve, and
+our nation, revering his name, and permitting no hostile foot to
+pass or desecrate his resting-place, shall be the first to hear
+the last trump that shall awaken our Washington.
+
+"Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest as the rock of
+its basis, and as truly as has been said of the only greater
+institution, 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'"
+
+
+TOM CORWINS'S LATEST STORY.
+
+One of Mr. Lincoln's warm friends was Dr. Robert Boal, of Lacon,
+Illinois. Telling of a visit he paid to the White House soon
+after Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, he said: "I found him the same
+Lincoln as a struggling lawyer and politician that I did in
+Washington as President of the United States, yet there was a
+dignity and self-possession about him in his high official
+authority. I paid him a second call in the evening. He had thrown
+off his reserve somewhat, and would walk up and down the room
+with his hands to his sides and laugh at the joke he was telling,
+or at one that was told to him. I remember one story he told to
+me on this occasion.
+
+"Tom Corwin, of Ohio, had been down to Alexandria, Va., that day
+and had come back and told Lincoln a story which pleased him so
+much that he broke out in a hearty laugh and said: 'I must tell
+you Tom Corwin's latest. Tom met an old man at Alexandria who
+knew George Washington, and he told Tom that George Washington
+often swore. Now, Corwin's father had always held the father of
+our country up as a faultless person and told his son to follow
+in his footsteps.
+
+"'"Well," said Corwin, "when I heard that George Washington was
+addicted to the vices and infirmities of man, I felt so relieved
+that I just shouted for joy."'"
+
+
+"CATCH 'EM AND CHEAT 'EM."
+
+The lawyers on the circuit traveled by Lincoln got together one
+night and tried him on the charge of accepting fees which tended
+to lower the established rates. It was the understood rule that a
+lawyer should accept all the client could be induced to pay. The
+tribunal was known as "The Ogmathorial Court."
+
+Ward Lamon, his law partner at the time, tells about it:
+
+"Lincoln was found guilty and fined for his awful crime against
+the pockets of his brethren of the bar. The fine he paid with
+great good humor, and then kept the crowd of lawyers in
+uproarious laughter until after midnight.
+
+"He persisted in his revolt, however, declaring that with his
+consent his firm should never during its life, or after its
+dissolution, deserve the reputation enjoyed by those shining
+lights of the profession, 'Catch 'em and Cheat 'em.'"
+
+
+A JURYMAN'S SCORN.
+
+Lincoln had assisted in the prosecution of a man who had robbed
+his neighbor's hen roosts. Jogging home along the highway with
+the foreman of the jury that had convicted the hen stealer, he
+was complimented by Lincoln on the zeal and ability of the
+prosecution, and remarked: "Why, when the country was young, and
+I was stronger than I am now, I didn't mind packing off a sheep
+now and again, but stealing hens!" The good man's scorn could not
+find words to express his opinion of a man who would steal hens.
+
+
+HE "BROKE" TO WIN.
+
+A lawyer, who was a stranger to Mr. Lincoln, once expressed to
+General Linder the opinion that Mr. Lincoln's practice of telling
+stories to the jury was a waste of time.
+
+"Don't lay that flattering unction to your soul," Linder
+answered; "Lincoln is like Tansey's horse, he 'breaks to win.'"
+
+
+WANTED HER CHILDREN BACK.
+
+On the 3rd of January, 1863, "Harper's Weekly" appeared with a
+cartoon representing Columbia indignantly demanding of President
+Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton that they restore to her
+those of her sons killed in battle. Below the picture is the
+reading matter
+
+COLUMBIA: "Where are my 15,000 sons--murdered at Fredericksburg?"
+
+LINCOLN: "This reminds me of a little joke--"
+
+COLUMBIA: "Go tell your joke at Springfield!!"
+
+The battle of Fredericksburg was fought on December 13th, 1862,
+between General Burnside, commanding the Army of the Potomac, and
+General Lee's force. The Union troops, time and again, assaulted
+the heights where the Confederates had taken position, but were
+driven back with frightful losses. The enemy, being behind
+breastworks, suffered comparatively little. At the beginning of
+the fight the Confederate line was broken, but the result of the
+engagement was disastrous to the Union cause. Burnside had one
+thousand one hundred and fifty-two killed, nine thousand one
+hundred and one wounded, and three thousand two hundred and
+thirty-four missing, a total of thirteen thousand seven hundred
+and seventy-one. General Lee's losses, all told, were not much
+more than five thousand men.
+
+Burnside had succeeded McClellan in command of the Army of the
+Potomac, mainly, it was said, through the influence of Secretary
+of War Stanton. Three months before, McClellan had defeated Lee
+at Antietam, the bloodiest battle of the War, Lee's losses
+footing up more than thirteen thousand men. At Fredericksburg,
+Burnside had about one hundred and twenty thousand men; at
+Antietam, McClellan had about eighty thousand. It has been
+maintained that Burnside should not have fought this battle, the
+chances of success being so few.
+
+
+SIX FEET FOUR AT SEVENTEEN.
+
+"Abe's" school teacher, Crawford, endeavored to teach his pupils
+some of the manners of the "polite society" of Indiana--1823 or
+so. This was a part of his system:
+
+One of the pupils would retire, and then come in as a stranger,
+and another pupil would have to introduce him to all the members
+of the school n what was considered "good manners."
+
+As "Abe" wore a linsey-woolsey shirt, buckskin breeches which
+were too short and very tight, and low shoes, and was tall and
+awkward, he no doubt created considerable merriment when his turn
+came. He was growing at a fearful rate; he was fifteen years of
+age, and two years later attained his full height of six feet
+four inches.
+
+
+HAD RESPECT FOR THE EGGS.
+
+Early in 1831, "Abe" was one of the guests of honor at a
+boat-launching, he and two others having built the craft. The
+affair was a notable one, people being present from the territory
+surrounding. A large party came from Springfield with an ample
+supply of whisky, to give the boat and its builders a send-off.
+It was a sort of bipartisan mass-meeting, but there was one
+prevailing spirit, that born of rye and corn. Speeches were made
+in the best of feeling, some in favor of Andrew Jackson and some
+in favor of Henry Clay. Abraham Lincoln, the cook, told a number
+of funny stories, and it is recorded that they were not of too
+refined a character to suit the taste of his audience. A
+sleight-of-hand performer was present, and among other tricks
+performed, he fried some eggs in Lincoln's hat. Judge Herndon
+says, as explanatory to the delay in passing up the hat for the
+experiment, Lincoln drolly observed: "It was out of respect for
+the eggs, not care for my hat."
+
+
+HOW WAS THE MILK UPSET?
+
+William G. Greene, an old-time friend of Lincoln, was a student
+at Illinois College, and one summer brought home with him, on a
+vacation, Richard Yates (afterwards Governor of Illinois) and
+some other boys, and, in order to entertain them, took them up to
+see Lincoln.
+
+He found him in his usual position and at his usual occupation--
+flat on his back, on a cellar door, reading a newspaper. This was
+the manner in which a President of the United States and a
+Governor of Illinois became acquainted with each other.
+
+Greene says Lincoln repeated the whole of Burns, and a large
+quantity of Shakespeare for the entertainment of the college
+boys, and, in return, was invited to dine with them on bread and
+milk. How he managed to upset his bowl of milk is not a matter of
+history, but the fact is that he did so, as is the further fact
+that Greene's mother, who loved Lincoln, tried to smooth over the
+accident and relieve the young man's embarrassment.
+
+
+"PULLED FODDER" FOR A BOOK.
+
+Once "Abe" borrowed Weems' "Life of Washington" from Joseph
+Crawford, a neighbor. "Abe" devoured it; read it and re-read it,
+and when asleep put it by him between the logs of the wall. One
+night a rain storm wet it through and ruined it.
+
+"I've no money," said "Abe," when reporting the disaster to
+Crawford, "but I'll work it out."
+
+"All right," was Crawford's response; "you pull fodder for three
+days, an' the book is your'n."
+
+"Abe" pulled the fodder, but he never forgave Crawford for
+putting so much work upon him. He never lost an opportunity to
+crack a joke at his expense, and the name "Blue-nose Crawford"
+"Abe" applied to him stuck to him throughout his life.
+
+
+PRAISES HIS RIVAL FOR OFFICE.
+
+When Mr. Lincoln was a candidate for the Legislature, it was the
+practice at that date in Illinois for two rival candidates to
+travel over the district together. The custom led to much
+good-natured raillery between them; and in such contests Lincoln
+was rarely, if ever, worsted. He could even turn the generosity
+of a rival to account by his whimsical treatment.
+
+On one occasion, says Mr. Weir, a former resident of Sangamon
+county, he had driven out from Springfield in company with a
+political opponent to engage in joint debate. The carriage, it
+seems, belonged to his opponent. In addressing the gathering of
+farmers that met them, Lincoln was lavish in praise of the
+generosity of his friend.
+
+"I am too poor to own a carriage," he said, "but my friend has
+generously invited me to ride with him. I want you to vote for me
+if you will; but if not then vote for my opponent, for he is a
+fine man."
+
+His extravagant and persistent praise of his opponent appealed to
+the sense of humor in his rural audience, to whom his inability
+to own a carriage was by no means a disqualification.
+
+
+ONE THING "ABE" DIDN'T LOVE.
+
+Lincoln admitted that he was not particularly energetic when it
+came to real hard work.
+
+"My father," said he one day, "taught me how to work, but not to
+love it. I never did like to work, and I don't deny it. I'd
+rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh--anything but
+work."
+
+
+THE MODESTY OF GENIUS.
+
+The opening of the year 1860 found Mr. Lincoln's name freely
+mentioned in connection with the Republican nomination for the
+Presidency. To be classed with Seward, Chase, McLean, and other
+celebrities, was enough to stimulate any Illinois lawyer's pride;
+but in Mr. Lincoln's case, if it had any such effect, he was most
+artful in concealing it. Now and then, some ardent friend, an
+editor, for example, would run his name up to the masthead, but
+in all cases he discouraged the attempt.
+
+"In regard to the matter you spoke of," he answered one man who
+proposed his name, "I beg you will not give it a further mention.
+Seriously, I do not think I am fit for the Presidency."
+
+
+WHY SHE MARRIED HIM.
+
+There was a "social" at Lincoln's house in Springfield, and "Abe"
+introduced his wife to Ward Lamon, his law partner. Lamon tells
+the story in these words:
+
+"After introducing me to Mrs. Lincoln, he left us in
+conversation. I remarked to her that her husband was a great
+favorite in the eastern part of the State, where I had been
+stopping.
+
+"'Yes,' she replied, 'he is a great favorite everywhere. He is
+to be President of the United States some day; if I had not
+thought so I never would have married him, for you can see he is
+not pretty.
+
+"'But look at him, doesn't he look as if he would make a
+magnificent President?'"
+
+
+NIAGARA FALLS.
+
+(Written By Abraham Lincoln.)
+
+The following article on Niagara Falls, in Mr. Lincoln's
+handwriting, was found among his papers after his death:
+
+"Niagara Falls! By what mysterious power is it that millions and
+millions are drawn from all parts of the world to gaze upon
+Niagara Falls? There is no mystery about the thing itself. Every
+effect is just as any intelligent man, knowing the causes, would
+anticipate without seeing it. If the water moving onward in a
+great river reaches a point where there is a perpendicular jog of
+a hundred feet in descent in the bottom of the river, it is plain
+the water will have a violent and continuous plunge at that
+point. It is also plain, the water, thus plunging, will foam and
+roar, and send up a mist continuously, in which last, during
+sunshine, there will be perpetual rainbows. The mere physical of
+Niagara Falls is only this. Yet this is really a very small part
+of that world's wonder. Its power to excite reflection and
+emotion is its great charm. The geologist will demonstrate that
+the plunge, or fall, was once at Lake Ontario, and has worn its
+way back to its present position; he will ascertain how fast it
+is wearing now, and so get a basis for determining how long it
+has been wearing back from Lake Ontario, and finally demonstrate
+by it that this world is at least fourteen thousand years old. A
+philosopher of a slightly different turn will say, 'Niagara Falls
+is only the lip of the basin out of which pours all the surplus
+water which rains down on two or three hundred thousand square
+miles of the earth's surface.' He will estimate with approximate
+accuracy that five hundred thousand tons of water fall with their
+full weight a distance of a hundred feet each minute--thus
+exerting a force equal to the lifting of the same weight, through
+the same space, in the same time.
+
+"But still there is more. It calls up the indefinite past. When
+Columbus first sought this continent--when Christ suffered on the
+cross--when Moses led Israel through the Red Sea--nay, even when
+Adam first came from the hand of his Maker; then, as now, Niagara
+was roaring here. The eyes of that species of extinct giants
+whose bones fill the mounds of America have gazed on Niagara, as
+ours do now. Contemporary with the first race of men, and older
+than the first man, Niagara is strong and fresh to-day as ten
+thousand years ago. The Mammoth and Mastodon, so long dead that
+fragments of their monstrous bones alone testify that they ever
+lived, have gazed on Niagara--in that long, long time never still
+for a single moment (never dried), never froze, never slept,
+never rested."
+
+
+MADE IT HOT FOR LINCOLN.
+
+A lady relative, who lived for two years with the Lincolns, said
+that Mr. Lincoln was in the habit of lying on the floor with the
+back of a chair for a pillow when he read.
+
+One evening, when in this position in the hall, a knock was heard
+at the front door, and, although in his shirtsleeves, he answered
+the call. Two ladies were at the door, whom he invited into the
+parlor, notifying them in his open, familiar way, that he would
+"trot the women folks out."
+
+Mrs. Lincoln, from an adjoining room, witnessed the ladies'
+entrance, and, overhearing her husband's jocose expression, her
+indignation was so instantaneous she made the situation
+exceedingly interesting for him, and he was glad to retreat from
+the house. He did not return till very late at night, and then
+slipped quietly in at a rear door.
+
+
+WOULDN'T HOLD TITLE AGAINST HIM,
+
+During the rebellion the Austrian Minister to the United States
+Government introduced to the President a count, a subject of the
+Austrian government, who was desirous of obtaining a position in
+the American army.
+
+Being introduced by the accredited Minister of Austria he
+required no further recommendation to secure the appointment;
+but, fearing that his importance might not be fully appreciated
+by the republican President, the count was particular in
+impressing the fact upon him that he bore that title, and that
+his family was ancient and highly respectable.
+
+President Lincoln listened with attention, until this unnecessary
+commendation was mentioned; then, with a merry twinkle in his
+eye, he tapped the aristocratic sprig of hereditary nobility on
+the shoulder in the most fatherly way, as if the gentleman had
+made a confession of some unfortunate circumstance connected with
+his lineage, for which he was in no way responsible, and said:
+
+"Never mind,you shall be treated with just as much consideration
+for all that. I will see to it that your bearing a title shan't
+hurt you."
+
+
+ONLY ONE LIFE TO LIVE.
+
+A young man living in Kentucky had been enticed into the rebel
+army. After a few months he became disgusted, and managed to make
+his way back home. Soon after his arrival, the Union officer in
+command of the military stationed in the town had him arrested as
+a rebel spy, and, after a military trial he was condemned to be
+hanged.
+
+President Lincoln was seen by one of his friends from Kentucky,
+who explained his errand and asked for mercy. "Oh, yes, I
+understand; some one has been crying, and worked upon your
+feelings, and you have come here to work on mine."
+
+His friend then went more into detail, and assured him of his
+belief in the truth of the story. After some deliberation, Mr.
+Lincoln, evidently scarcely more than half convinced, but still
+preferring to err on the side of mercy, replied:
+
+"If a man had more than one life, I think a little hanging would
+not hurt this one; but after he is once dead we cannot bring him
+back, no matter how sorry we may be; so the boy shall be
+pardoned."
+
+And a reprieve was given on the spot.
+
+
+COULDN'T LOCATE HIS BIRTHPLACE.
+
+While the celebrated artist, Hicks, was engaged in painting Mr.
+Lincoln's portrait, just after the former's first nomination for
+the Presidency, he asked the great statesman if he could point
+out the precise spot where he was born.
+
+Lincoln thought the matter over for a day or two, and then gave
+the artist the following memorandum:
+
+"Springfield, Ill., June 14, 1860
+
+"I was born February 12, 1809, in then Hardin county, Kentucky,
+at a point within the now county of Larue, a mile or a mile and a
+half from where Rodgen's mill now is. My parents being dead, and
+my own memory not serving, I know no means of identifying the
+precise locality. It was on Nolen Creek.
+
+A. LINCOLN."
+
+
+"SAMBO" WAS "AFEARED."
+
+In his message to Congress in December, 1864, just after his
+re-election, President Lincoln, in his message of December 6th,
+let himself out, in plain, unmistakable terms, to the effect that
+the freedmen should never be placed in bondage again. "Frank
+Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" of December 24th, 1864, printed
+the cartoon we herewith reproduce, the text underneath running in
+this way:
+
+UNCLE ABE: "Sambo, you are not handsome, any more than myself,
+but as to sending you back to your old master, I'm not the man to
+do it--and, what's more, I won't." (Vice President's message.)
+
+Congress, at the previous sitting, had neglected to pass the
+resolution for the Constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery,
+but, on the 31st of January, 1865, the resolution was finally
+adopted, and the United States Constitution soon had the new
+feature as one of its clauses, the necessary number of State
+Legislatures approving it. President Lincoln regarded the passage
+of this resolution by Congress as most important, as the
+amendment, in his mind, covered whatever defects a rigid
+construction of the Constitution might find in his Emancipation
+Proclamation.
+
+After the latter was issued, negroes were allowed to enlist in
+the Army, and they fought well and bravely. After the War, in the
+reorganization of the Regular Army, four regiments of colored men
+were provided for--the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry and the
+Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry. In the cartoon, Sambo
+has evidently been asking "Uncle Abe" as to the probability or
+possibility of his being again enslaved.
+
+
+WHEN MONEY MIGHT BE USED.
+
+Some Lincoln enthusiast in Kansas, with much more pretensions
+than power, wrote him in March, 1860 proposing to furnish a
+Lincoln delegation from that State to the Chicago Convention, and
+suggesting that Lincoln should pay the legitimate expenses of
+organizing, electing, and taking to the convention the promised
+Lincoln delegates.
+
+To this Lincoln replied that "in the main, the use of money is
+wrong, but for certain objects in a political contest the use of
+some is both right and indispensable." And he added: "If you
+shall be appointed a delegate to Chicago, I will furnish $100 to
+bear the expenses of the trip."
+
+He heard nothing further from the Kansas man until he saw an
+announcement in the newspapers that Kansas had elected delegates
+and instructed them for Seward.
+
+
+"ABE" WAS NO BEAUTY.
+
+Lincoln's military service in the Back Hawk war had increased his
+popularity at New Salem, and he was put up as a candidate for the
+Legislature.
+
+A. Y. Ellis describes his personal appearance at this time as
+follows: "He wore a mixed jean coat, claw-hammer style, short in
+the sleeves and bob-tailed; in fact, it was so short in the tail
+that he could not sit on it; flax and tow linen pantaloons and a
+straw hat. I think he wore a vest, but do not remember how it
+looked; he wore pot-metal boots."
+
+
+"HE'S JUST BEAUTIFUL."
+
+Lincoln's great love for children easily won their confidence.
+
+A little girl, who had been told that the President was very
+homely, was taken by her father to see the President at the White
+House.
+
+Lincoln took her upon his knee and chatted with her for a moment
+in his merry way, when she turned to her father and exclaimed
+
+"Oh, Pa! he isn't ugly at all; he's just beautiful!"
+
+
+BIG ENOUGH HOG FOR HIM.
+
+To a curiosity-seeker who desired a permit to pass the lines to
+visit the field of Bull Run, after the first battle, Lincoln made
+the following reply:
+
+"A man in Cortlandt county raised a porker of such unusual size
+that strangers went out of their way to see it.
+
+"One of them the other day met the old gentleman and inquired
+about the animal.
+
+"'Wall, yes,' the old fellow said, 'I've got such a critter,
+mi'ty big un; but I guess I'll have to charge you about a
+shillin' for lookin' at him.'
+
+"The stranger looked at the old man for a minute or so, pulled
+out the desired coin, handed it to him and started to go off.
+'Hold on,' said the other. 'don't you want to see the hog?'
+
+"'No,' said the stranger; 'I have seen as big a hog as I want to
+see!'
+
+"And you will find that fact the case with yourself, if you
+should happen to see a few live rebels there as well as dead
+ones."
+
+
+"ABE" OFFERS A SPEECH FOR SOMETHING TO EAT.
+
+When Lincoln's special train from Springfield to Washington
+reached the Illinois State line, there was a stop for dinner.
+There was such a crowd that Lincoln could scarcely reach the
+dining-room. "Gentlemen," said he, as he surveyed the crowd, "if
+you will make me a little path, so that I can get through and get
+something to eat, I will make you a speech when I get back."
+
+
+THEY UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER.
+
+When complaints were made to President Lincoln by victims of
+Secretary of War Stanton's harshness, rudeness, and refusal to be
+obliging--particularly in cases where Secretary Stanton had
+refused to honor Lincoln's passes through the lines--the
+President would often remark to this effect "I cannot always be
+sure that permits given by me ought to be granted. There is an
+understanding between myself and Stanton that when I send a
+request to him which cannot consistently be granted, he is to
+refuse to honor it. This he sometimes does."
+
+
+FEW FENCE RAILS LEFT.
+
+"There won't be a tar barrel left in Illinois to-night," said
+Senator Stephen A. Douglas, in Washington, to his Senatorial
+friends, who asked him, when the news of the nomination of
+Lincoln reached them, "Who is this man Lincoln, anyhow?"
+
+Douglas was right. Not only the tar barrels, but half the fences
+of the State of Illinois went up in the fire of rejoicing.
+
+
+THE "GREAT SNOW" OF 1830-31.
+
+In explanation of Lincoln's great popularity, D. W. Bartlett, in
+his "Life and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln," published in 1860
+makes this statement of "Abe's" efficient service to his
+neighbors in the "Great Snow" of 1830-31:
+
+"The deep snow which occurred in 1830-31 was one of the chief
+troubles endured by the early settlers of central and southern
+Illinois. Its consequences lasted through several years. The
+people were ill-prepared to meet it, as the weather had been
+mild and pleasant--unprecedentedly so up to Christmas--when a
+snow-storm set in which lasted two days, something never before
+known even among the traditions of the Indians, and never
+approached in the weather of any winter since.
+
+"The pioneers who came into the State (then a territory) in 1800
+say the average depth of snow was never, previous to 1830, more
+than knee-deep to an ordinary man, while it was breast-high all
+that winter.
+
+It became crusted over, so as, in some cases, to bear teams.
+Cattle and horses perished, the winter wheat was killed, the
+meager stock of provisions ran out, and during the three months'
+continuance of the snow, ice and continuous cold weather the most
+wealthy settlers came near starving, while some of the poor ones
+actually did. It was in the midst of such scenes that Abraham
+Lincoln attained his majority, and commenced his career of bold
+and manly independence . . . . .
+
+"Communication between house and house was often entirely
+obstructed for teams, so that the young and strong men had to do
+all the traveling on foot; carrying from one neighbor what of his
+store he could spare to another, and bringing back in return
+something of his store sorely needed. Men living five, ten,
+twenty and thirty miles apart were called 'neighbors' then. Young
+Lincoln was always ready to perform these acts of humanity, and
+was foremost in the counsels of the settlers when their troubles
+seemed gathering like a thick cloud about them."
+
+
+CREDITOR PAID DEBTORS DEBT.
+
+A certain rich man in Springfield, Illinois, sued a poor attorney
+for $2.50, and Lincoln was asked to prosecute the case. Lincoln
+urged the creditor to let the matter drop, adding, "You can make
+nothing out of him, and it will cost you a good deal more than
+the debt to bring suit." The creditor was still determined to
+have his way, and threatened to seek some other attorney. Lincoln
+then said, "Well, if you are determined that suit should be
+brought, I will bring it; but my charge will be $10."
+
+The money was paid him, and peremptory orders were given that the
+suit be brought that day. After the client's departure Lincoln
+went out of the office, returning in about an hour with an amused
+look on his face.
+
+Asked what pleased him, he replied, "I brought suit against --,
+and then hunted him up, told him what I had done, handed him half
+of the $10, and we went over to the squire's office. He confessed
+judgment and paid the bill."
+
+Lincoln added that he didn't see any other way to make things
+satisfactory for his client as well as the other.
+
+
+HELPED OUT THE SOLDIERS.
+
+Judge Thomas B. Bryan, of Chicago, a member of the Union Defense
+Committee during the War, related the following concerning the
+original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation:
+
+"I asked Mr. Lincoln for the original draft of the Proclamation,"
+said Judge Bryan, "for the benefit of our Sanitary Fair, in 1865.
+He sent it and accompanied it with a note in which he said:
+
+"'I had intended to keep this paper, but if it will help the
+soldiers, I give it to you.'
+
+"The paper was put up at auction and brought $3,000. The buyer
+afterward sold it again to friends of Mr. Lincoln at a greatly
+advanced price, and it was placed in the rooms of the Chicago
+Historical Society, where it was burned in the great fire of
+1871."
+
+
+EVERY FELLOW FOR HIMSELF.
+
+An elegantly dressed young Virginian assured Lincoln that he had
+done a great deal of hard manual labor in his time. Much amused
+at this solemn declaration, Lincoln said:
+
+"Oh, yes; you Virginians shed barrels of perspiration while
+standing off at a distance and superintending the work your
+slaves do for you. It is different with us. Here it is every
+fellow for himself, or he doesn't get there."
+
+
+"BUTCHER-KNIFE BOYS" AT THE POLLS.
+
+When young Lincoln had fully demonstrated that he was the
+champion wrestler in the country surrounding New Salem, the men
+of "de gang" at Clary's Grove, whose leader "Abe" had downed,
+were his sworn political friends and allies.
+
+Their work at the polls was remarkably effective. When the
+"Butcherknife boys," the "huge-pawed boys," and the
+"half-horse-half-alligator men" declared for a candidate the
+latter was never defeated.
+
+
+NO "SECOND COMING" FOR SPRINGFIELD.
+
+Soon after the opening of Congress in 1861, Mr. Shannon, from
+California, made the customary call at the White House. In the
+conversation that ensued, Mr Shannon said: "Mr. President, I met
+an old friend of yours in California last summer, a Mr. Campbell,
+who had a good deal to say of your Springfield life."
+
+"Ah!" returned Mr. Lincoln, "I am glad to hear of him. Campbell
+used to be a dry fellow in those days," he continued. "For a time
+he was Secretary of State. One day during the legislative
+vacation, a meek, cadaverous-looking man, with a white neckcloth,
+introduced himself to him at his office, and, stating that he had
+been informed that Mr. C. had the letting of the hall of
+representatives, he wished to secure it, if possible, for a
+course of lectures he desired to deliver in Springfield.
+
+"'May I ask,' said the Secretary, 'what is to be the subject of
+your lectures?'
+
+"'Certainly,' was the reply, with a very solemn expression of
+countenance. 'The course I wish to deliver is on the Second
+Coming of our Lord.'
+
+"'It is of no use,' said C.; 'if you will take my advice, you
+will not waste your time in this city. It is my private opinion
+that, if the Lord has been in Springfield once, He will never
+come the second time!'"
+
+
+HOW HE WON A FRIEND.
+
+J. S. Moulton, of Chicago, a master in chancery and influential
+in public affairs, looked upon the candidacy of Mr. Lincoln for
+President as something in the nature of a joke. He did not rate
+the Illinois man in the same class with the giants of the East.
+In fact he had expressed himself as by no means friendly to the
+Lincoln cause.
+
+Still he had been a good friend to Lincoln and had often met him
+when the Springfield lawyer came to Chicago. Mr. Lincoln heard of
+Moulton's attitude, but did not see Moulton until after the
+election, when the President-elect came to Chicago and was
+tendered a reception at one of the big hotels.
+
+Moulton went up in the line to pay his respects to the
+newly-elected chief magistrate, purely as a formality, he
+explained to his companions. As Moulton came along the line Mr.
+Lincoln grasped Moulton's hand with his right, and with his left
+took the master of chancery by the shoulder and pulled him out of
+the line.
+
+"You don't belong in that line, Moulton," said Mr. Lincoln. "You
+belong here by me."
+
+Everyone at the reception was a witness to the honoring of
+Moulton. From that hour every faculty that Moulton possessed was
+at the service of the President. A little act of kindness,
+skillfully bestowed, had won him; and he stayed on to the end.
+
+
+NEVER SUED A CLIENT.
+
+If a client did not pay, Lincoln did not believe in suing for the
+fee. When a fee was paid him his custom was to divide the money
+into two equal parts, put one part into his pocket, and the other
+into an envelope labeled "Herndon's share."
+
+
+THE LINCOLN HOUSEHOLD GOODS.
+
+It is recorded that when "Abe" was born, the household goods of
+his father consisted of a few cooking utensils, a little bedding,
+some carpenter tools, and four hundred gallons of the fierce
+product of the mountain still.
+
+
+RUNNING THE MACHINE.
+
+One of the cartoon-posters issued by the Democratic National
+Campaign Committee in the fall of 1864 is given here. It had the
+legend, "Running the Machine," printed beneath; the "machine" was
+Secretary Chase's "Greenback Mill," and the mill was turning out
+paper money by the million to satisfy the demands of greedy
+contractors. "Uncle Abe" is pictured as about to tell one of his
+funny stories, of which the scene "reminds" him; Secretary of War
+Stanton is receiving a message from the front, describing a great
+victory, in which one prisoner and one gun were taken; Secretary
+of State Seward is handing an order to a messenger for the arrest
+of a man who had called him a "humbug," the habeas corpus being
+suspended throughout the Union at that period; Secretary of the
+Navy Welles--the long-haired, long-bearded man at the head of the
+table--is figuring out a naval problem; at the side of the table,
+opposite "Uncle Abe," are seated two Government contractors,
+shouting for "more greenbacks," and at the extreme left is
+Secretary of the Treasury Fessenden (who succeeded Chase when the
+latter was made Chief Justice of the United States Supreme
+Court), who complains that he cannot satisfy the greed of the
+contractors for "more greenbacks," although he is grinding away
+at the mill day and night.
+
+
+WAS "BOSS" WHEN NECESSARY.
+
+Lincoln was the actual head of the administration, and whenever
+he chose to do so he controlled Secretary of War Stanton as well
+as the other Cabinet ministers.
+
+Secretary Stanton on one occasion said: "Now, Mr. President,
+those are the facts and you must see that your order cannot be
+executed."
+
+Lincoln replied in a somewhat positive tone: "Mr. Secretary, I
+reckon you'll have to execute the order."
+
+Stanton replied with vigor: "Mr. President, I cannot do it. This
+order is an improper one, and I cannot execute it."
+
+Lincoln fixed his eyes upon Stanton, and, in a firm voice and
+accent that clearly showed his determination, said: "Mr.
+Secretary, it will have to be done."
+
+It was done.
+
+
+"RATHER STARVE THAN SWINDLE."
+
+Ward Lamon, once Lincoln's law partner, relates a story which
+places Lincoln's high sense of honor in a prominent light. In a
+certain case, Lincoln and Lamon being retained by a gentleman
+named Scott, Lamon put the fee at $250, and Scott agreed to pay
+it. Says Lamon:
+
+"Scott expected a contest, but, to his surprise, the case was
+tried inside of twenty minutes; our success was complete. Scott
+was satisfied, and cheerfully paid over the money to me inside
+the bar, Lincoln looking on. Scott then went out, and Lincoln
+asked, 'What did you charge that man?'
+
+"I told him $250. Said he: 'Lamon, that is all wrong. The service
+was not worth that sum. Give him back at least half of it.'
+
+"I protested that the fee was fixed in advance; that Scott was
+perfectly satisfied, and had so expressed himself. 'That may be,'
+retorted Lincoln, with a look of distress and of undisguised
+displeasure, 'but I am not satisfied. This is positively wrong.
+Go, call him back and return half the money at least, or I will
+not receive one cent of it for my share.'
+
+"I did go, and Scott was astonished when I handed back half the
+fee.
+
+"This conversation had attracted the attention of the lawyers and
+the court. Judge David Davis, then on our circuit bench
+(afterwards Associate Justice on the United States Supreme
+bench), called Lincoln to him. The Judge never could whisper, but
+in this instance he probably did his best. At all events, in
+attempting to whisper to Lincoln he trumpeted his rebuke in about
+these words, and in rasping tones that could be heard all over
+the court-room: 'Lincoln, I have been watching you and Lamon. You
+are impoverishing this bar by your picayune charges of fees, and
+the lawyers have reason to complain of you. You are now almost as
+poor as Lazarus, and if you don't make people pay you more for
+your services you will die as poor as Job's turkey!'
+
+"Judge O. L. Davis, the leading lawyer in that part of the State,
+promptly applauded this malediction from the bench; but Lincoln
+was immovable.
+
+"'That money,' said he, 'comes out of the pocket of a poor,
+demented girl, and I would rather starve than swindle her in this
+manner.'"
+
+
+DON'T AIM TOO HIGH.
+
+"Billy, don't shoot too high--aim lower, and the common people
+will understand you," Lincoln once said to a brother lawyer.
+
+"They are the ones you want to reach--at least, they are the ones
+you ought to reach.
+
+"The educated and refined people will understand you, anyway. If
+you aim too high, your idea will go over the heads of the masses,
+and only hit those who need no hitting."
+
+
+NOT MUCH AT RAIL-SPLITTING.
+
+One who afterward became one of Lincoln's most devoted friends
+and adherents tells this story regarding the manner in which
+Lincoln received him when they met for the first time:
+
+"After a comical survey of my fashionable toggery,--my
+swallow-tail coat, white neck-cloth, and ruffled shirt (an
+astonishing outfit for a young limb of the law in that
+settlement), Lincoln said:
+
+"'Going to try your hand at the law, are you? I should know at a
+glance that you were a Virginian; but I don't think you would
+succeed at splitting rails. That was my occupation at your age,
+and I don't think I have taken as much pleasure in anything else
+from that day to this.'"
+
+
+GAVE THE SOLDIER THE PREFERENCE.
+
+July 27th, 1863, Lincoln wrote the Postmaster-General:
+
+"Yesterday little indorsements of mine went to you in two cases
+of postmasterships, sought for widows whose husbands have fallen
+in the battles of this war.
+
+"These cases, occurring on the same day, brought me to reflect
+more attentively than what I had before done as to what is fairly
+due from us here in dispensing of patronage toward the men who,
+by fighting our battles, bear the chief burden of saving our
+country.
+
+"My conclusion is that, other claims and qualifications being
+equal, they have the right, and this is especially applicable to
+the disabled soldier and the deceased soldier's family."
+
+
+THE PRESIDENT WAS NOT SCARED.
+
+When told how uneasy all had been at his going to Richmond,
+Lincoln replied:
+
+"Why, if any one else had been President and had gone to
+Richmond, I would have been alarmed; but I was not scared about
+myself a bit."
+
+
+JEFF. DAVIS' REPLY TO LINCOLN.
+
+On the 20th of July, 1864, Horace Greeley crossed into Canada to
+confer with refugee rebels at Niagara. He bore with him this
+paper from the President:
+
+"To Whom It May Concern: Any proposition which embraces the
+restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the
+abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority
+that can control the armies now at war with the United States,
+will be received and considered by the executive government of
+the United States, and will be met by liberal terms and other
+substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearers
+thereof shall have safe conduct both ways."
+
+To this Jefferson Davis replied: "We are not fighting for
+slavery; we are fighting for independence."
+
+
+LINCOLN WAS a GENTLEMAN.
+
+Lincoln was compelled to contend with the results of the
+ill-judged zeal of politicians, who forced ahead his flatboat and
+rail-splitting record, with the homely surroundings of his
+earlier days, and thus, obscured for the time, the other fact
+that, always having the heart, he had long since acquired the
+manners of a true gentleman.
+
+So, too, did he suffer from Eastern censors, who did not take
+those surroundings into account, and allowed nothing for his
+originality of character. One of these critics heard at
+Washington that Mr. Lincoln, in speaking at different times of
+some move or thing, said "it had petered out;" that some other
+one's plan "wouldn't gibe;" and being asked if the War and the
+cause of the Union were not a great care to him, replied:
+
+"Yes, it is a heavy hog to hold."
+
+The first two phrases are so familiar here in the West that they
+need no explanation. Of the last and more pioneer one it may be
+said that it had a special force, and was peculiarly Lincoln-like
+in the way applied by him.
+
+In the early times in Illinois, those having hogs, did their own
+killing, assisted by their neighbors. Stripped of its hair, one
+held the carcass nearly perpendicular in the air, head down,
+while others put one point of the gambrel-bar through a slit in
+its hock, then over the string-pole, and the other point through
+the other hock, and so swung the animal clear of the ground.
+While all this was being done, it took a good man to "hold the
+hog," greasy, warmly moist, and weighing some two hundred pounds.
+And often those with the gambrel prolonged the strain, being
+provokingly slow, in hopes to make the holder drop his burden.
+
+This latter thought is again expressed where President Lincoln,
+writing of the peace which he hoped would "come soon, to stay;
+and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time," added
+that while there would "be some black men who can remember that
+with silent tongue and clenched teeth and steady eye, and
+well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great
+consummation," he feared there would "be some white ones unable
+to forget that, with malignant heart and deceitful tongue, they
+had striven to hinder it."
+
+He had two seemingly opposite elements little understood by
+strangers, and which those in more intimate relations with him
+find difficult to explain; an open, boyish tongue when in a happy
+mood, and with this a reserve of power, a force of thought that
+impressed itself without words on observers in his presence. With
+the cares of the nation on his mind, he became more meditative,
+and lost much of his lively ways remembered "back in Illinois."
+
+
+HIS POOR RELATIONS.
+
+One of the most beautiful traits of Mr. Lincoln's character was
+his considerate regard for the poor and obscure relatives he had
+left, plodding along in their humble ways of life. Wherever upon
+his circuit he found them, he always went to their dwellings, ate
+with them, and, when convenient, made their houses his home. He
+never assumed in their presence the slightest superiority to
+them. He gave them money when they needed it and he had it.
+Countless times he was known to leave his companions at the
+village hotel, after a hard day's work in the court-room, and
+spend the evening with these old friends and companions of his
+humbler days. On one occasion, when urged not to go, he replied,
+"Why, Aunt's heart would be broken if I should leave town without
+calling upon her;" yet, he was obliged to walk several miles to
+make the call.
+
+
+DESERTER'S SINS WASHED OUT IN BLOOD.
+
+This was the reply made by Lincoln to an application for the
+pardon of a soldier who had shown himself brave in war, had been
+severely wounded, but afterward deserted:
+
+"Did you say he was once badly wounded?
+
+"Then, as the Scriptures say that in the shedding of blood is the
+remission of sins, I guess we'll have to let him off this time."
+
+
+SURE CURE FOR BOILS.
+
+President Lincoln and Postmaster-General Blair were talking of
+the war.
+
+"Blair," said the President, "did you ever know that fright has
+sometimes proven a cure for boils?" "No, Mr. President, how is
+that?" "I'll tell you. Not long ago when a colonel, with his
+cavalry, was at the front, and the Rebs were making things rather
+lively for us, the colonel was ordered out to a reconnoissance.
+He was troubled at the time with a big boil where it made
+horseback riding decidedly uncomfortable. He finally dismounted
+and ordered the troops forward without him. Soon he was startled
+by the rapid reports of pistols and the helter-skelter approach
+of his troops in full retreat before a yelling rebel force. He
+forgot everything but the yells, sprang into his saddle, and made
+capital time over the fences and ditches till safe within the
+lines. The pain from his boil was gone, and the boil, too, and
+the colonel swore that there was no cure for boils so sure as
+fright from rebel yells."
+
+
+PAY FOR EVERYTHING.
+
+When President Lincoln issued a military order, it was usually
+expressive, as the following shows:
+
+"War Department, Washington, July 22, '62.
+
+"First: Ordered that military commanders within the States of
+Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
+Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, in an orderly manner, seize and
+use any property, real or personal, which may be necessary or
+convenient for their several commands, for supplies, or for other
+military purposes; and that while property may be all stored for
+proper military objects, none shall be destroyed in wantonness or
+malice.
+
+"Second: That military and naval commanders shall employ as
+laborers within and from said States, so many persons of African
+descent as can be advantageously used for military or naval
+purposes, giving them reasonable wages for their labor.
+
+"Third: That as to both property and persons of African descent,
+accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to
+show quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such
+persons shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can
+be made in proper cases; and the several departments of this
+Government shall attend to and perform their appropriate parts
+towards the execution of these orders.
+
+"By order of the President."
+
+
+BASHFUL WITH LADIES.
+
+Judge David Davis, Justice of the United States Supreme Court,
+and United States Senator from Illinois, was one of Lincoln's
+most intimate friends. He told this story on "Abe":
+
+"Lincoln was very bashful when in the presence of ladies. I
+remember once we were invited to take tea at a friend's house,
+and while in the parlor I was called to the front gate to see
+someone.
+
+"When I returned, Lincoln, who had undertaken to entertain the
+ladies, was twisting and squirming in his chair, and as bashful
+as a schoolboy."
+
+
+SAW HUMOR IN EVERYTHING.
+
+There was much that was irritating and uncomfortable in the
+circuit-riding of the Illinois court, but there was more which
+was amusing to a temperament like Lincoln's. The freedom, the
+long days in the open air, the unexpected if trivial adventures,
+the meeting with wayfarers and settlers--all was an entertainment
+to him. He found humor and human interest on the route where his
+companions saw nothing but commonplaces.
+
+"He saw the ludicrous in an assemblage of fowls," says H. C.
+Whitney, one of his fellow-itinerants, "in a man spading his
+garden, in a clothes-line full of clothes, in a group of boys, in
+a lot of pigs rooting at a mill door, in a mother duck teaching
+her brood to swim--in everything and anything."
+
+
+SPECIFIC FOR FOREIGN "RASH."
+
+It was in the latter part of 1863 that Russia offered its
+friendship to the United States, and sent a strong fleet of
+warships, together with munitions of war, to this country to be
+used in any way the President might see fit. Russia was not
+friendly to England and France, these nations having defeated her
+in the Crimea a few years before. As Great Britain and the
+Emperor of the French were continually bothering him, President
+Lincoln used Russia's kindly feeling and action as a means of
+keeping the other two powers named in a neutral state of mind.
+Underneath the cartoon we here reproduce, which was labeled
+"Drawing Things to a Head," and appeared in the issue of
+"Harper's Weekly," of November 28, 1863, was this DR. LINCOLN (to
+smart boy of the shop): "Mild applications of Russian Salve for
+our friends over the way, and heavy doses--and plenty of it for
+our Southern patient!!"
+
+Secretary of State Seward was the "smart boy" of the shop, and
+"our friend over the way" were England and France. The latter
+bothered President Lincoln no more, but it is a fact that the
+Confederate privateer Alabama was manned almost entirely by
+British seamen; also, that when the Alabama was sunk by the
+Kearsarge, in the summer of 1864, the Confederate seamen were
+picked up by an English vessel, taken to Southhampton, and set at
+liberty!
+
+
+FAVORED THE OTHER SIDE.
+
+Lincoln was candor itself when conducting his side of a case in
+court. General Mason Brayman tells this story as an illustration:
+
+"It is well understood by the profession that lawyers do not read
+authores favoring the opposite side. I once heard Mr. Lincoln, in
+the Supreme Court of Illinois, reading from a reported case some
+strong points in favor of his argument. Reading a little too far,
+and before becoming aware of it, plunged into an authority
+against himself.
+
+"Pausing a moment, he drew up his shoulders in a comical way, and
+half laughing, went on, 'There, there, may it please the court, I
+reckon I've scratched up a snake. But, as I'm in for it, I guess
+I'll read it through.'
+
+"Then, in his most ingenious and matchless manner, he went on
+with his argument, and won his case, convincing the court that it
+was not much of a snake after all."
+
+
+LINCOLN AND THE "SHOW"
+
+Lincoln was fond of going all by himself to any little show or
+concert. He would often slip away from his fellow-lawyers and
+spend the entire evening at a little magic lantern show intended
+for children.
+
+A traveling concert company was always sure of drawing Lincoln. A
+Mrs. Hillis, a member of the "Newhall Family," and a good singer,
+was the only woman who ever seemed to exhibit any liking for
+him--so Lincoln said. He attended a negro-minstrel show in
+Chicago, once, where he heard Dixie sung. It was entirely new,
+and pleased him greatly.
+
+
+"MIXING" AND "MINGLING."
+
+An Eastern newspaper writer told how Lincoln, after his first
+nomination, received callers, the majority of them at his law
+office:
+
+"While talking to two or three gentlemen and standing up, a very
+hard looking customer rolled in and tumbled into the only vacant
+chair and the one lately occupied by Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln's
+keen eye took in the fact, but gave no evidence of the notice.
+
+"Turning around at last he spoke to the odd specimen, holding out
+his hand at such a distance that our friend had to vacate the
+chair if he accepted the proffered shake. Mr. Lincoln quietly
+resumed his chair.
+
+"It was a small matter, yet one giving proof more positively than
+a larger event of that peculiar way the man has of mingling with
+a mixed crowd."
+
+
+TOOK PART OF THE BLAME.
+
+Among the lawyers who traveled the circuit with Lincoln was Usher
+F. Linder, whose daughter, Rose Linder Wilkinson, has left many
+Lincoln reminiscences.
+
+"One case in which Mr. Lincoln was interested concerned a member
+of my own family," said Mrs. Wilkinson. "My brother, Dan, in the
+heat of a quarrel, shot a young man named Ben Boyle and was
+arrested. My father was seriously ill with inflammatory
+rheumatism at the time, and could scarcely move hand or foot. He
+certainly could not defend Dan. I was his secretary, and I
+remember it was but a day or so after the shooting till letters
+of sympathy began to pour in. In the first bundle which I picked
+up there was a big letter, the handwriting on which I recognized
+as that of Mr. Lincoln. The letter was very sympathetic.
+
+"'I know how you feel, Linder,' it said. 'I can understand your
+anger as a father, added to all the other sentiments. But may we
+not be in a measure to blame? We have talked about the defense of
+criminals before our children; about our success in defending
+them; have left the impression that the greater the crime, the
+greater the triumph of securing an acquittal. Dan knows your
+success as a criminal lawyer, and he depends on you, little
+knowing that of all cases you would be of least value in this.'
+
+"He concluded by offering his services, an offer which touched my
+father to tears.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln tried to have Dan released on bail, but Ben Boyle's
+family and friends declared the wounded man would die, and
+feeling had grown so bitter that the judge would not grant any
+bail. So the case was changed to Marshall county, but as Ben
+finally recovered it was dismissed."
+
+
+THOUGHT OF LEARNING A TRADE.
+
+Lincoln at one time thought seriously of learning the
+blacksmith's trade. He was without means, and felt the immediate
+necessity of undertaking some business that would give him bread.
+While entertaining this project an event occurred which, in his
+undetermined state of mind, seemed to open a way to success in
+another quarter.
+
+Reuben Radford, keeper of a small store in the village of New
+Salem, had incurred the displeasure of the "Clary Grove Boys,"
+who exercised their "regulating" prerogatives by irregularly
+breaking his windows. William G. Greene, a friend of young
+Lincoln, riding by Radford's store soon afterward, was hailed by
+him, and told that he intended to sell out. Mr. Greene went into
+the store, and offered him at random $400 for his stock, which
+offer was immediately accepted.
+
+Lincoln "happened in" the next day, and being familiar with the
+value of the goods, Mr. Greene proposed to him to take an
+inventory of the stock, to see what sort of a bargain he had
+made. This he did, and it was found that the goods were worth
+$600.
+
+Lincoln then made an offer of $125 for his bargain, with the
+proposition that he and a man named Berry, as his partner, take
+over Greene's notes given to Radford. Mr. Greene agreed to the
+arrangement, but Radford declined it, except on condition that
+Greene would be their security. Greene at last assented.
+
+Lincoln was not afraid of the "Clary Grove Boys"; on the
+contrary, they had been his most ardent friends since the time he
+thrashed "Jack" Armstrong, champion bully of "The Grove"--but
+their custom was not heavy.
+
+The business soon became a wreck; Greene had to not only assist
+in closing it up, but pay Radford's notes as well. Lincoln
+afterwards spoke of these notes, which he finally made good to
+Greene, as "the National Debt."
+
+
+LINCOLN DEFENDS FIFTEEN MRS. NATIONS.
+
+When Lincoln's sympathies were enlisted in any cause, he worked
+like a giant to win. At one time (about 1855) he was in
+attendance upon court at the little town of Clinton, Ill., and
+one of the cases on the docket was where fifteen women from a
+neighboring village were defendants, they having been indicted
+for trespass. Their offense, as duly set forth in the indictment,
+was that of swooping down upon one Tanner, the keeper of a saloon
+in the village, and knocking in the heads of his barrels. Lincoln
+was not employed in the case, but sat watching the trial as it
+proceeded.
+
+In defending the ladies, their attorney seemed to evince a little
+want of tact, and this prompted one of the former to invite Mr.
+Lincoln to add a few words to the jury, if he thought he could
+aid their cause. He was too gallant to refuse, and their attorney
+having consented, he made use of the following argument:
+
+"In this case I would change the order of indictment and have it
+read The State vs. Mr. Whiskey, instead of The State vs. The
+Ladies; and touching these there are three laws: the law of
+self-protection; the law of the land, or statute law; and the
+moral law, or law of God.
+
+"First the law of self-protection is a law of necessity, as
+evinced by our forefathers in casting the tea overboard and
+asserting their right to the pursuit of life, liberty and
+happiness: In this case it is the only defense the Ladies have,
+for Tanner neither feared God nor regarded man.
+
+"Second, the law of the land, or statute law, and Tanner is
+recreant to both.
+
+"Third, the moral law, or law of God, and this is probably a law
+for the violation of which the jury can fix no punishment."
+
+Lincoln gave some of his own observations on the ruinous effects
+of whiskey in society, and demanded its early suppression.
+
+After he had concluded, the Court, without awaiting the return of
+the jury, dismissed the ladies, saying:
+
+"Ladies, go home. I will require no bond of you, and if any fine
+is ever wanted of you, we will let you know."
+
+
+AVOIDED EVEN APPEARANCE OF EVIL
+
+Frank W. Tracy, President of the First National Bank of
+Springfield, tells a story illustrative of two traits in Mr.
+Lincoln's character. Shortly after the National banking law went
+into effect the First National of Springield was chartered, and
+Mr. Tracy wrote to Mr. Lincoln, with whom he was well acquainted
+in a business way, and tendered him an opportunity to subscribe
+for some of the stock.
+
+In reply to the kindly offer Mr. Lincoln wrote, thanking Mr.
+Tracy, but at the same time declining to subscribe. He said he
+recognized that stock in a good National bank would be a good
+thing to hold, but he did not feel that he ought, as President,
+profit from a law which had been passed under his administration.
+
+"He seemed to wish to avoid even the appearance of evil," said
+Mr. Tracy, in telling of the incident. "And so the act proved
+both his unvarying probity and his unfailing policy."
+
+
+WAR DIDN'T ADMIT OF HOLIDAYS.
+
+Lincoln wrote a letter on October 2d, 1862, in which he observed
+
+"I sincerely wish war was a pleasanter and easier business than
+it is, but it does not admit of holidays."
+
+
+"NEUTRALITY."
+
+Old John Bull got himself into a precious fine scrape when he
+went so far as to "play double" with the North, as well as the
+South, during the great American Civil War. In its issue of
+November 14th, 1863, London "Punch" printed a rather clever
+cartoon illustrating the predicament Bull had created for
+himself. John is being lectured by Mrs. North and Mrs. South--
+both good talkers and eminently able to hold their own in either
+social conversation, parliamentary debate or political argument--
+but he bears it with the best grace possible. This is the way the
+text underneath the picture runs:
+
+MRS. NORTH. "How about the Alabama, you wicked old man?" MRS.
+SOUTH: "Where's my rams? Take back your precious consols--
+there!!" "Punch" had a good deal of fun with old John before it
+was through with him, but, as the Confederate privateer Alabama
+was sent beneath the waves of the ocean at Cherbourg by the
+Kearsarge, and Mrs. South had no need for any more rams, John got
+out of the difficulty without personal injury. It was a tight
+squeeze, though, for Mrs. North was in a fighting humor, and
+prepared to scratch or pull hair. The fact that the privateer
+Alabama, built at an English shipyard and manned almost entirely
+by English sailors, had managed to do about $10,000,000 worth of
+damage to United States commerce, was enough to make any one
+angry.
+
+
+DAYS OF GLADNESS PAST.
+
+After the war was well on, a patriot woman of the West urged
+President Lincoln to make hospitals at the North where the sick
+from the Army of the Mississippi could revive in a more bracing
+air. Among other reasons, she said, feelingly: "If you grant my
+petition, you will be glad as long as you live."
+
+With a look of sadness impossible to describe, the President
+said:
+
+"I shall never be glad any more."
+
+
+WOULDN'T TAKE THE MONEY.
+
+Lincoln always regarded himself as the friend and protector of
+unfortunate clients, and such he would never press for pay for
+his services. A client named Cogdal was unfortunate in business,
+and gave a note in settlenent of legal fees. Soon afterward he
+met with an accident by which he lost a hand. Meeting Lincoln
+some time after on the steps of the State-House, the kind lawyer
+asked him how he was getting along.
+
+"Badly enough," replied Cogdal; "I am both broken up in business
+and crippled." Then he added, "I have been thinking about that
+note of yours."
+
+Lincoln, who had probably known all about Cogdal's troubles, and
+had prepared himself for the meeting, took out his pocket-book,
+and saying, with a laugh, "Well, you needn't think any more about
+it," handed him the note.
+
+Cogdal protesting, Lincoln said, "Even if you had the money, I
+would not take it," and hurried away.
+
+
+GRANT HELD ON ALL THE TIME.
+
+(Dispatch to General Grant, August 17th, 1864.)
+
+"I have seen your dispatch expressing your unwillingness to break
+your hold where you are. Neither am I willing.
+
+"Hold on with a bulldog grip."
+
+
+CHEWED THE CUD IN SOLITUDE.
+
+As a student (if such a term could be applied to Lincoln), one
+who did not know him might have called him indolent. He would
+pick up a book and run rapidly over the pages, pausing here and
+there.
+
+At the end of an hour--never more than two or three hours--he
+would close the book, stretch himself out on the office lounge,
+and then, with hands under his head and eyes shut, would digest
+the mental food he had just taken.
+
+
+"ABE'S" YANKEE INGENUITY.
+
+War Governor Richard Yates (he was elected Governor of Illinois
+in 1860, when Lincoln was first elected President) told a good
+story at Springfield (Ill.) about Lincoln.
+
+One day the latter was in the Sangamon River with his trousers
+rolled up five feet--more or less--trying to pilot a flatboat
+over a mill-dam. The boat was so full of water that it was hard
+to manage. Lincoln got the prow over, and then, instead of
+waiting to bail the water out, bored a hole through the
+projecting part and let it run out, affording a forcible
+illustration of the ready ingenuity of the future President.
+
+
+LINCOLN PAID HOMAGE TO WASHINGTON.
+
+The Martyr President thus spoke of Washington in the course of an
+address:
+
+"Washington is the mightiest name on earth--long since the
+mightiest in the cause of civil liberty, still mightiest in moral
+reformation.
+
+"On that name a eulogy is expected. It cannot be.
+
+"To add brightness to the sun or glory to the name of Washington
+is alike impossible.
+
+"Let none attempt it.
+
+"In solemn awe pronounce the name, and, in its naked, deathless
+splendor, leave it shining on."
+
+
+STIRRED EVEN THE REPORTERS.
+
+Lincoln's influence upon his audiences was wonderful. He could
+sway people at will, and nothing better illustrates his
+extraordinary power than he manner in which he stirred up the
+newspaper reporters by his Bloomingon speech.
+
+Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune, told the story:
+
+"It was my journalistic duty, though a delegate to the
+convention, to make a 'longhand' report of the speeches delivered
+for the Tribune. I did make a few paragraphs of what Lincoln said
+in the first eight or ten minutes, but I became so absorbed in
+his magnetic oratory that I forgot myself and ceased to take
+notes, and joined with the convention in cheering and stamping
+and clapping to the end of his speech.
+
+"I well remember that after Lincoln sat down and calm had
+succeeded the tempest, I waked out of a sort of hypnotic trance,
+and then thought of my report for the paper. There was nothing
+written but an abbreviated introduction.
+
+"It was some sort of satisfaction to find that I had not been
+'scooped,' as all the newspaper men present had been equally
+carried away by the excitement caused by the wonderful oration
+and had made no report or sketch of the speech."
+
+
+WHEN "ABE" CAME IN.
+
+When "Abe" was fourteen years of age, John Hanks journeyed from
+Kentucky to Indiana and lived with the Lincolns. He described
+"Abe's" habits thus:
+
+"When Lincoln and I returned to the house from work, he would go
+to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn-bread, take down a book,
+sit down on a chair, cock his legs up as high as his head, and
+read.
+
+"He and I worked barefooted, grubbed it, plowed, mowed, cradled
+together; plowed corn, gathered it, and shucked corn. 'Abe' read
+constantly when he had an opportunity."
+
+
+ETERNAL FIDELITY TO THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY.
+
+During the Harrison Presidential campaign of 1840, Lincoln said,
+in a speech at Springfield, Illinois:
+
+"Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose
+hers; but if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was
+last to desert, but that I never deserted her.
+
+"I know that the great volcano at Washington, aroused and
+directed by the evil spirit that reigns there, is belching forth
+the lava of political corruption in a current broad and deep,
+which is sweeping with frightful velocity over the whole length
+and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave unscathed no green
+spot or living thing.
+
+"I cannot deny that all may be swept away. Broken by it, I, too,
+may be; bow to it I never will.
+
+"The possibility that we may fail in the struggle ought not to
+deter us from the support of a cause which we believe to be just.
+It shall never deter me.
+
+"If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those
+dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is
+when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the
+world beside, and I standing up boldly alone, and hurling
+defiance at her victorious oppressors.
+
+"Here, without contemplating consequences, before heaven, and in
+the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just
+cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty, and my
+love; and who that thinks with me will not fearlessly adopt the
+oath that I take?
+
+"Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed.
+
+"But if, after all, we shall fail, be it so; we have the proud
+consolation of saying to our consciences, and to the departed
+shade of our country's freedom, that the cause approved of our
+judgment, and, adorned of our hearts in disaster, in chains, in
+death, we never faltered in defending."
+
+
+"ABE'S" "DEFALCATIONS."
+
+Lincoln could not rest for as instant under the consciousness
+that, even unwittingly, he had defrauded anybody. On one
+occasion, while clerking in Offutt's store, at New Salem, he sold
+a woman a little bale of goods, amounting, by the reckoning, to
+$2.20. He received the money, and the woman went away.
+
+On adding the items of the bill again to make himself sure of
+correctness, he found that he had taken six and a quarter cents
+too much.
+
+It was night, and, closing and locking the store, he started out
+on foot, a distance of two or three miles, for the house of his
+defrauded customer, and, delivering to her the sum whose
+possession had so much troubled him, went home satisfied.
+
+On another occasion, just as he was closing the store for the
+night, a wooman entered and asked for half a pound of tea. The
+tea was weighed out and paid for, and the store was left for the
+night.
+
+The next morning Lincoln, when about to begin the duties of the
+day, discovered a four-ounce weight on the scales. He saw at once
+that he had made a mistake, and, shutting the store, he took a
+long walk before breakfast to deliver the remainder of the tea.
+
+These are very humble incidents, but they illustrate the man's
+perfect conscientiousness--his sensitive honesty--better,
+perhaps, than they would if they were of greater moment.
+
+
+HE WASN'T GUILELESS.
+
+Leonard Swett, of Chicago, whose counsels were doubtless among
+the most welcome to Lincoln, in summing up Lincoln's character,
+said:
+
+"From the commencement of his life to its close I have sometimes
+doubted whether he ever asked anybody's advice about anything. He
+would listen to everybody; he would hear everybody; but he
+rarely, if ever, asked for opinions.
+
+"As a politician and as President he arrived at all his
+conclusions from his own reflections, and when his conclusions
+were once formed he never doubted but what they were right.
+
+"One great public mistake of his (Lincoln's) character, as
+generally received and acquiesced in, is that he is considered by
+the people of this country as a frank, guileless, and
+unsophisticated man. There never was a greater mistake.
+
+"Beneath a smooth surface of candor and apparent declaration of
+all his thoughts and feelings he exercised the most exalted tact
+and wisest discrimination. He handled and moved men remotely as
+we do pieces upon a chess-board.
+
+"He retained through life all the friends he ever had, and he
+made the wrath of his enemies to praise him. This was not by
+cunning or intrigue in the low acceptation of the term, but by
+far-seeing reason and discernment. He always told only enough of
+his plans and purposes to induce the belief that he had
+communicated all; yet he reserved enough to have communicated
+nothing."
+
+
+SWEET, BUT MILD REVENGE.
+
+When the United States found that a war with Black Hawk could not
+be dodged, Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, issued a call for
+volunteers, and among the companies that immediately responded
+was one from Menard county, Illinois. Many of these volunteers
+were from New Salem and Clary's Grove, and Lincoln, being out of
+business, was the first to enlist.
+
+The company being full, the men held a meeting at Richland for
+the election of officers. Lincoln had won many hearts, and they
+told him that he must be their captain. It was an office to which
+he did not aspire, and for which he felt he had no special
+fitness; but he finally consented to be a candidate.
+
+There was but one other candidate, a Mr. Kirkpatrick, who was one
+of the most influential men of the region. Previously,
+Kirkpatrick had been an employer of Lincoln, and was so
+overbearing in his treatment of the young man that the latter
+left him.
+
+The simple mode of electing a captain adopted by the company was
+by placing the candidates apart, and telling the men to go and
+stand with the one they preferred. Lincoln and his competitor
+took their positions, and then the word was given. At least three
+out of every four went to Lincoln at once.
+
+When it was seen by those who had arranged themselves with the
+other candidate that Lincoln was the choice of the majority of
+the company, they left their places, one by one, and came over to
+the successful side, until Lincoln's opponent in the friendly
+strife was left standing almost alone.
+
+"I felt badly to see him cut so," says a witness of the scene.
+
+Here was an opportunity for revenge. The humble laborer was his
+employer's captain, but the opportunity was never improved. Mr.
+Lincoln frequently confessed that no subsequent success of his
+life had given him half the satisfaction that this election did.
+
+
+DIDN'T TRUST THE COURT.
+
+In one of his many stories of Lincoln, his law partner, W. H.
+Herndon, told this as illustrating Lincoln's shrewdness as a
+lawyer:
+
+"I was with Lincoln once and listened to an oral argument by him
+in which he rehearsed an extended history of the law. It was a
+carefully prepared and masterly discourse, but, as I thought,
+entirely useless. After he was through and we were walking home,
+I asked him why he went so far back in the history of the law. I
+presumed the court knew enough history.
+
+"'That's where you're mistaken,' was his instant rejoinder. 'I
+dared not just the case on the presumption that the court knows
+everything--in fact I argued it on the presumption that the court
+didn't know anything,' a statement, which, when one reviews the
+decision of our appellate courts, is not so extravagant as one
+would at first suppose."
+
+
+HANDSOMEST MAN ON EARTH.
+
+One day Thaddeus Stevens called at the White House with an
+elderly woman, whose son had been in the army, but for some
+offense had been court-martialed and sentenced to death. There
+were some extenuating circumstances, and after a full hearing the
+President turned to Stevens and said: "Mr. Stevens, do you think
+this is a case which will warrant my interference?"
+
+"With my knowledge of the facts and the parties," was the reply,
+"I should have no hesitation in granting a pardon."
+
+"Then," returned Mr. Lincoln, "I will pardon him," and proceeded
+forthwith to execute the paper.
+
+The gratitude of the mother was too deep for expression, save by
+her tears, and not a word was said between her and Stevens until
+they were half way down the stairs on their passage out, when she
+suddenly broke forth in an excited manner with the words:
+
+"I knew it was a copperhead lie!"
+
+"What do you refer to, madam?" asked Stevens.
+
+"Why, they told me he was an ugly-looking man," she replied, with
+vehemence. "He is the handsomest man I ever saw in my life."
+
+
+THAT COON CAME DOWN.
+
+"Lincoln's Last Warning" was the title of a cartoon which
+appeared in "Harper's Weekly," on October 11, 1862. Under the
+picture was the text:
+
+"Now if you don't come down I'll cut the tree from under you."
+
+This illustration was peculiarly apt, as, on the 1st of January,
+1863, President Lincoln issued his great Emancipation
+Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the United States forever
+free. "Old Abe" was a handy man with the axe, he having split
+many thousands of rails with its keen edge. As the "Slavery Coon"
+wouldn't heed the warning, Lincoln did cut the tree from under
+him, and so he came down to the ground with a heavy thump.
+
+This Act of Emancipation put an end to the notion of the Southern
+slave holders that involuntary servitude was one of the "sacred
+institutions" on the Continent of North America. It also
+demonstrated that Lincoln was thoroughly in earnest when he
+declared that he would not only save the Union, but that he meant
+what he said in the speech wherein he asserted, "This Nation
+cannot exist half slave and half free."
+
+
+WROTE "PIECES" WHEN VERY YOUNG.
+
+At fifteen years of age "Abe" wrote "pieces," or compositions,
+and even some doggerel rhyme, which he recited, to the great
+amusement of his playmates.
+
+One of his first compositions was against cruelty to animals. He
+was very much annoyed and pained at the conduct of the boys, who
+were in the habit of catching terrapins and putting coals of fire
+on their backs, which thoroughly disgusted Abraham.
+
+"He would chide us," said "Nat" Grigsby, "tell us it was wrong,
+and would write against it."
+
+When eighteen years old, "Abe" wrote a "piece" on "National
+Politics," and it so pleased a lawyer friend, named Pritchard,
+that the latter had it printed in an obscure paper, thereby
+adding much to the author's pride. "Abe" did not conceal his
+satisfaction. In this "piece" he wrote, among other things:
+
+"The American government is the best form of government for an
+intelligent people. It ought to be kept sound, and preserved
+forever, that general education should be fostered and carried
+all over the country; that the Constitution should be saved, the
+Union perpetuated and the laws revered, respected and enforced."
+
+
+"TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH."
+
+John A. Logan and a friend of Illinois called upon Lincoln at
+Willard's Hotel, Washington, February 23d, the morning of his
+arrival, and urged a vigorous, firm policy.
+
+Patiently listening, Lincoln replied seriously but cheerfully:
+
+"As the country has placed me at the helm of the ship, I'll try
+to steer her through."
+
+
+GRAND, GLOOMY AND PECULIAR.
+
+Lincoln was a marked and peculiar young man. People talked about
+him. His studious habits, his greed for information, his thorough
+mastery of the difficulties of every new position in which he was
+placed, his intelligence on all matters of public concern, his
+unwearying good-nature, his skill in telling a story, his great
+athletic power, his quaint, odd ways, his uncouth appearance--all
+tended to bring him in sharp contrast with the dull mediocrity by
+which he was surrounded.
+
+Denton Offutt, his old employer, said, after having had a
+conversation with Lincoln, that the young man "had talent enough
+in him to make a President."
+
+
+ON THE WAY TO GETTYSBURG.
+
+When Lincoln was on his way to the National Cemetery at
+Gettysburg, an old gentleman told him that his only son fell on
+Little Round Top at Gettysburg, and he was going to look at the
+spot. Mr. Lincoln replied: "You have been called on to make a
+terrible sacrifice for the Union, and a visit to that spot, I
+fear, will open your wounds afresh.
+
+"But, oh, my dear sir, if we had reached the end of such
+sacrifices, and had nothing left for us to do but to place
+garlands on the graves of those who have already fallen, we could
+give thanks even amidst our tears; but when I think of the
+sacrifices of life yet to be offered, and the hearts and homes
+yet to be made desolate before this dreadful war is over, my
+heart is like lead within me, and I feel at times like hiding in
+deep darkness." At one of the stopping places of the train, a
+very beautiful child, having a bunch of rosebuds in her hand, was
+lifted up to an open window of the President's car. "Floweth for
+the President." The President stepped to the window, took the
+rosebuds, bent down and kissed the child, saying, "You are a
+sweet little rosebud yourself. I hope your life will open into
+perpetual beauty and goodness."
+
+
+STOOD UP THE LONGEST.
+
+There was a rough gallantry among the young people; and Lincoln's
+old comrades and friends in Indiana have left many tales of how
+he "went to see the girls," of how he brought in the biggest
+back-log and made the brightest fire; of how the young people,
+sitting around it, watching the way the sparks flew, told their
+fortunes.
+
+He helped pare apples, shell corn and crack nuts. He took the
+girls to meeting and to spelling school, though he was not often
+allowed to take part in the spelling-match, for the one who
+"chose first" always chose "Abe" Lincoln, and that was equivalent
+to winning, as the others knew that "he would stand up the
+longest."
+
+
+A MORTIFYING EXPERIENCE.
+
+A lady reader or elocutionist came to Springfield in 1857. A
+large crowd greeted her. Among other things she recited "Nothing
+to Wear," a piece in which is described the perplexities that
+beset "Miss Flora McFlimsy" in her efforts to appear fashionable.
+
+In the midst of one stanza in which no effort is made to say
+anything particularly amusing, and during the reading of which
+the audience manifested the most respectful silence and
+attention, some one in the rear seats burst out with a loud,
+coarse laugh, a sudden and explosive guffaw.
+
+It startled the speaker and audience, and kindled a storm of
+unsuppressed laughter and applause. Everybody looked back to
+ascertain the cause of the demonstration, and were greatly
+surprised to find that it was Mr. Lincoln.
+
+He blushed and squirmed with the awkward diffidence of a
+schoolboy. What caused him to laugh, no one was able to explain.
+He was doubtless wrapped up in a brown study, and recalling some
+amusing episode, indulged in laughter without realizing his
+surroundings. The experience mortified him greatly.
+
+
+NO HALFWAY BUSINESS.
+
+Soon after Mr. Lincoln began to practice law at Springfield, he
+was engaged in a criminal case in which it was thought there was
+little chance of success. Throwing all his powers into it, he
+came off victorious, and promptly received for his services five
+hundred dollars. A legal friend, calling upon him the next
+morning, found him sitting before a table, upon which his money
+was spread out, counting it over and over.
+
+"Look here, Judge," said he. "See what a heap of money I've got
+from this case. Did you ever see anything like it? Why, I never
+had so much money in my life before, put it all together." Then,
+crossing his arms upon the table, his manner sobering down, he
+added: "I have got just five hundred dollars; if it were only
+seven hundred and fifty, I would go directly and purchase a
+quarter section of land, and settle it upon my old step-mother."
+
+His friend said that if the deficiency was all he needed, he
+would loan him the amount, taking his note, to which Mr. Lincoln
+instantly acceded.
+
+His friend then said:
+
+"Lincoln, I would do just what you have indicated. Your
+step-mother is getting old, and will not probably live many
+years. I would settle the property upon her for her use during
+her lifetime, to revert to you upon her death."
+
+With much feeling, Mr. Lincoln replied:
+
+"I shall do no such thing. It is a poor return at best for all
+the good woman's devotion and fidelity to me, and there is not
+going to be any halfway business about it." And so saying, he
+gathered up his money and proceeded forthwith to carry his
+long-cherished purpose into execution.
+
+
+DISCOURAGED LITIGATION.
+
+Lincoln believed in preventing unnecessary litigation, and
+carried out this in his practice. "Who was your guardian?" he
+asked a young man who came to him to complain that a part of the
+property left him had been withheld. "Enoch Kingsbury," replied
+the young man.
+
+"I know Mr. Kingsbury," said Lincoln, "and he is not the man to
+have cheated you out of a cent, and I can't take the case, and
+advise you to drop the subject."
+
+And it was dropped.
+
+
+GOING HOME TO GET READY.
+
+Edwin M. Stanton was one of the attorneys in the great "reaper
+patent" case heard in Cincinnati in 1855, Lincoln also having
+been retained. The latter was rather anxious to deliver the
+argument on the general propositions of law applicable to the
+case, but it being decided to have Mr. Stanton do this, the
+Westerner made no complaint.
+
+Speaking of Stanton's argument and the view Lincoln took of it,
+Ralph Emerson, a young lawyer who was present at the trial, said:
+
+"The final summing up on our side was by Mr. Stanton, and though
+he took but about three hours in its delivery, he had devoted as
+many, if not more, weeks to its preparation. It was very able,
+and Mr. Lincoln was throughout the whole of it a rapt listener.
+Mr. Stanton closed his speech in a flight of impassioned
+eloquence.
+
+"Then the court adjourned for the day, and Mr. Lincoln invited me
+to take a long walk with him. For block after block he walked
+rapidly forward, not saying a word, evidently deeply dejected.
+
+"At last he turned suddenly to me, exclaiming, 'Emerson, I am
+going home.' A pause. 'I am going home to study law.'
+
+"'Why,' I exclaimed, 'Mr. Lincoln, you stand at the head of the
+bar in llinois now! What are you talking about?'
+
+"'Ah, yes,' he said, 'I do occupy a good position there, and I
+think that I can get along with the way things are done there
+now. But these college-trained men, who have devoted their whole
+lives to study, are coming West, don't you see? And they study
+their cases as we never do. They have got as far as Cincinnati
+now. They will soon be in Illinois.'
+
+"Another long pause; then stopping and turning toward me, his
+countenance suddenly assuming that look of strong determination
+which those who knew him best sometimes saw upon his face, he
+exclaimed, 'I am going home to study law! I am as good as any, of
+them, and when they get out to Illinois, I will be ready for
+them.'"
+
+
+"THE 'RAIL-SPUTTER' REPAIRING THE UNION."
+
+The cartoon given here in facsimile was one of the posters which
+decorated the picturesque Presidential campaign of 1864, and
+assisted in making the period previous to the vote-casting a
+lively and memorable one. This poster was a lithograph, and, as
+the title, "The Rail-Splitter at Work Repairing the Union," would
+indicate, the President is using the Vice-Presidential candidate
+on the Republican National ticket (Andrew Johnson) as an aid in
+the work. Johnson was, in early life, a tailor, and he is
+pictured as busily engaged in sewing up the rents made in the map
+of the Union by the secessionists.
+
+Both men are thoroughly in earnest, and, as history relates, the
+torn places in the Union map were stitched together so nicely
+that no one could have told, by mere observation, that a tear had
+ever been made. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln upon the
+assassination of the latter, was a remarkable man. Born in North
+Carolina, he removed to Tennessee when young, was Congressman,
+Governor, and United States Senator, being made military Governor
+of his State in 1862. A strong, stanch Union man, he was
+nominated for the Vice-Presidency on the Lincoln ticket to
+conciliate the War Democrats. After serving out his term as
+President, he was again elected United States Senator from
+Tennessee, but died shortly after taking his seat. But he was
+just the sort of a man to assist "Uncle Abe" in sewing up the
+torn places in the Union map, and as military Governor of
+Tennessee was a powerful factor in winning friends in the South
+to the Union cause.
+
+
+"FIND OUT FOR YOURSELVES."
+
+"Several of us lawyers," remarked one of his colleagues, "in the
+eastern end of the circuit, annoyed Lincoln once while he was
+holding court for Davis by attempting to defend against a note to
+which there were many makers. We had no legal, but a good moral
+defense, but what we wanted most of all was to stave it off till
+the next term of court by one expedient or another.
+
+"We bothered 'the court' about it till late on Saturday, the day
+of adjournment. He adjourned for supper with nothing left but
+this case to dispose of. After supper he heard our twaddle for
+nearly an hour, and then made this odd entry.
+
+"'L. D. Chaddon vs. J. D. Beasley et al. April Term, 1856.
+Champaign county Court. Plea in abatement by B. Z. Green, a
+defendant not served, filed Saturday at 11 o'clock a. m., April
+24, 1856, stricken from the files by order of court. Demurrer to
+declaration, if there ever was one, overruled. Defendants who are
+served now, at 8 o'clock p. m., of the last day of the term, ask
+to plead to the merits, which is denied by the court on the
+ground that the offer comes too late, and therefore, as by nil
+dicet, judgment is rendered for Pl'ff. Clerk assess damages. A.
+Lincoln, Judge pro tem.'
+
+"The lawyer who reads this singular entry will appreciate its
+oddity if no one else does. After making it, one of the lawyers,
+on recovering from his astonishment, ventured to enquire: 'Well,
+Lincoln, how can we get this case up again?'
+
+"Lincoln eyed him quizzically for a moment, and then answered,
+'You have all been so mighty smart about this case, you can find
+out how to take it up again yourselves."'
+
+
+ROUGH ON THE NEGRO.
+
+Mr. Lincoln, one day, was talking with the Rev. Dr. Sunderland
+about the Emancipation Proclamation and the future of the negro.
+Suddenly a ripple of amusement broke the solemn tone of his
+voice. "As for the negroes, Doctor, and what is going to become
+of them: I told Ben Wade the other day, that it made me think of
+a story I read in one of my first books, 'Aesop's Fables.' It was
+an old edition, and had curious rough wood cuts, one of which
+showed three white men scrubbing a negro in a potash kettle
+filled with cold water. The text explained that the men thought
+that by scrubbing the negro they might make him white. Just about
+the time they thought they were succeeding, he took cold and
+died. Now, I am afraid that by the time we get through this War
+the negro will catch cold and die."
+
+
+CHALLENGED ALL COMERS.
+
+Personal encounters were of frequent occurrence in Gentryville in
+early days, and the prestige of having thrashed an opponent gave
+the victor marked social distinction. Green B. Taylor, with whom
+"Abe" worked the greater part of one winter on a farm, furnished
+an account of the noted fight between John Johnston, "Abe's"
+stepbrother, and William Grigsby, in which stirring drama "Abe"
+himself played an important role before the curtain was rung
+down.
+
+Taylor's father was the second for Johnston, and William Whitten
+officiated in a similar capacity for Grigsby. "They had a
+terrible fight," related Taylor, "and it soon became apparent
+that Grigsby was too much for Lincoln's man, Johnston. After they
+had fought a long time without interference, it having been
+agreed not to break the ring, 'Abe' burst through, caught
+Grigsby, threw him off and some feet away. There Grigsby stood,
+proud as Lucifer, and, swinging a bottle of liquor over his head,
+swore he was 'the big buck of the lick.'
+
+"'If any one doubts it,' he shouted, 'he has only to come on and
+whet his horns.'"
+
+A general engagement followed this challenge, but at the end of
+hostilities the field was cleared and the wounded retired amid
+the exultant shouts of their victors.
+
+
+"GOVERNMENT RESTS IN PUBLIC OPINION."
+
+Lincoln delivered a speech at a Republican banquet at Chicago,
+December l0th, 1856, just after the Presidential campaign of that
+year, in which he said:
+
+"Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change
+public opinion can change the government practically just so
+much.
+
+"Public opinion, on any subject, always has a 'central idea,'
+from which all its minor thoughts radiate.
+
+"That 'central idea' in our political public opinion at the
+beginning was, and until recently has continued to be, 'the
+equality of man.'
+
+"And although it has always submitted patiently to whatever of
+inequality there seemed to be as a matter of actual necessity,
+its constant working has been a steady progress toward the
+practical equality of all men.
+
+"Let everyone who really believes, and is resolved, that free
+society is not and shall not be a failure, and who can
+conscientiously declare that in the past contest he has done only
+what he thought best--let every such one have charity to believe
+that every other one can say as much.
+
+"Thus, let bygones be bygones; let party differences as nothing
+be, and with steady eye on the real issue, let us reinaugurate
+the good old 'central ideas' of the Republic.
+
+"We can do it. The human heart is with us; God is with us.
+
+"We shall never be able to declare that 'all States as States are
+equal,' nor yet that 'all citizens are equal,' but to renew the
+broader, better declaration, including both these and much more,
+that 'all men are created equal.'"
+
+
+HURRY MIGHT MAKE TROUBLE.
+
+Up to the very last moment of the life of the Confederacy, the
+London "Punch" had its fling at the United States. In a cartoon,
+printed February 18th, 1865, labeled "The Threatening Notice,"
+"Punch" intimates that Uncle Sam is in somewhat of a hurry to
+serve notice on John Bull regarding the contentions in connection
+with the northern border of the United States.
+
+Lincoln, however, as attorney for his revered Uncle, advises
+caution. Accordingly, he tells his Uncle, according to the text
+under the picture
+
+ATTORNEY LINCOLN: "Now, Uncle Sam, you're in a darned hurry to
+serve this here notice on John Bull. Now, it's my duty, as your
+attorney, to tell you that you may drive him to go over to that
+cuss, Davis." (Uncle Sam considers.) In this instance, President
+Lincoln is given credit for judgment and common sense, his advice
+to his Uncle Sam to be prudent being sound. There was trouble all
+along the Canadian border during the War, while Canada was the
+refuge of Northern conspirators and Southern spies, who, at
+times, crossed the line and inflicted great damage upon the
+States bordering on it. The plot to seize the great lake cities--
+Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and others--was
+figured out in Canada by the Southerners and Northern allies.
+President Lincoln, in his message to Congress in December, 1864,
+said the United States had given notice to England that, at the
+end of six months, this country would, if necessary, increase its
+naval armament upon the lakes. What Great Britain feared was the
+abrogation by the United States of all treaties regarding Canada.
+By previous stipulation, the United States and England were each
+to have but one war vessel on the Great Lakes.
+
+
+SAW HIMSELF DEAD.
+
+This story cannot be repeated in Lincoln's own language, although
+he told it often enough to intimate friends; but, as it was never
+taken down by a stenographer in the martyred President's exact
+words, the reader must accept a simple narration of the strange
+occurrence.
+
+It was not long after the first nomination of Lincoln for the
+Presidency, when he saw, or imagined he saw, the startling
+apparition. One day, feeling weary, he threw himself upon a
+lounge in one of the rooms of his house at Springfield to rest.
+Opposite the lounge upon which he was lying was a large, long
+mirror, and he could easily see the reflection of his form, full
+length.
+
+Suddenly he saw, or imagined he saw, two Lincolns in the mirror,
+each lying full length upon the lounge, but they differed
+strangely in appearance. One was the natural Lincoln, full of
+life, vigor, energy and strength; the other was a dead Lincoln,
+the face white as marble, the limbs nerveless and lifeless, the
+body inert and still.
+
+Lincoln was so impressed with this vision, which he considered
+merely an optical illusion, that he arose, put on his hat, and
+went out for a walk. Returning to the house, he determined to
+test the matter again--and the result was the same as before. He
+distinctly saw the two Lincolns--one living and the other dead.
+
+He said nothing to his wife about this, she being, at that time,
+in a nervous condition, and apprehensive that some accident would
+surely befall her husband. She was particularly fearful that he
+might be the victim of an assassin. Lincoln always made light of
+her fears, but yet he was never easy in his mind afterwards.
+
+To more thoroughly test the so-called "optical illusion," and
+prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, whether it was a mere
+fanciful creation of the brain or a reflection upon the broad
+face of the mirror which might be seen at any time, Lincoln made
+frequent experiments. Each and every time the result was the
+same. He could not get away from the two Lincolns--one living and
+the other dead.
+
+Lincoln never saw this forbidding reflection while in the White
+House. Time after time he placed a couch in front of a mirror at
+a distance from the glass where he could view his entire length
+while lying down, but the looking-glass in the Executive Mansion
+was faithful to its trust, and only the living Lincoln was
+observable.
+
+The late Ward Lamon, once a law partner of Lincoln, and Marshal
+of the District of Columbia during his first administration,
+tells, in his "Recollections of Abraham Lincoln," of the dreams
+the President had--all foretelling death.
+
+Lamon was Lincoln's most intimate friend, being, practically, his
+bodyguard, and slept in the White House. In reference to
+Lincoln's "death dreams," he says:
+
+"How, it may be asked, could he make life tolerable, burdened as
+he was with that portentous horror, which, though visionary, and
+of trifling import in our eyes, was by his interpretation a
+premonition of impending doom? I answer in a word: His sense of
+duty to his country; his belief that 'the inevitable' is right;
+and his innate and irrepressible humor.
+
+"But the most startling incident in the life of Mr. Lincoln was a
+dream he had only a few days before his assassination. To him it
+was a thing of deadly import, and certainly no vision was ever
+fashioned more exactly like a dread reality. Coupled with other
+dreams, with the mirror-scene and with other incidents, there was
+something about it so amazingly real, so true to the actual
+tragedy which occurred soon after, that more than mortal strength
+and wisdom would have been required to let it pass without a
+shudder or a pang.
+
+"After worrying over it for some days, Mr. Lincoln seemed no
+longer able to keep the secret. I give it as nearly in his own
+words as I can, from notes which I made immediately after its
+recital. There were only two or three persons present.
+
+"The President was in a melancholy, meditative mood, and had been
+silent for some time. Mrs. Lincoln, who was present, rallied him
+on his solemn visage and want of spirit. This seemed to arouse
+him, and, without seeming to notice her sally, he said, in slow
+and measured tones:
+
+"'It seems strange how much there is in the Bible about dreams.
+There are, I think, some sixteen chapters in the Old Testament
+and four or five in the New, in which dreams are mentioned; and
+there are many other passages scattered throughout the book which
+refer to visions. In the old days, God and His angels came to men
+in their sleep and made themselves known in dreams.'
+
+"Mrs. Lincoln here remarked, 'Why, you look dreadfully solemn; do
+you believe in dreams?'
+
+"'I can't say that I do,' returned Mr. Lincoln; 'but I had one
+the other night which has haunted me ever since. After it
+occurred the first time, I opened the Bible, and, strange as it
+may appear, it was at the twenty-eighth chapter of Genesis, which
+relates the wonderful dream Jacob had. I turned to other
+passages, and seemed to encounter a dream or a vision wherever I
+looked. I kept on turning the leaves of the old book, and
+everywhere my eyes fell upon passages recording matters strangely
+in keeping with my own thoughts--supernatural visitations,
+dreams, visions, etc.'
+
+"He now looked so serious and disturbed that Mrs. Lincoln
+exclaimed 'You frighten me! What is the matter?'
+
+"'I am afraid,' said Mr. Lincoln, observing the effect his words
+had upon his wife, 'that I have done wrong to mention the subject
+at all; but somehow the thing has got possession of me, and, like
+Banquo's ghost, it will not down.'
+
+"This only inflamed Mrs. Lincoln's curiosity the more, and while
+bravely disclaiming any belief in dreams, she strongly urged him
+to tell the dream which seemed to have such a hold upon him,
+being seconded in this by another listener. Mr. Lincoln
+hesitated, but at length commenced very deliberately, his brow
+overcast with a shade of melancholy.
+
+"'About ten days ago,' said he, 'I retired very late. I had been
+up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not
+have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was
+weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a deathlike
+stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of
+people were weeping.
+
+"'I thought I left my bed and wandered down-stairs. There the
+silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners
+were invisible. I went from room to room; no living person was in
+sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I
+passed along. It was light in all the rooms; every object was
+familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving
+as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What
+could be the meaning of all this?
+
+"'Determined to find the cause of a state of things so
+mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East
+Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise.
+Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in
+funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were
+acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, some gazing
+mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others
+weeping pitifully.
+
+"'"Who is dead in the White House?" I demanded of one of the
+soldiers.
+
+"'"The President," was his answer; "he was killed by an
+assassin."
+
+"'Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which awoke me
+from my dream. I slept no more that night; and although it was
+only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since.'
+
+"'That is horrid!' said Mrs. Lincoln. 'I wish you had not told
+it. I am glad I don't believe in dreams, or I should be in terror
+from this time forth.'
+
+"'Well,' responded Mr. Lincoln, thoughtfully, 'it is only a
+dream, Mary. Let us say no more about it, and try to forget it.'
+
+"This dream was so horrible, so real, and so in keeping with
+other dreams and threatening presentiments of his, that Mr.
+Lincoln was profoundly disturbed by it. During its recital he was
+grave, gloomy, and at times visibly pale, but perfectly calm. He
+spoke slowly, with measured accents and deep feeling.
+
+"In conversations with me, he referred to it afterwards, closing
+one with this quotation from 'Hamlet': 'To sleep; perchance to
+dream! ay, there's the rub!' with a strong accent upon the last
+three words.
+
+"Once the President alluded to this terrible dream with some show
+of playful humor. 'Hill,' said he, 'your apprehension of harm to
+me from some hidden enemy is downright foolishness. For a long
+time you have been trying to keep somebody-the Lord knows who--
+from killing me.
+
+"'Don't you see how it will turn out? In this dream it was not
+me, but some other fellow, that was killed. It seems that this
+ghostly assassin tried his hand on some one else. And this
+reminds me of an old farmer in Illinois whose family were made
+sick by eating greens.
+
+"'Some poisonous herb had got into the mess, and members of the
+family were in danger of dying. There was a half-witted boy in
+the family called Jake; and always afterward when they had greens
+the old man would say, "Now, afore we risk these greens, let's
+try 'em on Jake. If he stands 'em we're all right." Just so with
+me. As long as this imaginary assassin continues to exercise
+himself on others, I can stand it.'
+
+"He then became serious and said: 'Well, let it go. I think the
+Lord in His own good time and way will work this out all right.
+God knows what is best.'
+
+"These words he spoke with a sigh, and rather in a tone of
+soliloquy, as if hardly noting my presence.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln had another remarkable dream, which was repeated so
+frequently during his occupancy of the White House that he came
+to regard it is a welcome visitor. It was of a pleasing and
+promising character, having nothing in it of the horrible.
+
+"It was always an omen of a Union victory, and came with unerring
+certainty just before every military or naval engagement where
+our arms were crowned with success. In this dream he saw a ship
+sailing away rapidly, badly damaged, and our victorious vessels
+in close pursuit.
+
+"He saw, also, the close of a battle on land, the enemy routed,
+and our forces in possession of vantage ground of inestimable
+importance. Mr. Lincoln stated it as a fact that he had this
+dream just before the battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, and other
+signal engagements throughout the War.
+
+"The last time Mr. Lincoln had this dream was the night before
+his assassination. On the morning of that lamentable day there
+was a Cabinet meeting, at which General Grant was present. During
+an interval of general discussion, the President asked General
+Grant if he had any news from General Sherman, who was then
+confronting Johnston. The reply was in the negative, but the
+general added that he was in hourly expectation of a dispatch
+announcing Johnston's surrender.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln then, with great impressiveness, said, 'We shall
+hear very soon, and the news will be important.'
+
+"General Grant asked him why he thought so.
+
+"'Because,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'I had a dream last night; and
+ever since this War began I have had the same dream just before
+every event of great national importance. It portends some
+important event which will happen very soon.'
+
+"On the night of the fateful 14th of April, 1865, Mrs. Lincoln's
+first exclamation, after the President was shot, was, 'His dream
+was prophetic!'
+
+"Lincoln was a believer in certain phases of the supernatural.
+Assured as he undoubtedly was by omens which, to his mind, were
+conclusive, that he would rise to greatness and power, he was as
+firmly convinced by the same tokens that he would be suddenly cut
+off at the height of his career and the fullness of his fame. He
+always believed that he would fall by the hand of an assassin.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln had this further idea: Dreams, being natural
+occurrences, in the strictest sense, he held that their best
+interpreters are the common people; and this accounts, in great
+measure, for the profound respect he always had for the
+collective wisdom of plain people--'the children of Nature,' he
+called them--touching matters belonging to the domain of
+psychical mysteries. There was some basis of truth, he believed,
+for whatever obtained general credence among these 'children of
+Nature.'
+
+"Concerning presentiments and dreams, Mr. Lincoln had a
+philosophy of his own, which, strange as it may appear, was in
+perfect harmony with his character in all other respects. He was
+no dabbler in divination--astrology, horoscopy, prophecy, ghostly
+lore, or witcheries of any sort.
+
+
+EVERY LITTLE HELPED.
+
+As the time drew near at which Mr. Lincoln said he would issue
+the Emancipation Proclamation, some clergymen, who feared the
+President might change his mind, called on him to urge him to
+keep his promise.
+
+"We were ushered into the Cabinet room," says Dr. Sunderland. "It
+was very dim, but one gas jet burning. As we entered, Mr. Lincoln
+was standing at the farther end of the long table, which filled
+the center of the room. As I stood by the door, I am so very
+short, that I was obliged to look up to see the President. Mr.
+Robbins introduced me, and I began at once by saying: 'I have
+come, Mr. President, to anticipate the new year with my respects,
+and if I may, to say to you a word about the serious condition of
+this country.'
+
+"'Go ahead, Doctor,' replied the President; 'every little
+helps.' But I was too much in earnest to laugh at his sally at my
+smallness."
+
+
+ABOUT TO LAY DOWN THE BURDEN.
+
+President Lincoln (at times) said he felt sure his life would end
+with the War. A correspondent of a Boston paper had an interview
+with him in July, 1864, and wrote regarding it:
+
+"The President told me he was certain he should not outlast the
+rebellion. As will be remembered, there was dissension then among
+the Republican leaders. Many of his best friends had deserted
+him, and were talking of an opposition convention to nominate
+another candidate, and universal gloom was among the people.
+
+"The North was tired of the War, and supposed an honorable peace
+attainable. Mr. Lincoln knew it was not--that any peace at that
+time would be only disunion. Speaking of it, he said: 'I have
+faith in the people. They will not consent to disunion. The
+danger is, they are misled. Let them know the truth, and the
+country is safe.'
+
+"He looked haggard and careworn; and further on in the interview
+I remarked on his appearance, 'You are wearing yourself out with
+work.'
+
+"'I can't work less,' he answered; 'but it isn't that--work
+never troubled me. Things look badly, and I can't avoid anxiety.
+Personally, I care nothing about a re-election, but if our
+divisions defeat us, I fear for the country.'
+
+"When I suggested that right must eventually triumph, he replied,
+'I grant that, but I may never live to see it. I feel a
+presentiment that I shall not outlast the rebellion. When it is
+over, my work will be done.'
+
+"He never intimated, however, that he expected to be
+assassinated."
+
+
+LINCOLN WOULD HAVE PREFERRED DEATH.
+
+Horace Greeley said, some time after the death of President
+Lincoln:
+
+"After the Civil War began, Lincoln's tenacity of purpose
+paralleled his former immobility; I believe he would have been
+nearly the last, if not the very last, man in America to
+recognize the Southern Confederacy had its armies been
+triumphant. He would have preferred death."
+
+
+"PUNCH" AND HIS LITTLE PICTURE.
+
+London "Punch" was not satisfied with anything President Lincoln
+did. On December 3rd, 1864, after Mr. Lincoln's re-election to
+the Presidency, a cartoon appeared in one of the pages of that
+genial publication, the reproduction being printed here, labeled
+"The Federal Phoenix." It attracted great attention at the time,
+and was particularly pleasing to the enemies of the United
+States, as it showed Lincoln as the Phoenix arising from the
+ashes of the Federal Constitution, the Public Credit, the Freedom
+of the Press, State Rights and the Commerce of the North American
+Republic.
+
+President Lincoln's endorsement by the people of the United
+States meant that the Confederacy was to be crushed, no matter
+what the cost; that the Union of States was to be preserved, and
+that State Rights was a thing of the past. "Punch" wished to
+create the impression that President Lincoln's re-election was a
+personal victory; that he would set up a despotism, with himself
+at its head, and trample upon the Constitution of the United
+States and all the rights the citizens of the Republic ever
+possessed.
+
+The result showed that "Punch" was suffering from an acute attack
+of needless alarm.
+
+
+FASCINATED By THE WONDERFUL
+
+Lincoln was particularly fascinated by the wonderful happenings
+recorded in history. He loved to read of those mighty events
+which had been foretold, and often brooded upon these subjects.
+His early convictions upon occult matters led him to read all
+books tending' to strengthen these convictions.
+
+The following lines, in Byron's "Dream," were frequently quoted
+by him:
+
+    "Sleep hath its own world,
+A boundary between the things misnamed
+Death and existence: Sleep hath its own world
+And a wide realm of wild reality.
+And dreams in their development have breath,
+And tears and tortures, and the touch of joy;
+They leave a weight upon our waking thoughts,
+They take a weight from off our waking toils,
+They do divide our being."
+
+Those with whom he was associated in his early youth and young
+manhood, and with whom he was always in cordial sympathy, were
+thorough believers in presentiments and dreams; and so Lincoln
+drifted on through years of toil and exceptional hardship--
+meditative, aspiring, certain of his star, but appalled at times
+by its malignant aspect. Many times prior to his first election
+to the Presidency he was both elated and alarmed by what seemed
+to him a rent in the veil which hides from mortal view what the
+future holds.
+
+He saw, or thought he saw, a vision of glory and of blood,
+himself the central figure in a scene which his fancy transformed
+from giddy enchantment to the most appalling tragedy.
+
+
+"WHY DON'T THEY COME!"
+
+The suspense of the days when the capital was isolated, the
+expected troops not arriving, and an hourly attack feared, wore
+on Mr. Lincoln greatly.
+
+"I begin to believe," he said bitterly, one day, to some
+Massachusetts soldiers, "that there is no North. The Seventh
+Regiment is a myth. Rhode Island is another. You are the only
+real thing."
+
+And again, after pacing the floor of his deserted office for a
+half-hour, he was heard to exclaim to himself, in an anguished
+tone: "Why don't they come! Why don't they come!"
+
+
+GRANT'S BRAND OF WHISKEY.
+
+Lincoln was not a man of impulse, and did nothing upon the spur
+of the moment; action with him was the result of deliberation and
+study. He took nothing for granted; he judged men by their
+performances and not their speech.
+
+If a general lost battles, Lincoln lost confidence in him; if a
+commander was successful, Lincoln put him where he would be of
+the most service to the country.
+
+"Grant is a drunkard," asserted powerful and influential
+politicians to the President at the White House time after time;
+"he is not himself half the time; he can't be relied upon, and it
+is a shame to have such a man in command of an army."
+
+"So Grant gets drunk, does he?" queried Lincoln, addressing
+himself to one of the particularly active detractors of the
+soldier, who, at that period, was inflicting heavy damage upon
+the Confederates.
+
+"Yes, he does, and I can prove it," was the reply.
+
+"Well," returned Lincoln, with the faintest suspicion of a
+twinkle in his eye, "you needn't waste your time getting proof;
+you just find out, to oblige me, what brand of whiskey Grant
+drinks, because I want to send a barrel of it to each one of my
+generals."
+
+That ended the crusade against Grant, so far as the question of
+drinking was concerned.
+
+
+HIS FINANCIAL STANDING.
+
+A New York firm applied to Abraham Lincoln, some years before he
+became President, for information as to the financial standing of
+one of his neighbors. Mr. Lincoln replied:
+
+"I am well acquainted with Mr.-- and know his circumstances.
+First of all, he has a wife and baby; together they ought to be
+worth $50,000 to any man. Secondly, he has an office in which
+there is a table worth $1.50 and three chairs worth, say, $1.
+Last of all, there is in one corner a large rat hole, which will
+bear looking into. Respectfully, A. Lincoln."
+
+
+THE DANDY AND THE BOYS.
+
+President Lincoln appointed as consul to a South American country
+a young man from Ohio who was a dandy. A wag met the new
+appointee on his way to the White House to thank the President.
+He was dressed in the most extravagant style. The wag horrified
+him by telling him that the country to which he was assigned was
+noted chiefly for the bugs that abounded there and made life
+unbearable.
+
+"They'll bore a hole clean through you before a week has passed,"
+was the comforting assurance of the wag as they parted at the
+White House steps. The new consul approached Lincoln with
+disappointment clearly written all over his face. Instead of
+joyously thanking the President, he told him the wag's story of
+the bugs. "I am informed, Mr. President," he said, "that the
+place is full of vermin and that they could eat me up in a week's
+time." "Well, young man," replied Lincoln, "if that's true, all
+I've got to say is that if such a thing happened they would leave
+a mighty good suit of clothes behind."
+
+
+"SOME UGLY OLD LAWYER."
+
+A. W. Swan, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, told this story on
+Lincoln, being an eyewitness of the scene:
+
+"One day President Lincoln was met in the park between the White
+House and the War Department by an irate private soldier, who was
+swearing in a high key, cursing the Government from the President
+down. Mr. Lincoln paused and asked him what was the matter.
+'Matter enough,' was the reply. 'I want my money. I have been
+discharged here, and can't get my pay.' Mr. Lincoln asked if he
+had his papers, saying that he used to practice law in a small
+way, and possibly could help him.
+
+"My friend and I stepped behind some convenient shrubbery where
+we could watch the result. Mr. Lincoln took the papers from the
+hands of the crippled soldier, and sat down with him at the foot
+of a convenient tree, where he examined them carefully, and
+writing a line on the back, told the soldier to take them to Mr.
+Potts, Chief Clerk of the War Department, who would doubtless
+attend to the matter at once.
+
+"After Mr. Lincoln had left the soldier, we stepped out and asked
+him if he knew whom he had been talking with. 'Some ugly old
+fellow who pretends to be a lawyer,' was the reply. My companion
+asked to see the papers, and on their being handed to him,
+pointed to the indorsement they had received: This indorsement
+read
+
+"'Mr. Potts, attend to this man's case at once and see that he
+gets his pay. A. L.'"
+
+
+GOOD MEMORY OF NAMES.
+
+The following story illustrates the power of Mr. Lincoln's memory
+of names and faces. When he was a comparatively young man, and a
+candidate for the Illinois Legislature, he made a personal
+canvass of the district. While "swinging around the circle" he
+stopped one day and took dinner with a farmer in Sangamon county.
+
+Years afterward, when Mr. Lincoln had become President, a soldier
+came to call on him at the White House. At the first glance the
+Chief Executive said: "Yes, I remember; you used to live on the
+Danville road. I took dinner with you when I was running for the
+Legislature. I recollect that we stood talking out at the
+barnyard gate while I sharpened my jackknife."
+
+"Y-a-a-s," drawled the soldier, "you did. But say, wherever did
+you put that whetstone? I looked for it a dozen times, but I
+never could find it after the day you used it. We allowed as how
+mabby you took it 'long with you."
+
+"No," said Lincoln, looking serious and pushing away a lot of
+documents of state from the desk in front of him. "No, I put it
+on top of that gatepost--that high one."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed the visitor, "mabby you did. Couldn't anybody
+else have put it there, and none of us ever thought of looking
+there for it."
+
+The soldier was then on his way home, and when he got there the
+first thing he did was to look for the whetstone. And sure
+enough, there it was, just where Lincoln had laid it fifteen
+years before. The honest fellow wrote a letter to the Chief
+Magistrate, telling him that the whetstone had been found, and
+would never be lost again.
+
+
+SETTLED OUT OF COURT.
+
+When Abe Lincoln used to be drifting around the country,
+practicing law in Fulton and Menard counties, Illinois, an old
+fellow met him going to Lewiston, riding a horse which, while it
+was a serviceable enough animal, was not of the kind to be
+truthfully called a fine saddler. It was a weatherbeaten nag,
+patient and plodding, and it toiled along with Abe--and Abe's
+books, tucked away in saddle-bags, lay heavy on the horse's
+flank.
+
+"Hello, Uncle Tommy," said Abe.
+
+"Hello, Abe," responded Uncle Tommy. "I'm powerful glad to see
+ye, Abe, fer I'm gwyne to have sumthin' fer ye at Lewiston co't,
+I reckon."
+
+"How's that, Uncle Tommy?" said Abe.
+
+"Well, Jim Adams, his land runs 'long o' mine, he's pesterin' me
+a heap an' I got to get the law on Jim, I reckon."
+
+"Uncle Tommy, you haven't had any fights with Jim, have you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"He's a fair to middling neighbor, isn't he?"
+
+"Only tollable, Abe."
+
+"He's been a neighbor of yours for a long time, hasn't he?"
+
+"Nigh on to fifteen year."
+
+"Part of the time you get along all right, don't you?"
+
+"I reckon we do, Abe."
+
+"Well, now, Uncle Tommy, you see this horse of mine? He isn't as
+good a horse as I could straddle, and I sometimes get out of
+patience with him, but I know his faults. He does fairly well as
+horses go, and it might take me a long time to get used to some
+other horse's faults. For all horses have faults. You and Uncle
+Jimmy must put up with each other as I and my horse do with one
+another."
+
+"I reckon, Abe," said Uncle Tommy, as he bit off about four
+ounces of Missouri plug. "I reckon you're about right."
+
+And Abe Lincoln, with a smile on his gaunt face, rode on toward
+Lewiston.
+
+
+THE FIVE POINTS SUNDAY SCHOOL.
+
+When Mr. Lincoln visited New York in 1860, he felt a great
+interest in many of the institutions for reforming criminals and
+saving the young from a life of crime. Among others, he visited,
+unattended, the Five Points House of Industry, and the
+superintendent of the Sabbath school there gave the following
+account of the event:
+
+"One Sunday morning I saw a tall, remarkable-looking man enter
+the room and take a seat among us. He listened with fixed
+attention to our exercises, and his countenance expressed such
+genuine interest that I approached him and suggested that he
+might be willing to say something to the children. He accepted
+the invitation with evident pleasure, and coming forward began a
+simple address, which at once fascinated every little hearer and
+hushed the room into silence. His language was strikingly
+beautiful, and his tones musical with intense feeling. The little
+faces would droop into sad conviction when he uttered sentences
+of warning, and would brighten into sunshine as he spoke cheerful
+words of promise. Once or twice he attempted to close his
+remarks, but the imperative shout of, 'Go on! Oh, do go on!'
+would compel him to resume.
+
+"As I looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, and
+marked his powerful head and determined features, now touched
+into softness by the impressions of the moment, I felt an
+irrepressible curiosity to learn something more about him, and
+while he was quietly leaving the room, I begged to know his name.
+He courteously replied: 'It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois.'"
+
+
+SENTINEL OBEYED ORDERS.
+
+A slight variation of the traditional sentry story is related by
+C. C. Buel. It was a cold, blusterous winter night. Says Mr.
+Buel:
+
+"Mr. Lincoln emerged from the front door, his lank figure bent
+over as he drew tightly about his shoulders the shawl which he
+employed for such protection; for he was on his way to the War
+Department, at the west corner of the grounds, where in times of
+battle he was wont to get the midnight dispatches from the field.
+As the blast struck him he thought of the numbness of the pacing
+sentry, and, turning to him, said: 'Young man, you've got a cold
+job to-night; step inside, and stand guard there.'
+
+"'My orders keep me out here,' the soldier replied.
+
+"'Yes,' said the President, in his argumentative tone; 'but your
+duty can be performed just as well inside as out here, and you'll
+oblige me by going in.'
+
+"'I have been stationed outside,' the soldier answered, and
+resumed his beat.
+
+"'Hold on there!' said Mr. Lincoln, as he turned back again; 'it
+occurs to me that I am Commander-in-Chief of the army, and I
+order you to go inside.'"
+
+
+WHY LINCOLN GROWED WHISKERS.
+
+Perhaps the majority of people in the United States don't know
+why Lincoln "growed" whiskers after his first nomination for the
+Presidency. Before that time his face was clean shaven.
+
+In the beautiful village of Westfield, Chautauqua county, New
+York, there lived, in 1860, little Grace Bedell. During the
+campaign of that year she saw a portrait of Lincoln, for whom she
+felt the love and reverence that was common in Republican
+families, and his smooth, homely face rather disappointed her.
+She said to her mother: "I think, mother, that Mr. Lincoln would
+look better if he wore whiskers, and I mean to write and tell him
+so."
+
+The mother gave her permission.
+
+Grace's father was a Republican; her two brothers were Democrats.
+Grace wrote at once to the "Hon. Abraham Lincoln, Esq.,
+Springfield, Illinois," in which she told him how old she was,
+and where she lived; that she was a Republican; that she thought
+he would make a good President, but would look better if he would
+let his whiskers grow. If he would do so, she would try to coax
+her brothers to vote for him. She thought the rail fence around
+the picture of his cabin was very pretty. "If you have not time
+to answer my letter, will you allow your little girl to reply for
+you?"
+
+Lincoln was much pleased with the letter, and decided to answer
+it, which he did at once, as follows:
+
+"Springfield, Illinois, October i9, 1860.
+
+"Miss Grace Bedell.
+
+"My Dear Little Miss: Your very agreeable letter of the fifteenth
+is received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughter.
+I have three sons; one seventeen, one nine and one seven years of
+age. They, with their mother, constitute my whole family. As to
+the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people
+would call it a piece of silly affectation if I should begin it
+now? Your very sincere well-wisher, A. LINCOLN."
+
+When on the journey to Washington to be inaugurated, Lincoln's
+train stopped at Westfield. He recollected his little
+correspondent and spoke of her to ex-Lieutenant Governor George
+W. Patterson, who called out and asked if Grace Bedell was
+present.
+
+There was a large surging mass of people gathered about the
+train, but Grace was discovered at a distance; the crowd opened a
+pathway to the coach, and she came, timidly but gladly, to the
+President-elect, who told her that she might see that he had
+allowed his whiskers to grow at her request. Then, reaching out
+his long arms, he drew her up to him and kissed her. The act drew
+an enthusiastic demonstration of approval from the multitude.
+
+Grace married a Kansas banker, and became Grace Bedell Billings.
+
+
+LINCOLN AS A DANCER.
+
+Lincoln made his first appearance in society when he was first
+sent to Springfield, Ill., as a member of the State Legislature.
+It was not an imposing figure which he cut in a ballroom, but
+still he was occasionally to be found there. Miss Mary Todd, who
+afterward became his wife, was the magnet which drew the tall,
+awkward young man from his den. One evening Lincoln approached
+Miss Todd, and said, in his peculiar idiom:
+
+"Miss Todd, I should like to dance with you the worst way." The
+young woman accepted the inevitable, and hobbled around the room
+with him. When she returned to her seat, one of her companions
+asked mischievously
+
+"Well, Mary, did he dance with you the worst way."
+
+"Yes," she answered, "the very worst."
+
+
+SIMPLY PRACTICAL HUMANITY.
+
+An instance of young Lincoln's practical humanity at an early
+period of his life is recorded in this way:
+
+One evening, while returning from a "raising" in his wide
+neighborhood, with a number of companions, he discovered a stray
+horse, with saddle and bridle upon him. The horse was recognized
+as belonging to a man who was accustomed to get drunk, and it was
+suspected at once that he was not far off. A short search only
+was necessary to confirm the belief.
+
+The poor drunkard was found in a perfectly helpless condition,
+upon the chilly ground. Abraham's companions urged the cowardly
+policy of leaving him to his fate, but young Lincoln would not
+hear to the proposition.
+
+At his request, the miserable sot was lifted on his shoulders,
+and he actually carried him eighty rods to the nearest house.
+
+Sending word to his father that he should not be back that night,
+with the reason for his absence, he attended and nursed the man
+until the morning, and had the pleasure of believing that he had
+saved his life.
+
+
+HAPPY FIGURES OF SPEECH.
+
+On one occasion, exasperated at the discrepancy between the
+aggregate of troops forwarded to McClellan and the number that
+same general reported as having received, Lincoln exclaimed:
+"Sending men to that army is like shoveling fleas across a
+barnyard--half of them never get there."
+
+To a politician who had criticised his course, he wrote: "Would
+you have me drop the War where it is, or would you prosecute it
+in future with elder stalk squirts charged with rosewater?"
+
+When, on his first arrival in Washington as President, he found
+himself besieged by office-seekers, while the War was breaking
+out, he said: "I feel like a man letting lodgings at one end of
+his house while the other end is on fire."
+
+
+A FEW "RHYTHMIC SHOTS."
+
+Ward Lamon, Marshal of the District of Columbia during Lincoln's
+time in Washington, accompanied the President everywhere. He was
+a good singer, and, when Lincoln was in one of his melancholy
+moods, would "fire a few rhythmic shots" at the President to
+cheer the latter. Lincoln keenly relished nonsense in the shape
+of witty or comic ditties. A parody of "A Life on the Ocean Wave"
+was always pleasing to him:
+
+"Oh, a life on the ocean wave,
+  And a home on the rolling deep!
+With ratlins fried three times a day
+  And a leaky old berth for to sleep;
+Where the gray-beard cockroach roams,
+  On thoughts of kind intent,
+And the raving bedbug comes
+  The road the cockroach went."
+
+Lincoln could not control his laughter when he heard songs of
+this sort.
+
+He was fond of negro melodies, too, and "The Blue-Tailed Fly" was
+a great favorite with him. He often called for that buzzing
+ballad when he and Lamon were alone, and he wanted to throw off
+the weight of public and private cares. The ballad of "The
+Blue-Tailed Fly" contained two verses, which ran:
+
+"When I was young I used to wait
+At massa's table, 'n' hand de plate,
+An' pass de bottle when he was dry,
+An' brush away de blue-tailed fly.
+
+"Ol' Massa's dead; oh, let him rest!
+Dey say all things am for de best;
+But I can't forget until I die
+Ol' massa an' de blue-tailed fly."
+
+While humorous songs delighted the President, he also loved to
+listen to patriotic airs and ballads containing sentiment. He was
+fond of hearing "The Sword of Bunker Hill," "Ben Bolt," and "The
+Lament of the Irish Emigrant." His preference of the verses in
+the latter was this:
+
+"I'm lonely now, Mary,
+  For the poor make no new friends;
+But, oh, they love the better still
+  The few our Father sends!
+And you were all I had, Mary,
+  My blessing and my pride;
+There's nothing left to care for now,
+  Since my poor Mary died."
+
+Those who knew Lincoln were well aware he was incapable of so
+monstrous an act as that of wantonly insulting the dead, as was
+charged in the infamous libel which asserted that he listened to
+a comic song on the field of Antietam, before the dead were
+buried.
+
+
+OLD MAN GLENN'S RELIGION.
+
+Mr. Lincoln once remarked to a friend that his religion was like
+that of an old man named Glenn, in Indiana, whom he heard speak
+at a church meeting, and who said: "When I do good, I feel good;
+when I do bad, I feel bad; and that's my religion."
+
+Mrs. Lincoln herself has said that Mr. Lincoln had no faith--no
+faith, in the usual acceptance of those words. "He never joined a
+church; but still, as I believe, he was a religious man by
+nature. He first seemed to think about the subject when our boy
+Willie died, and then more than ever about the time he went to
+Gettysburg; but it was a kind of poetry in his nature, and he
+never was a technical Christian."
+
+
+LAST ACTS OF MERCY.
+
+During the afternoon preceding his assassination the President
+signed a pardon for a soldier sentenced to be shot for desertion,
+remarking as he did so, "Well, I think the boy can do us more
+good above ground than under ground."
+
+He also approved an application for the discharge, on taking the
+oath of allegiance, of a rebel prisoner, in whose petition he
+wrote, "Let it be done."
+
+This act of mercy was his last official order.
+
+
+JUST LIKE SEWARD.
+
+The first corps of the army commanded by General Reynolds was
+once reviewed by the President on a beautiful plain at the north
+of Potomac Creek, about eight miles from Hooker's headquarters.
+The party rode thither in an ambulance over a rough corduroy
+road, and as they passed over some of the more difficult portions
+of the jolting way the ambulance driver, who sat well in front,
+occasionally let fly a volley of suppressed oaths at his wild
+team of six mules.
+
+Finally, Mr. Lincoln, leaning forward, touched the man on the
+shoulder and said
+
+"Excuse me, my friend, are you an Episcopalian?"
+
+The man, greatly startled, looked around and replied:
+
+"No, Mr. President; I am a Methodist."
+
+"Well," said Lincoln, "I thought you must be an Episcopalian,
+because you swear just like Governor Seward, who is a church
+warder."
+
+
+A CHEERFUL PROSPECT.
+
+The first night after the departure of President-elect Lincoln
+from Springfield, on his way to Washington, was spent in
+Indianapolis. Governor Yates, O. H. Browning, Jesse K. Dubois, O.
+M. Hatch, Josiah Allen, of Indiana, and others, after taking
+leave of Mr. Lincoln to return to their respective homes, took
+Ward Lamon into a room, locked the door, and proceeded in the
+most solemn and impressive manner to instruct him as to his
+duties as the special guardian of Mr. Lincoln's person during the
+rest of his journey to Washington. Lamon tells the story as
+follows:
+
+"The lesson was concluded by Uncle Jesse, as Mr. Dubois was
+commonly, called, who said:
+
+"'Now, Lamon, we have regarded you as the Tom Hyer of Illinois,
+with Morrissey attachment. We intrust the sacred life of Mr.
+Lincoln to your keeping; and if you don't protect it, never
+return to Illinois, for we will murder you on sight."'
+
+
+THOUGHT GOD WOULD HAVE TOLD HIM.
+
+Professor Jonathan Baldwin Turner was one of the few men to whom
+Mr. Lincoln confided his intention to issue the Proclamation of
+Emancipation.
+
+Mr. Lincoln told his Illinois friend of the visit of a delegation
+to him who claimed to have a message from God that the War would
+not be successful without the freeing of the negroes, to whom Mr.
+Lincoln replied: "Is it not a little strange that He should tell
+this to you, who have so little to do with it, and should not
+have told me, who has a great deal to do with it?"
+
+At the same time he informed Professor Turner he had his
+Proclamation in his pocket.
+
+
+LINCOLN AND A BIBLE HERO.
+
+A writer who heard Mr. Lincoln's famous speech delivered in New
+York after his nomination for President has left this record of
+the event:
+
+"When Lincoln rose to speak, I was greatly disappointed. He was
+tall, tall, oh, so tall, and so angular and awkward that I had
+for an instant a feeling of pity for so ungainly a man. He began
+in a low tone of voice, as if he were used to speaking out of
+doors and was afraid of speaking too loud.
+
+"He said 'Mr. Cheerman,' instead of 'Mr. Chairman,' and employed
+many other words with an old-fashioned pronunciation. I said to
+myself, 'Old fellow, you won't do; it is all very well for the
+Wild West, but this will never go down in New York.' But pretty
+soon he began to get into the subject; he straightened up, made
+regular and graceful gestures; his face lighted as with an inward
+fire; the whole man was transfigured.
+
+"I forgot the clothing, his personal appearance, and his
+individual peculiarities. Presently, forgetting myself, I was on
+my feet with the rest, yelling like a wild Indian, cheering the
+wonderful man. In the close parts of his argument you could hear
+the gentle sizzling of the gas burners.
+
+"When he reached a climax the thunders of applause were terrific.
+It was a great speech. When I came out of the hall my face was
+glowing with excitement and my frame all a-quiver. A friend, with
+his eyes aglow, asked me what I thought of 'Abe' Lincoln, the
+rail-splitter. I said, 'He's the greatest man since St. Paul.'
+And I think so yet."
+
+
+BOY WAS CARED FOR.
+
+President Lincoln one day noticed a small, pale, delicate-looking
+boy, about thirteen years old, among the number in the White
+House antechamber.
+
+The President saw him standing there, looking so feeble and
+faint, and said: "Come here, my boy, and tell me what you want."
+
+The boy advanced, placed his hand on the arm of the President's
+chair, and, with a bowed head and timid accents, said: "Mr.
+President, I have been a drummer boy in a regiment for two years,
+and my colonel got angry with me and turned me off. I was taken
+sick and have been a long time in the hospital."
+
+The President discovered that the boy had no home, no father--he
+had died in the army--no mother.
+
+"I have no father, no mother, no brothers, no sisters, and,"
+bursting into tears, "no friends--nobody cares for me."
+
+Lincoln's eyes filled with tears, and the boy's heart was soon
+made glad by a request to certain officials "to care for this
+poor boy."
+
+
+THE JURY ACQUITTED HIM
+
+One of the most noted murder cases in which Lincoln defended the
+accused was tried in August, 1859. The victim, Crafton, was a
+student in his own law office, the defendant, "Peachy" Harrison,
+was a grandson of Rev. Peter Cartwright; both were connected with
+the best families in the county; they were brothers-in-law, and
+had always been friends.
+
+Senator John M. Palmer and General John A. McClelland were on the
+side of the prosecution. Among those who represented the
+defendant were Lincoln and Senator Shelby M. Cullom. The two
+young men had engaged in a political quarrel, and Crafton was
+stabbed to death by Harrison. The tragic pathos of a case which
+involved the deepest affections of almost an entire community
+reached its climax in the appearance in court of the venerable
+Peter Cartwright. Lincoln had beaten him for Congress in 1846.
+
+Eccentric and aggressive as he was, he was honored far and wide;
+and when he arose to take the witness stand, his white hair
+crowned with this cruel sorrow, the most indifferent spectator
+felt that his examination would be unbearable.
+
+It fell to Lincoln to question Cartwright. With the rarest
+gentleness he began to put his questions.
+
+"How long have you known the prisoner?"
+
+Cartwright's head dropped on his breast for a moment; then
+straightening himself, he passed his hand across his eyes and
+answered in a deep, quavering voice:
+
+"I have known him since a babe, he laughed and cried on my knee."
+
+The examination ended by Lincoln drawing from the witness the
+story of how Crafton had said to him, just before his death: "I
+am dying; I will soon part with all I love on earth, and I want
+you to say to my slayer that I forgive him. I want to leave this
+earth with a forgiveness of all who have in any way injured me."
+
+This examination made a profound impression on the jury. Lincoln
+closed his argument by picturing the scene anew, appealing to the
+jury to practice the same forgiving spirit that the murdered man
+had shown on his death-bed. It was undoubtedly to his handling of
+the grandfather's evidence that Harrison's acquittal was due.
+
+
+TOOK NOTHING BUT MONEY.
+
+During the War Congress appropriated $10,000 to be expended by
+the President in defending United States Marshals in cases of
+arrests and seizures where the legality of their actions was
+tested in the courts. Previously the Marshals sought the
+assistance of the Attorney-General in defending them, but when
+they found that the President had a fund for that purpose they
+sought to control the money.
+
+In speaking of these Marshals one day, Mr. Lincoln said:
+
+"They are like a man in Illinois, whose cabin was burned down,
+and, according to the kindly custom of early days in the West,
+his neighbors all contributed something to start him again. In
+his case they had been so liberal that he soon found himself
+better off than before the fire, and he got proud. One day a
+neighbor brought him a bag of oats, but the fellow refused it
+with scorn.
+
+"'No,' said he, 'I'm not taking oats now. I take nothing but
+money.'"
+
+
+NAUGHTY BOY HAD TO TAKE HIS MEDICINE.
+
+The resistance to the military draft of 1863 by the City of New
+York, the result of which was the killing of several thousand
+persons, was illustrated on August 29th, 1863, by "Frank Leslie's
+Illustrated Newspaper," over the title of "The Naughty Boy,
+Gotham, Who Would Not Take the Draft." Beneath was also the text:
+
+MAMMY LINCOLN: "There now, you bad boy, acting that way, when
+your little sister Penn (State of Pennsylvania) takes hers like a
+lady!"
+
+Horatio Seymour was then Governor of New York, and a prominent
+"the War is a failure" advocate. He was in Albany, the State
+capital, when the riots broke out in the City of New York, July
+13th, and after the mob had burned the Colored Orphan Asylum and
+killed several hundred negroes, came to the city. He had only
+soft words for the rioters, promising them that the draft should
+be suspended. Then the Government sent several regiments of
+veterans, fresh from the field of Gettysburg, where they had
+assisted in defeating Lee. These troops made short work of the
+brutal ruffians, shooting down three thousand or so of them, and
+the rioting was subdued. The "Naughty Boy Gotham" had to take his
+medicine, after all, but as the spirit of opposition to the War
+was still rampant, the President issued a proclamation suspending
+the writ of habeas corpus in all the States of the Union where
+the Government had control. This had a quieting effect upon those
+who were doing what they could in obstructing the Government.
+
+
+WOULD BLOW THEM TO H---.
+
+Mr. Lincoln had advised Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott,
+commanding the United States Army, of the threats of violence on
+inauguration day, 1861. General Scott was sick in bed at
+Washington when Adjutant-General Thomas Mather, of Illinois,
+called upon him in President-elect Lincoln's behalf, and the
+veteran commander was much wrought up. Said he to General Mather:
+
+"Present my compliments to Mr. Lincoln when you return to
+Springfield, and tell him I expect him to come on to Washington
+as soon as he is ready; say to him that I will look after those
+Maryland and Virginia rangers myself. I will plant cannon at both
+ends of Pennsylvania avenue, and if any of them show their heads
+or raise a finger, I'll blow them to h---."
+
+
+"YANKEE" GOODNESS OF HEART.
+
+One day, when the President was with the troops who were fighting
+at the front, the wounded, both Union and Confederate, began to
+pour in.
+
+As one stretcher was passing Lincoln, he heard the voice of a lad
+calling to his mother in agonizing tones. His great heart filled.
+He forgot the crisis of the hour. Stopping the carriers, he
+knelt, and bending over him, asked: "What can I do for you, my
+poor child?"
+
+"Oh, you will do nothing for me," he replied. "You are a Yankee.
+I cannot hope that my message to my mother will ever reach her."
+
+Lincoln, in tears, his voice full of tenderest love, convinced
+the boy of his sincerity, and he gave his good-bye words without
+reserve.
+
+The President directed them copied, and ordered that they be sent
+that night, with a flag of truce, into the enemy's lines.
+
+
+WALKED AS HE TALKED.
+
+When Mr. Lincoln made his famous humorous speech in Congress
+ridiculing General Cass, he began to speak from notes, but, as he
+warmed up, he left his desk and his notes, to stride down the
+alley toward the Speaker's chair.
+
+Occasionally, as he would complete a sentence amid shouts of
+laughter, he would return up the alley to his desk, consult his
+notes, take a sip of water and start off again.
+
+Mr. Lincoln received many congratulations at the close, Democrats
+joining the Whigs in their complimentary comments.
+
+One Democrat, however (who had been nicknamed "Sausage" Sawyer),
+didn't enthuse at all.
+
+"Sawyer," asked an Eastern Representative, "how did you like the
+lanky Illinoisan's speech? Very able, wasn't it?"
+
+"Well," replied Sawyer, "the speech was pretty good, but I hope
+he won't charge mileage on his travels while delivering it."
+
+
+THE SONG DID THE BUSINESS.
+
+The Virginia (Ill.) Enquirer, of March 1, 1879, tells this story:
+
+"John McNamer was buried last Sunday, near Petersburg, Menard
+county. A long while ago he was Assessor and Treasurer of the
+County for several successive terms. Mr. McNamer was an early
+settler in that section, and, before the town of Petersburg was
+laid out, in business in Old Salem, a village that existed many
+years ago two miles south of the present site of Petersburg.
+
+"'Abe' Lincoln was then postmaster of the place and sold whisky
+to its inhabitants. There are old-timers yet living in Menard who
+bought many a jug of corn-juice from 'Old Abe' when he lived at
+Salem. It was here that Anne Rutledge dwelt, and in whose grave
+Lincoln wrote that his heart was buried.
+
+"As the story runs, the fair and gentle Anne was originally John
+McNamer's sweetheart, but 'Abe' took a 'shine' to the young lady,
+and succeeded in heading off McNamer and won her affections. But
+Anne Rutledge died, and Lincoln went to Springfield, where he
+some time afterwards married.
+
+"It is related that during the War a lady belonging to a
+prominent Kentucky family visited Washington to beg for her son's
+pardon, who was then in prison under sentence of death for
+belonging to a band of guerrillas who had committed many murders
+and outrages.
+
+"With the mother was her daughter, a beautiful young lady, who
+was an accomplished musician. Mr. Lincoln received the visitors
+in his usual kind manner, and the mother made known the object of
+her visit, accompanying her plea with tears and sobs and all the
+customary romantic incidents.
+
+"There were probably extenuating circumstances in favor of the
+young rebel prisoner, and while the President seemed to be deeply
+pondering the young lady moved to a piano near by and taking a
+seat commenced to sing 'Gentle Annie,' a very sweet and pathetic
+ballad which, before the War, was a familiar song in almost every
+household in the Union, and is not yet entirely forgotten, for
+that matter.
+
+"It is to be presumed that the young lady sang the song with more
+plaintiveness and effect than 'Old Abe' had ever heard it in
+Springfield. During its rendition, he arose from his seat,
+crossed the room to a window in the westward, through which he
+gazed for several minutes with a 'sad, far-away look,' which has
+so often been noted as one of his peculiarities.
+
+"His memory, no doubt, went back to the days of his humble life
+on the Sangamon, and with visions of Old Salem and its rustic
+people, who once gathered in his primitive store, came a picture
+of the 'Gentle Annie' of his youth, whose ashes had rested for
+many long years under the wild flowers and brambles of the old
+rural burying-ground, but whose spirit then, perhaps, guided him
+to the side of mercy.
+
+"Be that as it may, President Lincoln drew a large red silk
+handkerchief from his coatpocket, with which he wiped his face
+vigorously. Then he turned, advanced quickly to his desk, wrote a
+brief note, which he handed to the lady, and informed her that it
+was the pardon she sought.
+
+"The scene was no doubt touching in a great degree and proves
+that a nice song, well sung, has often a powerful influence in
+recalling tender recollections. It proves, also, that Abraham
+Lincoln was a man of fine feelings, and that, if the occurrence
+was a put-up job on the lady's part, it accomplished the purpose
+all the same."
+
+
+A "FREE FOR ALL."
+
+Lincoln made a political speech at Pappsville, Illinois, when a
+candidate for the Legislature the first time. A free-for-all
+fight began soon after the opening of the meeting, and Lincoln,
+noticing one of his friends about to succumb to the energetic
+attack of an infuriated ruffian, edged his way through the crowd,
+and, seizing the bully by the neck and the seat of his trousers,
+threw him, by means of his strength and long arms, as one witness
+stoutly insists, "twelve feet away." Returning to the stand, and
+throwing aside his hat, he inaugurated his campaign with the
+following brief but pertinent declaration
+
+"Fellow-citizens, I presume you all know who I am. I am humble
+Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by many friends to become
+a candidate for the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet,
+like the old woman's dance. I am in favor of the national bank; I
+am in favor of the internal improvement system and a high
+protective tariff. These are my sentiments; if elected, I shall
+be thankful; if not, it will be all the same."
+
+
+THREE INFERNAL BORES.
+
+One day, when President Lincoln was alone and busily engaged on
+an important subject, involving vexation and anxiety, he was
+disturbed by the unwarranted intrusion of three men, who, without
+apology, proceeded to lay their claim before him.
+
+The spokesman of the three reminded the President that they were
+the owners of some torpedo or other warlike invention which, if
+the government would only adopt it, would soon crush the
+rebellion.
+
+"Now," said the spokesman, "we have been here to see you time and
+again; you have referred us to the Secretary of War, the Chief of
+Ordnance, and the General of the Army, and they give us no
+satisfaction. We have been kept here waiting, till money and
+patience are exhausted, and we now come to demand of you a final
+reply to our application."
+
+Mr. Lincoln listened to this insolent tirade, and at its close
+the old twinkle came into his eye.
+
+"You three gentlemen remind me of a story I once heard," said he,
+"of a poor little boy out West who had lost his mother. His
+father wanted to give him a religious education, and so placed
+him in the family of a clergyman, whom he directed to instruct
+the little fellow carefully in the Scriptures. Every day the boy
+had to commit to memory and recite one chapter of the Bible.
+Things proceeded smoothly until they reached that chapter which
+details the story of the trial of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
+in the fiery furnace. When asked to repeat these three names the
+boy said he had forgotten them.
+
+"His teacher told him that he must learn them, and gave him
+another day to do so. The next day the boy again forgot them.
+
+"'Now,' said the teacher, 'you have again failed to remember
+those names and you can go no farther until you have learned
+them. I will give you another day on this lesson, and if you
+don't repeat the names I will punish you.'
+
+"A third time the boy came to recite, and got down to the
+stumbling block, when the clergyman said: 'Now tell me the names
+of the men in the fiery furnace.'
+
+"'Oh,' said the boy, 'here come those three infernal bores! I
+wish the devil had them!'"
+
+Having received their "final answer," the three patriots retired,
+and at the Cabinet meeting which followed, the President, in high
+good humor, related how he had dismissed his unwelcome visitors.
+
+
+LINCOLN'S MEN WERE "HUSTLERS."
+
+In the Chicago Convention of 1860 the fight for Seward was
+maintained with desperate resolve until the final ballot was
+taken. Thurlow Weed was the Seward leader, and he was simply
+incomparable as a master in handling a convention. With him were
+Governor Morgan, Henry J. Raymond, of the New York Times, with
+William M. Evarts as chairman of the New York delegation, whose
+speech nominating Seward was the most impressive utterance of his
+life. The Bates men (Bates was afterwards Lincoln's
+Attorney-General) were led by Frank Blair, the only Republican
+Congressman from a slave State, who was nothing if not heroic,
+aided by his brother Montgomery (afterwards Lincoln's Postmaster
+General), who was a politician of uncommon cunning. With them was
+Horace Greeley, who was chairman of the delegation from the then
+almost inaccessible State of Oregon.
+
+It was Lincoln's friends, however, who were the "hustlers" of
+that battle. They had men for sober counsel like David Davis; men
+of supreme sagacity like Leonard Swett; men of tireless effort
+like Norman B. Judd; and they had what was more important than
+all--a seething multitude wild with enthusiasm for "Old Abe."
+
+
+A SLOW HORSE.
+
+On one occasion when Mr. Lincoln was going to attend a political
+convention one of his rivals, a liveryman, provided him with a
+slow horse, hoping that he would not reach his destination in
+time. Mr. Lincoln got there, however, and when he returned with
+the horse he said: "You keep this horse for funerals, don't you?"
+"Oh, no," replied the liveryman. "Well, I'm glad of that, for if
+you did you'd never get a corpse to the grave in time for the
+resurrection."
+
+
+DODGING "BROWSING PRESIDENTS."
+
+General McClellan, after being put in command of the Army,
+resented any "interference" by the President. Lincoln, in his
+anxiety to know the details of the work in the army, went
+frequently to McClellan's headquarters. That the President had a
+serious purpose in these visits McClellan did not see.
+
+"I enclose a card just received from 'A. Lincoln,'" he wrote to
+his wife one day; "it shows too much deference to be seen
+outside."
+
+In another letter to Mrs. McClellan he spoke of being
+"interrupted" by the President and Secretary Seward, "who had
+nothing in particular to say," and again of concealing himself
+"to dodge all enemies in shape of 'browsing' Presidents," etc.
+
+"I am becoming daily more disgusted with this Administration--
+perfectly sick of it," he wrote early in October; and a few days
+later, "I was obliged to attend a meeting of the Cabinet at 8 P.
+M., and was bored and annoyed. There are some of the greatest
+geese in the Cabinet I have ever seen--enough to tax the patience
+of Job."
+
+
+A GREENBACK LEGEND.
+
+At a Cabinet meeting once, the advisability of putting a legend
+on
+greenbacks similar to the In God We Trust legend on the silver
+coins was discussed, and the President was asked what his view
+was. He replied: "If you are going to put a legend on the
+greenback, I would suggest that of Peter and Paul: 'Silver and
+gold we have not, but what we have we'll give you.'"
+
+
+GOD'S BEST GIFT TO MAN.
+
+One of Mr. Lincoln's notable religious utterances was his reply
+to a deputation of colored people at Baltimore who presented him
+a Bible. He said:
+
+"In regard to the great book, I have only to say it is the best
+gift which God has ever given man. All the good from the Savior
+of the world is communicated to us through this book. But for
+this book we could not know right from wrong. All those things
+desirable to man are contained in it."
+
+
+SCALPING IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
+
+When Lincoln was President he told this story of the Black Hawk
+War:
+
+The only time he ever saw blood in this campaign, was one morning
+when, marching up a little valley that makes into the Rock River
+bottom, to reinforce a squad of outposts that were thought to be
+in danger, they came upon the tent occupied by the other party
+just at sunrise. The men had neglected to place any guard at
+night, and had been slaughtered in their sleep.
+
+As the reinforcing party came up the slope on which the camp had
+been made, Lincoln saw them all lying with their heads towards
+the rising sun, and the round red spot that marked where they had
+been scalped gleamed more redly yet in the ruddy light of the
+sun. This scene years afterwards he recalled with a shudder.
+
+
+MATRIMONIAL ADVICE.
+
+For a while during the Civil War, General Fremont was without a
+command. One day in discussing Fremont's case with George W.
+Julian, President Lincoln said he did not know where to place
+him, and that it reminds him of the old man who advised his son
+to take a wife, to which the young man responded: "All right;
+whose wife shall I take?"
+
+
+OWED LOTS OF MONEY.
+
+On April 14, 1865, a few hours previous to his assassination,
+President Lincoln sent a message by Congressman Schuyler Colfax,
+Vice-President during General Grant's first term, to the miners
+in the Rocky Mountains and the regions bounded by the Pacific
+ocean, in which he said:
+
+"Now that the Rebellion is overthrown, and we know pretty nearly
+the amount of our National debt, the more gold and silver we
+mine,
+we make the payment of that debt so much easier.
+
+"Now I am going to encourage that in every possible way. We shall
+have hundreds of thousands of disbanded soldiers, and many have
+feared that their return home in such great numbers might
+paralyze industry by furnishing, suddenly, a greater supply of
+labor than there will be demand for. I am going to try to attract
+them to the hidden wealth of our mountain ranges, where there is
+room enough for all. Immigration, which even the War has not
+stopped, will land upon our shores hundreds of thousands more per
+year from overcrowded Europe. I intend to point them to the gold
+and silver that wait for them in the West.
+
+"Tell the miners for me that I shall promote their interests to
+the utmost of my ability; because their prosperity as the
+prosperity of the nation; and," said he, his eye kindling with
+enthusiasm, "we shall prove, in a very few years, that we are
+indeed the treasury of the world."
+
+
+"ON THE LORD'S SIDE."
+
+President Lincoln made a significant remark to a clergyman in the
+early days of the War.
+
+"Let us have faith, Mr. President," said the minister, "that the
+Lord is on our side in this great struggle."
+
+Mr. Lincoln quietly answered: "I am not at all concerned about
+that, for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the
+right; but it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this
+nation may be on the Lord's side."
+
+
+WANTED TO BE NEAR "ABE."
+
+It was Lincoln's custom to hold an informal reception once a
+week, each caller taking his turn.
+
+Upon one of these eventful days an old friend from Illinois stood
+in line for almost an hour. At last he was so near the President
+his voice could reach him, and, calling out to his old associate,
+he startled every one by exclaiming, "Hallo, 'Abe'; how are ye?
+I'm in line and hev come for an orfice, too."
+
+Lincoln singled out the man with the stentorian voice, and
+recognizing
+
+"a particularly old friend, one whose wife had befriended him at
+a peculiarly trying time, the President responded to his greeting
+in a cordial manner, and told him "to hang onto himself and not
+kick the traces. Keep in line and you'll soon get here."
+
+They met and shook hands with the old fervor and renewed their
+friendship.
+
+The informal reception over, Lincoln sent for his old friend, and
+the latter began to urge his claims.
+
+After having given him some good advice, Lincoln kindly told him
+he was incapable of holding any such position as he asked for.
+The disappointment of the Illinois friend was plainly shown, and
+with a perceptible tremor in his voice he said, "Martha's dead,
+the gal is married, and I've guv Jim the forty."
+
+Then looking at Lincoln he came a little nearer and almost
+whispered, "I knowed I wasn't eddicated enough to git the place,
+but I kinder want to stay where I ken see 'Abe' Lincoln."
+
+He was given employment in the White House grounds.
+
+Afterwards the President said, "These brief interviews, stripped
+of even the semblance of ceremony, give me a better insight into
+the real character of the person and his true reason for seeking
+one."
+
+
+GOT HIS FOOT IN IT.
+
+William H. Seward, idol of the Republicans of the East, six
+months after Lincoln had made his "Divided House" speech,
+delivered an address at Rochester, New York, containing this
+famous sentence:
+
+"It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring
+forces, and it means that the United States must, and will,
+sooner or later, become either entirely a slave-holding nation,
+or entirely a free-labor nation."
+
+Seward, who had simply followed in Lincoln's steps, was defeated
+for the Presidential nomination at the Republican National
+Convention of 1860, because he was "too radical," and Lincoln,
+who was still "radicaler," was named.
+
+
+SAVED BY A LETTER.
+
+The chief interest of the Illinois campaign of 1843 lay in the
+race for Congress in the Capital district, which was between
+Hardin--fiery, eloquent, and impetuous Democrat--and Lincoln--
+plain, practical, and ennobled Whig. The world knows the result.
+Lincoln was elected.
+
+It is not so much his election as the manner in which he secured
+his nomination with which we have to deal. Before that
+ever-memorable spring Lincoln vacillated between the courts of
+Springfield, rated as a plain, honest, logical Whig, with no
+ambition higher politically than to occupy some good home office.
+
+Late in the fall of 1842 his name began to be mentioned in
+connection with Congressional aspirations, which fact greatly
+annoyed the leaders of his political party, who had already
+selected as the Whig candidate E. D. Baker, afterward the gallant
+Colonel who fell so bravely and died such an honorable death on
+the battlefield of Ball's Bluff.
+
+Despite all efforts of his opponents within his party, the name
+of the "gaunt railsplitter" was hailed with acclaim by the
+masses, to whom he had endeared himself by his witticisms, honest
+tongue, and quaint philosophy when on the stump, or mingling with
+them in their homes.
+
+The convention, which met in early spring, in the city of
+Springfield, was to be composed of the usual number of delegates.
+The contest for the nomination was spirited and exciting.
+
+A few weeks before the meeting of the convention the fact was
+found by the leaders that the advantage lay with Lincoln, and
+that unless they pulled some very fine wires nothing could save
+Baker.
+
+They attempted to play the game that has so often won, by
+"convincing" delegates under instructions for Lincoln to violate
+them, and vote for Baker. They had apparently succeeded.
+
+"The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley." So it was
+in this case. Two days before the convention Lincoln received an
+intimation of this, and, late at night, wrote the following
+letter.
+
+The letter was addressed to Martin Morris, who resided at
+Petersburg, an intimate friend of his, and by him circulated
+among those who were instructed for him at the county convention.
+
+It had the desired effect. The convention met, the scheme of the
+conspirators miscarried, Lincoln was nominated, made a vigorous
+canvass, and was triumphantly elected, thus paving the way for
+his more extended and brilliant conquests.
+
+This letter, Lincoln had often told his friends, gave him
+ultimately the Chief Magistracy of the nation. He has also said,
+that, had he been beaten before the convention, he would have
+been forever obscured. The following is a verbatim copy of the
+epistle
+
+"April 14, 1843.
+
+"Friend Morris: I have heard it intimated that Baker is trying to
+get you or Miles, or both of you, to violate the instructions of
+the meeting that appointed you, and to go for him. I have
+insisted, and still insist, that this cannot be true.
+
+"Sure Baker would not do the like. As well might Hardin ask me to
+vote for him in the convention.
+
+"Again, it is said there will be an attempt to get instructions
+in your county requiring you to go for Baker. This is all wrong.
+Upon the same rule, why might I not fly from the decision against
+me at Sangamon and get up instructions to their delegates to go
+for me. There are at least 1,200 Whigs in the county that took no
+part, and yet I would as soon stick my head in the fire as
+attempt it.
+
+"Besides, if any one should get the nomination by such
+extraordinary means, all harmony in the district would inevitably
+be lost. Honest Whigs (and very nearly all of them are honest)
+would not quietly abide such enormities.
+
+"I repeat, such an attempt on Baker's part cannot be true. Write
+me at Springfield how the matter is. Don't show or speak of this
+letter.
+
+"A. LINCOLN."
+
+
+Mr. Morris did show the letter, and Mr. Lincoln always thanked
+his stars that he did.
+
+
+HIS FAVORITE POEM.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's favorite poem was "Oh! Why Should the Spirit of
+Mortal Be Proud?" written by William Knox, a Scotchman, although
+Mr. Lincoln never knew the author's name. He once said to a
+friend:
+
+"This poem has been a great favorite with me for years. It was
+first shown to me, when a young man, by a friend. I afterward saw
+it and cut it from a newspaper and learned it by heart. I would
+give a great deal to know who wrote it, but I have never been
+able to ascertain."
+
+"Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?--
+Like a swift-fleeing meteor, a fastflying cloud,
+A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
+He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
+
+"The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
+Be scattered around, and together be laid;
+And the young and the old, and the low and the high,
+Shall moulder to dust, and together shall lie.
+
+"The infant a mother attended and loved;
+The mother, that infant's affection who proved,
+The husband, that mother and infant who blessed--
+Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest.
+
+"The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,
+Shone beauty and pleasure--her triumphs are by;
+And the memory of those who loved her and praised,
+Are alike from the minds of the living erased.
+
+"The hand of the king, that the sceptre hath borne,
+The brow of the priest, that the mitre hath worn,
+The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave,
+Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave.
+
+"The peasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap,
+The herdsman, who climbed with his goats up the steep;
+The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread,
+Have faded away like the grass that we tread.
+
+"The saint, who enjoyed the communion of heaven,
+The sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven;
+The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,
+Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.
+
+"So the multitude goes--like the flower or the weed
+That withers away to let others succeed;
+So the multitude comes--even those we behold,
+To repeat every tale that has often been told:
+
+"For we are the same our fathers have been;
+We see the same sights our fathers have seen;
+We drink the same stream, we view the same sun,
+And run the same course our fathers have run.
+
+"The thoughts we are thinking, our fathers would think;
+>From the death we are shrinking, our fathers would shrink;
+To the life we are clinging, they also would cling--
+But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing.
+
+"They loved--but the story we cannot unfold;
+They scorned--but the heart of the haughty is cold;
+They grieved--but no wail from their slumber will come;
+They joyed--but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.
+
+"They died--aye, they died--and we things that are now,
+That walk on the turf that lies o'er their brow,
+And make in their dwellings a transient abode,
+Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.
+
+"Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,
+Are mingled together in sunshine and rain;
+And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge,
+Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.
+
+"'Tis the wink of an eye,--'tis the draught of a breath;--
+>From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
+>From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud:--
+Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"
+
+
+FIVE-LEGGED CALF.
+
+President Lincoln had great doubt as to his right to emancipate
+the slaves under the War power. In discussing the question, he
+used to like the case to that of the boy who, when asked how many
+legs his calf would have if he called its tail a leg, replied,
+"five," to which the prompt response was made that calling the
+tail a leg would not make it a leg.
+
+
+A STAGE-COACH STORY.
+
+The following is told by Thomas H. Nelson, of Terre Haute,
+Indiana, who was appointed minister to Chili by Lincoln:
+
+Judge Abram Hammond, afterwards Governor of Indiana, and myself
+arranged to go from Terre Haute to Indianapolis in a stage-coach.
+
+As we stepped in we discovered that the entire back seat was
+occupied by a long, lank individual, whose head seemd to protrude
+from one end of the coach and his feet from the other. He was the
+sole occupant, and was sleeping soundly. Hammond slapped him
+familiarly on the shoulder, and asked him if he had chartered the
+coach that day.
+
+"Certainly not," and he at once took the front seat, politely
+giving us the place of honor and comfort. An odd-looking fellow
+he was, with a twenty-five cent hat, without vest or cravat.
+Regarding him as a good subject for merriment, we perpetrated
+several jokes.
+
+He took them all with utmost innocence and good nature, and
+joined in the laugh, although at his own expense.
+
+After an astounding display of wordy pyrotechnics, the dazed and
+bewildered stranger asked, "What will be the upshot of this comet
+business?"
+
+Late in the evening we reached Indianapolis, and hurried to
+Browning's hotel, losing sight of the stranger altogether.
+
+We retired to our room to brush our clothes. In a few minutes I
+descended to the portico, and there descried our long, gloomy
+fellow traveler in the center of an admiring group of lawyers,
+among whom were Judges McLean and Huntington, Albert S. White,
+and Richard W. Thompson, who seemed to be amused and interested
+in a story he was telling. I inquired of Browning, the landlord,
+who he was. "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, a member of Congress,"
+was his response.
+
+I was thunderstruck at the announcement. I hastened upstairs and
+told Hammond the startling news, and together we emerged from the
+hotel by a back door, and went down an alley to another house,
+thus avoiding further contact with our distinguished fellow
+traveler.
+
+Years afterward, when the President-elect was on his way to
+Washington, I was in the same hotel looking over the
+distinguished party, when a long arm reached to my shoulder, and
+a shrill voice exclaimed, "Hello, Nelson! do you think, after
+all, the whole world is going to follow the darned thing off?"
+The words were my own in answer to his question in the
+stage-coach. The speaker was Abraham Lincoln.
+
+
+THE "400" GATHERED THERE.
+
+Lincoln had periods while "clerking" in the New Salem grocery
+store during which there was nothing for him to do, and was
+therefore in circumstances that made laziness almost inevitable.
+Had people come to him for goods, they would have found him
+willing to sell them. He sold all that he could, doubtless.
+
+The store soon became the social center of the village. If the
+people did not care (or were unable) to buy goods, they liked to
+go where they could talk with their neighbors and listen to
+stories. These Lincoln gave them in abundance, and of a rare
+sort.
+
+It was in these gatherings of the "Four Hundred" at the village
+store that Lincoln got his training as a debater. Public
+questions were discussed there daily and nightly, and Lincoln
+always took a prominent part in the discussions. Many of the
+debaters came to consider "Abe Linkin" as about the smartest man
+in the village.
+
+
+ONLY LEVEL-HEADED MEN WANTED.
+
+Lincoln wanted men of level heads for important commands. Not
+infrequently he gave his generals advice.
+
+He appreciated Hooker's bravery, dash and activity, but was
+fearful of the results of what he denominated "swashing around."
+
+This was one of his telegrams to Hooker:
+
+"And now, beware of rashness; beware of rashness, but, with
+energy and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us
+victories."
+
+
+HIS FAITH IN THE MONITOR.
+
+When the Confederate iron-clad Merrimac was sent against the
+Union vessels in Hampton Roads President Lincoln expressed his
+belief in the Monitor to Captain Fox, the adviser of Captain
+Ericsson, who constructed the Monitor. "We have three of the most
+effective vessels in Hampton Roads, and any number of small craft
+that will hang on the stern of the Merrimac like small dogs on
+the haunches of a bear. They may not be able to tear her down,
+but they will interfere with the comfort of her voyage. Her trial
+trip will not be a pleasure trip, I am certain.
+
+"We have had a big share of bad luck already, but I do not
+believe the future has any such misfortunes in store for us as
+you anticipate." Said Captain Fox: "If the Merrimac does not sink
+our ships, who is to prevent her from dropping her anchor in the
+Potomac, where that steamer lies," pointing to a steamer at
+anchor below the long bridge, "and throwing her hundred-pound
+shells into this room, or battering down the walls of the
+Capitol?"
+
+"The Almighty, Captain," answered the President, excitedly, but
+without the least affectation. "I expect set-backs, defeats; we
+have had them and shall have them. They are common to all wars.
+But I have not the slightest fear of any result which shall
+fatally impair our military and naval strength, or give other
+powers any right to interfere in our quarrel. The destruction of
+the Capitol would do both.
+
+"I do not fear it, for this is God's fight, and He will win it in
+His own good time. He will take care that our enemies will not
+push us too far,
+
+"Speaking of iron-clads," said the President, "you do not seem to
+take the little Monitor into account. I believe in the Monitor
+and her commander. If Captain Worden does not give a good account
+of the Monitor and of himself, I shall have made a mistake in
+following my judgment for the first time since I have been here,
+Captain.
+
+"I have not made a mistake in following my clear judgment of men
+since this War began. I followed that judgment when I gave Worden
+the command of the Monitor. I would make the appointment over
+again to-day. The Monitor should be in Hampton Roads now. She
+left New York eight days ago."
+
+After the captain had again presented what he considered the
+possibilities of failure the President replied, "No, no, Captain,
+I respect your judgments as you have reason to know, but this
+time you are all wrong.
+
+"The Monitor was one of my inspirations; I believed in her firmly
+when that energetic contractor first showed me Ericsson's plans.
+Captain Ericsson's plain but rather enthusiastic demonstration
+made my conversion permanent. It was called a floating battery
+then; I called it a raft. I caught some of the inventor's
+enthusiasm and it has been growing upon me. I thought then, and I
+am confident now, it is just what we want. I am sure that the
+Monitor is still afloat, and that she will yet give a good
+account of herself. Sometimes I think she may be the veritable
+sling with a stone that will yet smite the Merrimac Philistine in
+the forehead."
+
+Soon was the President's judgment verified, for the "Fight of the
+Monitor and Merrimac" changed all the conditions of naval
+warfare.
+
+After the victory was gained, the presiding Captain Fox and
+others went on board the Monitor, and Captain Worden was
+requested by the President to narrate the history of the
+encounter.
+
+Captain Worden did so in a modest manner, and apologized for not
+being able better to provide for his guests. The President
+smilingly responded "Some charitable people say that old Bourbon
+is an indispensable element in the fighting qualities of some of
+our generals in the field, but, Captain, after the account that
+we have heard to-day, no one will say that any Dutch courage is
+needed on board the Monitor."
+
+"It never has been, sir," modestly observed the captain.
+
+Captain Fox then gave a description of what he saw of the
+engagement and described it as indescribably grand. Then, turning
+to the President, he continued, "Now standing here on the deck of
+this battle-scarred vessel, the first genuine iron-clad--the
+victor in the first fight of iron-clads--let me make a
+confession, and perform an act of simple justice.
+
+"I never fully believed in armored vessels until I saw this
+battle.
+
+"I know all the facts which united to give us the Monitor. I
+withhold no credit from Captain Ericsson, her inventor, but I
+know that the country is principally indebted for the
+construction of the vessel to President Lincoln, and for the
+success of her trial to Captain Worden, her commander."
+
+
+HER ONLY IMPERFECTION.
+
+At one time a certain Major Hill charged Lincoln with making
+defamatory remarks regarding Mrs. Hill.
+
+Hill was insulting in his language to Lincoln who never lost his
+temper.
+
+When he saw his chance to edge a word in, Lincoln denied
+emphatically using the language or anything like that attributed
+to him.
+
+He entertained, he insisted, a high regard for Mrs. Hill, and the
+only thing he knew to her discredit was the fact that she was
+Major Hill's wife.
+
+
+THE OLD LADY'S PROPHECY.
+
+Among those who called to congratulate Mr. Lincoln upon his
+nomination for President was an old lady, very plainly dressed.
+She knew Mr. Lincoln, but Mr. Lincoln did not at first recognize
+her. Then she undertook to recall to his memory certain incidents
+connected with his ride upon the circuit--especially his dining
+at her house upon the road at different times. Then he remembered
+her and her home.
+
+Having fixed her own place in his recollection, she tried to
+recall to him a certain scanty dinner of bread and milk that he
+once ate at her house. He could not remember it--on the contrary,
+he only remembered that he had always fared well at her house.
+
+"Well," she said, "one day you came along after we had got
+through dinner, and we had eaten up everything, and I could give
+you nothing but a bowl of bread and milk, and you ate it; and
+when you got up you said it was good enough for the President of
+the United States!"
+
+The good woman had come in from the country, making a journey of
+eight or ten miles, to relate to Mr. Lincoln this incident,
+which, in her mind, had doubtless taken the form of a prophecy.
+Mr. Lincoln placed the honest creature at her ease, chatted with
+her of old times, and dismissed her in the most happy frame of
+mind.
+
+
+HOW THE TOWN OF LINCOLN, ILL., WAS NAMED.
+
+The story of naming the town of Lincoln, the county seat of Logan
+county, Illinois, is thus given on good authority:
+
+The first railroad had been built through the county, and a
+station was about to be located there. Lincoln, Virgil Hitchcock,
+Colonel R. B. Latham and several others were sitting on a pile of
+ties and talking about moving a county seat from Mount Pulaski.
+Mr. Lincoln rose and started to walk away, when Colonel Latham
+said: "Lincoln, if you will help us to get the county seat here,
+we will call the place Lincoln."
+
+"All right, Latham," he replied.
+
+Colonel Latham then deeded him a lot on the west side of the
+courthouse, and he owned it at the time he was elected President.
+
+
+"OLD JEFF'S" BIG NIGHTMARE.
+
+"Jeff" Davis had a large and threatening nightmare in November,
+1864, and what he saw in his troubled dreams was the long and
+lanky figure of Abraham Lincoln, who had just been endorsed by
+the people of the United States for another term in the White
+House at Washington. The cartoon reproduced here is from the
+issue of "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" of December 3rd,
+1864, it being entitled "Jeff Davis' November Nightmare."
+
+Davis had been told that McClellan, "the War is a failure"
+candidate for the Presidency, would have no difficulty whatever
+in defeating Lincoln; that negotiations with the Confederate
+officials for the cessation of hostilities would be entered into
+as soon as McClellan was seated in the Chief Executive's chair;
+that the Confederacy would, in all probability, be recognized as
+an independent government by the Washington Administration; that
+the "sacred institution" of slavery would continue to do business
+at the old stand; that the Confederacy would be one of the great
+nations of the world, and have all the "State Rights" and other
+things it wanted, with absolutely no interference whatever upon
+the part of the North.
+
+Therefore, Lincoln's re-election was a rough, rude shock to
+Davis, who had not prepared himself for such an event. Six months
+from the date of that nightmare-dream he was a prisoner in the
+hands of the Union forces, and the Confederacy was a thing of the
+past.
+
+
+LINCOLN'S LAST OFFICIAL ACT.
+
+Probably the last official act of President Lincoln's life was
+the signing of the commission reappointing Alvin Saunders
+Governor of Nebraska.
+
+"I saw Mr. Lincoln regarding the matter," said Governor Saunders,
+"and he told me to go home; that he would attend to it all right.
+I left Washington on the morning of the 14th, and while en route
+the news of the assassination on the evening of the same day
+reached me. I immediately wired back to find out what had become
+of my commission, and was told that the room had not been opened.
+When it was opened, the document was found lying on the desk.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln signed it just before leaving for the theater that
+fatal evening, and left it lying there, unfolded.
+
+"A note was found below the document as follows: 'Rather a
+lengthy commission, bestowing upon Mr. Alvin Saunders the
+official authority of Governor of the Territory of Nebraska.'
+Then came Lincoln's signature, which, with one exception, that of
+a penciled message on the back of a card sent up by a friend as
+Mr. Lincoln was dressing for the theater, was the very last
+signature of the martyred President."
+
+THE LAD NEEDED THE SLEEP.
+
+A personal friend of President Lincoln is authority for this:
+
+"I called on him one day in the early part of the War. He had
+just written a pardon for a young man who had been sentenced to
+be shot for sleeping at his post. He remarked as he read it to
+me:
+
+"'I could not think of going into eternity with the blood of the
+poor young man on my skirts.' Then he added:
+
+"'It is not to be wondered at that a boy, raised on a farm,
+probably in the habit of going to bed at dark, should, when
+required to watch, fall asleep; and I cannot consent to shoot him
+for such an act.'"
+
+
+"MASSA LINKUM LIKE DE LORD!"
+
+By the Act of Emancipation President Lincoln built for himself
+forever the first place in the affections of the African race in
+this country. The love and reverence manifested for him by many
+of these people has, on some occasions, almost reached adoration.
+One day Colonel McKaye, of New York, who had been one of a
+committee to investigate the condition of the freedmen, upon his
+return from Hilton Head and Beaufort called upon the President,
+and in the course of the interview said that up to the time of
+the arrival among them in the South of the Union forces they had
+no knowledge of any other power. Their masters fled upon the
+approach of our soldiers, and this gave the slaves the conception
+of a power greater than their masters exercised. This power they
+called "Massa Linkum."
+
+Colonel McKaye said their place of worship was a large building
+they called "the praise house," and the leader of the "meeting,"
+a venerable black man, was known as "the praise man."
+
+On a certain day, when there was quite a large gathering of the
+people, considerable confusion was created by different persons
+attempting to tell who and what "Massa Linkum" was. In the midst
+of the excitement the white-headed leader commanded silence.
+"Brederen," said he, "you don't know nosen' what you'se talkin'
+'bout. Now, you just listen to me. Massa Linkum, he ebery whar.
+He know ebery ting."
+
+Then, solemnly looking up, he added: "He walk de earf like de
+Lord!"
+
+
+HOW LINCOLN TOOK THE NEWS.
+
+One of Lincoln's most dearly loved friends, United States Senator
+Edward D. Baker, of Oregon, Colonel of the Seventy-first
+Pennsylvania, a former townsman of Mr. Lincoln, was killed at the
+battle of Ball's Bluff, in October, 1861. The President went to
+General McClellan's headquarters to hear the news, and a friend
+thus described the effect it had upon him:
+
+"We could hear the click of the telegraph in the adjoining room
+and low conversation between the President and General McClellan,
+succeeded by silence, excepting the click, click of the
+instrument, which went on with its tale of disaster.
+
+"Five minutes passed, and then Mr. Lincoln, unattended, with
+bowed head and tears rolling down his furrowed cheeks, his face
+pale and wan, his breast heaving with emotion, passed through the
+room. He almost fell as he stepped into the street. We sprang
+involuntarily from our seats to render assistance, but he did not
+fall.
+
+"With both hands pressed upon his heart, he walked down the
+street, not returning the salute of the sentinel pacing his beat
+before the door."
+
+
+PROFANITY AS A SAFETY-VALVE.
+
+Lincoln never indulged in profanity, but confessed that when Lee
+was beaten at Malvern Hill, after seven days of fighting, and
+Richmond, but twelve miles away, was at McClellan's mercy, he
+felt very much like swearing when he learned that the Union
+general had retired to Harrison's Landing.
+
+Lee was so confident his opponent would not go to Richmond that
+he took his army into Maryland--a move he would not have made had
+an energetic fighting man been in McClellan's place.
+
+It is true McClellan followed and defeated Lee in the bloodiest
+battle of the War--Antietam--afterwards following him into
+Virginia; but Lincoln could not bring himself to forgive the
+general's inaction before Richmond.
+
+
+WHY WE WON AT GETTYSBURG.
+
+President Lincoln said to General Sickles, just after the victory
+of Gettysburg: "The fact is, General, in the stress and pinch of
+the campaign there, I went to my room, and got down on my knees
+and prayed God Almighty for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him
+that this was His country, and the war was His war, but that we
+really couldn't stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville.
+And then and there I made a solemn vow with my Maker that if He
+would stand by you boys at Gettysburg I would stand by Him. And
+He did, and I will! And after this I felt that God Almighty had
+taken the whole thing into His hands."
+
+
+HAD TO WAIT FOR HIM.
+
+President Lincoln, having arranged to go to New York, was late
+for his train, much to the disgust of those who were to accompany
+him, and all were compelled to wait several hours until the next
+train steamed out of the station. President Lincoln was much
+amused at the dissatisfaction displayed, and then ventured the
+remark that the situation reminded him of "a little story." Said
+he:
+
+"Out in Illinois, a convict who had murdered his cellmate was
+sentenced to be hanged. On the day set for the execution, crowds
+lined the roads leading to the spot where the scaffold had been
+erected, and there was much jostling and excitement. The
+condemned man took matters coolly, and as one batch of
+perspiring, anxious men rushed past the cart in which he was
+riding, he called out, 'Don't be in a hurry, boys. You've got
+plenty of time. There won't be any fun until I get there.'
+
+"That's the condition of things now," concluded the President;
+"there won't be any fun at New York until I get there."
+
+
+PRESIDENT AND CABINET JOINED IN PRAYER.
+
+On the day the news of General Lee's surrender at Appomattox
+Court-House was received, so an intimate friend of President
+Lincoln relates, the Cabinet meeting was held an hour earlier
+than usual. Neither the President nor any member of the Cabinet
+was able, for a time, to give utterance to his feelings. At the
+suggestion of Mr. Lincoln all dropped on their knees, and
+offered, in silence and in tears, their humble and heartfelt
+acknowledgments to the Almighty for the triumph He had granted to
+the National cause.
+
+
+BELIEVED HE WAS A CHRISTIAN.
+
+Mr. Lincoln was much impressed with the devotion and earnestness
+of purpose manifested by a certain lady of the "Christian
+Commission" during the War, and on one occasion, after she had
+discharged the object of her visit, said to her:
+
+"Madam, I have formed a high opinion of your Christian character,
+and now, as we are alone, I have a mind to ask you to give me in
+brief your idea of what constitutes a true religious experience."
+
+The lady replied at some length, stating that, in her judgment,
+it consisted of a conviction of one's own sinfulness and
+weakness, and a personal need of the Saviour for strength and
+support; that views of mere doctrine might and would differ, but
+when one was really brought to feel his need of divine help, and
+to seek the aid of the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance, it
+was satisfactory evidence of his having been born again. This was
+the substance of her reply.
+
+When she had, concluded Mr. Lincoln was very thoughtful for a few
+moments. He at length said, very earnestly: "If what you have
+told me is really a correct view of this great subject I think I
+can say with sincerity that I hope I am a Christian. I had
+lived," he continued, "until my boy Willie died without fully
+realizing these things. That blow overwhelmed me. It showed me my
+weakness as I had never felt it before, and if I can take what
+you have stated as a test I think I can safely say that I know
+something of that change of which you speak; and I will further
+add that it has been my intention for some time, at a suitable
+opportunity, to make a public religious profession."
+
+
+WITH THE HELP OF GOD.
+
+Mr. Lincoln once remarked to Mr. Noah Brooks, one of his most
+intimate personal friends: "I should be the most presumptuous
+blockhead upon this footstool if I for one day thought that I
+could discharge the duties which have come upon me, since I came
+to this place, without the aid and enlightenment of One who is
+stronger and wiser than all others."
+
+He said on another occasion: "I am very sure that if I do not go
+away from here a wiser man, I shall go away a better man, from
+having learned here what a very poor sort of a man I am."
+
+
+TURNED TEARS TO SMILES.
+
+One night Schuyler Colfax left all other business to go to the
+White House to ask the President to respite the son of a
+constituent, who was sentenced to be shot, at Davenport, for
+desertion. Mr. Lincoln heard the story with his usual patience,
+though he was wearied out with incessant calls, and anxious for
+rest, and then replied:
+
+"Some of our generals complain that I impair discipline and
+subordination in the army by my pardons and respites, but it
+makes me rested, after a hard day's work, if I can find some good
+excuse for saving a man's life, and I go to bed happy as I think
+how joyous the signing of my name will make him and his family
+and his friends."
+
+And with a happy smile beaming over that care-furrowed face, he
+signed that name that saved that life.
+
+
+LINCOLN'S LAST WRITTEN WORDS.
+
+As the President and Mrs. Lincoln were leaving the White House, a
+few minutes before eight o'clock, on the evening of April 14th,
+1865, Lincoln wrote this note:
+
+"Allow Mr. Ashmun and friend to come to see me at 9 o'clock a.
+m., to-morrow, April 15th, 1865."
+
+
+WOMEN PLEAD FOR PARDONS.
+
+One day during the War an attractively and handsomely dressed
+woman called on President Lincoln to procure the release from
+prison of a relation in whom she professed the deepest interest.
+
+She was a good talker, and her winning ways seemed to make a deep
+impression on the President. After listening to her story, he
+wrote a few words on a card: "This woman, dear Stanton, is a
+little smarter than she looks to be," enclosed it in an envelope
+and directed her to take it to the Secretary of War.
+
+On the same day another woman called, more humble in appearance,
+more plainly clad. It was the old story.
+
+Father and son both in the army, the former in prison. Could not
+the latter be discharged from the army and sent home to help his
+mother?
+
+A few strokes of the pen, a gentle nod of the head, and the
+little woman, her eyes filling with tears and expressing a
+grateful acknowledgment her tongue, could not utter, passed out.
+
+A lady so thankful for the release of her husband was in the act
+of kneeling in thankfulness. "Get up," he said, "don't kneel to
+me, but thank God and go."
+
+An old lady for the same reason came forward with tears in her
+eyes to express her gratitude. "Good-bye, Mr. Lincoln," said she;
+"I shall probably never see you again till we meet in heaven."
+She had the President's hand in hers, and he was deeply moved. He
+instantly took her right hand in both of his, and, following her
+to the door, said, "I am afraid with all my troubles I shall
+never get to the resting-place you speak of; but if I do, I am
+sure I shall find you. That you wish me to get there is, I
+believe, the best wish you could make for me. Good-bye."
+
+Then the President remarked to a friend, "It is more than many
+can often say, that in doing right one has made two people happy
+in one day. Speed, die when I may, I want it said of me by those
+who know me best, that I have always plucked a thistle and
+planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow."
+
+
+LINCOLN WISHED TO SEE RICHMOND.
+
+The President remarked to Admiral David D. Porter, while on board
+the flagship Malvern, on the James River, in front of Richmond,
+the day the city surrendered:
+
+"Thank God that I have lived to see this!
+
+"It seems to me that I have been dreaming a horrid dream for four
+years, and now the nightmare is gone.
+
+"I wish to see Richmond."
+
+
+SPOKEN LIKE A CHRISTIAN.
+
+Frederick Douglass told, in these words, of his first interview
+with President Lincoln:
+
+"I approached him with trepidation as to how this great man might
+receive me; but one word and look from him banished all my fears
+and set me perfectly at ease. I have often said since that
+meeting that it was much easier to see and converse with a great
+man than it was with a small man.
+
+"On that occasion he said:
+
+"'Douglass, you need not tell me who you are. Mr. Seward has
+told me all about you.'
+
+"I then saw that there was no reason to tell him my personal
+story, however interesting it might be to myself or others, so I
+told him at once the object of my visit. It was to get some
+expression from him upon three points:
+
+"1. Equal pay to colored soldiers.
+
+"2. Their promotion when they had earned it on the battle-field.
+
+"3. Should they be taken prisoners and enslaved or hanged, as
+Jefferson Davis had threatened, an equal number of Confederate
+prisoners should be executed within our lines.
+
+"A declaration to that effect I thought would prevent the
+execution of the rebel threat. To all but the last, President
+Lincoln assented. He argued, however, that neither equal pay nor
+promotion could be granted at once. He said that in view of
+existing prejudices it was a great step forward to employ colored
+troops at all; that it was necessary to avoid everything that
+would offend this prejudice and increase opposition to the
+measure.
+
+"He detailed the steps by which white soldiers were reconciled to
+the employment of colored troops; how these were first employed
+as laborers; how it was thought they should not be armed or
+uniformed like white soldiers; how they should only be made to
+wear a peculiar uniform; how they should be employed to hold
+forts and arsenals in sickly locations, and not enter the field
+like other soldiers.
+
+"With all these restrictions and limitations he easily made me
+see that much would be gained when the colored man loomed before
+the country as a full-fledged United States soldier to fight,
+flourish or fall in defense of the united republic. The great
+soul of Lincoln halted only when he came to the point of
+retaliation.
+
+"The thought of hanging men in cold blood, even though the rebels
+should murder a few of the colored prisoners, was a horror from
+which he shrank.
+
+"'Oh, Douglass! I cannot do that. If I could get hold of the
+actual murderers of colored prisoners I would retaliate; but to
+hang those who have no hand in such murders, I cannot.'
+
+"The contemplation of such an act brought to his countenance such
+an expression of sadness and pity that it made it hard for me to
+press my point, though I told him it would tend to save rather
+than destroy life. He, however, insisted that this work of blood,
+once begun, would be hard to stop--that such violence would beget
+violence. He argued more like a disciple of Christ than a
+commander-in-chief of the army and navy of a warlike nation
+already involved in a terrible war.
+
+"How sad and strange the fate of this great and good man, the
+saviour of his country, the embodiment of human charity, whose
+heart, though strong, was as tender as a heart of childhood; who
+always tempered justice with mercy; who sought to supplant the
+sword with counsel of reason, to suppress passion by kindness and
+moderation; who had a sigh for every human grief and a tear for
+every human woe, should at last perish by the hand of a desperate
+assassin, against whom no thought of malice had ever entered his
+heart!"
+
+
+"LINCOLN GOES IN WHEN THE QUAKERS ARE OUT"
+
+One of the campaign songs of 1860 which will never be forgotten
+was Whittier's "The Quakers Are Out:--"
+
+"Give the flags to the winds!
+  Set the hills all aflame!
+Make way for the man with
+  The Patriarch's name!
+Away with misgivings--away
+  With all doubt,
+For Lincoln goes in when the
+  Quakers are out!"
+
+Speaking of this song (with which he was greatly pleased) one day
+at the White House, the President said: "It reminds me of a
+little story I heard years ago out in Illinois. A political
+campaign was on, and the atmosphere was kept at a high
+temperature. Several fights had already occurred, many men having
+been seriously hurt, and the prospects were that the result would
+be close. One of the candidates was a professional politician
+with a huge wart on his nose, this disfigurement having earned
+for him the nickname of 'Warty.' His opponent was a young lawyer
+who wore 'biled' shirts, 'was shaved by a barber, and had his
+clothes made to fit him.
+
+"Now, 'Warty' was of Quaker stock, and around election time made
+a great parade of the fact. When there were no campaigns in
+progress he was anything but Quakerish in his language or
+actions. The young lawyer didn't know what the inside of a
+meeting house looked like.
+
+"Well, the night before election-day the two candidates came
+together at a joint debate, both being on the speakers' platform.
+The young lawyer had to speak after 'Warty,' and his reputation
+suffered at the hands of the Quaker, who told the many Friends
+present what a wicked fellow the young man was--never went to
+church, swore, drank, smoked and gambled.
+
+"After 'Warty' had finished the other arose and faced the
+audience. 'I'm not a good man,' said he, 'and what my opponent
+has said about me is true enough, but I'm always the same. I
+don't profess religion when I run for office, and then turn
+around and associate with bad people when the campaign's over.
+I'm no hypocrite. I don't sing many psalms. Neither does my
+opponent; and, talking about singing, I'd just like to hear my
+friend who is running against me sing the song--for the benefit
+of this audience--I heard him sing the night after he was
+nominated. I yield the floor to him:
+
+"Of course 'Warty' refused, his Quaker supporters grew
+suspicious, and when they turned out at the polls the following
+day they voted for the wicked young lawyer.
+
+"So, it's true that when 'the Quakers are out' the man they
+support is apt to go in."
+
+
+HAD CONFIDENCE IN HIM--"BUT--."
+
+"General Blank asks for more men," said Secretary of War Stanton
+to the President one day, showing the latter a telegram from the
+commander named appealing for re-enforcements.
+
+"I guess he's killed off enough men, hasn't he?" queried the
+President.
+
+"I don't mean Confederates--our own men. What's the use in
+sending volunteers down to him if they're only used to fill
+graves?"
+
+"His dispatch seems to imply that, in his opinion, you have not
+the confidence in him he thinks he deserves," the War Secretary
+went on to say, as he looked over the telegram again.
+
+"Oh," was the President's reply, "he needn't lose any of his
+sleep on that account. Just telegraph him to that effect; also,
+that I don't propose to send him any more men."
+
+
+HOW HOMINY WAS ORIGINATED.
+
+During the progress of a Cabinet meeting the subject of food for
+the men in the Army happened to come up. From that the
+conversation changed to the study of the Latin language.
+
+"I studied Latin once," said Mr. Lincoln, in a casual way.
+
+"Were you interested in it?" asked Mr. Seward, the Secretary of
+State.
+
+"Well, yes. I saw some very curious things," was the President's
+rejoinder.
+
+"What?" asked Secretary Seward.
+
+"Well, there's the word hominy, for instance. We have just
+ordered a lot of that stuff for the troops. I see how the word
+originated. I notice it came from the Latin word homo--a man.
+
+"When we decline homo, it is:
+
+"'Homo--a man.
+
+"'Hominis--of man.
+
+"'Homini--for man.'
+
+"So you see, hominy, being 'for man,' comes from the Latin. I
+guess those soldiers who don't know Latin will get along with it
+all right--though I won't rest real easy until I hear from the
+Commissary Department on it."
+
+
+HIS IDEA'S OLD, AFTER ALL.
+
+One day, while listening to one of the wise men who had called at
+the White House to unload a large cargo of advice, the President
+interjected a remark to the effect that he had a great reverence
+for learning.
+
+"This is not," President Lincoln explained, "because I am not an
+educated man. I feel the need of reading. It is a loss to a man
+not to have grown up among books."
+
+"Men of force," the visitor answered, "can get on pretty well
+without books. They do their own thinking instead of adopting
+what other men think."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Lincoln, "but books serve to show a man that
+those original thoughts of his aren't very new, after all."
+
+This was a point the caller was not willing to debate, and so he
+cut his call short.
+
+
+LINCOLN'S FIRST SPEECH.
+
+Lincoln made his first speech when he was a mere boy, going
+barefoot, his trousers held up by one suspender, and his shock of
+hair sticking through a hole in the crown of his cheap straw hat.
+
+"Abe," in company with Dennis Hanks, attended a political
+meeting, which was addressed by a typical stump speaker--one of
+those loud-voiced fellows who shouted at the top of his voice and
+waved his arms wildly.
+
+At the conclusion of the speech, which did not meet the views
+either of "Abe" or Dennis, the latter declared that "Abe" could
+make a better speech than that. Whereupon he got a dry-goods box
+and called on "Abe" to reply to the campaign orator.
+
+Lincoln threw his old straw hat on the ground, and, mounting the
+dry-goods box, delivered a speech which held the attention of the
+crowd and won him considerable applause. Even the campaign orator
+admitted that it was a fine speech and answered every point in
+his own "oration."
+
+Dennis Hanks, who thought "Abe" was about the greatest man that
+ever lived, was delighted, and he often told how young "Abe" got
+the better of the trained campaign speaker.
+
+
+"ABE WANTED NO "SNEAKIN' 'ROUND."
+
+It was in 1830, when "Abe" was just twenty-one years of age, that
+the Lincoln family moved from Gentryville, Indiana, to near
+Decatur, Illinois, their household goods being packed in a wagon
+drawn by four oxen driven by "Abe."
+
+The winter previous the latter had "worked" in a country store in
+Gentryville and before undertaking the journey he invested all
+the money he had--some thirty dollars--in notions, such as
+needles, pins, thread, buttons and other domestic necessities.
+These he sold to families along the route and made a profit of
+about one hundred per cent.
+
+This mercantile adventure of his youth "reminded" the President
+of a very clever story while the members of the Cabinet were one
+day solemnly debating a rather serious international problem. The
+President was in the minority, as was frequently the case, and he
+was "in a hole," as he afterwards expressed it. He didn't want to
+argue the points raised, preferring to settle the matter in a
+hurry, and an apt story was his only salvation.
+
+Suddenly the President's fact brightened. "Gentlemen," said he,
+addressing those seated at the Cabinet table, "the situation just
+now reminds me of a fix I got into some thirty years or so ago
+when I was peddling 'notions' on the way from Indiana to
+Illinois. I didn't have a large stock, but I charged large
+prices, and I made money. Perhaps you don't see what I am driving
+at?"
+
+Secretary of State Seward was wearing a most gloomy expression of
+countenance; Secretary of War Stanton was savage and inclined to
+be morose; Secretary of the Treasury Chase was indifferent and
+cynical, while the others of the Presidential advisers resigned
+themselves to the hearing of the inevitable "story."
+
+"I don't propose to argue this matter," the President went on to
+say, "because arguments have no effect upon men whose opinions
+are fixed and whose minds are made up. But this little story of
+mine will make some things which now are in the dark show up more
+clearly."
+
+There was another pause, and the Cabinet officers, maintaining
+their previous silence, began wondering if the President himself
+really knew what he was "driving at."
+
+"Just before we left Indiana and crossed into Illinois,"
+continued Mr. Lincoln solemnly, speaking in a grave tone of
+voice, "we came across a small farmhouse full of nothing but
+children. These ranged in years from seventeen years to seventeen
+months, and all were in tears. The mother of the family was
+red-headed and red-faced, and the whip she held in her right hand
+led to the inference that she had been chastising her brood. The
+father of the family, a meek-looking, mild-mannered, tow-headed
+chap, was standing in the front door-way, awaiting--to all
+appearances--his turn to feel the thong.
+
+"I thought there wasn't much use in asking the head of that house
+if she wanted any 'notions.' She was too busy. It was evident an
+insurrection had been in progress, but it was pretty well quelled
+when I got there. The mother had about suppressed it with an iron
+hand, but she was not running any risks. She kept a keen and wary
+eye upon all the children, not forgetting an occasional glance at
+the 'old man' in the doorway.
+
+"She saw me as I came up, and from her look I thought she was of
+the opinion that I intended to interfere. Advancing to the
+doorway, and roughly pushing her husband aside, she demanded my
+business.
+
+"'Nothing, madame,' I answered as gently as possible; 'I merely
+dropped in as I came along to see how things were going.'
+
+"'Well, you needn't wait,' was the reply in an irritated way;
+'there's trouble here, an' lots of it, too, but I kin manage my
+own affairs without the help of outsiders. This is jest a family
+row, but I'll teach these brats their places ef I hev to lick the
+hide off ev'ry one of them. I don't do much talkin', but I run
+this house, an' I don't want no one sneakin' round tryin' to find
+out how I do it, either.'
+
+"That's the case here with us," the President said in conclusion.
+"We must let the other nations know that we propose to settle our
+family row in our own way, and 'teach these brats their places'
+(the seceding States) if we have to 'lick the hide off' of each
+and every one of them. And, like the old woman, we don't want any
+'sneakin' 'round' by other countries who would like to find out
+how we are to do it, either.
+
+"Now, Seward, you write some diplomatic notes to that effect."
+
+And the Cabinet session closed.
+
+
+DIDN'T EVEN NEED STILTS.
+
+As the President considered it his duty to keep in touch with all
+the improvements in the armament of the vessels belonging to the
+United States Navy, he was necessarily interested in the various
+types of these floating fortresses. Not only was it required of
+the Navy Department to furnish seagoing warships, deep-draught
+vessels for the great rivers and the lakes, but this Department
+also found use for little gunboats which could creep along in the
+shallowest of water and attack the Confederates in by-places and
+swamps.
+
+The consequence of the interest taken by Mr. Lincoln in the Navy
+was that he was besieged, day and night, by steamboat
+contractors, each one eager to sell his product to the Washington
+Government. All sorts of experiments were tried, some being dire
+failures, while others were more than fairly successful. More
+than once had these tiny war vessels proved themselves of great
+service, and the United States Government had a large number of
+them built.
+
+There was one particular contractor who bothered the President
+more than all the others put together. He was constantly
+impressing upon Mr. Lincoln the great superiority of his boats,
+because they would run in such shallow water.
+
+"Oh, yes," replied the President, "I've no doubt they'll run
+anywhere where the ground is a little moist!"
+
+
+"HOW DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS PLACE?"
+
+"It seems to me," remarked the President one day while reading,
+over some of the appealing telegrams sent to the War Department
+by General McClellan, "that McClellan has been wandering around
+and has sort of got lost. He's been hollering for help ever since
+he went South--wants somebody to come to his deliverance and get
+him out of the place he's got into.
+
+"He reminds me of the story of a man out in Illinois who, in
+company with a number of friends, visited the State penitentiary.
+They wandered all through the institution and saw everything, but
+just about the time to depart this particular man became
+separated from his friends and couldn't find his way out.
+
+"He roamed up and down one corridor after another, becoming more
+desperate all the time, when, at last, he came across a convict
+who was looking out from between the bars of his cell-door. Here
+was salvation at last. Hurrying up to the prisoner he hastily
+asked
+
+"'Say! How do you get out of this place?"
+
+
+"TAD" INTRODUCES "OUR FRIENDS."
+
+President Lincoln often avoided interviews with delegations
+representing various States, especially when he knew the objects
+of their errands, and was aware he could not grant their
+requests. This was the case with several commissioners from
+Kentucky, who were put off from day to day.
+
+They were about to give up in despair, and were leaving the White
+House lobby, their speech being interspersed with vehement and
+uncomplimentary terms concerning "Old Abe," when "Tad" happened
+along. He caught at these words, and asked one of them if they
+wanted to see "Old Abe," laughing at the same time.
+
+"Yes," he replied.
+
+"Wait a minute," said "Tad," and rushed into his father's office.
+Said he, "Papa, may I introduce some friends to you?"
+
+His father, always indulgent and ready to make him happy, kindly
+said, "Yes, my son, I will see your friends."
+
+"Tad" went to the Kentuckians again, and asked a very dignified
+looking gentleman of the party his name. He was told his name. He
+then said, "Come, gentlemen," and they followed him.
+
+Leading them up to the President, "Tad," with much dignity, said,
+"Papa, let me introduce to you Judge --, of Kentucky;" and
+quickly added, "Now Judge, you introduce the other gentlemen."
+
+The introductions were gone through with, and they turned out to
+be the gentlemen Mr. Lincoln had been avoiding for a week. Mr.
+Lincoln reached for the boy, took him in his lap, kissed him, and
+told him it was all right, and that he had introduced his friend
+like a little gentleman as he was. Tad was eleven years old at
+this time.
+
+The President was pleased with Tad's diplomacy, and often laughed
+at the incident as he told others of it. One day while caressing
+the boy, he asked him why he called those gentlemen "his
+friends." "Well," said Tad, "I had seen them so often, and they
+looked so good and sorry, and said they were from Kentucky, that
+I thought they must be our friends." "That is right, my son,"
+said Mr. Lincoln; "I would have the whole human race your friends
+and mine, if it were possible."
+
+
+MIXED UP WORSE THAN BEFORE.
+
+The President told a story which most beautifully illustrated the
+muddled situation of affairs at the time McClellan's fate was
+hanging in the balance. McClellan's s work was not satisfactory,
+but the President hesitated to remove him; the general was so
+slow that the Confederates marched all around him; and, to add to
+the dilemma, the President could not find a suitable man to take
+McClellan's place.
+
+The latter was a political, as well as a military, factor; his
+friends threatened that, if he was removed, many war Democrats
+would cast their influence with the South, etc. It was,
+altogether, a sad mix-up, and the President, for a time, was at
+his wits' end. He was assailed on all sides with advice, but none
+of it was worth acting upon.
+
+"This situation reminds me," said the President at a Cabinet
+meeting one day not long before the appointment of General
+Halleck as McClellan's successor in command of the Union forces,
+"of a Union man in Kentucky whose two sons enlisted in the
+Federal Army. His wife was of Confederate sympathies. His nearest
+neighbor was a Confederate in feeling, and his two sons were
+fighting under Lee. This neighbor's wife was a Union woman and it
+nearly broke her heart to know that her sons were arrayed against
+the Union.
+
+"Finally, the two men, after each had talked the matter over with
+his wife, agreed to obtain divorces; this they, did, and the
+Union man and Union woman were wedded, as were the Confederate
+man and the Confederate woman--the men swapped wives, in short.
+But this didn't seem to help matters any, for the sons of the
+Union woman were still fighting for the South, and the sons of
+the Confederate woman continued in the Federal Army; the Union
+husband couldn't get along with his Union wife, and the
+Confederate husband and his Confederate wife couldn't agree upon
+anything, being forever fussing and quarreling.
+
+"It's the same thing with the Army. It doesn't seem worth while
+to secure divorces and then marry the Army and McClellan to
+others, for they won't get along any better than they do now, and
+there'll only be a new set of heartaches started. I think we'd
+better wait; perhaps a real fighting general will come along some
+of these days, and then we'll all be happy. If you go to mixing
+in a mixup, you only make the muddle worse."
+
+
+"LONG ABE'S" FEET "PROTRUDED OVER."
+
+George M. Pullman, the great sleeping-car builder, once told a
+joke in which Lincoln was the prominent figure. In fact, there
+wouldn't have been any joke had it not been for "Long Abe." At
+the time of the occurrence, which was the foundation for the
+joke--and Pullman admitted that the latter was on him--Pullman
+was the conductor of his only sleeping-car. The latter was an
+experiment, and Pullman was doing everything possible to get the
+railroads to take hold of it.
+
+"One night," said Pullman in telling the story, "as we were about
+going out of Chicago--this was long before Lincoln was what you
+might call a renowned man--a long, lean, ugly man, with a wart on
+his cheek, came into the depot. He paid me fifty cents, and half
+a berth was assigned him. Then he took off his coat and vest and
+hung them up, and they fitted the peg about as well as they
+fitted him. Then he kicked off his boots, which were of
+surprising length, turned into the berth, and, undoubtedly having
+an easy conscience, was sleeping like a healthy baby before the
+car left the depot.
+
+"Pretty soon along came another passenger and paid his fifty
+cents. In two minutes he was back at me, angry as a wet hen.
+
+"'There's a man in that berth of mine,' said he, hotly, 'and
+he's about ten feet high. How am I going to sleep there, I'd like
+to know? Go and look at him.'
+
+"In I went--mad, too. The tall, lank man's knees were under his
+chin, his arms were stretched across the bed and his feet were
+stored comfortably--for him. I shook him until he awoke, and then
+told him if he wanted the whole berth he would have to pay $1.
+
+"'My dear sir,' said the tall man, 'a contract is a contract. I
+have paid you fifty cents for half this berth, and, as you see,
+I'm occupying it. There's the other half,' pointing to a strip
+about six inches wide. 'Sell that and don't disturb me again.'
+
+"And so saying, the man with a wart on his face went to sleep
+again. He was Abraham Lincoln, and he never grew any shorter
+afterward. We became great friends, and often laughed over the
+incident."
+
+
+COULD LICK ANY MAN IN THE CROWD.
+
+When the enemies of General Grant were bothering the President
+with emphatic and repeated demands that the "Silent Man" be
+removed from command, Mr. Lincoln remained firm. He would not
+consent to lose the services of so valuable a soldier. "Grant
+fights," said he in response to the charges made that Grant was a
+butcher, a drunkard, an incompetent and a general who did not
+know his business.
+
+"That reminds me of a story," President Lincoln said one day to a
+delegation of the "Grant-is-no-good" style.
+
+"Out in my State of Illinois there was a man nominated for
+sheriff of the county. He was a good man for the office, brave,
+determined and honest, but not much of an orator. In fact, he
+couldn't talk at all; he couldn't make a speech to save his life.
+
+"His friends knew he was a man who would preserve the peace of
+the county and perform the duties devolving upon him all right,
+but the people of the county didn't know it. They wanted him to
+come out boldly on the platform at political meetings and state
+his convictions and principles; they had been used to speeches
+from candidates, and were somewhat suspicious of a man who was
+afraid to open his mouth.
+
+"At last the candidate consented to make a speech, and his
+friends were delighted. The candidate was on hand, and, when he
+was called upon, advanced to the front and faced the crowd. There
+was a glitter in his eye that wasn't pleasing, and the way he
+walked out to the front of the stand showed that he knew just
+what he wanted to say.
+
+"'Feller Citizens,' was his beginning, the words spoken quietly,
+'I'm not a speakin' man; I ain't no orator, an' I never stood up
+before a lot of people in my life before; I'm not goin' to make
+no speech, 'xcept to say that I can lick any man in the crowd!'"
+
+
+HIS WAY TO A CHILD'S HEART.
+
+Charles E. Anthony's one meeting with Mr. Lincoln presents an
+interesting contrast to those of the men who shared the
+emancipator's interest in public affairs. It was in the latter
+part of the winter of 1861, a short time before Mr. Lincoln left
+for his inauguration at Washington. Judge Anthony went to the
+Sherman House, where the President-elect was stopping, and took
+with him his son, Charles, then but a little boy. Charles played
+about the room as a child will, looking at whatever interested
+him for the time, and when the interview with his father was over
+he was ready to go.
+
+But Mr. Lincoln, ever interested in little children, called the
+lad to him and took him upon his great knee.
+
+"My impression of him all the time I had been playing about the
+room," said Mr. Anthony, "was that he was a terribly homely man.
+I was rather repelled. But no sooner did he speak to me than the
+expression of his face changed completely, or, rather, my view of
+it changed. It at once became kindly and attractive. He asked me
+some questions, seeming instantly to find in the turmoil of all
+the great questions that must have been heavy upon him, the very
+ones that would go to the thought of a child. I answered him
+without hesitation, and after a moment he patted my shoulder and
+said:
+
+"'Well, you'll be a man before your mother yet,' and put me
+down.
+
+"I had never before heard the homely old expression, and it
+puzzled me for a time. After a moment I understood it, but he
+looked at me while I was puzzling over it, and seemed to be
+amused, as no doubt he was."
+
+The incident simply illustrates the ease and readiness with which
+Lincoln could turn from the mighty questions before the nation,
+give a moment's interested attention to a child, and return at
+once to matters of state.
+
+
+"LEFT IT THE WOMEN TO HOWL ABOUT ME."
+
+Donn Piatt, one of the brightest newspaper writers in the
+country, told a good story on the President in regard to the
+refusal of the latter to sanction the death penalty in cases of
+desertion from the Union Army.
+
+"There was far more policy in this course," said Piatt, "than
+kind feeling. To assert the contrary is to detract from Lincoln's
+force of character, as well as intellect. Our War President was
+not lost in his high admiration of brigadiers and major-generals,
+and had a positive dislike for their methods and the despotism
+upon which an army is based. He knew that he was dependent upon
+volunteers for soldiers, and to force upon such men as those the
+stern discipline of the Regular Army was to render the service
+unpopular. And it pleased him to be the source of mercy, as well
+as the fountain of honor, in this direction.
+
+"I was sitting with General Dan Tyler, of Connecticut, in the
+antechamber of the War Department, shortly after the adjournment
+of the Buell Court of Inquiry, of which we had been members, when
+President Lincoln came in from the room of Secretary Stanton.
+Seeing us, he said: 'Well, gentlemen, have you any matter worth
+reporting?'
+
+"'I think so, Mr. President,' replied General Tyler. 'We had it
+proven that Bragg, with less than ten thousand men, drove your
+eighty-three thousand men under Buell back from before
+Chattanooga, down to the Ohio at Louisville, marched around us
+twice, then doubled us up at Perryville, and finally got out of
+the State of Kentucky with all his plunder.'
+
+"'Now, Tyler,' returned the President, 'what is the meaning of
+all this; what is the lesson? Don't our men march as well, and
+fight as well, as these rebels? If not, there is a fault
+somewhere. We are all of the same family--same sort.'
+
+"'Yes, there is a lesson,' replied General Tyler; 'we are of the
+same sort, but subject to different handling. Bragg's little
+force was superior to our larger number because he had it under
+control. If a man left his ranks, he was punished; if he
+deserted, he was shot. We had nothing of that sort. If we attempt
+to shoot a deserter you pardon him, and our army is without
+discipline.'
+
+"The President looked perplexed. 'Why do you interfere?'
+continued General Tyler. 'Congress has taken from you all
+responsibility.'
+
+"'Yes,' answered the President impatiently, 'Congress has taken
+the responsibility and left the women to howl all about me,' and
+so he strode away."
+
+
+HE'D RUIN ALL THE OTHER CONVICTS.
+
+One of the droll stories brought into play by the President as an
+ally in support of his contention, proved most effective.
+Politics was rife among the generals of the Union Army, and there
+was more "wire-pulling" to prevent the advancement of fellow
+commanders than the laying of plans to defeat the Confederates in
+battle.
+
+However, when it so happened that the name of a particularly
+unpopular general was sent to the Senate for confirmation, the
+protest against his promotion was almost unanimous. The
+nomination didn't seem to please anyone. Generals who were
+enemies before conferred together for the purpose of bringing
+every possible influence to bear upon the Senate and securing the
+rejection of the hated leader's name. The President was
+surprised. He had never known such unanimity before.
+
+"You remind me," said the President to a delegation of officers
+which called upon him one day to present a fresh protest to him
+regarding the nomination, "of a visit a certain Governor paid to
+the Penitentiary of his State. It had been announced that the
+Governor would hear the story of every inmate of the institution,
+and was prepared to rectify, either by commutation or pardon, any
+wrongs that had been done to any prisoner.
+
+"One by one the convicts appeared before His Excellency, and each
+one maintained that he was an innocent man, who had been sent to
+prison because the police didn't like him, or his friends and
+relatives wanted his property, or he was too popular, etc., etc.
+The last prisoner to appear was an individual who was not all
+prepossessing. His face was against him; his eyes were shifty; he
+didn't have the appearance of an honest man, and he didn't act
+like one.
+
+"'Well,' asked the Governor, impatiently, 'I suppose you're
+innocent like the rest of these fellows?'
+
+"'No, Governor,' was the unexpected answer; 'I was guilty of the
+crime they charged against me, and I got just what I deserved.'
+
+"When he had recovered from his astonishment, the Governor,
+looking the fellow squarely in the face, remarked with emphasis:
+'I'll have to pardon you, because I don't want to leave so bad a
+man as you are in the company of such innocent sufferers as I
+have discovered your fellow-convicts to be. You might corrupt
+them and teach them wicked tricks. As soon as I get back to the
+capital, I'll have the papers made out.'
+
+"You gentlemen," continued the President, "ought to be glad that
+so bad a man, as you represent this officer to be, is to get his
+promotion, for then you won't be forced to associate with him and
+suffer the contamination of his presence and influence. I will do
+all I can to have the Senate confirm him."
+
+And he was confirmed.
+
+
+IN A HOPELESS MINORITY.
+
+The President was often in opposition to the general public
+sentiment of the North upon certain questions of policy, but he
+bided his time, and things usually came out as he wanted them. It
+was Lincoln's opinion, from the first, that apology and
+reparation to England must be made by the United States because
+of the arrest, upon the high seas, of the Confederate
+Commissioners, Mason and Slidell. The country, however (the
+Northern States), was wild for a conflict with England.
+
+"One war at a time," quietly remarked the President at a Cabinet
+meeting, where he found the majority of his advisers unfavorably
+disposed to "backing down." But one member of the Cabinet was a
+really strong supporter of the President in his attitude.
+
+"I am reminded," the President said after the various arguments
+had been put forward by the members of the Cabinet, "of a fellow
+out in my State of Illinois who happened to stray into a church
+while a revival meeting was in progress. To be truthful, this
+individual was not entirely sober, and with that instinct which
+seems to impel all men in his condition to assume a prominent
+part in proceedings, he walked up the aisle to the very front
+pew.
+
+"All noticed him, but he did not care; for awhile he joined
+audibly in the singing, said 'Amen' at the close of the prayers,
+but, drowsiness overcoming him, he went to sleep. Before the
+meeting closed, the pastor asked the usual question--'Who are on
+the Lord's side?'--and the congregation arose en masse. When he
+asked, 'Who are on the side of the Devil?' the sleeper was about
+waking up. He heard a portion of the interrogatory, and, seeing
+the minister on his feet, arose.
+
+"'I don't exactly understand the question,' he said, 'but I'll
+stand by you, parson, to the last. But it seems to me,' he added,
+'that we're in a hopeless minority.'
+
+"I'm in a hopeless minority now," said the President, "and I'll
+have to admit it."
+
+
+"DID YE ASK MORRISSEY YET?"
+
+John Morrissey, the noted prize fighter, was the "Boss" of
+Tammany Hall during the Civil War period. It pleased his fancy to
+go to Congress, and his obedient constituents sent him there.
+Morrissey was such an absolute despot that the New York City
+democracy could not make a move without his consent, and many of
+the Tammanyites were so afraid of him that they would not even
+enter into business ventures without consulting the autocrat.
+
+President Lincoln had been seriously annoyed by some of his
+generals, who were afraid to make the slightest move before
+asking advice from Washington. One commander, in particular, was
+so cautious that he telegraphed the War Department upon the
+slightest pretext, the result being that his troops were lying in
+camp doing nothing, when they should have been in the field.
+
+"This general reminds me," the President said one day while
+talking to Secretary Stanton, at the War Department, "of a story
+I once heard about a Tammany man. He happened to meet a friend,
+also a member of Tammany, on the street, and in the course of the
+talk the friend, who was beaming with smiles and good nature,
+told the other Tammanyite that he was going to be married.
+
+"This first Tammany man looked more serious than men usually do
+upon hearing of the impending happiness of a friend. In fact, his
+face seemed to take on a look of anxiety and worry.
+
+"'Ain't you glad to know that I'm to get married?' demanded the
+second Tammanyite, somewhat in a huff.
+
+"'Of course I am,' was the reply; 'but,' putting his mouth close
+to the ear of the other, 'have ye asked Morrissey yet?'
+
+"Now, this general of whom we are speaking, wouldn't dare order
+out the guard without asking Morrissey," concluded the President.
+
+
+GOT THE LAUGH ON DOUGLAS.
+
+At one time, when Lincoln and Douglas were "stumping" Illinois,
+they met at a certain town, and it was agreed that they would
+have a joint debate. Douglas was the first speaker, and in the
+course of his talk remarked that in early life, his father, who,
+he said, was an excellent cooper by trade, apprenticed him out to
+learn the cabinet business.
+
+This was too good for Lincoln to let pass, so when his turn came
+to reply, he said:
+
+"I had understood before that Mr. Douglas had been bound out to
+learn the cabinet-making business, which is all well enough, but
+I was not aware until now that his father was a cooper. I have no
+doubt, however, that he was one, and I am certain, also, that he
+was a very good one, for (here Lincoln gently bowed toward
+Douglas) he has made one of the best whiskey casks I have ever
+seen."
+
+As Douglas was a short heavy-set man, and occasionally imbibed,
+the pith of the joke was at once apparent, and most heartily
+enjoyed by all.
+
+On another occasion, Douglas made a point against Lincoln by
+telling the crowd that when he first knew Lincoln he was a
+"grocery-keeper," and sold whiskey, cigars, etc.
+
+"Mr. L.," he said, "was a very good bar-tender!" This brought the
+laugh on Lincoln, whose reply, however, soon came, and then the
+laugh was on the other side.
+
+"What Mr. Douglas has said, gentlemen," replied Lincoln, "is true
+enough; I did keep a grocery and I did sell cotton, candles and
+cigars, and sometimes whiskey; but I remember in those days that
+Mr. Douglas was one of my best customers."
+
+
+"I can also say this; that I have since left my side of the
+counter, while Mr. Douglas still sticks to his!"
+
+This brought such a storm of cheers and laughter that Douglas was
+unable to reply.
+
+
+"FIXED UP" A BIT FOR THE "CITY FOLKS."
+
+Mrs. Lincoln knew her husband was not "pretty," but she liked to
+have him presentable when he appeared before the public. Stephen
+Fiske, in "When Lincoln Was First Inaugurated," tells of Mrs.
+Lincoln's anxiety to have the President-elect "smoothed down" a
+little when receiving a delegation that was to greet them upon
+reaching New York City.
+
+"The train stopped," writes Mr. Fiske, "and through the windows
+immense crowds could be seen; the cheering drowning the blowing
+off of steam of the locomotive. Then Mrs. Lincoln opened her
+handbag and said:
+
+"'Abraham, I must fix you up a bit for these city folks.'
+
+"Mr. Lincoln gently lifted her upon the seat before him; she
+parted, combed and brushed his hair and arranged his black
+necktie.
+
+"'Do I look nice now, mother?' he affectionately asked.
+
+"'Well, you'll do, Abraham,' replied Mrs. Lincoln critically. So
+he kissed her and lifted her down from the seat, and turned to
+meet Mayor Wood, courtly and suave, and to have his hand shaken
+by the other New York officials."
+
+
+EVEN REBELS OUGHT TO BE SAVED.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Shrigley, of Philadelphia, a Universalist, had been
+nominated for hospital chaplain, and a protesting delegation went
+to Washington to see President Lincoln on the subject.
+
+"We have called, Mr. President, to confer with you in regard to
+the appointment of Mr. Shrigley, of Philadelphia, as hospital
+chaplain."
+
+The President responded: "Oh, yes, gentlemen. I have sent his
+name to the Senate, and he will no doubt be confirmed at an early
+date." One of the young men replied: "We have not come to ask for
+the appointment, but to solicit you to withdraw the nomination."
+
+"Ah!" said Lincoln, "that alters the case; but on what grounds do
+you wish the nomination withdrawn?"
+
+The answer was: "Mr. Shrigley is not sound in his theological
+opinions."
+
+The President inquired: "On what question is the gentleman
+unsound?"
+
+Response: "He does not believe in endless punishment; not only
+so, sir, but he believes that even the rebels themselves will be
+finally saved."
+
+"Is that so?" inquired the President.
+
+The members of the committee responded, "Yes, yes.'
+
+"Well, gentlemen, if that be so, and there is any way under
+Heaven whereby the rebels can be saved, then, for God's sake and
+their sakes, let the man be appointed."
+
+The Rev. Mr. Shrigley was appointed, and served until the close
+of the war.
+
+
+TRIED TO DO WHAT SEEMED BEST.
+
+John M. Palmer, Major-General in the Volunteer Army, Governor of
+the State of Illinois, and United States Senator from the Sucker
+State, became acquainted with Lincoln in 1839, and the last time
+he saw the President was at the White House in February, 1865.
+Senator Palmer told the story of his interview as follows:
+
+"I had come to Washington at the request of the Governor, to
+complain that Illinois had been credited with 18,000 too few
+troops. I saw Mr. Lincoln one afternoon, and he asked me to come
+again in the morning.
+
+"Next morning I sat in the ante-room while several officers were
+relieved. At length I was told to enter the President's room. Mr.
+Lincoln was in the hands of the barber.
+
+"'Come in, Palmer,' he called out, 'come in. You're home folks.
+I can shave before you. I couldn't before those others, and I
+have to do it some time.'
+
+"We chatted about various matters, and at length I said:
+
+"'Well, Mr. Lincoln, if anybody had told me that in a great
+crisis like this the people were going out to a little one-horse
+town and pick out a one-horse lawyer for President I wouldn't
+have believed it.'
+
+"Mr. Lincoln whirled about in his chair, his face white with
+lather, a towel under his chin. At first I thought he was angry.
+Sweeping the barber away he leaned forward, and, placing one hand
+on my knee, said:
+
+"'Neither would I. But it was time when a man with a policy
+would have been fatal to the country. I have never had a policy.
+I have simply tried to do what seemed best each day, as each day
+came.'"
+
+
+"HOLDING A CANDLE TO THE CZAR."
+
+England was anything but pleased when the Czar Alexander, of
+Russia, showed his friendship for the United States by sending a
+strong fleet to this country with the accompanying suggestion
+that Uncle Sam, through his representative, President Lincoln,
+could do whatever he saw fit with the ironclads and the munitions
+of war they had stowed away in their holds.
+
+London "Punch," on November 7th, 1863, printed the cartoon shown
+on this page, the text under the picture reading in this way:
+"Holding a candle to the * * * * *." (Much the same thing.)
+
+Of course, this was a covert sneer, intended to convey the
+impression that President Lincoln, in order to secure the support
+and friendship of the Emperor of Russia as long as the War of the
+Rebellion lasted, was willing to do all sorts of menial offices,
+even to the extent of holding the candle and lighting His Most
+Gracious Majesty, the White Czar, to his imperial bed-chamber.
+
+It is a somewhat remarkable fact that the Emperor Alexander, who
+tendered inestimable aid to the President of the United States,
+was the Lincoln of Russia, having given freedom to millions of
+serfs in his empire; and, further than that, he was, like
+Lincoln,
+the victim of assassination. He was literally blown to pieces by
+a bomb thrown under his carriage while riding through the streets
+near the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg.
+
+
+NASHVILLE WAS NOT SURRENDERED.
+
+"I was told a mighty good story," said the President one day at a
+Cabinet meeting, "by Colonel Granville Moody, 'the fighting
+Methodist parson,' as they used to call him in Tennessee. I
+happened to meet Moody in Philadelphia, where he was attending a
+conference.
+
+"The story was about 'Andy' Johnson and General Buell. Colonel
+Moody happened to be in Nashville the day it was reported that
+Buell had decided to evacuate the city. The rebels, strongly
+re-inforced, were said to be within two days' march of the
+capital. Of course, the city was greatly excited. Moody said he
+went in search of Johnson at the edge of the evening and found
+him at his office closeted with two gentlemen, who were walking
+the floor with him, one on each side. As he entered they retired,
+leaving him alone with Johnson, who came up to him, manifesting
+intense feeling, and said:
+
+"'Moody, we are sold out. Buell is a traitor. He is going to
+evacuate the city, and in forty-eight hours we will all be in the
+hands of the rebels!'
+
+"Then he commenced pacing the floor again, twisting his hands and
+chafing like a caged tiger, utterly insensible to his friend's
+entreaties to become calm. Suddenly he turned and said:
+
+"'Moody, can you pray?'
+
+"'That is my business, sir, as a minister of the gospel,'
+returned the colonel.
+
+"'Well, Moody, I wish you would pray,' said Johnson, and
+instantly both went down upon their knees at opposite sides of
+the room.
+
+"As the prayer waxed fervent, Johnson began to respond in true
+Methodist style. Presently he crawled over on his hands and knees
+to Moody's side and put his arms over him, manifesting the
+deepest emotion.
+
+"Closing the prayer with a hearty 'amen' from each, they arose.
+
+"Johnson took a long breath, and said, with emphasis:
+
+"'Moody, I feel better.'
+
+"Shortly afterward he asked:
+
+"'Will you stand by me?'
+
+"'Certainly I will,' was the answer.
+
+"'Well, Moody, I can depend upon you; you are one in a hundred
+thousand.'
+
+"He then commenced pacing the floor again. Suddenly he wheeled,
+the current of his thought having changed, and said:
+
+"'Oh, Moody, I don't want you to think I have become a religious
+man because I asked you to pray. I am sorry to say it, I am not,
+and never pretended to be religious. No one knows this better
+than you, but, Moody, there is one thing about it, I do believe
+in Almighty God, and I believe also in the Bible, and I say, d--n
+me if Nashville shall be surrendered!'
+
+"And Nashville was not surrendered!"
+
+
+HE COULDN'T WAIT FOR THE COLONEL.
+
+General Fisk, attending a reception at the White House, saw
+waiting in the ante-room a poor old man from Tennessee, and
+learned that he had been waiting three or four days to get an
+audience, on which probably depended the life of his son, under
+sentence of death for some military offense.
+
+General Fisk wrote his case in outline on a card and sent it in,
+with a a special request that the President would see the man. In
+a moment the order came; and past impatient senators, governors
+and generals, the old man went.
+
+He showed his papers to Mr. Lincoln, who said he would look into
+the case and give him the result next day.
+
+The old man, in an agony of apprehension, looked up into the
+President's sympathetic face and actually cried out:
+
+"To-morrow may be too late! My son is under sentence of death! It
+ought to be decided now!"
+
+His streaming tears told how much he was moved.
+
+"Come," said Mr. Lincoln, "wait a bit and I'll tell you a story;"
+and then he told the old man General Fisk's story about the
+swearing driver, as follows:
+
+"The general had begun his military life as a colonel, and when
+he raised his regiment in Missouri he proposed to his men that he
+should do all the swearing of the regiment. They assented; and
+for months no instance was known of the violation of the promise.
+
+"The colonel had a teamster named John Todd, who, as roads were
+not always the best, had some difficulty in commanding his temper
+and his tongue.
+
+"John happened to be driving a mule team through a series of
+mudholes a little worse than usual, when, unable to restrain
+himself any longer, he burst forth into a volley of energetic
+oaths.
+
+"The colonel took notice of the offense and brought John to
+account.
+
+"'John,' said he, 'didn't you promise to let me do all the
+swearing of the regiment?'
+
+"'Yes, I did, colonel,' he replied, 'but the fact was, the
+swearing had to be done then or not at all, and you weren't there
+to do it.'"
+
+As he told the story the old man forgot his boy, and both the
+President and his listener had a hearty laugh together at its
+conclusion.
+
+Then he wrote a few words which the old man read, and in which he
+found new occasion for tears; but the tears were tears of joy,
+for the words saved the life of his son.
+
+
+LINCOLN PRONOUNCED THIS STORY FUNNY.
+
+The President was heard to declare one day that the story given
+below was one of the funniest he ever heard.
+
+One of General Fremont's batteries of eight Parrott guns,
+supported by a squadron of horse commanded by Major Richards, was
+in sharp conflict with a battery of the enemy near at hand.
+Shells and shot were flying thick and fast, when the commander of
+the battery, a German, one of Fremont's staff, rode suddenly up
+to the cavalry, exclaiming, in loud and excited terms, "Pring up
+de shackasses! Pring up de shackasses! For Cot's sake, hurry up
+de shackasses, im-me-di-ate-ly!"
+
+The necessity of this order, though not quite apparent, will be
+more obvious when it is remembered that "shackasses" are mules,
+carry mountain howitzers, which are fired from the backs of that
+much-abused but valuable animal; and the immediate occasion for
+the "shackasses" was that two regiments of rebel infantry were at
+that moment discovered ascending a hill immediately behind our
+batteries.
+
+The "shackasses," with the howitzers loaded with grape and
+canister, were soon on the ground.
+
+The mules squared themselves, as they well knew how, for the
+shock.
+
+A terrific volley was poured into the advancing column, which
+immediately broke and retreated.
+
+Two hundred and seventy-eight dead bodies were found in the
+ravine next day, piled closely together as they fell, the effects
+of that volley from the backs of the "shackasses."
+
+
+JOKE WAS ON LINCOLN.
+
+Mr. Lincoln enjoyed a joke at his own expense. Said he: "In the
+days when I used to be in the circuit, I was accosted in the cars
+by a stranger, who said, 'Excuse me, sir, but I have an article
+in my possession which belongs to you.' 'How is that?' I asked,
+considerably astonished.
+
+"The stranger took a jackknife from his pocket. 'This knife,'
+said he, 'was placed in my hands some years ago, with the
+injunction that I was to keep it until I had found a man uglier
+than myself. I have carried it from that time to this. Allow me
+to say, sir, that I think you are fairly entitled to the
+property.'"
+
+
+THE OTHER ONE WAS WORSE.
+
+It so happened that an official of the War Department had escaped
+serious punishment for a rather flagrant offense, by showing
+where grosser irregularities existed in the management of a
+certain bureau of the Department. So valuable was the information
+furnished that the culprit who "gave the snap away" was not even
+discharged.
+
+"That reminds me," the President said, when the case was laid
+before him, "of a story about Daniel Webster, when the latter was
+a boy.
+
+"When quite young, at school, Daniel was one day guilty of a
+gross violation of the rules. He was detected in the act, and
+called up by the teacher for punishment.
+
+"This was to be the old-fashioned 'feruling' of the hand. His
+hands happened to be very dirty.
+
+"Knowing this, on the way to the teacher's desk, he spit upon the
+palm of his right hand, wiping it off upon the side of his
+pantaloons.
+
+"'Give me your hand, sir,' said the teacher, very sternly.
+
+"Out went the right hand, partly cleansed. The teacher looked at
+it a moment, and said:
+
+"'Daniel, if you will find another hand in this school-room as
+filthy as that, I will let you off this time!'
+
+"Instantly from behind the back came the left hand.
+
+"'Here it is, sir,' was the ready reply.
+
+"'That will do,' said the teacher, 'for this time; you can take
+your seat, sir.'"
+
+
+"I'D A BEEN MISSED BY MYSE'F."
+
+The President did not consider that every soldier who ran away in
+battle, or did not stand firmly to receive a bayonet charge, was
+a coward. He was of opinion that self-preservation was the first
+law of Nature, but he didn't want this statute construed too
+liberally by the troops.
+
+At the same time he took occasion to illustrate a point he wished
+to make by a story in connection with a darky who was a member of
+the Ninth Illinois Infantry Regiment. This regiment was one of
+those engaged at the capture of Fort Donelson. It behaved
+gallantly, and lost as heavily as any.
+
+"Upon the hurricane-deck of one of our gunboats," said the
+President in telling the story, "I saw an elderly darky, with a
+very philosophical and retrospective cast of countenance,
+squatted upon his bundle, toasting his shins against the chimney,
+and apparently plunged into a state of profound meditation.
+
+"As the negro rather interested me, I made some inquiries, and
+found that he had really been with the Ninth Illinois Infantry at
+Donelson. and began to ask him some questions about the capture
+of the place.
+
+"'Were you in the fight?'
+
+"'Had a little taste of it, sa.'
+
+"'Stood your ground, did you?'
+
+"'No, sa, I runs.'
+
+"'Run at the first fire, did you?
+
+"'Yes, sa, and would hab run soona, had I knowd it war comin'."
+
+"'Why, that wasn't very creditable to your courage.'
+
+"'Dat isn't my line, sa--cookin's my profeshun.'
+
+"'Well, but have you no regard for your reputation?'
+
+"'Reputation's nuffin to me by de side ob life.'
+
+"'Do you consider your life worth more than other people's?'
+
+"'It's worth more to me, sa.'
+
+"'Then you must value it very highly?'
+
+"'Yes, sa, I does, more dan all dis wuld, more dan a million ob
+dollars, sa, for what would dat be wuth to a man wid de bref out
+ob him? Self-preserbation am de fust law wid me.'
+
+"'But why should you act upon a different rule from other men?'
+
+"'Different men set different values on their lives; mine is not
+in de market.'
+
+"'But if you lost it you would have the satisfaction of knowing
+that you died for your country.'
+
+"'Dat no satisfaction when feelin's gone.'
+
+"'Then patriotism and honor are nothing to you?'
+
+"'Nufin whatever, sat--I regard them as among the vanities.'
+
+"'If our soldiers were like you, traitors might have broken up
+the government without resistance.'
+
+"'Yes, sa, dar would hab been no help for it. I wouldn't put my
+life in de scale 'g'inst any gobernment dat eber existed, for no
+gobernment could replace de loss to me.'
+
+"'Do you think any of your company would have missed you if you
+had been killed?'
+
+"'Maybe not, sa--a dead white man ain't much to dese sogers, let
+alone a dead nigga--but I'd a missed myse'f, and dat was de p'int
+wid me.'
+
+"I only tell this story," concluded the President, "in order to
+illustrate the result of the tactics of some of the Union
+generals who would be sadly 'missed' by themselves, if no one
+else, if they ever got out of the Army."
+
+
+IT ALL "DEPENDED" UPON THE EFFECT.
+
+President Lincoln and some members of his Cabinet were with a
+part of the Army some distance south of the National Capital at
+one time, when Secretary of War Stanton remarked that just before
+he left Washington he had received a telegram from General
+Mitchell, in Alabama. General Mitchell asked instructions in
+regard to a certain emergency that had arisen.
+
+The Secretary said he did not precisely understand the emergency
+as explained by General Mitchell, but had answered back, "All
+right; go ahead."
+
+"Now," he said, as he turned to Mr. Lincoln, "Mr. President, if I
+have made an error in not understanding him correctly, I will
+have to get you to countermand the order."
+
+"Well," exclaimed President Lincoln, "that is very much like the
+happening on the occasion of a certain horse sale I remember that
+took place at the cross-roads down in Kentucky, when I was a boy.
+
+"A particularly fine horse was to be sold, and the people in
+large numbers had gathered together. They had a small boy to ride
+the horse up and down while the spectators examined the horse's
+points.
+
+"At last one man whispered to the boy as he went by: 'Look here,
+boy, hain't that horse got the splints?'
+
+"The boy replied: 'Mister, I don't know what the splints is, but
+if it's good for him, he has got it; if it ain't good for him, he
+ain't got it.'
+
+"Now," said President Lincoln, "if this was good for Mitchell, it
+was all right; but if it was not, I have got to countermand it."
+
+
+TOO SWIFT TO STAY IN THE ARMY.
+
+There were strange, queer, odd things and happenings in the Army
+at times, but, as a rule, the President did not allow them to
+worry him. He had enough to bother about.
+
+A quartermaster having neglected to present his accounts in
+proper shape, and the matter being deemed of sufficient
+importance to bring it to the attention of the President, the
+latter remarked:
+
+"Now this instance reminds me of a little story I heard only a
+short time ago. A certain general's purse was getting low, and he
+said it was probable he might be obliged to draw on his banker
+for some money.
+
+"'How much do you want, father?' asked his son, who had been
+with him a few days.
+
+"'I think I shall send for a couple of hundred,' replied the
+general.
+
+"Why, father,' said his son, very quietly, 'I can let you have
+it.'
+
+"'You can let me have it! Where did you get so much money?
+
+"'I won it playing draw-poker with your staff, sir!' replied the
+youth.
+
+"The earliest morning train bore the young man toward his home,
+and I've been wondering if that boy and that quartermaster had
+happened to meet at the same table."
+
+
+ADMIRED THE STRONG MAN.
+
+Governor Hoyt of Wisconsin tells a story of Mr. Lincoln's great
+admiration for physical strength. Mr. Lincoln, in 1859, made a
+speech at the Wisconsin State Agricultural Fair. After the
+speech, in company with the Governor, he strolled about the
+grounds, looking at the exhibits. They came to a place where a
+professional "strong man" was tossing cannon balls in the air and
+catching them on his arms and juggling with them as though they
+were light as baseballs. Mr. Lincoln had never before seen such
+an exhibition, and he was greatly surprised and interested.
+
+When the performance was over, Governor Hoyt, seeing Mr.
+Lincoln's interest, asked him to go up and be introduced to the
+athlete. He did so, and, as he stood looking down musingly on the
+man, who was very short, and evidently wondering that one so much
+smaller than he could be so much stronger, he suddenly broke out
+with one of his quaint speeches. "Why," he said, "why, I could
+lick salt off the top of your hat."
+
+
+WISHED THE ARMY CHARGED LIKE THAT.
+
+A prominent volunteer officer who, early in the War, was on duty
+in Washington and often carried reports to Secretary Stanton at
+the War Department, told a characteristic story on President
+Lincoln. Said he:
+
+"I was with several other young officers, also carrying reports
+to the War Department, and one morning we were late. In this
+instance we were in a desperate hurry to deliver the papers, in
+order to be able to catch the train returning to camp.
+
+"On the winding, dark staircase of the old War Department, which
+many will remember, it was our misfortune, while taking about
+three stairs at a time, to run a certain head like a catapult
+into the body of the President, striking him in the region of the
+right lower vest pocket.
+
+"The usual surprised and relaxed grunt of a man thus assailed
+came promptly.
+
+"We quickly sent an apology in the direction of the dimly seen
+form, feeling that the ungracious shock was expensive, even to
+the humblest clerk in the department.
+
+"A second glance revealed to us the President as the victim of
+the collision. Then followed a special tender of 'ten thousand
+pardons,' and the President's reply:
+
+"'One's enough; I wish the whole army would charge like that.'"
+
+
+"UNCLE ABRAHAM" HAD EVERYTHING READY.
+
+"You can't do anything with them Southern fellows," the old man
+at the table was saying.
+
+"If they get whipped, they'll retreat to them Southern swamps and
+bayous along with the fishes and crocodiles. You haven't got the
+fish-nets made that'll catch 'em."
+
+"Look here, old gentleman," remarked President Lincoln, who was
+sitting alongside, "we've got just the nets for traitors, in the
+bayous or anywhere."
+
+"Hey? What nets?"
+
+"Bayou-nets!" and "Uncle Abraham" pointed his joke with his fork,
+spearing a fishball savagely.
+
+
+NOT AS SMOOTH AS HE LOOKED.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's skill in parrying troublesome questions was
+wonderful. Once he received a call from Congressman John Ganson,
+of Buffalo, one of the ablest lawyers in New York, who, although
+a Democrat, supported all of Mr. Lincoln's war measures. Mr.
+Ganson wanted explanations. Mr. Ganson was very bald with a
+perfectly smooth face. He had a most direct and aggressive way of
+stating his views or of demanding what he thought he was entitled
+to. He said: "Mr. Lincoln, I have supported all of your measures
+and think I am entitled to your confidence. We are voting and
+acting in the dark in Congress, and I demand to know--think I
+have the right to ask and to know--what is the present situation,
+and what are the prospects and conditions of the several
+campaigns and armies."
+
+Mr. Lincoln looked at him critically for a moment and then said:
+"Ganson, how clean you shave!"
+
+Most men would have been offended, but Ganson was too broad and
+intelligent a man not to see the point and retire at once,
+satisfied, from the field.
+
+
+A SMALL CROP.
+
+Chauncey M. Depew says that Mr. Lincoln told him the following
+story, which he claimed was one of the best two things he ever
+originated: He was trying a case in Illinois where he appeared
+for a prisoner charged with aggravated assault and battery. The
+complainant had told a horrible story of the attack, which his
+appearance fully justified, when the District Attorney handed the
+witness over to Mr. Lincoln, for cross-examination. Mr. Lincoln
+said he had no testimony, and unless he could break down the
+complainant's story he saw no way out. He had come to the
+conclusion that the witness was a bumptious man, who rather
+prided himself upon his smartness in repartee and, so, after
+looking at him for some minutes, he said:
+
+"Well, my friend, how much ground did you and my client here
+fight over?"
+
+The fellow answered: "About six acres."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Lincoln, "don't you think that this is an
+almighty small crop of fight to gather from such a big piece of
+ground?"
+
+The jury laughed. The Court and District-Attorney and complainant
+all joined in, and the case was laughed out of court.
+
+
+"NEVER REGRET WHAT YOU DON'T WRITE."
+
+A simple remark one of the party might make would remind Mr.
+Lincoln of an apropos story.
+
+Secretary of the Treasury Chase happened to remark, "Oh, I am so
+sorry that I did not write a letter to Mr. So-and-so before I
+left home!"
+
+President Lincoln promptly responded:
+
+"Chase, never regret what you don't write; it is what you do
+write that you are often called upon to feel sorry for."
+
+
+A VAIN GENERAL.
+
+In an interview between President Lincoln and Petroleum V. Nasby,
+the name came up of a recently deceased politician of Illinois
+whose merit was blemished by great vanity. His funeral was very
+largely attended.
+
+"If General --- had known how big a funeral he would have had,"
+said Mr. Lincoln, "he would have died years ago."
+
+
+DEATH BED REPENTANCE.
+
+A Senator, who was calling upon Mr. Lincoln, mentioned the name
+of a most virulent and dishonest official; one, who, though very
+brilliant, was very bad.
+
+"It's a good thing for B---" said Mr. Lincoln. "that there is
+such a thing as a deathbed repentance."
+
+
+NO CAUSE FOR PRIDE.
+
+A member of Congress from Ohio came into Mr. Lincoln's presence
+in a state of unutterable intoxication, and sinking into a chair,
+exclaimed in tones that welled up fuzzy through the gallon or
+more of whiskey that he contained, "Oh, 'why should (hic) the
+spirit of mortal be proud?'"
+
+"My dear sir," said the President, regarding him closely, "I see
+no reason whatever."
+
+
+
+...THE STORY OF LINCOLN'S LIFE...
+
+When Abraham Lincoln once was asked to tell the story of his
+life, he replied:
+
+"It is contained in one line of Gray's 'Elegy in a Country
+Churchyard':
+
+"'The short and simple annals of the poor.'"
+
+That was true at the time he said it, as everything else he said
+was Truth, but he was then only at the beginning of a career that
+was to glorify him as one of the heroes of the world, and place
+his name forever beside the immortal name of the mighty
+Washington.
+
+Many great men, particularly those of America, began life in
+humbleness and poverty, but none ever came from such depths or
+rose to such a height as Abraham Lincoln.
+
+His birthplace, in Hardin county, Kentucky, was but a wilderness,
+and Spencer county, Indiana, to which the Lincoln family removed
+when Abraham was in his eighth year, was a wilder and still more
+uncivilized region.
+
+The little red schoolhouse which now so thickly adorns the
+country hillside had not yet been built. There were scattered
+log schoolhouses, but they were few and far between. In several
+of these Mr. Lincoln got the rudiments of an education--an
+education that was never finished, for to the day of his death he
+was a student and a seeker after knowledge.
+
+Some records of his schoolboy days are still left us. One is a
+book made and bound by Lincoln himself, in which he had written
+the table of weights and measures, and the sums to be worked out
+therefrom. This was his arithmetic, for he was too poor to own a
+printed copy.
+
+A YOUTHFUL POET.
+
+On one of the pages of this quaint book he had written these four
+lines of schoolboy doggerel:
+
+"Abraham Lincoln,
+  His Hand and Pen,
+He Will be Good,
+  But God knows when."
+
+The poetic spirit was strong in the youngscholar just then for on
+another page 
+of the same book he had
+written these two verses, which are supposed to have been
+original with him:
+
+"Time, what an empty vapor 'tis,
+  And days, how swift they are;
+Swift as an Indian arrow
+  Fly on like a shooting star.
+
+The present moment just is here,
+  Then slides away in haste,
+That we can never say they're ours,
+  But only say they're past."
+
+Another specimen of the poetical, or rhyming ability, is found in
+the following couplet, written by him for his friend, Joseph C.
+Richardson:
+
+"Good boys who to their books apply,
+ Will all be great men by and by."
+
+In all, Lincoln's "schooling" did not amount to a year's time,
+but
+he was a constant student outside of the schoolhouse. He read all
+the books he could borrow, and it was his chief delight during
+the day to lie under the shade of some tree, or at night in front
+of an open fireplace, reading and studying. His favorite books
+were the Bible and Aesop's fables, which he kept always within
+reach and read time and again.
+
+The first law book he ever read was "The Statutes of Indiana,"
+and it was from this work that he derived his ambition to be a
+lawyer.
+
+
+MADE SPEECHES WHEN A BOY.
+
+When he was but a barefoot boy he would often make political
+speeches to the boys in the neighborhood, and when he had reached
+young manhood and was engaged in the labor of chopping wood or
+splitting rails he continued this practice of speechmaking with
+only the stumps and surrounding trees for hearers.
+
+At the age of seventeen he had attained his full height of six
+feet four inches and it was at this time he engaged as a ferry
+boatman on the Ohio river, at thirty-seven cents a day.
+
+That he was seriously beginning to think of public affairs even
+at this early age is shown by the fact that about this time he
+wrote a composition on the American Government, urging the
+necessity for 
+preserving the Constitution and perpetuating the Union. A
+Rockport lawyer,
+by the name of Pickert, who read this composition, declared that
+"the world couldn't beat it."
+
+When the dreaded disease, known as the "milk-sick" created such
+havoc in Indiana in 1829, the father of Abraham Lincoln, who was
+of a roving disposition, sought and found a new home in Illinois,
+locating near the town of Decatur, in Macon county, on a bluff
+overlooking the Sangamon river. A short time thereafter Abraham
+Lincoln came of age, and having done his duty to his father,
+began life on his own account.
+
+His first employer was a man named Denton Offut, who engaged
+Lincoln, together with his step-brother and John Hanks, to take a
+boat-load of stock and provisions to New Orleans. Offut was so
+well pleased with the energy and skill that Lincoln displayed on
+this trip that he engaged him as clerk in a store which Offut
+opened a few months later at New Salem.
+
+It was while clerking for Offut that Lincoln performed many of
+those marvelous feats of strength for which he was noted in his
+youth, and displayed his wonderful skill as a wrestler. In
+addition to being six feet four inches high he now weighed two
+hundred and fourteen pounds. And his strength and skill were so
+great combined that he could out-wrestle and out-lift any man in
+that section of the country.
+
+During his clerkship in Offut's store Lincoln continued to read
+and study and made considerable progress in grammar and
+mathematics. Offut failed in business and disappeared from the
+village. In the language of Lincoln he "petered out," and his
+tall, muscular clerk had to seek other employment.
+
+
+ASSISTANT PILOT ON A STEAMBOAT.
+
+In his first public speech, which had already been delivered,
+Lincoln had contended that the Sangamon river was navigable, and
+it now fell to his lot to assist in giving practical proof of his
+argument. A steamboat had arrived at New Salem from Cincinnati,
+and Lincoln was hired as an assistant in piloting the vessel
+through the uncertain channel of the Sangamon river to the
+Illinois river. The way was obstructed by a milldam. Lincoln
+insisted to the owners of the dam that under the Federal
+Constitution and laws no one had a right to dam up or obstruct a
+navigable stream and as he had already proved that the Sangamon
+was navigable a portion of the dam was torn away and the boat
+passed safely through.
+
+
+"CAPTAIN LINCOLN" PLEASED HIM.
+
+At this period in his career the Blackhawk War broke out, and
+Lincoln was one of the first to respond to Governor Reynold's
+call for a thousand mounted volunteers to assist the United
+States troops in driving Blackhawk back across the Mississippi.
+Lincoln enlisted in the company from Sangamon county and was
+elected captain. He often remarked that this gave him greater
+pleasure than anything that had happened in his life up to this
+time. He had, however, no opportunities in this war to perform
+any distinguished service.
+
+Upon his return from the Blackhawk War, in which, as he said
+afterward, in a humorous speech, when in Congress, that he
+"fought, bled and came away," he was an unsuccessful candidate
+for the Legislature. This was the only time in his life, as he
+himself has said, that he was ever beaten by the people. Although
+defeated, in his own town of New Salem he received all of the two
+hundred and eight votes cast except three.
+
+
+FAILURE AS A BUSINESS MAN.
+
+Lincoln's next business venture was with William Berry in a
+general store, under the firm name of Lincoln & Berry, but did
+not take long to show that he was not adapted for a business
+career. The firm failed, Berry died and the debts of the firm
+fell entirely upon Lincoln. Many of these debts he might have
+escaped legally, but he assumed them all and it was not until
+fifteen years later that the last indebtedness of Lincoln & Berry
+was discharged. During his membership in this firm he had applied
+himself to the study of law, beginning at the beginning, that is
+with Blackstone. Now that he had nothing to do he spent much of
+his time lying under the shade of a tree poring over law books,
+borrowed from a comrade in the Blackhawk War, who was then a
+practicing lawyer at Springfield.
+
+
+GAINS FAME AS A STORY TELLER,.
+
+It was about this time, too, that Lincoln's fame as a
+story-teller began to spread far and wide. His sayings and his
+jokes were repeated throughout that section of the country, and
+he was famous as a story-teller before anyone ever heard of him
+as a lawyer or a politician.
+
+It required no little moral courage to resist the temptation that
+beset an idle young man on every hand at that time, for drinking
+and carousing were of daily and nightly occurrence. Lincoln never
+drank intoxicating liquors, nor did he at that time use tobacco,
+but in any sports that called for skill or muscle he took a
+lively interest, even in horse races and cock fights.
+
+
+SURVEYOR WITH NO STRINGS ON HIM.
+
+John Calhoun was at that time surveyor of Sangamon county. He had
+been a lawyer and had noticed the studious Lincoln. Needing an
+assistant he offered the place to Lincoln. The average young man
+without any regular employment and hard-pressed for means to pay
+his board as Lincoln was, would have jumped at the opportunity,
+but a question of principle was involved which had to be settled
+before Lincoln would accept. Calhoun was a Democrat and Lincoln
+was a Whig, therefore Lincoln said, "I will take the office if I
+can be perfectly free in my political actions, but if my
+sentiments or even expression of them are to be abridged in any
+way, I would not have it or any other office."
+
+With this understanding he accepted the office and began to study
+books on surveying, furnished him by his employer. He was not a
+natural mathematician, and in working out his most difficult
+problems he sought the assistance of Mentor Graham, a famous
+schoolmaster in those days, who had previously assisted Lincoln
+in his studies. He soon became a competent surveyor, however, and
+was noted for the accurate way in which he ran his lines and
+located his corners.
+
+Surveying was not as profitable then as it has since become, and
+the young surveyor often had to take his pay in some article
+other than money. One old settler relates that for a survey made
+for him by Lincoln he paid two buckskins, which Hannah Armstrong
+"foxed" on his pants so that the briars would not wear them out.
+
+About this time, 1833, he was made postmaster at New Salem, the
+first Federal office he ever held. Although the postoffice was
+located in a store, Lincoln usually carried the mail around in
+his hat and distributed it to people when he met them.
+
+
+A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE.
+
+The following year Lincoln again ran for the Legislature, this
+time as an avowed Whig. Of the four successful candidates,
+Lincoln
+received the second highest number of votes.
+
+When Lincoln went to take his seat in the Legislature at
+Vandalia he was so poor that he was obliged to borrow $200 to buy
+suitable clothes and uphold the dignity of his new position. He
+took little part in the proceedings, keeping in the background,
+but forming many lasting acquaintances and friendships.
+
+Two years later, when he was again a candidate for the same
+office, there were more political issues to be met, and Lincoln
+met them with characteristic honesty and boldness. During the
+campaign he issued the following letter
+
+"New Salem, June 13, 1836.
+
+"To the Editor of The Journal:
+
+"In your paper of last Saturday I see a communication over the
+signature of 'Many Voters' in which the candidates who are
+announced in the journal are called upon to 'show their hands.'
+Agreed. Here's mine:
+
+"I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist
+in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all
+whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms (by no
+means excluding females).
+
+"If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my
+constituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me.
+
+"While acting as their Representative, I shall be governed by
+their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing
+what their will is; and upon all others I shall do what my own
+judgment teaches me will best advance their interests. Whether
+elected or not, I go for distributing the proceeds of the sales
+of public lands to the several States to enable our State, in
+common with others, to dig canals and construct railroads without
+borrowing money and paying the interest on it.
+
+"If alive on the first Monday in November, I shall vote for Hugh
+L. White, for President.
+
+"Very respectfully
+
+"A. LINCOLN."
+
+This was just the sort of letter to win the support of the
+plain-spoken voters of Sangamon county. Lincoln not only received
+more votes than any other candidate on the Legislative ticket,
+but the county which had always been Democratic was turned Whig.
+
+
+THE FAMOUS "LONG NINE."
+
+The other candidates elected with Lincoln were Ninian W. Edwards,
+John Dawson, Andrew McCormick, "Dan" Stone, William F. Elkin,
+Robert L. Wilson, "Joe" Fletcher, and Archer G. Herndon. These
+were known as the "Long Nine." Their average height was six feet,
+and average weight two hundred pounds.
+
+This Legislature was one of the most famous that ever convened in
+Illinois. Bonds to the amount of $12,000,000 were voted to assist
+in building thirteen hundred miles of railroad, to widen and
+deepen all the streams in the State and to dig a canal from the
+Illinois river to Lake Michigan. Lincoln favored all these plans,
+but in justice to him it must be said that the people he
+represented were also in favor of them.
+
+It was at this session that the State capital was changed from
+Vandalia to Springfield. Lincoln, as the leader of the "Long
+Nine," had charge of the bill and after a long and bitter
+struggle succeeded in passing it.
+
+
+BEGINS TO OPPOSE SLAVERY.
+
+At this early stage in his career Abraham Lincoln began his
+opposition to slavery which eventually resulted in his giving
+liberty to four million human beings. This Legislature passed the
+following resolutions on slavery
+
+"Resolved by the General Assembly, of the State of Illinois: That
+we highly disapprove of the formation of Abolition societies and
+of the doctrines promulgated by them,
+
+"That the right of property in slaves is sacred to the
+slave-holding States by the Federal Constitution, and that they
+cannot be deprived of that right without their consent,
+
+"That the General Government cannot abolish slavery in the
+District of Columbia against the consent of the citizens of said
+district without a manifest breach of good faith."
+
+Against this resolution Lincoln entered a protest, but only
+succeeded in getting one man in the Legislature to sign the
+protest with him.
+
+The protest was as follows:
+
+"Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed
+both branches of the General Assembly at its present session, the
+undersigned hereby protest against the passage of the same.
+
+"They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both
+injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolition
+doctrines tends rather o increase than abate its evils.
+
+"They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power
+under the Constitution to interfere with the institution of
+slavery in the different States.
+
+"They believe that the Congress of the United States has the
+power under the Constitution to abolish slavery in the District
+of Columbia, but that the power ought not to be exercised unless
+at the request of the people of the District.
+
+"The difference between these opinions and those contained in the
+above resolutions is their reason for entering this protest.
+
+"DAN STONE,
+"A. LINCOLN,
+"Representatives from the county of Sangamon."
+
+
+BEGINS TO PRACTICE LAW.
+
+At the end of this session of the Legislature, Mr. Lincoln
+decided to remove to Springfield and practice law. He entered the
+office of John T. Stuart, a former comrade in the Blackhawk War,
+and in March, 1837, was licensed to practice.
+
+Stephen T. Logan was judge of the Circuit Court, and Stephen A.
+Douglas, who was destined to become Lincoln's greatest political
+opponent, was prosecuting attorney. When Lincoln was not in his
+law office his headquarters were in the store of his friend
+Joshua F. Speed, in which gathered all the youthful orators and
+statesmen of that day, and where many exciting arguments and
+discussions were held. Lincoln and Douglas both took part in the
+discussion held in Speed's store. Douglas was the acknowledged
+leader of the Democratic side and Lincoln was rapidly coming to
+the front as a leader among the Whig debaters. One evening in the
+midst of a heated argument Douglas, or "the Little Giant," as he
+was called, exclaimed:
+
+"This store is no place to talk politics."
+
+
+HIS FIRST JOINT DEBATE.
+
+Arrangements were at once made for a joint debate between the
+leading Democrats and Whigs to take place in a local church. The
+Democrats were represented by Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn and
+Thomas. The Whig speakers were Judge Logan, Colonel E. D. Baker,
+Mr. Browning and Lincoln. This discussion was the forerunner of
+the famous joint-debate between Lincoln and Douglas, which took
+place some years later and attracted the attention of the people
+throughout the United States. Although Mr. Lincoln was the last
+speaker in the first discussion held, his speech attracted more
+attention than any of the others and added much to his reputation
+as a public debater.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's last campaign for the Legislature was in 1840. In
+the same year he was made an elector on the Harrison presidential
+ticket, and in his canvass of the State frequently met the
+Democratic champion, Douglas, in debate. After 1840 Mr. Lincoln
+declined re-election to the Legislature, but he was a
+presidential elector on the Whig tickets of 1844 and 1852, and
+on the Republican ticket for the State at large in 1856.
+
+
+MARRIES A SPRINGFIELD BELLE.
+
+Among the social belles of Springfield was Mary Todd, a handsome
+and cultivated girl of the illustrious descent which could be
+traced back to the sixth century, to whom Mr. Lincoln was married
+in 1842. Stephen A. Douglas was his competitor in love as well as
+in politics. He courted Mary Todd until it became evident that
+she preferred Mr. Lincoln.
+
+Previous to his marriage Mr. Lincoln had two love affairs, one of
+them so serious that it left an impression upon his whole future
+life. One of the objects of his affection was Miss Mary Owen, of
+Green county, Kentucky, who decided that Mr. Lincoln "was
+deficient in those little links which make up the chain of
+woman's happiness." The affair ended without any damage to Mr.
+Lincoln's heart or the heart of the lady.
+
+
+STORY OF ANNE RUTLEDGE.
+
+Lincoln's first love, however, had a sad termination. The object
+of his affections at that time was Anne Rutledge, whose father
+was one of the founders of New Salem. Like Miss Owen, Miss
+Rutledge was also born in Kentucky, and was gifted with the
+beauty and graces that distinguish many Southern women. At the
+time that Mr. Lincoln and Anne Rutledge were engaged to be
+married, he thought himself too poor to properly support a wife,
+and they decided to wait until such time as he could better his
+financial condition. A short time thereafter Miss Rutledge was
+attacked with a fatal illness, and her death was such a blow to
+her intended husband that for a long time his friends feared that
+he would lose his mind.
+
+
+HIS DUEL WITH SHIELDS.
+
+Just previous to his marriage with Mary Todd, Mr. Lincoln was
+challenged to fight a duel by James Shields, then Auditor of
+State. The challenge grew out of some humorous letters concerning
+Shields, published in a local paper. The first of these letters
+was written by Mr. Lincoln. The others by Mary Todd and her
+sister. Mr. Lincoln acknowledged the authorship of the letters
+without naming the ladies, and agreed to meet Shields on the
+field of honor. As he had the choice of weapons he named
+broadswords, and actually went to the place selected for the
+duel.
+
+The duel was never fought. Mutual friends got together and
+patched up an understanding between Mr. Lincoln and the
+hot-headed Irishman.
+
+
+FORMS NEW PARTNERSHIP.
+
+Before this time Mr. Lincoln had dissolved partnership with
+Stuart and entered into a law partnership with Judge Logan. In
+1843 both Lincoln and Logan were candidates for nomination for
+Congress and the personal ill-will caused by their rivalry
+resulted in the dissolution of the firm and the formation of a
+new law firm of Lincoln & Herndon, which continued, nominally at
+least, until Mr. Lincoln's death.
+
+The congressional nomination, however, went to Edward D. Baker,
+who was elected. Two years later the principal candidates for the
+Whig nomination for Congress were Mr. Lincoln and his former law
+partner, Judge Logan. Party sentiment was so strongly in favor of
+Lincoln that Judge Logan withdrew and Lincoln was nominated
+unanimously. The campaign that followed was one of the most
+memorable and interesting ever held in Illinois.
+
+
+DEFEATS PETER CARTWRIGHT FOR CONGRESS.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's opponent on the Democratic ticket was no less a
+person than old Peter Cartwright, the famous Methodist preacher
+and circuit rider. Cartwright had preached to almost every
+congregation in the district and had a strong following in all
+the churches. Mr. Lincoln did not underestimate the strength of
+his great rival. He abandoned his law business entirely and gave
+his whole attention to the canvass. This time Mr. Lincoln was
+victorious and was elected by a large majority.
+
+When Lincoln took his seat in Congress, in 1847, he was the only
+Whig member from Illinois. His great political rival, Douglas,
+was in the Senate. The Mexican War had already broken out,
+which, in common with his party, he had opposed. Later in life he
+was charged with having opposed the voting of supplies to the
+American troops in Mexico, but this was a falsehood which he
+easily disproved. He was strongly opposed to the War, but after
+it was once begun he urged its vigorous prosecution and voted
+with the Democrats on all measures concerning the care and pay of
+the soldiers. His opposition to the War, however, cost him a
+re-election; it cost his party the congressional district, which
+was carried by the Democrats in 1848. Lincoln's former law
+partner, Judge Logan, secured the Whig nomination that year and
+was defeated.
+
+
+MAKES SPEECHES FOR "OLD ZACH."
+
+In the national convention at Philadelphia, in 1848, Mr. Lincoln
+was a delegate and advocated the nomination of General Taylor.
+
+After the nomination of General Taylor, or "Old Zach," or
+"rough and Ready," as he was called, Mr. Lincoln made a tour of
+New York and several New England States, making speeches for his
+candidate.
+
+Mr. Lincoln went to New England in this campaign on account of
+the great defection in the Whig party. General Taylor's
+nomination was unsatisfactory to the free-soil element, and such
+leaders as Henry Wilson, Charles Francis Adams, Charles Allen,
+Charles Sumner, Stephen C. Phillips, Richard H. Dana, Jr., and
+Anson Burlingame, were in open revolt. Mr. Lincoln's speeches
+were confined largely to a defense of General Taylor, but at the
+same time he denounced the free-soilers for helping to elect
+Cass. Among other things he said that the free-soilers had but
+one principle and that they reminded him of the Yankee peddler
+going to sell a pair of pantaloons and describing them as "large
+enough for any man, and small enough for any boy."
+
+It is an odd fact in history that the prominent Whigs of
+Massachusetts at that time became the opponents of Mr. Lincoln's
+election to the presidency and the policy of his administration,
+while the free-soilers, whom he denounced, were among his
+strongest supporters, advisers and followers.
+
+At the second session of Congress Mr. Lincoln's one act of
+consequence was the introduction of a bill providing for the
+gradual emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia.
+Joshua R. Giddings, the great antislavery agitator, and one or
+two lesser lights supported it, but the bill was laid on the
+table.
+
+After General Taylor's election Mr. Lincoln had the distribution
+of Federal patronage in his own Congressional district, and this
+added much to his political importance, although it was a
+ceaseless source of worry to him.
+
+
+DECLINES A HIGH OFFICE.
+
+Just before the close of his term in Congress Mr. Lincoln was an
+applicant for the office of Commissioner of the General Land
+Office, but was unsuccessful. He had been such a factor in
+General Taylor's election that the administration thought
+something was due him, and after his return to Illinois he was
+called to Washington and offered the Governorship of the
+Territory of Oregon. It is likely he would have accepted this had
+not Mrs. Lincoln put her foot down with an emphatic no.
+
+He declined a partnership with a well-known Chicago lawyer and
+returning to his Springfield home resumed the practice of law.
+
+>From this time until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise,
+which
+opened the way for the admission of slavery into the territories,
+Mr. Lincoln devoted himself more industriously than ever to the
+practice of law, and during those five years he was probably a
+greater student than he had ever been before. His partner, W. H.
+Herndon, has told of the changes that took place in the courts
+and in the methods of practice while Mr. Lincoln was away.
+
+
+LINCOLN AS A LAWYER.
+
+When he returned to active practice he saw at once that the
+courts had grown more learned and dignified and that the bar
+relied more upon method and system and a knowledge of the statute
+law than upon the stump speech method of early days.
+
+Mr. Herndon tells us that Lincoln would lie in bed and read by
+candle light, sometimes until two o'clock in the morning, while
+his famous colleagues, Davis, Logan, Swett, Edwards and Herndon,
+were soundly and sometimes loudly sleeping. He read and reread
+the statutes and books of practice, devoured Shakespeare, who was
+always a favorite of his, and studied Euclid so diligently that
+he could easily demonstrate all the propositions contained in the
+six books.
+
+Mr. Lincoln detested office work. He left all that to his
+partner. He disliked to draw up legal papers or to write letters.
+The firm of which he was a member kept no books. When either
+Lincoln or Herndon received a fee they divided the money then and
+there. If his partner were not in the office at the time Mr.
+Lincoln would wrap up half of the fee in a sheet of paper, on
+which he would write, "Herndon's half," giving the name of the
+case, and place it in his partner's desk.
+
+But in court, arguing a case, pleading to the jury and laying
+down the law, Lincoln was in his element. Even when he had a weak
+case he was a strong antagonist, and when he had right and
+justice on his side, as he nearly always had, no one could beat
+him.
+
+He liked an outdoor life, hence he was fond of riding the
+circuit. He enjoyed the company of other men, liked discussion
+and argument, loved to tell stories and to hear them, laughing as
+heartily at his own stories as he did at those that were told to
+him.
+
+
+TELLING STORIES ON THE CIRCUIT.
+
+The court circuit in those days was the scene of many a
+story-telling joust, in which Lincoln was always the chief.
+Frequently he would sit up until after midnight reeling off story
+after story, each one followed by roars of laughter that could be
+heard all over the country tavern, in which the story-telling
+group was gathered. Every type of character would be represented
+in these groups, from the learned judge on the bench down to the
+village loafer.
+
+Lincoln's favorite attitude was to sit with his long legs propped
+up on the rail of the stove, or with his feet against the wall,
+and thus he would sit for hours entertaining a crowd, or being
+entertained.
+
+One circuit judge was so fond of Lincoln's stories that he often
+would sit up until midnight listening to them, and then declare
+that he had laughed so much he believed his ribs were shaken
+loose.
+
+The great success of Abraham Lincoln as a trial lawyer was due to
+a number of facts. He would not take a case if he believed that
+the law and justice were on the other side. When he addressed a
+jury he made them feel that he only wanted fair play and justice.
+He did not talk over their heads, but got right down to a
+friendly tone such as we use in ordinary conversation, and talked
+at them, appealing to their honesty and common sense,
+
+And making his argument plain by telling a story or two that
+brought the matter clearly within their understanding.
+
+When he did not know the law in a particular case he never
+pretended to know it. If there were no precedents to cover a case
+he would state his side plainly and fairly; he would tell the
+jury what he believed was right for them to do, and then conclude
+with his favorite expression, "it seems to me that this ought to
+be the law."
+
+Some time before the repeal of the Missouri Compromise a lawyer
+friend said to him: "Lincoln, the time is near at hand when we
+shall have to be all Abolitionists or all Democrats."
+
+"When that time comes my mind is made up," he replied, "for I
+believe the slavery question never can be compromised."
+
+
+THE LION IS AROUSED TO ACTION.
+
+While Lincoln took a mild interest in politics, he was not a
+candidate for office, except as a presidential elector, from the
+time of leaving Congress until the repeal of the Missouri
+Compromise. This repeal Legislation was the work of Lincoln's
+political antagonist, Stephen A. Douglas, and aroused Mr. Lincoln
+to action as the lion is roused by some foe worthy of his great
+strength and courage.
+
+Mr. Douglas argued that the true intent and meaning of the act
+was not to legislate slavery into any territory or state, nor to
+exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people perfectly free to
+form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way.
+
+"Douglas' argument amounts to this," said Mr. Lincoln, "that if
+any one man chooses to enslave another no third man shall be
+allowed to object."
+
+After the adjournment of Congress Mr. Douglas returned to
+Illinois and began to defend his action in the repeal of the
+Missouri Compromise. His most important speech was made at
+Springfield, and Mr. Lincoln was selected to answer it. That
+speech alone was sufficient to make Mr. Lincoln the leader of
+anti-Slavery sentiment in the West, and some of the men who heard
+it declared that it was the greatest speech he ever made.
+
+With the repeal of the Missouri Compromise the Whig party began
+to break up, the majority of its members who were pronounced
+Abolitionists began to form the nucleus of the Republican party.
+Before this party was formed, however, Mr. Lincoln was induced to
+follow Douglas around the State and reply to him, but after one
+meeting at Peoria, where they both spoke, they entered into an
+agreement to return to their homes and make no more speeches
+during the campaign.
+
+
+SEEKS A SEAT IN THE SENATE.
+
+Mr. Lincoln made no secret at this time of his ambition to
+represent Illinois in the United States Senate. Against his
+protest he was nominated and elected to the Legislature, but
+resigned his seat. His old rival, James Shields, with whom he was
+once near to a duel, was then senator, and his term was to expire
+the following year.
+
+A letter, written by Mr. Lincoln to a friend in Paris, Illinois,
+at this time is interesting and significant. He wrote:
+
+"I have a suspicion that a Whig has been elected to the
+Legislature from Eagar. If this is not so, why, then, 'nix cum
+arous;' but if it is so, then could you not make a mark with him
+for me for United States senator? I really have some chance."
+
+Another candidate besides Mr. Lincoln was seeking the seat in the
+United States Senate, soon to be vacated by Mr. Shields. This was
+Lyman Trumbull, an anti-slavery Democrat. When the Legislature
+met it was found that Mr. Lincoln lacked five votes of an
+election, while Mr. Trumbull had but five supporters. After
+several ballots Mr. Lincoln feared that Trumbull's votes would be
+given to a Democratic candidate and he determined to sacrifice
+himself for the principle at stake. Accordingly he instructed his
+friends in the Legislature to vote for Judge Trumbull, which they
+did, resulting in Trumbull's election.
+
+The Abolitionists in the West had become very radical in their
+views, and did not hesitate to talk of opposing the extension of
+slavery by the use of force if necessary. Mr. Lincoln, on the
+other hand, was conservative and counseled moderation. In the
+meantime many outrages, growing out of the extension of slavery,
+were being perpetrated on the borders of Kansas and Missouri, and
+they no doubt influenced Mr. Lincoln to take a more radical stand
+against the slavery question.
+
+An incident occurred at this time which had great effect in this
+direction. The negro son of a colored woman in Springfield had
+gone South to work. He was born free, but did not have his free
+papers with him. He was arrested and would have been sold into
+slavery to pay his prison expenses, had not Mr. Lincoln and some
+friends purchased his liberty. Previous to this Mr. Lincoln had
+tried to secure the boy's release through the Governor of
+Illinois, but the Governor informed him that nothing could be
+done.
+
+Then it was that Mr. Lincoln rose to his full height and
+exclaimed:
+
+"Governor, I'll make the ground in this country too hot for the
+foot of a slave, whether you have the legal power to secure the
+release of this boy or not."
+
+
+HELPS TO ORGANIZE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
+
+The year after Mr. Trumbull's election to the Senate the
+Republican party was formally organized. A state convention of
+that party was called to meet at Bloomington May 29, 1856. The
+call for this convention was signed by many Springfield Whigs,
+and among the names was that of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln's
+name had been signed to the call by his law partner, but when he
+was informed of this action he endorsed it fully. Among the
+famous men who took part in this convention were Abraham
+Lincoln, Lyman Trumbull, David Davis, Leonard Swett, Richard
+Yates, Norman, B. Judd and Owen Lovejoy, the Alton editor, whose
+life, like Lincoln's, finally paid the penalty for his Abolition
+views. The party nominated for Governor, Wm. H. Bissell, a
+veteran of the Mexican War, and adopted a platform ringing with
+anti-slavery sentiment.
+
+Mr. Lincoln was the greatest power in the campaign that followed.
+He was one of the Fremont Presidential electors, and he went to
+work with all his might to spread the new party gospel and make
+votes for the old "Path-Finder of the Rocky Mountains."
+
+An amusing incident followed close after the Bloomington
+convention. A meeting was called at Springfield to ratify the
+action at Bloomington. Only three persons attended--Mr. Lincoln,
+his law partner and a man named John Paine. Mr. Lincoln made a
+speech to his colleagues, in which, among other things, he said:
+"While all seems dead, the age itself is not. It liveth as sure
+as our Maker liveth."
+
+In this campaign Mr. Lincoln was in general demand not only in
+his own state, but in Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin as well.
+
+The result of that Presidential campaign was the election of
+Buchanan as President, Bissell as Governor, leaving Mr. Lincoln
+the undisputed leader of the new party. Hence it was that two
+years later he was the inevitable man to oppose Judge Douglas in
+the campaign for United States Senator.
+
+
+THE RAIL SPLITTER vs. THE LITTLE GIANT.
+
+No record of Abraham Lincoln's career would be complete without
+the story of the memorable joint debates between the
+"Rail-Splitter of the Sangamon Valley" and the "Little Giant."
+The opening lines in Mr. Lincoln's speech to the Republican
+Convention were not only prophetic of the coming rebellion, but
+they clearly made the issue between the Republican and Democratic
+parties for two Presidential campaigns to follow. The memorable
+sentences were as follows:
+
+"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this
+Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I
+do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the
+house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It
+will become all the one thing or the other. Either the opponents
+of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it
+where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the
+course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it
+forward till it becomes alike lawful in all the states, old as
+well as new, North as well as South."
+
+It is universally conceded that this speech contained the most
+important utterances of Mr. Lincoln's life.
+
+Previous to its delivery, the Democratic convention had endorsed
+Mr. Douglas for re-election to the Senate, and the Republican
+convention had resolved that "Abraham Lincoln is our first and
+only choice for United States Senator, to fill the vacancy
+about to be created by the expiration of Mr. Douglas' term of
+office."
+
+Before Judge Douglas had made many speeches in this Senatorial
+campaign, Mr. Lincoln challenged him to a joint debate, which
+was accepted, and seven memorable meetings between these two
+great leaders followed. The places and dates were: Ottawa, August
+21st; Freeport, August 27th; Jonesboro, September 15th;
+Charleston, September 18th; Galesburg, October 7th; Quincy,
+October 13th; and Alton, October 15th.
+
+The debates not only attracted the attention of the people in the
+state of Illinois, but aroused an interest throughout the whole
+country equal to that of a Presidential election.
+
+
+WERE LIKE CROWDS AT A CIRCUS.
+
+All the meetings of the joint debate were attended by immense
+crowds of people. They came in all sorts of vehicles, on
+horseback, and many walked weary miles on foot to hear these two
+great leaders discuss the issues of the campaign. There had never
+been political meetings held under such unusual conditions as
+these, and there probably never will be again. At every place the
+speakers were met by great crowds of their friends and escorted
+to the platforms in the open air where the debates were held. The
+processions that escorted the speakers were most unique. They
+carried flags and banners and were preceded by bands of music.
+The people discharged cannons when they had them, and, when they
+did not, blacksmiths' anvils were made to take their places.
+
+Oftentimes a part of the escort would be mounted, and in most of
+the processions were chariots containing young ladies
+representing the different states of the Union designated by
+banners they carried. Besides the bands, there was usually vocal
+music. Patriotic songs were the order of the day, the
+"Star-Spangled Banner" and "Hail Columbia" being great favorites.
+
+So far as the crowds were concerned, these joint debates took on
+the appearance of a circus day, and this comparison was
+strengthened by the sale of lemonade, fruit, melons and
+confectionery on the outskirts of the gatherings.
+
+At Ottawa, after his speech, Mr. Lincoln was carried around on
+the shoulders of his enthusiastic supporters, who did not put him
+down until they reached the place where he was to spend the
+night.
+
+In the joint debates, each of the candidates asked the other a
+series of questions. Judge Douglas' replies to Mr. Lincoln's
+shrewd questions helped Douglas to win the Senatorial election,
+but they lost him the support of the South in the campaign for
+President two years thereafter. Mr. Lincoln was told when he
+framed his questions that if Douglas answered them in the way it
+was believed he would that the answers would make him Senator.
+
+"That may be," said Mr. Lincoln, "but if he takes that shoot he
+never can be President."
+
+The prophecy was correct. Mr. Douglas was elected Senator, but
+two years later only carried one state--Missouri--for President.
+
+
+HIS BUCKEYE CAMPAIGN.
+
+After the close of this canvass, Mr. Lincoln again devoted
+himself to the practice of his profession, but he was destined to
+remain but a short time in retirement. In the fall of 1859 Mr.
+Douglas went to Ohio to stump the state for his friend, Mr. Pugh,
+the Democratic candidate for Governor. The Ohio Republicans at
+once asked Mr. Lincoln to come to the state and reply to the
+"Little Giant." He accepted the invitation and made two masterly
+speeches in the campaign. In one of them, delivered at
+Cincinnati, he prophesied the outcome of the rebellion if the
+Southern people attempted to divide the Union by force.
+
+Addressing himself particularly to the Kentuckians in the
+audience, he said:
+
+"I have told you what we mean to do. I want to know, now, when
+that thing takes place, what do you mean to do? I often hear it
+intimated that you mean to divide the Union whenever a
+Republican, or anything like it, is elected President of the
+United States. [A Voice--"That is so."] 'That is so,' one of them
+says; I wonder if he is a Kentuckian? [A Voice--"He is a Douglas
+man."] Well, then, I want to know what you are going to do with
+your half of it?
+
+"Are you going to split the Ohio down through, and push your half
+off a piece? Or are you going to keep it right alongside of us
+outrageous fellows? Or are you going to build up a wall some way
+between your country, and ours, by which that movable property of
+yours can't come over here any more, to the danger of your losing
+it? Do you think you can better yourselves on that subject by
+leaving us here under no obligation whatever to return those
+specimens of your movable property that come hither?
+
+"You have divided the Union because we would not do right with
+you, as you think, upon that subject; when we cease to be under
+obligations to do anything for you, how much better off do you
+think you will be? Will you make war upon us and kill us all?
+Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gallant and as brave men as
+live; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man for man,
+as any other people living; that you have shown yourselves
+capable of this upon various occasions; but, man for man, you are
+not better than we are, and there are not so many of you as there
+are of us.
+
+"You will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were
+fewer in numbers than you, I think that you could whip us; if we
+were equal, it would likely be a drawn battle; but, being
+inferior in numbers, you will make nothing by attempting to
+master us.
+
+"But perhaps I have addressed myself as long, or longer, to the
+Kentuckians than I ought to have done, inasmuch as I have said
+that, whatever course you take, we intend in the end to beat
+you."
+
+
+FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK.
+
+Later in the year Mr. Lincoln also spoke in Kansas, where he was
+received with great enthusiasm, and in February of the following
+year he made his great speech in Cooper Union, New York, to an
+immense gathering, presided over by William Cullen Bryant, the
+poet, who was then editor of the New York Evening Post. There was
+great curiosity to see the Western rail-splitter who had so
+lately met the famous "Little Giant" of the West in debate, and
+Mr. Lincoln's speech was listened to by many of the ablest men in
+the East.
+
+This speech won for him many supporters in the Presidential
+campaign that followed, for his hearers at once recognized his
+wonderful ability to deal with the questions then uppermost in
+the public mind.
+
+
+FIRST NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT.
+
+The Republican National Convention of 1860 met in Chicago, May
+16, in an immense building called the "Wigwam." The leading
+candidates for President were William H. Seward of New York and
+Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. Among others spoken of were Salmon
+P. Chase of Ohio and Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania.
+
+On the first ballot for President, Mr. Seward received one
+hundred and seventy-three and one-half votes; Mr. Lincoln, one
+hundred and two votes, the others scattering. On the first
+ballot, Vermont had divided her vote, but on the second the
+chairman of the Vermont delegation announced: "Vermont casts her
+ten votes for the young giant of the West--Abraham Lincoln."
+
+This was the turning point in the convention toward Mr. Lincoln's
+nomination. The second ballot resulted: Seward, one hundred and
+eighty-four and one-half; Lincoln, one hundred and eighty-one. On
+the third ballot, Mr. Lincoln received two hundred and thirty
+votes. One and one-half votes more would nominate him. Before the
+ballot was announced, Ohio made a change of four votes in favor
+of Mr. Lincoln, making him the nominee for President.
+
+Other states tried to follow Ohio's example, but it was a long
+time before any of the delegates could make themselves heard.
+Cannons planted on top of the wigwam were roaring and booming;
+the large crowd in the wigwam and the immense throng outside were
+cheering at the top of their lungs, while bands were playing
+victorious airs.
+
+When order had been restored, it was announced that on the third
+ballot Abraham Lincoln of Illinois had received three hundred and
+fifty-four votes and was nominated by the Republican party to the
+office of President of the United States.
+
+Mr. Lincoln heard the news of his nomination while sitting in a
+newspaper office in Springfield, and hurried home to tell his
+wife.
+
+As Mr. Lincoln had predicted, Judge Douglas' position on slavery
+in the territories lost him the support of the South, and when
+the Democratic convention met at Charleston, the slave-holding
+states forced the nomination of John C. Breckinridge. A
+considerable number of people who did not agree with either party
+nominated John Bell of Tennessee.
+
+In the election which followed, Mr. Lincoln carried all of the
+free states, except New Jersey, which was divided between himself
+and Douglas; Breckinridge carried all the slave states, except
+Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, which went for Bell, and
+Missouri gave its vote to Douglas.
+
+
+FORMATION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
+
+The election was scarcely over before it was evident that the
+Southern States did not intend to abide by the result, and that a
+conspiracy was on foot to divide the Union. Before the
+Presidential election even, the Secretary of War in President
+Buchanan's Cabinet had removed one hundred and fifty thousand
+muskets from Government armories in the North and sent them to
+Government armories in the South.
+
+Before Mr. Lincoln had prepared his inaugural address, South
+Carolina, which took the lead in the secession movement, had
+declared through her Legislature her separation from the Union.
+Before Mr. Lincoln took his seat, other Southern States had
+followed the example of South Carolina, and a convention had been
+held at Montgomery, Alabama, which had elected Jefferson Davis
+President of the new Confederacy, and Alexander H. Stevens, of
+Georgia, Vice-President.
+
+Southern men in the Cabinet, Senate and House had resigned their
+seats and gone home, and Southern States were demanding that
+Southern forts and Government property in their section should be
+turned over to them.
+
+Between his election and inauguration, Mr. Lincoln remained
+silent, reserving his opinions and a declaration of his policy
+for his inaugural address.
+
+Before Mr. Lincoln's departure from Springfield for Washington,
+threats had been freely made that he would never reach the
+capital alive, and, in fact, a conspiracy was then on foot to
+take his life in the city of Baltimore.
+
+Mr. Lincoln left Springfield on February 11th, in company with
+his wife and three sons, his brother-in-law, Dr. W. S. Wallace;
+David Davis, Norman B. Judd, Elmer E. Elsworth, Ward H. Lamon,
+Colonel E. V. Sunder of the United States Army, and the
+President's two secretaries.
+
+
+GOOD-BYE TO THE OLD FOLK.
+
+Early in February, before leaving for Washington, Mr. Lincoln
+slipped away from Springfield and paid a visit to his aged
+step-mother in Coles county. He also paid a visit to the unmarked
+grave of his father and ordered a suitable stone to mark the
+spot.
+
+Before leaving Springfield, he made an address to his
+fellow-townsmen, in which he displayed sincere sorrow at parting
+from them.
+
+"Friends," he said, "no one who has never been placed in a like
+position can understand my feelings at this hour, nor the
+oppressive sadness I feel at this parting. For more than a
+quarter of a century I have lived among you, and during all that
+time I have received nothing but kindness at your hands. Here I
+have lived from my youth until now I am an old man. Here the most
+sacred ties of earth were assumed. Here all my children were
+born, and here one of them lies buried.
+
+
+"To you, dear friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am. All
+the strange, checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind.
+To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more difficult than
+that which devolved upon Washington. Unless the great God who
+assisted him shall be with and aid me, I must fail; but if the
+same omniscient mind and almighty arm that directed and protected
+him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail--I shall
+succeed. Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may
+not forsake us now.
+
+"To Him I commend you all. Permit me to ask that with equal
+sincerity and faith you will invoke His wisdom and guidance for
+me. With these words I must leave you, for how long I know not.
+Friends, one and all, I must now bid you an affectionate
+farewell."
+
+The journey from Springfield to Philadelphia was a continuous
+ovation for Mr. Lincoln. Crowds assembled to meet him at the
+various places along the way, and he made them short speeches,
+full of humor and good feeling. At Harrisburg, Pa., the party was
+met by Allan Pinkerton, who knew of the plot in Baltimore to take
+the life of Mr. Lincoln.
+
+
+THE "SECRET PASSAGE" TO WASHINGTON.
+
+Throughout his entire life, Abraham Lincoln's physical courage
+was as great and superb as his moral courage. When Mr. Pinkerton
+and Mr. Judd urged the President-elect to leave for Washington
+that night, he positively refused to do it. He said he had made
+an engagement to assist at a flag raising in the forenoon of the
+next day and to show himself to the people of Harrisburg in the
+afternoon, and that he intended to keep both engagements.
+
+At Philadelphia the Presidential party was met by Mr. Seward's
+son, Frederick, who had been sent to warn Mr. Lincoln of the plot
+against his life. Mr. Judd, Mr. Pinkerton and Mr. Lamon figured
+out a plan to take Mr. Lincoln through Baltimore between midnight
+and daybreak, when the would-be assassins would not be expecting
+him, and this plan was carried out so thoroughly that even the
+conductor on the train did not know the President-elect was on
+board.
+
+Mr. Lincoln was put into his berth and the curtains drawn. He was
+supposed to be a sick man. When the conductor came around, Mr.
+Pinkerton handed him the "sick man's" ticket and he passed on
+without question.
+
+When the train reached Baltimore, at half-past three o'clock in
+the morning, it was met by one of Mr. Pinkerton's detectives, who
+reported that everything was "all right," and in a short time the
+party was speeding on to the national capital, where rooms had
+been engaged for Mr. Lincoln and his guard at Willard's Hotel.
+
+Mr. Lincoln always regretted this "secret passage" to Washington,
+for it was repugnant to a man of his high courage. He had agreed
+to the plan simply because all of his friends urged it as the
+best thing to do.
+
+Now that all the facts are known, it is assured that his friends
+were right, and that there never was a moment from the day he
+crossed the Maryland line until his assassination that his life
+was not in danger, and was only saved as long as it was by the
+constant vigilance of those who were guarding him.
+
+
+HIS ELOQUENT INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
+
+The wonderful eloquence of Abraham Lincoln--clear, sincere,
+natural--found grand expression in his first inaugural address,
+in which he not only outlined his policy toward the States in
+rebellion, but made that beautiful and eloquent plea for
+conciliation. The closing sentences of Mr. Lincoln's first
+inaugural address deservedly take rank with his Gettysburg speech
+
+"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen," he said, "and
+not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government
+will not assail you.
+
+"You can have no conflict without being yourselves the
+aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the
+Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve,
+protect and defend' it.
+
+"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must
+not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not
+break our bonds of affection.
+
+"The mystic cord of memory, stretching from every battle-field
+and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over
+this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when
+again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of
+our nature."
+
+
+FOLLOWS PRECEDENT OF WASHINGTON.
+
+In selecting his Cabinet, Mr. Lincoln, consciously or
+unconsciously, followed a precedent established by Washington, of
+selecting men of almost opposite opinions. His Cabinet was
+composed of William H. Seward of New York, Secretary of State;
+Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron
+of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon E. Welles of
+Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith of Indiana,
+Secretary of the Interior; Montgomery Blair of Maryland,
+Postmaster-General; Edward Bates of Missouri, Attorney-General.
+
+Mr. Chase, although an anti-slavery leader, was a States-Rights
+Federal Republican, while Mr. Seward was a Whig, without having
+connected himself with the anti-slavery movement.
+
+Mr. Chase and Mr. Seward, the leading men of Mr. Lincoln's
+Cabinet, were as widely apart and antagonistic in their views as
+were Jefferson, the Democrat, and Hamilton, the Federalist, the
+two leaders in Washington's Cabinet. But in bringing together
+these two strong men as his chief advisers, both of whom had been
+rival candidates for the Presidency, Mr. Lincoln gave another
+example of his own greatness and self-reliance, and put them both
+in a position to render greater service to the Government than
+they could have done, probably, as President.
+
+Mr. Lincoln had been in office little more than five weeks when
+the War of the Rebellion began by the firing on Fort Sumter.
+
+
+GREATER DIPLOMAT THAN SEWARD.
+
+The War of the Rebellion revealed to the people--in fact, to the
+whole world--the many sides of Abraham Lincoln's character. It
+showed him as a real ruler of men--not a ruler by the mere power
+of might, but by the power of a great brain. In his Cabinet were
+the ablest men in the country, yet they all knew that Lincoln was
+abler than any of them.
+
+Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, was a man famed in
+statesmanship and diplomacy. During the early stages of the Civil
+War, when France and England were seeking an excuse to interfere
+and help the Southern Confederacy, Mr. Seward wrote a letter to
+our minister in London, Charles Francis Adams, instructing him
+concerning the attitude of the Federal government on the question
+of interference, which would undoubtedly have brought about a war
+with England if Abraham Lincoln had not corrected and amended the
+letter. He did this, too, without yielding a point or sacrificing
+in any way his own dignity or that of the country.
+
+
+LINCOLN A GREAT GENERAL.
+
+Throughout the four years of war, Mr. Lincoln spent a great deal
+of time in the War Department, receiving news from the front and
+conferring with Secretary of War Stanton concerning military
+affairs.
+
+Mr. Lincoln's War Secretary, Edwin M. Stanton, who had succeeded
+Simon Cameron, was a man of wonderful personality and iron will.
+It is generally conceded that no other man could have managed the
+great War Secretary so well as Lincoln. Stanton had his way in
+most matters, but when there was an important difference of
+opinion he always found Lincoln was the master.
+
+Although Mr. Lincoln's communications to the generals in the
+field were oftener in the nature of suggestions than positive
+orders, every military leader recognized Mr. Lincoln's ability in
+military operations. In the early stages of the war, Mr. Lincoln
+followed closely every plan and movement of McClellan, and the
+correspondence between them proves Mr. Lincoln to have been far
+the abler general of the two. He kept close watch of Burnside,
+too, and when he gave the command of the Army of the Potomac to
+"Fighting Joe" Hooker he also gave that general some fatherly
+counsel and advice which was of great benefit to him as a
+commander.
+
+
+ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE IN GRANT.
+
+It was not until General Grant had been made Commander-in-Chief
+that President Lincoln felt he had at last found a general who
+did not need much advice. He was the first to recognize that
+Grant was a great military leader, and when he once felt sure of
+this fact nothing could shake his confidence in that general.
+Delegation after delegation called at the White House and asked
+for Grant's removal from the head of the army. They accused him
+of being a butcher, a drunkard, a man without sense or feeling.
+
+President Lincoln listened to all of these attacks, but he always
+had an apt answer to silence Grant's enemies. Grant was doing
+what Lincoln wanted done from the first--he was fighting and
+winning victories, and victories are the only things that count
+in war.
+
+
+REASONS FOB FREEING THE SLAVES.
+
+The crowning act of Lincoln's career as President was the
+emancipation of the slaves. All of his life he had believed in
+gradual emancipation, but all of his plans contemplated payment
+to the slaveholders. While he had always been opposed to slavery,
+he did not take any steps to use it as a war measure until about
+the middle of 1862. His chief object was to preserve the Union.
+
+He wrote to Horace Greeley that if he could save the Union
+without freeing any of the slaves he would do it; that if he
+could save it by freeing some and leaving the others in slavery
+he would do that; that if it became necessary to free all the
+slaves in order to save the Union he would take that course.
+
+The anti-slavery men were continually urging Mr. Lincoln to set
+the slaves free, but he paid no attention to their petitions and
+demands until he felt that emancipation would help him to
+preserve the Union of the States.
+
+The outlook for the Union cause grew darker and darker in 1862,
+and Mr. Lincoln began to think, as he expressed it, that he must
+"change his tactics or lose the game." Accordingly he decided to
+issue the Emancipation Proclamation as soon as the Union army won
+a substantial victory. The battle of Antietam, on September 17,
+gave him the opportunity he sought. He told Secretary Chase that
+he had made a solemn vow before God that if General Lee should be
+driven back from Pennsylvania he would crown the result by a
+declaration of freedom to the slaves.
+
+On the twenty-second of that month he issued a proclamation
+stating that at the end of one hundred days he would issue
+another proclamation declaring all slaves within any State or
+Territory to be forever free, which was done in the form of the
+famous Emancipation Proclamation.
+
+
+HARD TO REFUSE PARDONS.
+
+In the conduct of the war and in his purpose to maintain the
+Union, Abraham Lincoln exhibited a will of iron and determination
+that could not be shaken, but in his daily contact with the
+mothers, wives and daughters begging for the life of some soldier
+who had been condemned to death for desertion or sleeping on duty
+he was as gentle and weak as a woman.
+
+It was a difficult matter for him to refuse a pardon if the
+slightest excuse could be found for granting it.
+
+Secretary Stanton and the commanding generals were loud in
+declaring that Mr. Lincoln would destroy the discipline of the
+army by his wholesale pardoning of condemned soldiers, but when
+we come to examine the individual cases we find that Lincoln was
+nearly always right, and when he erred it was always on the side
+of humanity.
+
+During the four years of the long struggle for the preservation
+of the Union, Mr. Lincoln kept "open shop," as he expressed it,
+where the general public could always see him and make known
+their wants and complaints. Even the private soldier was not
+denied admittance to the President's private office, and no
+request or complaint was too small or trivial to enlist his
+sympathy and interest.
+
+
+A FUN-LOVING AND HUMOR-LOVING MAN.
+
+It was once said of Shakespeare that the great mind that
+conceived the tragedies of "Hamlet," "Macbeth," etc., would have
+lost its reason if it had not found vent in the sparkling humor
+of such comedies as "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "The Comedy
+of Errors."
+
+The great strain on the mind of Abraham Lincoln produced by four
+years of civil war might likewise have overcome his reason had it
+not found vent in the yarns and stories he constantly told. No
+more fun-loving or humor-loving man than Abraham Lincoln ever
+lived. He enjoyed a joke even when it was on himself, and
+probably, while he got his greatest enjoyment from telling
+stories, he had a keen appreciation of the humor in those that
+were told him.
+
+His favorite humorous writer was David R. Locke, better known as
+"Petroleum V. Nasby," whose political satires were quite famous
+in their day. Nearly every prominent man who has written his
+recollections of Lincoln has told how the President, in the
+middle of a conversation on some serious subject, would suddenly
+stop and ask his hearer if he ever read the Nasby letters.
+
+Then he would take from his desk a pamphlet containing the
+letters and proceed to read them, laughing heartily at all the
+good points they contained. There is probably no better evidence
+of Mr. Lincoln's love of humor and appreciation of it than his
+letter to Nasby, in which he said: "For the ability to
+write these things I would gladly trade places with you."
+
+Mr. Lincoln was re-elected President in 1864. His opponent on the
+Democratic ticket was General George B. McClellan, whose command
+of the Army of the Potomac had been so unsatisfactory at the
+beginning of the war. Mr. Lincoln's election was almost
+unanimous, as McClellan carried but three States--Delaware,
+Kentucky and New Jersey.
+
+General Grant, in a telegram of congratulation, said that it was
+"a victory worth more to the country than a battle won."
+
+The war was fast drawing to a close. The black war clouds were
+breaking and rolling away. Sherman had made his famous march to
+the sea. Through swamp and ravine, Grant was rapidly tightening
+the lines around Richmond. Thomas had won his title of the "Rock
+of Chickamauga." Sheridan had won his spurs as the great modern
+cavalry commander, and had cleaned out the Shenandoah Valley.
+Sherman was coming back from his famous march to join Grant at
+Richmond.
+
+The Confederacy was without a navy. The Kearsarge had sunk the
+Alabama, and Farragut had fought and won the famous victory in
+Mobile Bay. It was certain that Lee would soon have to evacuate
+Richmond only to fall into the hands of Grant.
+
+Lincoln saw the dawn of peace. When he came to deliver his second
+inaugural address, it contained no note of victory, no exultation
+over a fallen foe. On the contrary, it breathed the spirit of
+brotherly love and of prayer for an early peace: "With malice
+toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as
+God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in,
+to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have
+borne the battle and for his widow and his orphans, to do all
+which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among
+ourselves and with all nations."
+
+Not long thereafter, General Lee evacuated Richmond with about
+half of his original army, closely pursued by Grant. The boys in
+blue overtook their brothers in gray at Appomattox Court House,
+and there, beneath the warm rays of an April sun, the great
+Confederate general made his final surrender. The war was over,
+the American flag was floated over all the territory of the
+United States, and peace was now a reality. Mr. Lincoln visited
+Richmond and the final scenes of the war and then returned to
+Washington to carry out his announced plan of "binding up the
+nation's wounds."
+
+He had now reached the climax of his career and touched the
+highest point of his greatness. His great task was over, and the
+heavy burden that had so long worn upon his heart was lifted.
+
+While the whole nation was rejoicing over the return of peace,
+the Saviour of the Union was stricken down by the hand of an
+assassin.
+
+
+WARNINGS OF HIS TRAGIC DEATH.
+
+>From early youth, Mr. Lincoln had presentiments that he would
+die
+a violent death, or, rather, that his final days would be marked
+by some great tragic event. From the time of his first election
+to the Presidency, his closest friends had tried to make him
+understand that he was in constant danger of assassination, but,
+notwithstanding his presentiments, he had such splendid courage
+that he only laughed at their fears.
+
+During the summer months he lived at the Soldiers' Home, some
+miles from Washington, and frequently made the trip between the
+White House and the Home without a guard or escort. Secretary of
+War Stanton and Ward Lamon, Marshal of the District, were almost
+constantly alarmed over Mr. Lincoln's carelessness in exposing
+himself to the danger of assassination.
+
+They warned him time and again, and provided suitable body-guards
+to attend him. But Mr. Lincoln would often give the guards the
+slip, and, mounting his favorite riding horse, "Old Abe," would
+set out alone after dark from the White House for the Soldiers'
+Home.
+
+While riding to the Home one night, he was fired upon by some one
+in ambush, the bullet passing through his high hat. Mr. Lincoln
+would not admit that the man who fired the shot had tried to kill
+him. He always attributed it to an accident, and begged his
+friends to say nothing about it.
+
+Now that all the circumstances of the assassination are known, it
+is plain that there was a deep-laid and well-conceived plot to
+kill Mr. Lincoln long before the crime was actually committed.
+When Mr. Lincoln was delivering his second inaugural address on
+the steps of the Capitol, an excited individual tried to force
+his way through the guards in the building to get on the platform
+with Mr. Lincoln.
+
+It was afterward learned that this man was John Wilkes Booth, who
+afterwards assassinated Mr. Lincoln in Ford's Theatre, on the
+night of the 14th of April.
+
+
+LINCOLN AT THE THEATRE.
+
+The manager of the theatre had invited the President to witness a
+performance of a new play known as "Our American Cousin," in
+which the famous actress, Laura Keane, was playing. Mr. Lincoln
+was particularly fond of the theatre. He loved Shakespeare's
+plays above all others and never missed a chance to see the
+leading Shakespearean actors.
+
+As "Our American Cousin" was a new play, the President did not
+care particularly to see it, but as Mrs. Lincoln was anxious to
+go, he consented and accepted the invitation.
+
+General Grant was in Washington at the time, and as he was
+extremely anxious about the personal safety of the President, he
+reported every day regularly at the White House. Mr. Lincoln
+invited General Grant and his wife to accompany him and Mrs.
+Lincoln to the theatre on the night of the assassination, and the
+general accepted, but while they were talking he received a note
+from Mrs. Grant saying that she wished to leave Washington that
+evening to visit her daughter in Burlington. General Grant made
+his excuses to the President and left to accompany Mrs. Grant to
+the railway station. It afterwards became known that it was also
+a part of the plot to assassinate General Grant, and only Mrs.
+Grant's departure from Washington that evening prevented the
+attempt from being made.
+
+General Grant afterwards said that as he and Mrs. Grant were
+riding along Pennsylvania avenue to the railway station a
+horseman rode rapidly by at a gallop, and, wheeling his horse,
+rode back, peering into their carriage as he passed.
+
+Mrs. Grant remarked to the general: "That is the very man who sat
+near us at luncheon to-day and tried to overhear our
+conversation. He was so rude, you remember, as to cause us to
+leave the dining-room. Here he is again, riding after us."
+
+General Grant attributed the action of the man to idle curiosity,
+but learned afterward that the horseman was John Wilkes Booth.
+
+
+LAMON'S REMARKABLE REQUEST.
+
+Probably one reason why Mr. Lincoln did not particularly care to
+go to the theatre that night was a sort of half promise he had
+made to his friend and bodyguard, Marshal Lamon. Two days
+previous he had sent Lamon to Richmond on business connected with
+a call of a convention for reconstruction. Before leaving, Mr.
+Lamon saw Mr. Usher, the Secretary of the Interior, and asked him
+to persuade Mr. Lincoln to use more caution about his personal
+safety, and to go out as little as possible while Lamon was
+absent. Together they went to see Mr. Lincoln, and Lamon asked
+the President if he would make him a promise.
+
+"I think I can venture to say I will," said Mr. Lincoln. "What is
+it?"
+
+"Promise me that you will not go out after night while I am
+gone," said Mr. Lamon, "particularly to the theatre."
+
+Mr. Lincoln turned to Mr. Usher and said: "Usher, this boy is a
+monomaniac on the subject of my safety. I can hear him or hear of
+his being around at all times in the night, to prevent somebody
+from murdering me. He thinks I shall be killed, and we think he
+is going crazy. What does any one want to assassinate me for? If
+any one wants to do so, he can do it any day or night if he is
+ready to give his life for mine. It is nonsense."
+
+Mr. Usher said to Mr. Lincoln that it was well to heed Lamon's
+warning, as he was thrown among people from whom he had better
+opportunities to know about such matters than almost any one.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Lincoln to Lamon, "I promise to do the best I
+can toward it."
+
+
+HOW LINCOLN WAS MURDERED.
+
+The assassination of President Lincoln was most carefully
+planned, even to the smallest detail. The box set apart for the
+President's party was a double one in the second tier at the left
+of the stage. The box had two doors with spring locks, but Booth
+had loosened the screws with which they were fastened so that it
+was impossible to secure them from the inside. In one door he had
+bored a hole with a gimlet, so that he could see what was going
+on inside the box.
+
+An employee of the theatre by the name of Spangler, who was an
+accomplice of the assassin, had even arranged the seats in the
+box to suit the purposes of Booth.
+
+On the fateful night the theatre was packed. The Presidential
+party arrived a few minutes after nine o'clock, and consisted of
+the President and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris and Major Rathbone,
+daughter and stepson of Senator Harris of New York. The immense
+audience rose to its feet and cheered the President as he passed
+to his box.
+
+Booth came into the theatre about ten o'clock. He had not only,
+planned to kill the President, but he had also planned to escape
+into Maryland, and a swift horse, saddled and ready for the
+journey, was tied in the rear of the theatre. For a few minutes
+he pretended to be interested in the performance, and then
+gradually made his way back to the door of the President's box.
+
+Before reaching there, however, he was confronted by one of the
+President's messengers, who had been stationed at the end of the
+passage leading to the boxes to prevent any one from intruding.
+To this man Booth handed a card saying that the President had
+sent for him, and was permitted to enter.
+
+Once inside the hallway leading to the boxes, he closed the hall
+door and fastened it by a bar prepared for the occasion, so that
+it was impossible to open it from without. Then he quickly
+entered the box through the right-hand door. The President was
+sitting in an easy armchair in the left-hand corner of the box
+nearest the audience. He was leaning on one hand and with the
+other had hold of a portion of the drapery. There was a smile on
+his face. The other members of the party were intently watching
+the performance on the stage.
+
+The assassin carried in his right hand a small silver-mounted
+derringer pistol and in his left a long double-edged dagger. He
+placed the pistol just behind the President's left ear and fired.
+
+Mr. Lincoln bent slightly forward and his eyes closed, but in
+every other respect his attitude remained unchanged.
+
+The report of the pistol startled Major Rathbone, who sprang to
+his feet. The murderer was then about six feet from the
+President, and Rathbone grappled with him, but was shaken off.
+Dropping his pistol, Booth struck at Rathbone with the dagger and
+inflicted a severe wound. The assassin then placed his left hand
+lightly on the railing of the box and jumped to the stage, eight
+or nine feet below.
+
+
+BOOTH BRANDISHES HIS DAGGER AND ESCAPES.
+
+The box was draped with the American flag, and, in jumping,
+Booth's spurs caught in the folds, tearing down the flag, the
+assassin falling heavily to the stage and spraining his ankle. He
+arose, however, and walked theatrically across the stage,
+brandished his knife and shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis!" and then
+added, "The South is avenged."
+
+For the moment the audience was horrified and incapable of
+action. One man only, a lawyer named Stuart, had sufficient
+presence of mind to leap upon the stage and attempt to capture
+the assassin. Booth went to the rear door of the stage, where his
+horse was held in readiness for him, and, leaping into the
+saddle, dashed through the streets toward Virginia. Miss Keane
+rushed to the President's box with water and stimulants, and
+medical aid was summoned.
+
+By this time the audience realized the tragedy that had been
+enacted, and then followed a scene such as has never been
+witnessed in any public gathering in this country. Women wept,
+shrieked and fainted; men raved and swore, and horror was
+depicted on every face. Before the audience could be gotten out
+of the theatre, horsemen were dashing through the streets and the
+telegraph was carrying the terrible details of the tragedy
+throughout the nation.
+
+
+WALT WHITMAN'S DESCRIPTION.
+
+Walt Whitman, the poet, has sketched in graphic language the
+scenes of that most eventful fourteenth of April. His account of
+the assassination has become historic, and is herewith given:
+
+"The day (April 14, 1865) seems to have been a pleasant one
+throughout the whole land--the moral atmosphere pleasant, too--
+the long storm, so dark, so fratricidal, full of blood and doubt
+and gloom, over and ended at last by the sunrise of such an
+absolute national victory, and utter breaking down of
+secessionism--we almost doubted our senses! Lee had capitulated,
+beneath the apple tree at Appomattox. The other armies, the
+flanges of the revolt, swiftly followed.
+
+"And could it really be, then? Out of all the affairs of this
+world of woe and passion, of failure and disorder and dismay, was
+there really come the confirmed, unerring sign of peace, like a
+shaft of pure light--of rightful rule--of God?
+
+"But I must not dwell on accessories. The deed hastens. The
+popular afternoon paper, the little Evening Star, had scattered
+all over its third page, divided among the advertisements in a
+sensational manner in a hundred different places:
+
+"'The President and his lady will be at the theatre this
+evening.'
+
+"Lincoln was fond of the theatre. I have myself seen him there
+several times. I remember thinking how funny it was that he, the
+leading actor in the greatest and stormiest drama known to real
+history's stage, through centuries, should sit there and be so
+completely interested in those human jackstraws, moving about
+with their silly little gestures, foreign spirit, and flatulent
+text.
+
+"So the day, as I say, was propitious. Early herbage, early
+flowers, were out. I remember where I was stopping at the time,
+the season being advanced, there were many lilacs in full bloom.
+
+"By one of those caprices that enter and give tinge to events
+without being a part of them, I find myself always reminded of
+the great tragedy of this day by the sight and odor of these
+blossoms. It never fails.
+
+"On this occasion the theatre was crowded, many ladies in rich
+and gay costumes, officers in their uniforms, many well-known
+citizens, young folks, the usual cluster of gas lights, the usual
+magnetism of so many people, cheerful with perfumes, music of
+violins and flutes--and over all, that saturating, that vast,
+vague wonder, Victory, the nation's victory, the triumph of the
+Union, filling the air, the thought, the sense, with exhilaration
+more than all the perfumes.
+
+"The President came betimes, and, with his wife, witnessed the
+play from the large stage boxes of the second tier, two thrown
+into one, and profusely draped with the national flag. The acts
+and scenes of the piece--one of those singularly witless
+compositions which have at the least the merit of giving entire
+relief to an audience engaged in mental action or business
+excitements and cares during the day, as it makes not the
+slightest call on either the moral, emotional, esthetic or
+spiritual nature--a piece in which among other characters, so
+called, a Yankee--certainly such a one as was never seen, or at
+least like it ever seen in North America, is introduced in
+England, with a varied fol-de-rol of talk, plot, scenery, and
+such phantasmagoria as goes to make up a modern popular
+drama--had progressed perhaps through a couple of its acts, when,
+in the midst of this comedy, or tragedy, or non-such, or whatever
+it is to be called, and to offset it, or finish it out, as if in
+Nature's and the Great Muse's mockery of these poor mimics, comes
+interpolated that scene, not really or exactly to be described at
+all (for on the many hundreds who were there it seems to this
+hour to have left little but a passing blur, a dream, a
+blotch)--and yet partially described as I now proceed to give it:
+
+"There is a scene in the play, representing the modern parlor, in
+which two unprecedented ladies are informed by the unprecedented
+and impossible Yankee that he is not a man of fortune, and
+therefore undesirable for marriage-catching purposes; after
+which, the comments being finished, the dramatic trio make exit,
+leaving the stage clear for a moment.
+
+"There was a pause, a hush, as it were. At this period came the
+death of Abraham Lincoln.
+
+"Great as that was, with all its manifold train circling around
+it, and stretching into the future for many a century, in the
+politics, history, art, etc., of the New World, in point of fact,
+the main thing, the actual murder, transpired with the quiet and
+simplicity of any commonest occurrence--the bursting of a bud or
+pod in the growth of vegetation, for instance.
+
+"Through the general hum following the stage pause, with the
+change of positions, etc., came the muffled sound of a pistol
+shot, which not one-hundredth part of the audience heard at the
+time--and yet a moment's hush--somehow, surely a vague, startled
+thrill--and then, through the ornamented, draperied, starred and
+striped space-way of the President's box, a sudden figure, a man,
+raises himself with hands and feet, stands a moment on the
+railing, leaps below to the stage, falls out of position,
+catching his bootheel in the copious drapery (the American flag),
+falls on one knee, quickly recovers himself, rises as if nothing
+had happened (he really sprains his ankle, unfelt then)--and the
+figure, Booth, the murderer, dressed in plain black broadcloth,
+bareheaded, with a full head of glossy, raven hair, and his eyes,
+like some mad animal's, flashing with light and resolution, yet
+with a certain strange calmness holds aloft in one hand a large
+knife--walks along not much back of the footlights--turns fully
+towards the audience, his face of statuesque beauty, lit by those
+basilisk eyes, flashing with desperation, perhaps
+insanity--launches out in a firm and steady voice the words, 'Sic
+semper tyrannis'--and then walks with neither slow nor very rapid
+pace diagonally across to the back of the stage, and disappears.
+
+"(Had not all this terrible scene--making the mimic ones
+preposterous--had it not all been rehearsed, in blank, by Booth,
+beforehand?)
+
+"A moment's hush, incredulous--a scream--a cry of murder--Mrs.
+Lincoln leaning out of the box, with ashy cheeks and lips, with
+involuntary cry, pointing to the retreating figure, 'He has
+killed the President!'
+
+"And still a moment's strange, incredulous suspense--and then the
+deluge!--then that mixture of horror, noises, uncertainty--the
+sound, somewhere back, of a horse's hoofs clattering with speed--
+the people burst through chairs and railings, and break them
+up--that noise adds to the queerness of the scene--there is
+inextricable confusion and terror--women faint--quite feeble
+persons fall, and are trampled on--many cries of agony are heard
+--the broad stage suddenly fills to suffocation with a dense and
+motley crowd, like some horrible carnival--the audience rush
+generally upon it--at least the strong men do--the actors and
+actresses are there in their play costumes and painted faces,
+with mortal fright showing through the rouge--some trembling,
+some in tears--the screams and calls, confused talk--redoubled,
+trebled--two or three manage to pass up water from the stage to
+the President's box, others try to clamber up, etc., etc.
+
+"In the midst of all this the soldiers of the President's Guard,
+with others, suddenly drawn to the scene, burst in--some two
+hundred altogether--they storm the house, through all the tiers,
+especially the upper ones--inflamed with fury, literally charging
+the audience with fixed bayonets, muskets and pistols, shouting,
+'Clear out! clear out!'
+
+"Such a wild scene, or a suggestion of it, rather, inside the
+playhouse that night!
+
+"Outside, too, in the atmosphere of shock and craze, crowds of
+people filled with frenzy, ready to seize any outlet for it, came
+near committing murder several times on innocent individuals.
+
+"One such case was particularly exciting. The infuriated crowd,
+through some chance, got started against one man, either for
+words he uttered, or perhaps without any cause at all, and were
+proceeding to hang him at once to a neighboring lamp-post, when
+he was rescued by a few heroic policemen, who placed him in their
+midst and fought their way slowly and amid great peril toward the
+station-house.
+
+"It was a fitting episode of the whole affair. The crowd rushing
+and eddying to and fro, the night, the yells, the pale faces,
+many frightened people trying in vain to extricate themselves,
+the attacked man, not yet freed from the jaws of death, looking
+like a corpse; the silent, resolute half-dozen policemen, with no
+weapons but their little clubs, yet stern and steady through all
+those eddying swarms, made, indeed, a fitting side scene to the
+grand tragedy of the murder. They gained the station-house with
+the protected man, whom they placed in security for the night,
+and discharged in the morning.
+
+"And in the midst of that night pandemonium of senseless hate,
+infuriated soldiers, the audience and the crowd--the stage, and
+all its actors and actresses, its paint pots, spangles,
+gas-light--the life-blood from those veins, the best and sweetest
+of the land, drips slowly down, and death's ooze already begins
+its little bubbles on the lips.
+
+"Such, hurriedly sketched, were the accompaniments of the death
+of President Lincoln. So suddenly, and in murder and horror
+unsurpassed, he was taken from us. But his death was painless."
+
+The assassin's bullet did not produce instant death, but the
+President never again became conscious. He was carried to a house
+opposite the theatre, where he died the next morning. In the
+meantime the authorities had become aware of the wide-reaching
+conspiracy, and the capital was in a state of terror.
+
+On the night of the President's assassination, Mr. Seward,
+Secretary of State, was attacked while in bed with a broken arm,
+by Booth's fellow-conspirators, and badly wounded.
+
+The conspirators had also planned to take the lives of
+Vice-President Johnson and Secretary Stanton. Booth had called on
+Vice-President Johnson the day before, and, not finding him in,
+left a card.
+
+Secretary Stanton acted with his usual promptness and courage.
+During the period of excitement he acted as President, and
+directed the plans for the capture of Booth.
+
+Among other things, he issued the following reward:
+
+REWARD OFFERED BY SECRETARY STANTON.
+War Department, Washington, April 20, 1865.
+Major-General John A. Dix, New York:
+
+The murderer of our late beloved President, Abraham Lincoln, is
+still at large. Fifty thousand dollars reward will be paid by
+this Department for his apprehension, in addition to any reward
+offered by municipal authorities or State Executives.
+
+Twenty-five thousand dollars reward will be paid for the
+apprehension of G. W. Atzerodt, sometimes called "Port Tobacco,"
+one of Booth's accomplices. Twenty-five thousand dollars reward
+will be paid for the apprehension of David C. Herold, another of
+Booth's accomplices.
+
+A liberal reward will be paid for any information that shall
+conduce to the arrest of either the above-named criminals or
+their accomplices.
+
+All persons harboring or secreting the said persons, or either of
+them, or aiding or assisting their concealment or escape, will be
+treated as accomplices in the murder of the President and the
+attempted assassination of the Secretary of State, and shall be
+subject to trial before a military commission, and the punishment
+of death.
+
+Let the stain of innocent blood be removed from the land by the
+arrest and punishment of the murderers.
+
+All good citizens are exhorted to aid public justice on this
+occasion. Every man should consider his own conscience charged
+with this solemn duty, and rest neither night nor day until it be
+accomplished.
+
+EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
+
+
+BOOTH FOUND IN A BARN.
+
+Booth, accompanied by David C. Herold, a fellow-conspirator,
+finally made his way into Maryland, where eleven days after the
+assassination the two were discovered in a barn on Garrett's farm
+near Port Royal on the Rappahannock. The barn was surrounded by a
+squad of cavalrymen, who called upon the assassins to surrender.
+Herold gave himself up and was roundly cursed and abused by
+Booth, who declared that he would never be taken alive.
+
+The cavalrymen then set fire to the barn and as the flames leaped
+up the figure of the assassin could be plainly seen, although the
+wall of fire prevented him from seeing the soldiers. Colonel
+Conger saw him standing upright upon a crutch with a carbine in
+his hands.
+
+When the fire first blazed up Booth crept on his hands and knees
+to the spot, evidently for the purpose of shooting the man who
+had applied the torch, but the blaze prevented him from seeing
+anyone. Then it seemed as if he were preparing to extinguish the
+flames, but seeing the impossibility of this he started toward
+the door with his carbine held ready for action.
+
+His eyes shone with the light of fever, but he was pale as death
+and his general appearance was haggard and unkempt. He had shaved
+off his mustache and his hair was closely cropped. Both he and
+Herold wore the uniforms of Confederate soldiers.
+
+
+BOOTH SHOT BY "BOSTON" CORBETT.
+
+The last orders given to the squad pursuing Booth were: "Don't
+shoot Booth, but take him alive." Just as Booth started to the
+door of the barn this order was disobeyed by a sergeant named
+Boston Corbett, who fired through a crevice and shot Booth in the
+neck. The wounded man was carried out of the barn and died four
+hours afterward on the grass where they had laid him. Before he
+died he whispered to Lieutenant Baker, "Tell mother I died for my
+country; I thought I did for the best." What became of Booth's
+body has always been and probably always will be a mystery. Many
+different stories have been told concerning his final resting
+place, but all that is known positively is that the body was
+first taken to Washington and a post-mortem examination of it
+held on the Monitor Montauk. On the night of April 27th it was
+turned over to two men who took it in a rowboat and disposed of
+it secretly. How they disposed of it none but themselves know and
+they have never told.
+
+
+FATE OF THE CONSPIRATORS.
+
+The conspiracy to assassinate the President involved altogether
+twenty-five people. Among the number captured and tried were
+David C. Herold, G. W. Atzerodt, Louis Payne, Edward Spangler,
+Michael O'Loughlin, Samuel Arnold, Mrs. Surratt and Dr. Samuel
+Mudd, a physician, who set Booth's leg, which was sprained by his
+fall from the stage box. Of these Herold, Atzerodt, Payne and
+Mrs. Surratt were hanged. Dr. Mudd was deported to the Dry
+Tortugas. While there an epidemic of yellow fever broke out and
+he rendered such good service that he was granted a pardon and
+died a number of years ago in Maryland.
+
+John Surratt, the son of the woman who was hanged, made his
+escape to Italy, where he became one of the Papal guards in the
+Vatican at Rome. His presence there was discovered by Archbishop
+Hughes, and, although there were no extradition laws to cover his
+case, the Italian Government gave him up to the United States
+authorities.
+
+He had two trials. At the first the jury disagreed; the long
+delay before his second trial allowed him to escape by pleading
+the statute of limitation. Spangler and O'Loughlin were sent to
+the Dry Tortugas and served their time.
+
+Ford, the owner of the theatre in which the President was
+assassinated, was a Southern sympathizer, and when he attempted
+to re-open his theatre after the great national tragedy,
+Secretary Stanton refused to allow it. The Government afterward
+bought the theatre and turned it into a National museum.
+
+President Lincoln was buried at Springfield, and on the day of
+his funeral there was universal grief.
+
+
+HENRY WARD BEECHER'S EULOGY.
+
+No final words of that great life can be more fitly spoken than
+the eulogy pronounced by Henry Ward Beecher:
+
+"And now the martyr is moving in triumphal march, mightier than
+when alive. The nation rises up at every stage of his coming.
+Cities and States are his pall-bearers, and the cannon speaks the
+hours with solemn progression. Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh.
+
+"Is Washington dead? Is Hampden dead? Is any man that was ever
+fit to live dead? Disenthralled of flesh, risen to the
+unobstructed sphere where passion never comes, he begins
+his illimitable work. His life is now grafted upon the infinite,
+and will be fruitful as no earthly life can be.
+
+"Pass on, thou that hast overcome. Ye people, behold the martyr
+whose blood, as so many articulate words, pleads for fidelity,
+for law, for liberty."
+
+
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S FAMILY.
+
+Abraham Lincoln was married on November 4, 1842, to Miss Mary
+Todd, four sons being the issue of the union.
+
+Robert Todd, born August 1, 1843, removed to Chicago after his
+father's death, practiced law, and became wealthy; in 1881 he was
+appointed Secretary of War by President Garfield, and served
+through President Arthur's term; was made Minister to England in
+1889, and served four years; became counsel for the Pullman
+Palace Car Company, and succeeded to the presidency of that
+corporation upon the death of George M. Pullman.
+
+Edward Baker, born March 10, 1846, died in infancy.
+
+William Wallace, born December 21, 1850, died in the White House
+in February, 1862.
+
+Thomas (known as "Tad"), born April 4, 1853, died in 1871.
+
+Mrs. Lincoln died in her sixty-fourth year at the home of her
+sister, Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards, at Springfield, Illinois, in
+1882. She was the daughter of Robert S. Todd, of Kentucky. Her
+great-uncle, John Todd, and her grandfather, Levi Todd,
+accompanied General George Rogers Clark to Illinois, and were
+present at the capture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes. In December,
+1778, John Todd was appointed by Patrick Henry, Governor of
+Virginia, to be lieutenant of the County of Illinois, then a part
+of Virginia. Colonel John Todd was one of the original
+proprietors of the town of Lexington, Kentucky. While encamped on
+the site of the present city, he heard of the opening battle of
+the Revolution, and named his infant settlement in its honor.
+
+Mrs. Lincoln was a proud, ambitious woman, well-educated,
+speaking French fluently, and familiar with the ways of the best
+society in Lexington, Kentucky, where she was born December 13,
+1818. She was a pupil of Madame Mantelli, whose celebrated
+seminary in Lexington was directly opposite the residence of
+Henry Clay. The conversation at the seminary was carried on
+entirely in French.
+
+She visited Springfield, Illinois, in 1837, remained three months
+and then returned to her native State. In 1839 she made
+Springfield her permanent home. She lived with her eldest sister,
+Elizabeth, wife of Ninian W. Edwards, Lincoln's colleague in the
+Legislature, and it was not strange she and Lincoln should meet.
+Stephen A. Douglas was also a friend of the Edwards family, and a
+suitor for her hand, but she rejected him to accept the future
+President. She was one of the belles of the town.
+
+She is thus described at the time she made her home in
+Springfield--1839:
+
+"She was of the average height, weighing about a hundred and
+thirty pounds. She was rather compactly built, had a well rounded
+face, rich dark-brown hair, and bluish-gray eyes. In her bearing
+she was proud, but handsome and vivacious; she was a good
+conversationalist, using with equal fluency the French and
+English languages.
+
+"When she used a pen, its point was sure to be sharp, and she
+wrote with wit and ability. She not only had a quick intellect
+but an intuitive judgment of men and their motives. Ordinarily
+she was affable and even charming in her manners; but when
+offended or antagonized she could be very bitter and sarcastic.
+
+"In her figure and physical proportions, in education, bearing,
+temperament, history--in everything she was the exact reverse of
+Lincoln."
+
+That Mrs. Lincoln was very proud of her husband there is no
+doubt; and it is probable that she married him largely from
+motives of ambition. She knew Lincoln better than he knew
+himself; she instinctively felt that he would occupy a proud
+position some day, and it is a matter of record that she told
+Ward Lamon, her husband's law partner, that "Mr. Lincoln will yet
+be President of the United States."
+
+Mrs. Lincoln was decidedly pro-slavery in her views, but this
+never disturbed Lincoln. In various ways they were unlike. Her
+fearless, witty, and austere nature had nothing in common with
+the calm, imperturbable, and simple ways of her thoughtful and
+absent-minded husband. She was bright and sparkling in
+conversation, and fit to grace any drawing-room. She well knew
+that to marry Lincoln meant not a life of luxury and ease, for
+Lincoln was not a man to accumulate wealth; but in him she saw
+position in society, prominence in the world, and the grandest
+social distinction. By that means her ambition was certainly
+satisfied, for nineteen years after her marriage she was "the
+first lady of the land," and the mistress of the White House.
+
+After his marriage, by dint of untiring efforts and the
+recognition of influential friends, the couple managed through
+rare frugality to move along.
+
+In Lincoln's struggles, both in the law and for political
+advancement, his wife shared his sacrifices. She was a plucky
+little woman, and in fact endowed with a more restless ambition
+than he. She was gifted with a rare insight into the motives that
+actuate mankind, and there is no doubt that much of Lincoln's
+success was in a measure attributable to her acuteness and the
+stimulus of her influence.
+
+His election to Congress within four years after their marriage
+afforded her extreme gratification. She loved power and
+prominence, and was inordinately proud of her tall and ungainly
+husband. She saw in him bright prospects ahead, and his every
+move was watched by her with the closest interest. If to other
+persons he seemed homely, to her he was the embodiment of noble
+manhood, and each succeeding day impressed upon her the wisdom of
+her choice of Lincoln over Douglas--if in reality she ever
+seriously accepted the latter's attentions.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln may not be as handsome a figure," she said one day
+in Lincoln's law office during her husband's absence, when the
+conversation turned on Douglas, "but the people are perhaps not
+aware that his heart is as large as his arms are long."
+
+
+LINCOLN MONUMENT AT SPRINGFIELD.
+
+The remains of Abraham Lincoln rest beneath a magnificent
+monument in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Ill. Before they
+were deposited in their final resting place they were moved many
+times.
+
+On May 4, 1865, all that was mortal of Abraham Lincoln was
+deposited in the receiving vault at the cemetery, until a tomb
+could be built. In 1876 thieves made an unsuccessful attempt to
+steal the remains. From the tomb the body of the martyred
+President was removed later to the monument.
+
+A flight of iron steps, commencing about fifty yards east of the
+vault, ascends in a curved line to the monument, an elevation of
+more than fifty feet.
+
+Excavation for this monument commenced September 9, 1869. It is
+built of granite, from quarries at Biddeford, Maine. The rough
+ashlers were shipped to Quincy, Massachusetts, where they were
+dressed and numbered, thence shipped to Springfield. It is 721
+feet from east to west, 119 1/2 feet from north to south, and l00
+feet high. The total cost is about $230,000 to May 1, 1885. All
+the statuary is orange-colored bronze. The whole monument was
+designed by Larkin G. Mead; the statuary was modeled in plaster
+by him in Florence, Italy, and cast by the Ames Manufacturing
+Company, of Chicopee, Massachusetts. A statue of Lincoln and Coat
+of Arms were first placed on the monument; the statue was
+unveiled and the monument dedicated October 15, 1874. Infantry
+and Naval Groups were put on in September, 1877, an Artillery
+Group, April 13, 1882, and a Cavalry Group, March 13, 1883.
+
+The principal front of the monument is on the south side, the
+statue of Lincoln being on that side of the obelisk, over
+Memorial Hall. On the east side are three tablets, upon which are
+the letters U. S. A. To the right of that, and beginning with
+Virginia, we find the the abbreviations of the original thirteen
+States. Next comes Vermont, the first state admitted after the
+Union was perfected, the States following in the order they were
+admitted, ending with Nebraska on the east, thus forming the
+cordon of thirty-seven States composing the United States of
+America when the monument was erected. The new States admitted
+since the monument was built have been added.
+
+The statue of Lincoln is just above the Coat of Arms of the
+United States. The grand climax is indicated by President
+Lincoln, with his left hand holding out as a golden scepter the
+emancipation Proclamation, while in his right he holds the pen
+with which he has just written it. The right hand is resting on
+another badge of authority, the American flag, thrown over the
+fasces. At the foot of the fasces lies a wreath of laurel, with
+which to crown the President as the victor over slavery and
+rebellion.
+
+On March 10, 1900,  President Lincoln's body was removed to a
+temporary vault to permit of alterations to the monument. The
+shaft was made twenty feet higher, and other changes were made
+costing $100,000.
+
+April 24, 1901. the body was again transferred to the monument
+without public ceremony.
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Lincoln's Yarns and Stories by
+Colonel Alexander K. McClure
+
+
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