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diff --git a/2517.txt b/2517.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..43f39e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/2517.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18430 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Lincoln's Yarns and Stories, by Alexander K. McClure + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lincoln's Yarns and Stories + +Author: Alexander K. McClure + +Release Date: February, 2001 +Posting Date: December 23, 2008 [EBook #2517] +[This file last updated on July 21, 2010] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LINCOLN'S YARNS AND STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean + + + + + +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 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 Log Cabin," 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 10th. + 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 President, 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 officer 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 self-possession 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 severely 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 +easy-fitting 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 +aristocratic, 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 impanel 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 Illinois 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 +still-hunt. 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 inaugurated, 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 catch-phrases 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 million 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 Commander-in-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 as 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 Secretary 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 caught 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 stories 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 +10th 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 right 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 LOOKING 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 log-house 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 heading off 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 suppose 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 FAR + +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 neck-cloth, 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 reconnaissance. 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 +authors 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 settlement 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 +woman 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 +Illinois 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 +10th, 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 19, 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 rail-splitter" 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 fast-flying 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 seemed 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 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 mix-up, 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 +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 young scholar 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 speech-making 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 to 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 FOR 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 boot heel 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 100 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 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 EBook of Lincoln's Yarns and Stories, by +Alexander K. 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