* and if you will only bring your father here in that shape r
you shall have the best train on the road!' '



WRITE-SOUSE INCIDENTS. 117

lancoln's Habits in the White House The Same Old Abe "A
Laughable Glove Story.

Mr. 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 Presi-
dency." His office, he always designated as " this place."
" Call me Lincoln," said he to a friend " Mr. President "
had become so very tiresome to him. " If you see a news-
boy 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 against exposing himself so
openly in the midst of enemies; but he never heeded
them. He frequently walked the streets at night, entirely
unprotected; and he felt any check upon his free move-
ments as a great annoyance. He delighted to see his famil-
iar "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 Mr. Lincoln at the "White House,
and his friend at the hotel was, whether he should wear
gloves. Of course, the ladies urged gloves ; but Mr. Lin-
coln only put his in his pocket, to be used or not, according
to 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 Mr. Lincoln began to draw his on !



118 LINCOLN STORIES.

" 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.



Lincoln's High Compliment to the Women of America.

A Fair for the benefit of the soldiers, held at the Patent
Office, in Washington, called out Mr. Lincoln as an inter-
ested visitor; and he was not permitted to retire without
giving a word to those in attendance. " In this extraordi-
nary war," said he, " extraordinary developments have man-
ifested 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 crea-
tion 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 in the Hour of Deep Sorrow He Recalls His Mother's

Prayers.

In February, 1862, Mr. Lincoln was visited by a severe
affliction in the death of his beautiful son, Willie, and the
extreme illness of his son, Thomas, familiarly called " Tad."
This was a new burden, and the visitation which, in his firm
faith in Providence, he regarded as providential, was also-



WHITE-HOUSE INCIDENTS. 119

inexplicable. A Christian lady from Massachusetts, who
was officiating as nurse in one of the hospitals at the time,
came to attend the sick children. She reports that Mr.
Lincoln watched with her about the bedside of the sick
ones, and that he often walked the room, saying, sadly:

"This is the hardest trial of mv life; why is it? Why
is it?"

In the course of conversations with her, he questioned
her concerning his situation. She told Him that she was a
widow, and that her husband and two children were in
heaven; and added that she saw the hand of God in it all,
and that she had never loved Him so much before as she
had since her affliction.

" How is that brought about? " inquired Mr. Lincoln.

" Simply by trusting in God, and feeling that He does all
things well," she replied.

" Did you submit fully under the first loss?" he asked.

"No," she answered, "not wholly; but, as blow carne
upon blow, and all were taken, I could and did submit, and
was very happy."

He responded: " I am glad to hear you say that. Your
experience will help me to bear my affliction."

On being assured that many Christians were praying for
him on the morning of the funeral, he wiped away the
tears that sprang in his eyes, and said:

" I am glad to hear that. I want them to pray for me.
I need their prayers."

As he was going out to the burial, the good lady expressed
her sympathy with him. He thanked her gently, and said:

" I will try to go to God with my sorrows."

A few days afterward, she asked him if he could trust
God. He replied:

" I think I can, and I will try. I wish I had that child-
like faith you speak of, and I trust He will give it to me.'*



120 LINCOLN STORIES.

And then he spoke of his mother, whom so many years
before he had committed to the dust among the wilds of
Indiana. In this hour of his great trial, the memory of
her who had. held him upon her bosom, and soothed his
childish griefs, came back to him with tenderest recollec-
tions. ' k I remember her prayers," said he, " and they
have always followed me. They have clung to me all my
life."



A Praying President "Prayer and Praise."

After the second defeat at Bull Run, Mr. Lincoln appeared
very much distressed about the number of killed and
wounded, and said to a lady friend : " I have done the best
I could. I have asked God to guide rne, and now I must
leave the event with him."

On another occasion, having been made acquainted with
the fact that a great battle was in progress, at a distant but
important point, he came into the room where this lady
was engaged in nursing a member of the family, looking
worn and haggard, and saying that he was so anxious that
he could eat nothing. The possibility of defeat depressed
him greatly ; but the lady told him he must trust, and that
he could at least pray.

"Yes," said he, and taking up a Bible, he started for his
room.

Could all the people of the nation have overheard the
earnest petition that went up from that inner chamber, as
it reached the ears of the nurse, they would have fallen
upon their knees with tearful and reverential sympathy.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, a telegram reached him
announcing a Union victory ; and then he came directly to,
the room, his face beaming with joy, saying :



WHITE-HOUSE INCIDENTS. 121

" Good news ! Good news ! The victory is ours, and
God is good."

" Kothing like prayer," suggested the pious lady, who
traced a direct connection between the event and the*prayer
which preceded it.

" Yes, there is," he replied "praise prayer and praise."

The good lady who communicates these incidents, closes
them with the words : " I do believe he was a true Christian,
though he had very little confidence in himself."



Telling a Story and Pardoning a Soldier How Lincoln did Both.

General Fisk attending the reception at the "White House,
on one occasion saw, waiting in the ante-room, a poor old
man from Tennessee. Sitting down beside him, he inquired
his errand, and learned that he had been waiting three or
four days to get an audience, and that on his seeing Mr.
Lincoln probably depended the life of his son, who was
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 sen-
ators, governors and generals, waiting impatiently, the old
man went into the President's presence.

He showed Mr. Lincoln his papers, and he, on taking
them, said he would look into the case and give him the
result on the following 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 ! The decision ought to be made now ! " and the
streaming tears told how much he was moved.

" Come," said Mr. Lincoln, " wait a bit, and I'll tell you



122 LINCOLN STORIES.

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 mud-holes 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 an 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 to-
gether 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.



IN all the great emergencies of his closing years, Mr.
Lincoln's reliance upon Divine guidance and assistance was
often extremely touching.

" I HAVE been driven many times to my knees," he once
remarked, " by the overwhelming conviction that I had no-
where else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about
me, seemed insufficient for that day."




THE NATIONAL LINCOLN MONUMENT.

In Oak Ridge Cemetery, at Sprinsrfield, 111. The base of this monument is 72% ft.
square, and with the circular projection of the catacomb on the north, and memorial
hall on the south, the extreme length on the ground from north to south is 119^ ft.
Height of terrace. 15 ft. and 10 in. From the terrace to the apex of the obelisk, 82 ft.
654 in. Prom the grade line to the top of the four round pedestals, 28 ft. 4 in., and to
the top of the pedastal of the Lincoln Statue, 35}^ ft. Total height from ground line
to apex of obelisk, 98 ft. V in. Total expense of erection, about $200,000.



WAR STORIES. 125-



WAR STORIES.



Lincoln's War Story of Andy Johnson. Andy Seeks a Doubtful
Interest in Col. Moody's Prayers.

Col. Moody, " the fighting Methodist parson," as he was
called in Tennessee, while attending a conference in Phila-
delphia, met the President and related to him the 'following-
story, which we give as repeated by Mr. Lincoln to a friend:

" He told me," said Lincoln, " this story of Andy John-
son and General Buel, which interested me intensely. The
Colonel happened to be in Nashville the day it was reported
that Buel had decided to evacuate the city. The Rebels,
strongly re-enforced, 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! Buel 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:

" l Moody, can you pray?'

" ' That is my business, sir, as a minister of the Gospel/
returned the Colonel.

u ' Well, Moody, I wish you would pray,' said Johnson ;



126 LINCOLN STORIES.

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 arm over
him, manifesting the deepest emotion. Closing the prayer
"with a hearty l Amen ' from each, they arose.

"Johnson took a long breath, and said, with emphasis,
4 Moody, I feel better ! ' Shortly afterwards he asked,
1 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, but I am not,
and have 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.



A Soldier that Knew no Royalty.

Captain Mix, the commander, at one period, of the Pres-
ident's body-guard, told this story to a friend:

On their way to town one sultry morning, from the
Soldier's Home, they came upon a regiment marching into
the city. A " straggler," very heavily loaded with camp
equipage, was accosted by the President with the question:

"My lad, what is that?" referring to the designation of
his regiment.



WAR STORIES. 127

" It's a regiment," said the soldier, curtly, plodding on,
Iris gaze bent steadily upon the ground.

" Yes, I see that," rejoined the President, " but I want to
know what regiment."

" Pennsylvania," replied the man in the same tone,

looking neither to the right nor the left.

As the carriage passed on, Mr. Lincoln turned to Captain
Mix and said, with a merry laugh, " It is very evident that
<jhap smells no blood of ' royalty ' in this establishment."



A Little Soldier Boy that Lincoln Wanted to Bow to.

" President Lincoln," says the Hon. "W. D. Kell, " was a
large and rnany-sided man, and yet so simple that no one,
not even a child, could approach him without feeling that
he had found in him a sympathizing friend. I remember
that I apprised him of the fact that a lad, the son of one of
my townsmen, had served a year on board the gunboat
Ottawa, and had been in two important engagements; in
the first as a powder-monkey, when he had conducted him-
self with such coolness that he had been chosen as captain's
messenger in the second; and I suggested to the President
that it was in his power to send to the Naval School, an-
nually, three boys who had served at least a year in the
navy.

" He at once wrote on the back of a letter from the com-
mander of the Ottawa, which I had handed him, to the
Secretary of the Navy: 'If the appointments for this year
have not been made, let this boy be appointed.' The ap-
pointment had not been made, and I brought it home with
me. It directed the lad to report for examination at the
school in July. Just as he was ready to start, his father,
looking over the law, discovered that he could not report
until he was fourteen years of age, which he would not be



128 LINCOLN STORIES.

until September following. The poor child sat down and
wept. He feared that he was not to go to the Naval School.
He was, however, soon consoled by being told that ' the
President could make it right.' It was my fortune to meet
him the next morning at the door of the Executive Cham-
ber with his father.

" Taking by the hand the little fellow short for his age,
dressed in the sailor's blue pants and shirt I advanced with,
him to the President, who sat in his usual seat, and said:

" ' Mr. President, my young friend, Willie Bladen, finds
a difficulty about his appointment. You have directed him
to appear at the school in July; but he is not yet fourteen
years of age.' But before I got half of this out, Mr. Lin-
coln, laying down his spectacles, rose and said:

" ' Bless me! is that the boy who did so gallantly in those
two great battles? "Why, I feel that I should bow to him,,
and not he to me.' The little fellow had made his grace-
ful bow.

" The President took tfie papers at once, and as soon a&
he learned that a postponement until September would suf-
fice, made the order that the lad should report in that
month. Then putting his hand on Willie's head, he said:

" ' Now, my boy, go home and have good fun during the
two months, for they are about the last holiday you will
get.' The little fellow bowed himself out, feeling that the
President of the United States, though a very great man,
was one that he would nevertheless like to have a game of
romps with."



The Story of Sallie Ward's Practical Philosophy.

When the telegram from Cumberland Gap reached Mr.
Lincoln that " firing was heard in the direction of Knox-
ville," he remarked that he " was glad of it." Some per-



WAR STORIES. 139

son present, who had the perils of Burnside's position
uppermost in his mind, could not see why Mr. Lincoln
should be glad of it, and so expressed himself.

" Why, you see," responded the President, " it reminds
me of Mrs. Sallie Ward, a neighbor of mine, who had
a very large family. Occasionally one of her numerous
progeny would be heard crying in some out-of-the-way
place, upon which Mrs. Ward would exclaim:

' Th-ere's one of my children that isn't dead yet.' '



Lincoln While in Bed Pardons a Soldier.

The Hon. Mr. Kellogg, representative from Essex County,
New York, received a dispatch one evening from the army,
to the eifect that a young townsman, who had been induced
to enlist through his instrumentality, had, for a serious
misdemeanor, been convicted by a court-martial, and was
to be shot the next day. Greatly agitated, Mr. Kellogg
went to the Secretary of War, and urged, in the strongest
manner, a reprieve. Stanton was inexorable.

" Too many cases of the kind had been let off," he said,
"and it was time an example was made."

Exhausting his eloquence in vain, Mr. Kellogg said:
' Well, Mr. Secretary, the boy is not going to be shot of
that I give you fair warning! "

Leaving the War Department, he went directly to the
White House, although the hour was late. The sentinel
on duty told him that special orders had been issued to
admit no one whatever that night. After a long parley, by
pledging himself to assume the responsibility of the act,
the congressman passed in. The President had retired, but,
indifferent to etiquette or ceremony, Judge Kellogg pressed
his way through all obstacles to his sleeping apartment.
9



130 . LINCOLN STORIES.

In an excited manner he stated that the dispatch announc-
ing the hour of execution had but just reached him.

"This man must not be shot, Mr. President," said he.
" I can't help what he may have done. Why, he is an old
neighbor of mine; I can't allow him to be shot! "

Mr. Lincoln had remained in bed, quietly listening to the
vehement protestations of his old friend (they were in Con-
gress together). He at length said: " Well, I don't believe
shooting him will do him any good. Give me that pen."
And, so saying, "red tape" was unceremoniously cut, and
another poor fellow's lease of life was indefinitely extended.



What Lincoln Considered the " Great Event of the Nineteenth
Century." Lincoln's Vow Before God.

The following incident, remarkable for its significant
facts, is related by Mr. Carpenter, the artist :

Mr. Chase, says Mr. Carpenter, told me that at the
Cabinet meeting immediately after the battle of Antietam,
and just prior to the issue of the September proclamation,
the President entered upon the business before them, by
saying that " the time for the annunciation of the emanci-
pation policy could be no longer delayed. Public senti-
ment would sustain it many of his warmest friends and
supporters demanded it and he had promised his God he
would do it ! " The last part of this was uttered in a low
tone, and appeared to be heard by no one but Secretary
Chase, who was sitting near him. He asked the President
if he correctly understood him. Mr. Lincoln replied : " 1
made a solemn vow before God that if Gen. Lee was driven
back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the
declaration of freedom to the slaves"

In February, 1865, a few days after the Constitutional
Amendment, I went to Washington, and was received by



WAR STORIES. 131

Mr. Lincoln with the kindness and familiarity which had
characterized our previous intercourse. I said to him at
this time that I was very proud to have been the artist to
have first conceived- of the design of painting a picture
commemorative of the Act of Emancipation ; that sub-
sequent occurrences had only confirmed my own first judg-
ment of that act as the most sublime moral event in our
history. " Yes," said he, and never do I remember to
have noticed in him more earnestness of expression or
manner, " as affairs have turned, it is the central act of
my administration, and the great event of the nineteenth
century."



Lincoln Proposes to "Borrow the Army" from one of his Generals.

On a certain occasion the President said to. a friend that
he was in great distress; he had been to General McClel-
lan's house, and the General did not ask to see him; and as
he must talk to somebody, he had sent for General Frank-
lin and myself, to obtain our opinion as to the possibility of
soon commencing active operations with the Army of the
Potemac. To use his own expression, if something was
not soon done, the bottom would fall out of the whole
affair; and if General McClellan did not want to use the
army, he would like to borrow it, provided he could see
how it could be made to do something.



Lincoln Could not Allow a Soldier to be More Polite than
Himself.

I was always touched, says Mr. Carpenter, by the Presi-
dent's manner of receiving the salute of the guard at the
White House. Whenever he appeared in the portico, on
his way to or from the War or Treasury Department, or on
any excursion down the avenue, the first glimpse of him



132 LTXCOLX

was, of course, the signal for the sentinel on duty to
" present arms," and " call out the guard.''

This was always acknowledged hy Mr. Lincoln with a
peculiar bow and touch of the hat, no matter how many
times it might occur in the course of a day ; and it always
seemed to me as much a compliment to the devotion of the
soldiers, on his part, as it was the sign of duty and deference
on the part of the guard.



An Interesting Visit to the Hospitals How the Soldiers Received

Him He Meets a Wounded Confederate who Asks His

Pardon The President Weeps.

" On the Monday before the assassination, when the Presi-
dent was on his return from Richmond, he stopped at City
Point. Calling upon the head surgeon at that place, Mr.
Lincoln told him that he wished to visit all the hospitals
under his charge, and shake hands with every soldier. The
surgeon asked if he knew what he was undertaking, there
being five or six thousand soldiers at that place, and it
would be quire a tax upon his strength to visit all the wards
and shake hands with every soldier. Mr. Lincoln answered,
with a smile, he 'guessed he was equal to the task; at any
rate he would try, and go as far as he could; he should
never, probably, see the boys again, and he wanted them to
know that he appreciated what they had done for their
country.'

" Finding it useless to try to dissuade him, the surgeon
began his rounds with the President, who walked from bed
to bed, extending his hand to all, saying a few words of
sympathy to some, making kind inquiries of others, and
welcomed by all with the heartiest cordiality.

"As they passed along, they came to a ward in which
lay a rebel who had been wounded and was a prisoner. As



WAR STORIES. 133

the tall figure of the kindly visitor appeared in sight, he
was recognized by the rebel soldier, who, raising himself on
his elbow in bed, watched Mr. Lincoln as he approached,
and extending his hand exclaimed, while tears ran down