Lincoln's Yarns and Stories Part 49

"No," rejoined the President, "you fell off about six hundred votes."

Then taking down from the bookcase the official canva.s.s of 1860 and 1864, he referred to the vote of the district named, and proved to be quite right in his a.s.sertion.

ONLY HALF A MAN.

As President Lincoln, arm in arm with ex-President Buchanan, entered the Capitol, and pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 t.i.tle 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, Ma.s.sa 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 a.s.sa.s.sination of the President, "Punch," in ill.u.s.trations, paid marked and deserved tribute to the memory of the Great Emanc.i.p.ator, 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 embarra.s.sed, 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 pa.s.sing 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 princ.i.p.al 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 mult.i.tudes 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.