Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-06-12

his Droll Stories--Mr. Seward, Mr.
Chase. and Mr.. Blair.
In Macmiilan's Magazine for May, w
find paper entitled Washington duIin,
the War; by our special correspondent. -
We extract lherefrom the following motto,
Of some Of our public men:
PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
First, then, Of the President. To ss,
that he is ugly, is nothing; to add that hi,
figure is grotesque, isto convey no adequat.
expression. Fancy man six feet high, and
thin ont Of proportion with long bony arm,
and legs, which somehow seem to be al
ways in the way with great rugged furrow
ed hands. which grasp yon like vice wher
shaking yours with a lpps, scrsggs neck
and chest too narrow for the arrus at its
side. Add 10 this figure head, cocoa. nut
shaped, and somewhat too small for such O
stature, covered with rough, uncombed and
uncombable hair that stands out in every
direction at once a face furrowed wrinkled
and indented as though il had been SCARED
by vitriol high, narrow forehead and,
sunk deep beneath bushy eyebrows, two
bright somewhat dreamy eyes, that seem
to gaze through you without looking at you;
few irregular blotches Of black bristly hair,
in the place where beard and whiskers ought
to grow; a close set, thin Tipped, stern mouth,
with two rows Of large white teeth and a
nose and ears which have been taken by mis-.
take from head of twice the size. Clothe
this figure, then in long, tight, badly T.
ting suit of black, creased, soled and puck
cred up at every salient point of the figure
land every point of this figure is salient, J
put on large, il,-ftting boots, gloves too long
for the long bony fingers, and a puffy hat,
covered to the top with dusty, puffy Grape ;
and then add to all this an air of strength,
physical as well as moral, and strange look
Of dignity coupled with all this grotesque-
ness, and you will have the Impression left
upon me by Abraham Lincoln.
On the occasion when had the honor of
meeting the President, the company was
a small one, with most of whom he was per-
sonally acquainted. / have no doubt that
he was as much at his ease as usual. There
was look Of depression about his face,
which, am told by those who see him daily,
was habitual to him even before his child 5
death. 1t was strange to me to witness the
perfect terms Of equality on which he ap-
peared to be with everybody. Occasionally
some of his interlocutors called him ''Mr.
President" but the habit was to address
him simply as Sir" 1t was not, indeed,
till / was introduced to him, that | was
aware that the President was one of the
company. He talked little, and seemed to
prefer Others to talk to him to talking him
self; but when he spoke his remarks were
always shrewd and sensible. You would
never say he was a gentleman |; you would
still less say he was not one. There are
some women pbout whom no one ever thinks
OF in connection with beauty one way or the
other and there are men to whom the cpi-
thet OF gentleman-like or ungentleman-like
appears to be utterly incongruous and of
such Mr.. Lincoln is one. Still there is about
him an utter absence OF prctension and an
evident desire to be courteous to everybody,
which is the essence, if not the outward
form, Of good breeding. There is a soft
ness, too, about his smile and a sparkle of
dry humor about his eve, which redeem the
expression Of his face, and remind me more
of the late Dr. Arnold, rs n child $ recollec-
ton recalls him, than Of any face that can
call to mind.
MR.. LIScoLN's DRoILERlEs.
The conversation, like that Of all Amer
lean official men have met with, was un-
restrained in the presence of strangers, to a
degree perfectly astonishing. Any remarks
that | heard made, Ms to the present state
Of affairs, do not feel at liberty to repeat,
though really every public man here appears
not only to live in glass house, but in
reverberating gallery, and absolutely per-
tectly Indifferent as to who sees or hears him.
There are few "Lincolnians" however,
which ! may fairly quote, aud which will
show the style of his conversation. Some
Of the party began smoking, and our host
remarked, laughingly, ''the President has
got no vices; he neither smokes nor drinks"
THAT is doubtful compliment answer
ed the President II recollect once being
outside stage in Illinois, and man sitting
by me offered me cigar | told him had
no vices. He said nothing, smoked for
some time, and then grunted out, Its nv
experience that folks who haveno vices have
plaguey few virtues" Again, gentleman
present was telling how friend Of lis had
been driven away from New Orleans as a
Unionist, and now, on his expulsion, when
he asked to see the writ by which he was
expelled, the deputation which called on him
told him that the Government had made
up their minds to do nothing illegal, and
SO they had issued no illegal writs, and sim
ply meant to make him 20 of his own free
will. well" said Mr.. Lincoln, ''that re-
minds me Of a hotel-keeper dowE ct st. Louis,
who boasted that he never had death in
his hotel and no more he had, for whem-
ever a guest was dying in his house, he car
ried them out to die in the street." At
another time the conversation turned upon
the discussions as to the Missouri Compro-
mise, and ELECTED the following quaint re-
mark FROM the President at used to
amuse me some (sic) to find that the slave
holders wanted more territory, because that
they wanted more slaves for their room"
Stories such as these read dull enough in
print; but, unless you could give also the
dry ohuckle with which they are accom-.
panied, and the gleam in the speakers eye,
as, with the action habitual to him, he rubs
his hand down the side Of his long Leg you
must fail in conveying true impression of
their quaint humor. This sort of Socratio
illustration is his usual form Of conversation
among strangers; but, / believe, in his
private life he is man Of few words, and
those simple ones Lot me close my de-
scription with one remark he made of xmore
reflective character, and which. though not
perhaps Of great value in itself, is curious
us coming from man who has achieved dis
tinction. Speaking of ths fbency Of kmeri-
eau orators, he said 1T is very common
in this country TO find great facility Of ex-
pressiohI and less common 10 find great