Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-08-11

What do you want me to doY
asked the President. i want you to e
me home 4 have no funds which l can
apply to such a purpose i don't know
what to do whined the lad. 'In tell you
what 1 would have done when 1 was a
young fellow like you,' replied Lincoln
i would have worked my own way back
Then came q man from the Presidents
own State, with a design for a new bank
note. Its not he explained, like the
landing of Columbus in America, or any
thing Of that sort; no, sir, it's something
that everybody can understand What
1t was l don't know, but the President
pronounced it to be very pretty Wall,
I guess, said the designer, the thing will
have to stand over for a few days, till we
see Whether L get a new lease or not,
said the President, finishing the sentence.
At this last sally of Lincoln's everybody
laughed, and the man sitting next to ne
observed that the President was in great
force to-day In the middle of the pro-
ceedings q friend came in to give him
some favorable news concerning the APP
preaching election, whereat Mr.. Lincoln
expressed his satisfaction in a frank and
guileless way which it did one goodto see.
The next man had no favor to ask he
came, a bronzed andl battered soldier, in
his faded uniform, simply to shake hands
with the President before going home at
the end of his three years service. The
President shook hands with him cordially
enough, but he did not improve the occa-
sion as Louis Napoleon would lave done.
He is not a master of the small graces, and
had not any of those pretty phrases at
hand which seemed so natural for the oc-
casion, Pretty phrases are not the rule
in America, and all he did was to ask
him what regiment he belonged to. In
the meantime, a young couple who, as It
seemed, had no other object than to add
the President to the other sights of their
honeymoon, had been accommodated by
the master of ceremonies with chairs, in a
place where they could get a full view,
had taken a good stare, and silently gone
away. When they had all left, my friend
introduced himself, and then, being thus
duly qualified, introduced me. The Pres
ident rose-I do not fatter myself il
honor to US, but to let US see that he did
not want TO be kept long talking. In sc
doing he displayed his immense hight
and gaunt, ungainly figure, which haC
not been conspicuous SO long as he re
manned sitting. He shook hands, no
with the vise-like grasp of which 1 haJ
read-probably by this time he had learned
to husband his reSources-but rather in
promiscuOus manner, as when one shake
up a bottle. A few questions rs TO VIVA
he had seen in the camp, and 8 remarl
from the President that Grant was = very
determined little fellow, finished the au
dience.
There is nothing in Lincoln to give
you the impression that you are in thl
presence of Il remarkable man; all that h,
says bears rather the stamp of common
place good sense. And yet it may b.
doubted if Massachusetts, with all he.
brilliant thinkers and scholarly politician.
could have sent up q man better able {,
cope with the dangers and difficulties O
the times than the hard headed, cool tenn
pered lawyer of the West. CT the sort o
training required for a Western lawyer
we may form some idea from the follow
ing advertisement which 1 copied from
paper of the Presidents own State of II
linois "A smart, active young lawye
can find employment by calling at IL
Adams street. Those who can play bill
lizards, chew tobacco, smoke, and canno
get up in the morning, need not apply.
Perhaps some of our English lawyer
might think these rather hard lines, bu
that was the discipline of the school il
which the President of the United State
was drilled. And that was the inishin!
school, too; the preparatory school wa
rougher and harder still.
And yet there is about the man some
thing after all, of native breeding-no
the breeding which is indicated by small
hands and gracious manners, but the high
err breeding which makes a man do
kind thing in a delicate way"