Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1875-04-11
Anecdote Of President Lincoln.

As the President was passing throuob
the wards OF hospital near Washington
upon one occasion he observed in one of
the bedsa young soldier whose pallid coun.
tenance and expressionless CLASSY ewes be
tokened great physical and mental pros
tration, and he inquired of the attend;n,
surgeon if there was any prospect of hi
ultimate recovery.
"Not the slightest" replied the doctor
ellis vital powers are rapidly ebbins
away and will soon be exhausted
/ 81 am heartily sorry for the poor boy,
said Mr.. Lincoln, "and l should ike to d
something to make his last hours pass a
comfortably as possible. Would there b.
any harm in speaking to himl" added he
And upon being assured there would not
he sat down by the bedside, and takin,
the young mans hand, in the kindest DOS
sible tone Of voice said, my young friend
I am the President of the United States
and am informed by the doctor that vol
cannot possibly live but short time
Now if there is any request you would
like to make in regard to your family, i
will afford me very great satisfaction tt
comply with it."
The youth turned his dim eyes toward
the President, but made no response until
the question was repeated, when, with
great effort, he succeeded in giving artic-
ulation to h thanks, and expressed an
earnest desire to see his aged grand
mother, who, he said, was then living in
Bangor, Maine.
The President, after assuring him that
every effort should be made to crafty his
wishes, babe him kind adieu, and call
ing the medical officer aside, asked if
there was any prospect of the young mans
surviving until the old lady could be tel
egraphed to and come to Washington, and
he seemed a good deal perplexed on being
told that there was no hope of this; but
after a moments reflection, he said the
only expcdicnt that occurred to him under
the circumstances was the exercise of
little of that harmless strategy which was
always allowable in war times; that if he
could only find some old woman who
would consent to personate the grand
mother, the boy was in such state of
lethargy that he would not probably de-
tect the deception, and would die with
the consoling belief that he had received
the parting benediction of his aged rela-
tive.
''That would certainly be a perfectly
justifiable device" replied the surgeon,
'but where will you get the elderly female
to enact the part of the grandmother"
"Let me see," soliloquized Mr.. Lincoln,
holding up his left hand while he emu
merated with the index finger of the right
hand: 'there is old Mrs. B-r, old Mrs.
Six, and old Mrs. Ms; they are
all most benevolent ladies, but am ap-
prehensive they could not be prevailed
upon to undertake any thing which in
volved the faintest shadow Of deception.
No, no." continued he, there is no hope
from that direction; but if l could only
induce my venerable friend Gideon Wells
to pers' nate the old lady in suitable cos.
tune, the object would be attained, and
nobody harmed"
But" remarked the doctor, "Mr.
Wells's long white beard would expose
the artifcc."
.sThat can all be obviated by his wear
ing night-cap, tied down so as to cover
up the beard, said the President. Ac-
cordingly he sat down at once and ad-
dressed note to the Secretary OF the
Navy, begging him, as special favor, to
comply with the request at as early mo-
ment as practicable as the boys hours
were numbered.
Now it so happened that when the Sec
rotary received this communication he
was officially engaged in business trans
actions, which, in his opinion, were OF so
much consequence that they could not be
postponed for anything else, and he re-
piled that he entertained high apprecia-
ton of the honor conferred upon him by
the Presidents selecting him to perform
the chief role in this sad little drama IN
Dictated, but unfortunately he was at thai
very moment deeply absorbed in the So
luton of the difficult problem as tt
whether Noah's ark or the new mode
gun-boat was best adapted to the purposes
of modern warfare.-EDIToRs DRAWER
in Harper's Magazine for April. H