The Cecil Whig., 1885-06-27


our application"
Mr.. Lincoln listened quietly to this
insolcnt TRADE, and at its close the old
twinkle came into his eye.
"You three gentlemen remind me Of
a story l once heard" said he, "of a
poor little boy out West who had lost
his mother. His father wanted to give
him religious education and SO placed
him in the family of clergyman whom
he directed to instruct the little fellow
carefully in the Scriptures. Every day
| the boy was required to commit to
memory and recite one chapter of the
Bible. Things proceeded smoothly
until they reached that chapter which
details the story of the trials of Shad-
rach, Meshech and Abednego in the
fiery furnace. The boy got on well
until he was asked to repeat these three
names, but he had forgotten them. His
teacher told him he must learn them,
and gave him another day to do SO.
Next day the boy again forgot them.
Now, said the teacher, you have
again failed to remember those names,
and you can go no further till you have
learned them. l will give you another
day on this lesson, and if you don't re-
repeat the names l will punish you
A third time the boy came to recite
and got down to the stumbling block
when the clergyman said: Now tell
me the names of the men in the fiery
furnace
"'Oh,' said the boy, here come
those three internal bores | wish the
devil had them =
Having received their final answer" ,"
the three patriots retired, and at the
| Cabinet meeting, which followed di-
rectly after, the President. in high good
humor, related how he had dismissed
his untimely visitors.
A HAPPY STORY.
The humorous aspect of a subject
never failed to strike him, and the illus
trative story was as ready for a grave
matter of business as in his lighter
hours. Often during the war United
States marshals made arrests and seiz-
ures the legality of which would be
tested by judicial proceedings against
them. For their protection Congress
appropriated 100000 to be expended
under the direction of the President in
defending United States officers in such
suits. Some of the marshals thus sued
had been clamorous for orders from
the Attorney General to the United
States district attorneys to defend these
suits. But when it became known that
the President had 100000 for this
purpose, the marshals ceased to impor-
tune the Attorney General for counsel
and went" for the money. In sub
hitting to the President some rules for
his approval under which the fund
should be paid to the marshals | spoke
of the fact that they no longer sought
the aid of the district attorneys, but
were all anxious to get control of the
money.
EYES," said he, "they will now all
be after the money and be content
with nothing else. They are like a
man in Illinois whose cabin was burned
down, and, according to the kindly
custom of early days in the West, his
neighbors all contributed something tc
start him again. In his case they had
been so liberal that he soon found him
self better off than before the fire, and
he got proud. One day a neighbol
brought him a bag of oats, but the
fellow refused it with scorn. No,
said he, I'm not taking oats now.
take nothing but money!"
A friend of mine was one ofa dele
CATION who called on Mr.. Lincoln to
ask the appointment of a gentleman a:
commissioner to the Sandwich Islands
They presented their case as earnestly
as possible, and besides his fitness fo
the place they urged that he was il
bad health and a residence IN thai
balmy climate would be of great bene
fit to him. The President closed the
interview with this discouraging re
mark Gentlemen, l am sorry to say
that there are eight other applicant:
for that place and they are all sicke
than your man."
When Attorney-general Bates re
signed, late in 1864 following th'
resignation of Postmaster general Blai
earlier in that year), the Cabinet wa
left without a Southern member. T
few days before the meeting of the Su
preme Court, which then met in De
cember, Mr.. Lincoln sent for me an(
said
"My Cabinet has sh1uuk ub Nortl
and | must find a Southern man.
suppose if the Twelve Apostles were t.
be chosen nowadays the shrieks of 10
cality would have to be needed. l hav
invited Judge Holt to become attorne
general, but he seems unwilling t.
undertake the Supreme Court work.
want you to see him, remove his OBJ
jection;, if you can, and bring ME hi
answer"
| then had charge of the Govern
ment cases in the Supreme Court, ant
they were all ready for argument.
saw Judge Holt, explained the situa
ton, and assured him that he need no
appear in court unless he chose to d
81 He had however. decided #