St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-13
GOSSIP OF THE DAY.


President Lincoln, which, New York
Tribune correspondent is assured, has
never gotten into print:
''Shortly after William Pitt Fessen-
den had been appointed secretary of the
treasury, to succeed Chase" said his
''Mr. Lincoln happened to
meet the latter, and upon an inquiry by
the future chief justice as to how mat
tiers looked generally, Mr.. Lincoln
quietly remarked:
- oh, pretty well! pretty we'll! The
only thing is that I've had little trOu-
bic about the cabinet, but it's all hap
PLY settled now, I'm glad to say
why. how is that. Mr.. Presiden?t'
queried Chase in earnest and sympa-
thetic tones; Pm sure it could not have
bee n anything very serious
'''No, not at all, not at allv' cried the
president in his CHEEKY way You see,'
he continued, dropping his voice lit
tie, and with a merry twinkle in his
eye, although am by no means an ex-
tremiSt Myself, still have always been
devoured by an Over-maStering anX-
ietY regarding the religious tenets and
profession of faith held by the various
members of my official family. Now,
Fessenden is quite recent addition to
the cabinet, and [ have been a little IN
decided where to place him, in relig-
iOuS point of view.
"'Well, Mr.. President timidly ven
tured Chase, Pm glad you satisfied
yourself upon such an important point
"'Oh, yesv responded Lincoln, I
haven't the slightest doubt upon the
subject now. You see, Fessenden is a
pretty evenly balanced man. but once in
q WI hn re jy,tr Cd nd
then he swears so ALFRED hard. just
like Seward. that l know, sure as faith,
that he's an Episcopalian."
Tom Foley, the veteran billiardist,
says the Chicago Herald, usually so
hearty and genial. came down town yes
terday morning with a Scowl on his
brow that would turn pure milk. But
he was fully entitled to wear the scowl,
for in the still watches of Tuesday night
burglars had entered his home and
nailed fifty-eight good American dollars
belonging to him. II think the fellow,
whoever he was, must have been prac-
Using on me, for he took only the hard
cash and left my diamonds and jewelry
untouched" said Mr.. Foley. IF he had
been regular practitioner | would
not have cared, but L hate to
graduates. [ think though, that
l know the man. For some time
past have noticed hanging around the
house little, short, stout, smoOth-faced
man who is said to be an actor, and if
find that he has been spending any big
money L will nail him." What annoyS
Mr.. Foley particularly is the fact that
the burglar entered the house by the
basement window and passed nndis-
turbed the room of his brother-in-laW,
the late Humphrey Moynihan-Tom
calls him ''the late Humphrey" because
he never gets home before l a. m. IF
he had roDbed any one else in the
house, says Tom, II would not care SO
much, but when he plays me against the
entire field l am inclined to kick. If I
L ever catch him pity him." and Toms
eagle eye fell on the further pool table
aud its fiendish glance tore the cloth.
A gentleman who has just returned
from visit to Washington, says the
New York Commercial Advertiser,
brings back very good story which has
recently become current there about
one of the justices of the supreme court.
In his early days he lived in Southern
Kentucky, and as it was just about the
time of the Campbellite excitement the
future jurist became one of the local
preachers of this denomination when
little more than mere boy. In one of
his sermons it became necessary to eX-
plain in some way the miracle
of the march of the Israelites
across the Red sea. He began by say
ing that the miracle presented no diff
of the easiest and most natural things
in the world. ''Ehe truth is" he said,
1.-THE Israelites, being the pursued, were
on foot, many of them i'll shod. with
out baggage or equipment, and conSe-
quently very light of tread. The Red
sea was frozen over, and these people,
thus equipped, simply walked across
and were out of the way" Then warm
ing UP to his subject he felt, of course,
that 1T was necessary to explain
why Pharaoh and his accompanying
Egyptians were in hot pursuit of the
fleeing Israelites. They had their
horses and their chariots and their
heavy arms and armor. and it was only
natural when they came driving upon
the ice over the Red sea that they
this is the simple explanation of the
whole matter" Among the eongrega-
ton was one of those skeptical persons
to be found almost everywhere;
so he arose in his place aud
said: well, but does the broth
er who has entertained us so
eloquently with this explanation
not know that the Red sea is near the
equator and that it never freezes there?"
The incipient jurist raised himself to his
greatest height and replied: Il suppose
my brother thinks now that he has put
to me a question which is absolutely in
capable of answer. But this is quite as
simple as the original explanation. The
brother speaks about the Red sea being
under the equator; but he must re-
member that there was no equator in
those days"