The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-11-30
LINCOLN IN THE
WHITE HOUSE.
Always Ready to Receive Simple
FOOd-NO Wine.

In the midst Of crowd Of visitors who
began to arrive early In the morning, and
who were put out grumbliDg, by the SER
wants who closed the doors at midnight, the
President pursued those labors which will
carry his name to distant ages. There was
little order or system about it; those around
him strove from beginning to end to
erect barriers to defend him against
constant interruption. but the Pres-
dent himself was always the first to
break them down. He disliksd anything that
kept people from him who wanted to see
him, and although the continual contact
with Importantly which he could not satisfy
and with distress which he could not always
relieve wore terribly upon him and made
HIM an old man before his time he would
never take the necessary measures to defend
himself. He continued to the end receiving
these swarms of visitors, every one OF whom,
even the most welcome. took something from
him in the way of wasted nervous force
Henry Wilson once demonstrated with him
about it: You will wear yourself out" He
replied with one of those smiles in which
there was so much OF sadness, They don't
want much; they get but little, and must
see them" In most cases he could do them
no good, and it afflicted him to see he could
not make them understand the impoSSlbilty
of granting their requests. One hot after
noon a private soldier, who had somehow got
access to him, persisted, after repeated eX-
by his immediate Superlors, In begging that
the President would give it his personal at
tention. Lincoln at last burst out: Now,
my man, go away! l cannot attend to all
the details. L could as easily bail out the
Potomac with spoon"
OF course it was not all pure waste. Mr.
Lincoln gained much OF information. some
thing OF cheer and encouragement, from
these visits. He particularly enjoyed con-
Yersing with officers of the army and navy,
arrived the field or frnm Snas
He listened with the easerness Of child
over fairy tale to Garheld,S graphic ac-
count of the battle of Chickamauga. He
was always delighted with the wise and
witty sailor talk of John A. Dahigren, Gus
tavus V. Fox and Commander Henry A.
Wise. Sometimes a word fifty spoken had
its results. When Il. B. Ayres called on him
in company with Senator Harris and was
introduced as captain OF artillery who had
taken part in recent unsuccessful engage
ment he asked: How many guns did you
take in ?" Six" Ayres answered" "How
many did you bring ont?" the President
asked maliciously Eight" This uneX-
pected reply did much to gain Ayres his
merited promotion.
The inventors were more a source Of
amusement than annoyance. They were
usually men of some originality OF charac-
ter, not infrequently carried to eccentrcity.
Lincoln had a quick comprehension of me-
ehancal principles, and often detected
flaw in an invention which the contriver had
overlooked. He would sometimes go out
into the waste fields that then lay south OF
the Executive Mansion to test an expert
mental gun or torpedo. He used to quote
with much inerrlment the solemn dctum OF
one rural inventor that "a gun ought not to
rekyle; if it rekyled at ali it ought 20 rekyle
little forriu" He was particularly
interested in the first rude attempts
at the afterward famous mitrailleuses;
on one occasion he worked one with bis
own hands at the arsenal, and sent forth
peals of Homerlc laughter. as the balls,
which had not power TO penetrate the target
set up at little distance, came bounding
back among the SblnS of the byStanderS.
He accompanied Colonel Hiram Berdan one
day 10 the camp Of his sharpshooterS, and
there practiced In the trenches his long-dlS-
used skill with the rifle. few fortunate
shots from his own gun, and his own pleas
ure at the still better Workmanship OF
Berdan, led to the arming Of that admirable
regiment with breech-loaders.
At luncheon time lie had literally to run
the gauntlet through the crowds who filled
the corridors between his office and the
rooms at the west end of the house occupied
by the family. The afternoon wore away
in much the same manner as the morning;
late in the day he usually drove out for an
hours aitins; at O'Clock he dlned. lie
was one of the most abstemious of men;
the pleasures of the table had few attrac-
tions for him. His breakfast was an egg
and cup of coffee; at luncheon he rarely
took more than biscuit and glass of
milk, plate of fruit i'll its season: at dinner
he ate spariDgly of one or two courses. He
drank little or no wine; not that he re-
manned always on principle a total alb
stainer. as he was during part Of his early
life in the lervor of the Washin2tonian"
reform; but he never cared for wine or
liquors of any sort. and never used tobacco
Colonel Hay in the Century.