The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-05-09

tlOn- Tor the abolition OF slavery, ana
| he aided Lincoln materially during his
administration as president. Lincoln,
am told, was much disappointed In
not getting to the senate. His fight.
however, brought him. to the front as
an anti-Slavery leader, and 1t may be
called the beginning of the wave which
| rolled him into the presidential chair.
| ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S LETTERS.
| If all Of Lincolns letters could be
got together they would make a
most interesting collection. He was
an excellent writer, and the late w. d.
| Kelley, of Pennsylvania, who was
| known as "Pig-iron Kelley" used to
| tell me that Lincoln compared with
Shakespeare In genius, and that he was
great as writer, statesman and sold
| Ter. Lincoln never wasted words In
| his writings Here is copy of a series
| of Endorsements of his of a man who
wanted to be chaplain in the army.
| Lincoln was president at the time and
| Stanton secretary of war. The indorse-
| ments cover the back Of the application
and run down below on a slip Of paper
which has been pasted there to receive
them. They read as follows:
Dear Stanton: Appoint this man chaplain
in the army. "A. Lincoln
Dear Mr.. Lincoln: He is not a preacher
LEI. -Ea iMI Stanton.
Inc following endorsements areySQaCeQ d
few months later but come Just below:
Dear Stanton: He is now. "A. Lincoln.
Dear Mr. Lincoln: But there is no va
| cancy. e. M. Stanton
Dear Stanton: Appoint him chaplain at
large. "A. Lincoln.
Dear Mr.. Lincoln: There is no warrant Of
law for that. e. M. Stanton
Dear Stanton: Appoint him anyhow;
Dear Mr.. Lincoln: I will not
e. M. Stanton.
The result was that the appointment
was not made, but the man was evil
IDENTIFY told that his papers would be
kept on file, for they are to be seen
in the war department now, testimonies
to the nerve Of Stanton and the friend
ship Of Lincoln.
ABE LINCOLN's AUTOBIOGRAPHY
This brevity Is found in all Of
LincOln's letters, but in none more than
that which he prepared when giving a
sketch of himself for Charles Lam
mans Dictionary Of Congress. The
congressman of today uses from 800
to 1000 words in the sketch which he
prepares of himself for the congress
sional directory. Lincoln got the story
of his life into fifty words Here is
what he wrote:
Born 1909, In Harding county, Kentucky.
Education defective. Profession, lawyer.
Hawk war. Postmaster at very small
office. Four times member Of Illinois legis-
lature, and was member of the lower house
Of congress. Yours, etc.,
"A Lincoln.
HE DID NOT WANT PRESIDENCY.
Many other incidents of Lincoln's
modesty might be found in his CORE
spondence While he wanted to go to
the United States senate, he did not
thiroly no tO 10 r1raci6nnt and
there Is an autograph letter Of his.
now owned by man in Nebraska,
which states his views on this subject.
This letter was written April 49,. 1859,
to T. J. -Pickets, of Rock Island, Ill.
Among other things, it included the
following:
As to the other matters you kindly men,
toned must in candor say I do not think
myself fit for the presidency. I certainly
am fattered and gratifed that some partial
friends think of me in that connection, but
1 really think it best for our cause that no
concerted effort such you suggest may be
made. Let this be considered confidential.
"A. Lincoln.
A QUEER REQUEST FORA PASS.
A railroad man showed me copy
the other&d day of a letter Of Lincoln's
returning railroad pass and asking
for another. The original letter was
found during the war in one of the
offices of a leading railroad company,
and the man who owns it now, I am
told, paid $50 for it. I have not seen
the original, but here is the copy, leav-
ing out the name:
Springfield, Feb. IT, 1853. B. Blank, Esq.
Dear Sir: Says Tom to John: Here's
your old rotten wheelbarrow. I've broken it
usin' on it. l wish you would mend it, case
1 should want to borrow it this afternoon"
Acting on this as a precedent, l say:
Here's your old cooked hat wish you
would take it, and send me a new one, case
1 shall want to use it on the list Of March,"
Yours truly, "A. Lincoln.
ABE LINCOLN'S BEST STORIES.
It is wonderful how many stories
President Lincoln told. Senator Voor-
hees, who died the other day, said that
Lincoln had more stories than any
other man he had ever met. He had
a story for every occasion, and he illus
trated everything by anecdote. Some
Of the best stories current today origi-
mated with Lincoln, and hundreds Of
/ his best stories have never been pub
lished. Senator Voorhees, had pre-
served a number which he expected to
| use in the lectures which he was pre-
pairing at the time he died. Here is
one he told at the capitol only short
| time ago. cit was" said he, Sin Illus
] tration of some parties who had been
making a great fuss about Lincoln's
administration without having any
ground for doing so. They had charged
all sorts of things, and, arguing from
their own charges as premises, had
made Lincoln out as being very bad
man. President Lincoln told me that
their action reminded him Of a lawsuit
In which he was once engaged The
/ opposing lawyer was a glib talker, but
/ a very light weight as thinker, and
not at all careful as to the truth of his
statements. This man made the first
speech to the jury and Lincoln follow
ed. He opened his speech by saying:
MY friend who has just spoken to
you would be all right If 1t were not
for one thing, and I don't know that
| you ought to blame him for that, for
| he can't help it. What I refer to is his
reckless statements without any
ground of truth. You have seen in
stances Of this in his speech to you.
stitutton Of his mind. The moment he
| begins to talk all his mental opera
tons cease, and he is not responsible.
He is, in fact much like little steam
boat that'I saw on the Sangamon river
when I was engaged in boating there.
This little steamer had a f1ve-foot
boiler and a seven-foot whistle, and
every time it whistled it stopped
A STORY OF THE WAR.
I was chatting not long since with Ed
Bee, tbout his experiences with Lincoln dur
ing the darkest days of the war. He told
me that he believed Lincoln got relaxation
by his story telling, and that the hearing
tai rest that he so much needed during those
brain-taxing days. These stories came out
under the most trying circumstances and at
the most solemn times. A striking instance
of this was lust after the battle of Fred