The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-09

CT mousse Oh congress. Yours,
Many other incidents of Lincoln's modesty
might be found in his correspondence.
While he wanted to go to the United States
Senate, he did not think he was fit to be
President, and there is an autograph letter
of his, now owned by a man in Nebraska.
which states his views on his subject. This
letter was written April &c, 1859, to Mr.. T.
j. Pickets, of Rock Island, Ill. Among
other things, it included the following:
LAS to the other matter you kindly men
toned ] must in candor say l do not think
myself fit for the presidency. l certainly
am BATTERED and gratiied that some partial
friends think of me in that connection, but
l really think it best for our cause that no
concerted effort such as you suggest may
be made. Let this be considered conhden
tial. (Signed) A. LINCOLN
A railroad man showed me a copy the
other day of a letter of Lincoln's returning
a railroad pass and asking for another.
The original letter was found during the
war in one of the offices of a leading rail-
road company, and the man who OWNS ii
now, l am told, paid $50 for it. 1 a not
seen the original, but here is the copy,
leaving out the name:
Springfield, Feb. 16, 1873.
'B. B. Blank, Esq:
Dear Sir-Says Tom to John: Here's
your old rotten wheelbarrow. I've broken
it usen on it. l wish you would mend it,
case ! should want to borrow it this after
noon
Acting on this as a precedent. I say:
Here's your old chalked hat l wish you
would take it. and send me a new one, case
l shall want to use it on the LIST of March.
Yours truly, (Signed) A. LINCOLN
LINCOLN'S BEST STORIES.
1t is wonderful how many stories Presi-
dent Lincoln told. Senator Voorhees,, 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 occa-
sion, and he illustrated everything by an
ecdote. Some of the best stories current
to-day originated with Lincoln and hun
dreds of his best stories have never been
published. Senator Voorhees, had preserved
a number which he expected to use in the
lectures which he was preparing at the
time he died. Here is one he told at the
capitol only a short time ago. 1t was,
said he, lin illustration 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 sort of things and, arguing from their
own charges as premises, had made Lin
coin out as being a very bad man. Presl-
dent Lincoln told me that their action re-
minded him of a law suit in which he was
once engaged. The opposing lawyer was
a glib talker. but a very light weight as
a thinker and not at all careful as to the
truth of his statements This man made
the first speech to the jury and Lincoln
followed. He opened his speech by saying
my friend who has just spoken to you
would be all right if it were not for one
thing, and l don't know that you ought to
blame him for that, for he can't help 1t.
What l refer to is his reckless statements
without any ground of truth. You have
seen instances of this in his speech to you.
Now, the reason of this lies in the constitu-
ton of his mind. The moment he begins to
talk all his mental operations cease, and he
is not responsible. He is, in fact, much like
a little steamboat that l saw on the San
CANON river when l was engaged in boat
ing there. This little steamer had a hve-
foot boiler and a seven-foot whistle, and
every time it whistled it stopped"
A STORY OF THE WAR.
| was chatting not long since with Ed
ward the editor of the Omaha
Bee. about his experiences with Lincoln
during the darkest days of the war. He
told me that he believed Lincoln got relax
alton by his story telling, and that the
hearing or telling of a good story gave him
the mental rest that he so much needed
during those brain-taxing days. These
stories came out under the most trying cir
cumstances, and at the most solemn times.
A striking instance of this was just after
the battle of Fredericksburg. After the
Union armies had been defeated an official
who had seen the battle hurried to Wash
ington. He reached there about midnight
and went directly to the White House.
President Lincoln had not yet retired, and
the man was at once received. Lincoln had
already heard some reports of the battle.
He was feeling very sad and rested his
head upon his hands while the story was
repeated to him. AS the man saw his in
tense suffering he remarked:
II wish, Mr.. President, hat 1 might be
a messenger of good news instead of bad.
/ wish / could tell you how to q or
to get rid of those rebellious States"
At this President Lincoln looked up and
a smile came across his face as he said:
That reminds me of two boys out in 1lli-
rois who took a short cut across an orch
ard. When they were in the middle of the
field they saw a vicious dog bounding to-
ward them. One of the boys was sly
enough to climb up a tree, but the other
ran around the tree, with the dog following.
lie kept running uHllli Dy making SuldileT
circles than it was possible for his pur-
suer to make, he gained upon the dog suffi-
GENTLY to grasp his tail. He held on to
the tail with a desperate grip until nearly
exhausted, when he called to the boy up
the tree to come down and help.
What for?' said the boy.
Il want you to help me let this dog 60
"Now," concluded President Lincoln, IF
/ could only let the rebel States go it would
be all right. But l am compelled to hold
on to them and max they stay"
Some of Lincoln's best stories were told
in answer to the criticisms made upon his
administration. There was a large class
of Northerners who were always objecting
to everything that was done. They made
q great fuss and they greatly injured the
administration. The worst of these critics
were those who complained about the war
not moving fast enough. To aparty of such
men from the West he once said:
Gentlemen, l want you to suppose a
case for a moment. Suppose that all the
property you were worth was in gold, and
you had put it in the hands of Blondin,
the famous ropewalker, to carry across
the Niagara Falls on a tight rope. Would
you shake the rope while he was passing
over it, or keep shouting to him:
" rBlondin, stoop a little more. Go a lit
tie faster?'"
mo; / am sure you would not. You
would hold your breath as well as your
tongue and keep your hands off until he