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"I am glad to hear you say so," said Mr. Lincoln, "that is my own opinion exactly. But Mr. Stanton is against him, and it was only yesterday that a powerful New York delegation was here to protest against his appointment because he is from a rebel state and can not be trusted."

Said General Steedman:

A man who will leave his own state (Thomas was a Virginian), his friends, all his associations, to follow the flag of his country, can be trusted in any position to which he may be called."

That night the order went forth from Washington relieving General Rosecrans of the command of the Army of the Cumberland and appointing General Thomas in his place.

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An Interesting Incident Connected with Signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

The roll containing the Emancipation Proclamation was taken to Mr. Lincoln at noon on the first day of January, 1863, by Secretary Seward and his son Frederick. As it lay unrolled before him, Mr. Lincoln took a pen, dipped it in the ink, moved his hand to the place for the signature, held it a moment, and then removed his hand and dropped the pen. After a little hesitation he again. took up the pen and went through the same movement as before. Mr. Lincoln then turned to Mr. Seward, and said:

I have been shaking hands since nine o'clock this morning and my right arm is almost paralyzed. If my

name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign the Proclamation, all who examine the document hereafter will say, 'He hesitated.""

He then turned to the table, took up the pen again,

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and slowly, firmly wrote "Abraham Lincoln," with which the whole world is now familiar. He then looked up, smiled, and said. "That will do!"

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A Dream that was Portentous-What Lincoln said to General Grant about it.

At the Cabinet meeting held the morning of the day of the assassination, it was afterward remembered, a remarkable circumstance occurred. General Grant was present, and during a lull in the discussion the President turned to him and asked if he had heard from General

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Sherman.

General Grant replied that he had not, but

was in hourly expectation of receiving despatches from

him announcing the surrender of Johnson.

"Well," said the President, "you will hear very soon now, and the news will be important."

"Why do you think so?" said the General.

"Because," said Mr. Lincoln, "I had a dream last night; and ever since the war began, I have invariably had the same dream before any important military event -occurred."

He then instanced Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, etc., and said that before each of those events he had had the same dream; and turning to Secretary Wells, said: "It is in your line, too, Mr. Wells. The dream is that I saw a ship sailing very rapidly; and I am sure that it portends some important national event."

Later in the day, dismissing all business, the carriage was ordered for a drive. When asked by Mrs. Lincoln if he would like any one to accompany them, he replied:

"No; I prefer to ride by ourselves to-day."

Mrs. Lincoln subsequently said that she never saw him seem so supremely happy as on this occasion.

to a remark to this effect, the President said:

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In reply

"And well I may feel so, Mary, for I consider this day the war has come to a close, And then added: "We must both be more cheerful in the future; between the war and the loss of our darling Willie, we have been very miserable."

The Serpent in Bed with Two Children.

A number of Kentuckians insisted that troops should not be sent through that state for the purpose of putting down the war in Tennessee. The President was hesitating what to do, and they were pressing immediate action.

"I am," he said, "a good deal like the farmer who, re

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turning to his home one winter night, found his two sweet little boys asleep with a hideous serpent crawling over their bodies. He could not strike the serpent without wounding or killing the children, so he calmly waited until it had moved away. Now, I do not want to act in a hurry about the matter; I don't want to hurt anybody in Kentucky; but I will get the serpent out of Tenn

essee.

And he did march through Kentucky, to the aid of Andrew Johnson's mountaineer's."

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