July 27,

1848.

cratic Party for President, in opposition to General Zachary Taylor, the candidate of the Whigs. The partisans of Cass unwisely 184 magnified his military services. Mr. Lincoln, in common with many other members, made a speech upon the political situation, in which General Cass was held up to ridicule, especially in regard to extra charges upon the Treasury. Mr. Lincoln said:

"I have introduced General Cass's accounts here chiefly to show the wonderful physical capacities of the man. They show that he not only did the labor of several men at the same time, but he often did it in several places many hundred miles apart at the same time. And as to eating, too, his capacities are shown to be quite as wonderful. From October, 1821, to May, 1822, he ate ten rations a day in Michigan, ten rations a day here in Washington, and nearly $5 worth a day, besides, partly on the road between the two places. And then there is an important discovery in his example-the act of being paid for what one eats, instead of having to pay for it. Hereafter, if any nice young man shall owe a bill which he cannot pay in any other way, he can just board it out. We have all heard of the animal standing in doubt between two stacks of hay and starving to death; the like of that would never happen to General Cass. Place the stacks a thousand miles apart, and he would stand stock-still midway between them and eat them both at once, and the green grass along the line would be apt to suffer some, too, at the same time. By all means, make him President, gentlemen. He will feed you bounteously, if-if-there is any left after he shall have helped himself."

Just before the close of Mr. Lincoln's term in Congress the thought came to him that he might possibly obtain an appointment from the President as Commissioner of the General Land Office, which would give him a fair salary. He applied for the situation, but his friend, Edwin D. Baker, from Illinois, also wanted the office. Fortunately for themselves and for the country neither of them received the appoint

ment.

Mr. Lincoln visited New York and Boston. He gave an address at Worcester, Mass., which was much liked by those who heard it. He journeyed to Niagara. He beheld the swirling stream above the falls, the cataract, and the fury of the current below. A Yankee thought it might be a good place to wash sheep. Mr. Lincoln was not thinking about washing sheep, or of setting Niagara to turning millwheels, but wondered where all the water came from. The most comfortable route home was by steamboat down the Ohio River and up the Illinois. The water was low, and the boat grounded on a bar. The firemen stuffed wood under the boilers, and black clouds of smoke rolled out from the chimneys. Louder the puffing of the steam, but the boat was hard and fast upon the sand. "Get out those empty barrels !" the order of the captain. The crew pitched a lot of empty casks into the

river and fastened them with ropes under the bow of the boat, thus lifting it till clear of the obstruction. A thought came to the man who looked down upon the operation from the deck of the steamer. Quite likely he recalled the days when he took the Talisman over the sandbars of the Sangamon. Why not get up a contrivance-a flexible airchamber, to be attached to the hull of the boat? It could be pumped full of air whenever the vessel grounded, and so enable it to glide over. He thought about it all the way to Springfield; set Walter Davis, a carpenter, to work making a

model, which he sent to the Patent Office, and received a patent for his invention; but, like most of the patents issued, it came to nothing.

Zachary Taylor, who won the battle of Buena Vista in the war with Mexico, had been elected President. During the campaign Mr. Lincoln made many speeches favoring his election, and as a reward for what he had done could have an office. He started for Washington to see what the President would give him. In the early morning he took his seat in the stage at Ramsdell's tavern. There was only

one other passenger, a Kentuckian, who took a plug of tobacco from his pocket, bit off a quid, and handed it to the silent man beside him. "No, I thank you, sir; I do not chew."

"Perhaps you will take a cigar?" and the Kentuckian held out a case well filled with cigars.

"Much obliged to you, but I do not smoke."

"Well, stranger, seeing you don't chew or smoke, perhaps you will take a little nice French brandy?" said the man, taking a flask from his pocket. "You are very kind, but I am not in the habit of drinking," replied Lincoln. The stage reached the tavern where the horses were changed, and where the Kentuckian was to stop. He did not quite understand the man who had declined the offered courtesies.

"See here, stranger," he said, "I think you are a real clever fellow; I wouldn't offend you for the world; but allow me to say that a man who does not chew, smoke, or drink, who has no vices of any kind, is not likely to have many virtues."

Mr. Lincoln laughed heartily as he bade him good-bye.

At Terre Haute two prominent citizens of Indiana, Thomas H. Nelson and Judge Hammond, took seats for Indianapolis. It was early morning, the sun not up. They saw a man asleep, lying on the back seat and his long legs stretched across the vehicle.

"Hullo, my friend! Say, have you chartered the whole of this coach?" shouted the judge, slapping the sleeper on the shoulder.

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"Beg your pardon, gentlemen; but I thought I would make myself as comfortable as I could," said Mr. Lincoln, as he courteously took the front seat.

The sun rises, and the two passengers see that their fellow-traveller is a tall man with deep-set eyes and thin cheeks. It is a warm morning, and he has laid aside vest and cravat. His hat is of palm-leaf, tipped back on his head. He must be a queer fellow, and they will have some fun with him. He laughs at their jokes, and does not seem to mind it when they make him the butt of their raillery. At night they behold a comet blazing in the sky. Ignorant people are fearful it is going to destroy the world. Judge Hammond and Mr. Nelson are surprised at what their fellow-passenger has to say upon astronomy. He seems to be well informed. "What do you think is to be the up

shot of this comet business?" he asks.

"I differ from the scientific men and the philosophers. I should not be surprised if the world should follow the plaguy thing off," the reply

of Mr. Nelson.

The man without any vest or cravat laughs heartily, but does not controvert the opinion. Late in the evening the stage rolls up to Browning's Hotel, in Indianapolis, and Judge Hammond and Mr. Nelson go to their rooms to brush the dust from their clothing. They are astonished when they come down and see Judge McLean and half a dozen of the foremost public men of the State shaking hands with the man wearing the palm-leaf hat.

"Who is he?" Nelson asked of the landlord.

"That is Abraham Lincoln."

Mortified and ashamed of their joking and raillery, they sneak out of the back door and make their way to another tavern. They do not care to meet him after what has taken place.