"Why? Why, he drinks too much whiskey."

That particular accusation had been withheld until that moment, but now the President's face put on its most caustic expression as he responded: "Ah! that's it! By the way, gentlemen, can either of you tell me where General Grant gets his whiskey? I think I'd better send a barrel of that whiskey to every general in the field."

Mr. Lincoln had several reasons for not admiring ex-President Tyler and a mention of him on one occasion brought out an anecdote.

"A year or two after Tyler's accession to the Presidency," said Mr. Lincoln, "contemplating an excursion in some direction, his son went to order a special train of cars. It so happened that the railroad superintendent was a very strong

Whig. On 'Bob's' making known his errand, that official promptly informed him that his road did not run special trains for the President.

"What,' said Bob, 'did you not furnish a special train for the funeral of General Harrison?'

"Yes,' said the superintendent, stroking his whiskers; 'and if you will only bring your father here in that shape, you shall have the best train on the road.'"

Concerning the probable political strength of one of the presidential candidates, in 1864, Mr. Lincoln gravely read to a friend the account in 1 Samuel, of David's forces at the Cave of Adulam :

"And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain

over them, and there were with him about four hundred men.'"

SPEECH TO THE NATIONAL UNION LEAGUE, JUNE 9, 1864.

"I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the best man in the country (for President); but I am reminded in this connection of a story of an old Dutch farmer who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses while crossing a stream.'

Letter to D. R. Locke, 1863;—a satirical journalist whose hits he had much enjoyed :

Why don't you come to Washington and see me? Is there any place you want? Come on, and I will give you any place you ask for -that you are capable of fillingand fit to fill."

CONVERSATION WITH D. R. LOCKE, 1863.

"It's a good thing for individuals (generals and others in office) that there is a government to shove over their acts upon. No man's shoul

ders are broad enough to bear what must be."

The chairman of an enthusiastic delegation of emancipationists was a clergyman who plied him heavily with scriptural quotations.

"Well, gentlemen," replied Mr. Lincoln, "it is not often one is favored with a delegation direct from the Almighty."

The British Minister, Lord Lyons, was very much liked by Mr. Lincoln. He was a bachelor. When the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Princess Alexandra of Denmark required announcement, as an affair of state, the duty was performed

ceremoniously, with an autograph letter from Queen Victoria to the President of the United States, and with a very neat and cordial international address from the minister. The response expected was such as might be sent by a president to a Queen, but Mr. Lincoln listened to the speech, to the end, and then his face lit up with friendly fun as he replied:

"Lord Lyons, go thou and do likewise."