There is a certain recognized order of precedence of admission when calling upon the President of the United States; the Vice-President will be first admitted, if present, then members of the Diplomatic Corps, Cabinet Ministers, Justices of the Supreme Court, Senators, members of the House of Representatives, and so on. It happened at one time that the late Senator Henry Wilson and myself called to see President Lincoln on a joint errand; and for that reason, I, who was a member of the House of Representatives, could be admitted with the Senator. After we had waited some little time in the anteroom, we were at length admitted; and as the door to Mr. Lincoln's room opened, a small boy, perhaps twelve years old, slipped into the room between the Senator and myself. After the customary salutations the President appeared to be absorbed in the lad, and said, "And who is the little boy?" an inquiry which neither the Senator nor myself could answer. The lad, however, immediately replied that he was a good boy who had come to Washington in the hope of obtaining a situation as page in the House of Representatives. The President began to say to the boy that he must go to Captain Goodnow, the head doorkeeper of the House, as he himself had nothing to do with such an appointment; upon which, the lad insisted that he was a good boy, and pulled from his pockets a recommendation from the supervisors of his town, the minister of the parish and others, stating also that his mother was a widow and pleading the necessities of the family. The President called the boy nearer to him, took his recommendation and wrote upon the back of it as follows:

"If Captain Goodnow can give this good little boy a place he will oblige A. LINCOLN."

This he passed to the boy, who seemed visibly to grow in height as he read it, and strode toward the door buoyed with hope. The incident was tender, dramatic and pa

thetic.

At the beginning of the War, when President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand troops, a certain student in a theological school in Massachusetts at once volunteered and went to the front. He was a private, but his courage and patriotism soon won promotion for him; and he was shockingly wounded and suffered long in hospital, and was finally sent home to recuperate. There was a standing regulation in the army that no communication should be made between the opposing forces, yet both sides disregarded it; and even the authorities at Washington depended not a little upon the information gathered from Southern newspapers obtained through these exchanges between soldiers of the opposing armies. After Captain Burrage (for that was his name) had sufficiently recovered from his wounds, he again joined his regiment at the front just as orders had been issued to enforce the prohibition of all exchange of newspapers. Of this special order he was ignorant, and seeing the rebels in front signalling for an exchange he went forward having only one newspaper while they had two; he took the two and gave in exchange the one he had and promised to bring another later in the day. When he again went to the front to deliver the promised paper the rebels perfidiously dragged him within their lines. and carried him off to Richmond. For disobedience of orders the Washington authorities took away his commission and reduced him to the ranks, while the rebels incarcerated him and gave him only prison fare and privileges. This state of things greatly told against his

health and caused his wounds to break out afresh and otherwise incommoded him. While I was at home during a recess of Congress, Captain Burrage's friend stated these facts to me and begged my interposition to have him exchanged. On my return to Washington I sought the President and began to state the facts to him, when he interrupted me by saying that it was all he could do and more to hear cases in classes, and that he really could not hear individual cases however meritorious. I saw the difficulty and so told him, but at the same time said, that I felt persuaded that if he could hear that case he would esteem it exceptional and especially worthy of his attention, whereupon he asked me to proceed with the statement giving in detail facts not necessary here to recite. When I had finished my story, he said: "I wish you would go over to the War Department and state this case to General Wadsworth [who had charge of the exchange of prisoners] and say to him from me that if he can effect the exchange of Captain Burrage without injustice to other men of his rank, I wish him to do so." I then reminded the President that when captured Burrage was a captain and held as such by the rebels, but that he had since been reduced to the ranks, and we could only give a private soldier in exchange for him while the rebels would probably demand a captain. To this the President replied that if General Wadsworth should raise that point I might tell him that if he (Wadsworth) could take care of the exchange part he guessed he (the President) could take care of the rank part. I fulfilled my errand to General Wadsworth, and he said he could easily effect the exchanges provided he could be allowed to give a captain for Burrage. I then told him what Mr. Lincoln had said about the "rank part," and

that I would immediately return to the White House and inform Mr. Lincoln of what he had said. I did so, and Burrage was in Washington in less than a fortnight afterward. This story will illustrate the patience and sympathy which Mr. Lincoln gave to every interest of the soldiers, whether in the service or in captivity.

A DISTINGUISHED EDITOR'S RECOLLECTIONS.

A WHISKY BILL-LINCOLN AS AN EDITORIAL WRITER.

BY MURAT HALSTEAD,

EDITOR OF "THE BROOKLYN UNION."

I BECAME acquainted with President Lincoln through an old and somewhat peculiar farmer, named "Sol" Meredith. He introduced me to the President on one occasion when he was in the West. Old "Sol" Meredith during the War was the commander of the Iron Brigade at Gettysburg. In the West he had been a farmer, raising all kinds of agricultural products, making a specialty of breeding horses, mules and other live stock.

As a journalist, in a general way, I supported Mr. Lincoln; at the same time I was occasionally inclined to agree with those who were criticising him, but, later on, it became clear to me that he seemed to be doing pretty well. There was a time when nearly everybody criticised him, the Republicans the worst of all.

I remember particularly a speech he made in Cincinnati about 1858, from the balcony of the building where the post office now stands. I went up there for the purpose of hearing a part of the speech, and to get an impression of the man; but I was so much interested that I remained throughout the whole address. The speech was of no particular importance so far as its relation to