Boys' and Girls' Biography of Abraham Lincoln Part 4

NOT AFRAID.

In the time of the Civil war there was a danger that Mr. Lincoln might be killed because he was president and conducting the war. It was thought that some traitor might watch until he got a good chance, when the president was unprotected, and then shoot him. Mr. Lincoln never seemed to fear this, however. He would walk over from the White House to the War department at night and alone. It would be midnight and two o'clock in the morning sometimes. At the War department Secretary Stanton would receive dispatches from the officers in the army on the situation at the front and Mr. Lincoln, after the day's work desired to get the latest word from the battles. When he was cautioned about danger he said: "If anyone desires to kill me, I do not suppose any amount of care could prevent it." How sadly true this was even when the war was over.

KIND OF RELIGION.

A while before his a.s.sa.s.sination, two Tennessee ladies called on the president, asking for the release of their husbands, who were prisoners of war at Johnson's Island. One of the ladies urged upon the president as a cause for her husband's release, that he was a religious man. He finally released them, but said:

"You say your husband is a religious man: tell him when you meet him that I say I am not much of a judge of religion, but that in my opinion, the religion that sets men to rebel and fight against their government, because, as they think, that government does not sufficiently help some men to eat their bread by the sweat of other men's faces, is not the sort of religion upon which people can get to Heaven."

MR. LINCOLN'S FIRST DOLLAR.

In the president's chamber some men were conversing one evening, and the conversation running on that line Mr. Lincoln said: "Seward, you never heard, did you, how I earned my first dollar? I was about eighteen years old and we were quite poor. We had raised some produce and I got mother's consent to take it down the river on a flat boat and sell it.

There were then no wharves on the river. I was down at the bank looking over my flat boat to see that it was all right before I started out. Two men came along and wanted to get out to a steamer in the river and asked me if I would take them and their trunks out. I said, 'Certainly.' So they got on the flat boat and I pulled them out to the steamer and they got aboard and I lifted on the trunks. The steamer was about to go and the men had forgotten to pay me, so I shouted to them and each of them threw a silver half dollar on the floor of my boat. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw the amount of the money. It may seem a small sum to you gentlemen, but it seemed an immense sum to me. To think that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day and by honest work, was almost too good to be true. But there it was and the world did not not seem such an awful big and terrible place after all, and I thought perhaps I could do great things yet, even if I was such a poor and helpless chap."

MR. LINCOLN AT SUNDAY SCHOOL.

Five Points in New York for many years was considered about the most wicked place in the city. They started missions there and made it better. One Sunday morning when Sunday School commenced, a tall, strange looking man entered and sat down. He listened with close attention to the exercises and when the lesson was over, the superintendent asked him if he would say something to the children. He said he would gladly; and going forward he talked in a plain, simple, earnest way and fascinated the children so that they all became very quiet and listened to all he had to say very eagerly. The faces of the children would brighten as he told some beautiful lesson or break into laughter as he quaintly told a humorous incident and then they would look serious as he warned them of sin and wrong and what would follow. Once or twice he tried to stop, but the little folks shouted, "Go on, Oh, do go on!" The superintendent wondered who this unusually interesting man was and when he was leaving, asked his name. The reply was, "I am Abraham Lincoln."

TRIBUTE TO THE WOMEN.

During the war many fairs were held to raise money to send extra food, clothing and medicine to the soldiers in the fields and hospitals. The ladies generally managed these fairs in the different towns. They asked Mr. Lincoln to speak at one of them and he gladly consented. He said:

"This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily on all cla.s.ses of people, but the most heavily on the soldier. For it has been said, 'All that a man hath will he give for his life.' And while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then, is due the soldier. In this war extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars, and among these manifestations, nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. The chief agents of these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say that, if all that has been said by orators and poets were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will close by saying, G.o.d bless the women of America."

MORE LIGHT WANTED.

Another of Mr. Lincoln's stories was this:

A traveler on the frontier lost his way one stormy night. It was a terrible thunder storm. He floundered along until his horse played out.

He could see only when the flashes of lightning came. The peals of thunder, however, were proportionately strong and frightening. One roar and all around him seemed cras.h.i.+ng; he fell on his knees. He was not much given to praying so his prayer was short:

"O, Lord, if it's all the same to you, give us a little more light and a little less noise."

THE SHOOTING STORY.

Mr. Lincoln used to tell the story of a s.h.a.ggy old man, who was a great hunter and lived in the edge of the timber. One morning he stood out in front of his door firing away at a squirrel in a tree. He kept shooting, but the squirrel did not come down. His son came up and asked what he was firing at. The father said: "Don't you see that squirrel up there in the tree?" The son looked and looked in every possible way but could see no squirrel. Still the father kept firing away. At last the son looking at him said: "Father I see what's the matter. There is an ant hanging on the end of your eyebrow and you have been looking at it."

FIRST RIGHTFUL DECISION.

Attorney-General Bates objected to the appointment of a certain Judge to a government position. Mr. Lincoln said: "He did me a favor once, let me tell you about it."

"I was walking to court one morning with ten miles of bad road before me. The Judge overtook me and said:

"'h.e.l.lo, Lincoln, going to the court house? Get in and I will give you a ride.'

"I got in and the Judge went on reading some court papers. Soon the carriage struck a stump on one side of the road and then something else on the other side. I looked out and saw the driver jerking from one side to the other on his seat, so I said, 'Judge I think your driver has taken a drop too much of liquor this morning.'

"'Well I declare Lincoln,' said he, 'I should not much wonder if you are right, for he has nearly upset me half a dozen times since starting.'

Putting his head out of the window he shouted, 'You scoundrel, you are drunk.'

"Upon which pulling up his horses and turning around with gravity, the driver said, 'Golly, but that's the first rightful decision your honor has given for the last twelve months.'"

G.o.d NEEDED CHURCH FOR SOLDIERS.

"Among the numerous applicants who visited the White House one day was a well-dressed lady. She came forward without apparent embara.s.sment in her air or manner, and addressed the president. Giving her a very close and scrutinizing look, he said:

"'Well, madam, what can I do for you?'

"She told him that she lived in Alexandria; that the church where she wors.h.i.+ped had been taken for a hospital.

"'What church, madam?' Mr. Lincoln asked in a quick, nervous manner.

"'The ---- Church,' she replied; 'and as there are only two or three wounded soldiers in it, I came to see if you would not let us have it, as we want it very much to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d in.'