 Section 256 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams Acuse Not, the Servant Read for Libelvox.org by Hannah Zowell As the possibilities of rapid advancement were redubbled during the war, the President, in his first term of office, was stormed by the office seekers who thought it the best plan to have occupiers of posts outed to give them an opening. So they were lined and even accused chief officials with a freedom unknown in other countries where the bureaucracy is a sacred institution. As, within a generation, it has become here. Lincoln rebuked one of those covetous fexes by saying gravely to him, Friend, go home and attentively read Proverbs 13 verse 10. The rebuffed applicant found at that page in the book, accused not a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty, attested by Shyla Colflax. End of Section 256 This recording is in the public domain. Section 257 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams A wolf in a trap must sacrifice his tail to be free. Read for Libelvox.org by Captain Allegra. The Presidential Private Secretary startered, maintains that his chief sorely astonished and baffled the tribe of acquaintances who flocked in upon him as soon as he was elevated, and went back home with empty haversacks, wondering that he ignored them with heartless ingratitude. He did not make even his own father a brigadier, nor invite cousin Dennis Hanks to a seat in his cabinet. End of Section 257 This recording is in the public domain. Section 258 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams Somewhat of a Newsman Read for Libelvox.org by Todd Lennon. Innately attached to letters and precocious, Abraham Lincoln soon learned his letters and drank in all the learning that his few books could supply. Hence at an early age he became the oracle on the rude frontier, where even a smattering made him handy and valuable to the illiterate back woodsman. Besides, as working in any place and at any work, he rarely abided long in any one spot and had not what might be called a home in his teens. Dennis Hanks, his cousin, said of Abraham at 14-18, Abe was a good talker, a good reader, and a kind of newsboy. Hence he was a sort of volunteer co-porter distributing gossip as a notion peddler before he was a store clerk where centered all the local news. He was on this experience that he would mingle with the newspaper reporters and telegraph men fraternally, saying with his winning smile an undeniable push. Let me in, boys, for I am somewhat of a newsgatherer myself. And then he would fix his footing by one of his stories, always, well often, uttered with a view to publication. End of Section 258. This recording is in the public domain. Recorded by Todd Lennon, Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 4, 2009. Section 259 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. A little more light and a little less noise. Read for Libravox.org. As the President was a diligent devourer of the newspaper in the vexatious times, as at all others, he met many a torrent of criticism, incitement, and councils, which left him stunned rather than alleviated. To a special correspondent who hampered him, he said, Your papers remind me of a little story. There was a gentleman travelling on horseback in the west where the roads were few and bad and no settlements. He lost his way. To make matters worse, as night came on, a terrible thunderstorm arose. Lightning dazzled the eye or thunder shook the earth. Frightened, he got off and led his horse, seeking to guide himself by the spasmodic and flickering electric light. All of a sudden, a tremendous crash brought the man in terror to his knees when he stammered, O Lord, if it be the same to thee, give us a little more light and a little less noise. End of Section 259. This recording is in the public domain. Section 260 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. My part of the ship is anchored. Among the first men called out was a young Massachusetts man, Burridge, who went as a private. Grievously wounded, he was sent into the hospital and then to his home. Recuperated, he joined his old regiment at the front. He was unaware that strict orders were out against the soldiers exchanging newspapers and so performed the daily courtesy of giving a paper to the rebels. They had, too, and he promised to give them the one due next time. This was held as keeping up correspondence with the Johnny's and the authorities reduced him to the ranks as he was then a captain. Worsened worse, the enemy seized him when he went out to redeem his promise about the news and he was imprisoned on their side. This regalled his wounds and he was a great sufferer. The Massachusetts member of Congress, Alexander Rice, pleaded with the president for his native citizen. The complication was that Burridge was a captain when captured, but a private again soon after, and the rebels would probably hold him at the higher rate if an exchange was allowed while the Union War Department stood for his being but a common soldier. If General Wadsworth raises that point, replied the president, who had allowed this pathetic case to break his rule to deal with classes and not individual offenses, tell him if he could take care of the exchange part, I guess I can take care of the rank part. It is clear that the president saw in this punctilio about a humain act whose offense was rancor. It reminded one of the story of the New England skipper who, with his mate and crew of a small fisher, owned the vessel. They having quarreled and the captain bidding the other mind his part of the ship, the latter did so and presently came to the stern to report. Captain, I have anchored my part of the ship. Take care of your own. End of section 260. This recording is in the public domain. Section 261 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Angels swearing make no difference. Read for LibriVox.org by Rick Rodstrom. On the president being urged to answer some virulent newspaper assault, his reply was, Oh no, if I were to try to read much less answer all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference. End of section 261. This recording is in the public domain. Section 262 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Washington's Difficult Task. Read for LibriVox.org. Shortly after Lincoln's inauguration, a senator said to him, You have as difficult a task as Washington's when he took command of the American Army and as little to do with it. That is true, but I have larger resources. The 3,000 million spent on the war vividly contrast with the colonies fighting rich England with an empty treasury and barefoot ragged soldiers. End of section 262. This recording is in the public domain. Section 263 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Steel and Steel. Read for LibriVox.org by Rebecca Case. President Lincoln asked a friend a senator immediately on his taking office upon an embarrassed condition of affairs. Have you seen that prophecy about my administration in the papers? A prophet foretells that my rule will be one of steel to which the wags retort, well, Buchanan's was one of steel. The Georgian slaveholder, late secretary of the treasury, was accused of diverting some millions to the south for the war office similarly diverted ordnants and munitions to the same quarter. The head of the navy, with what looked like collusion, had scattered the war vessels so as to be long delayed in concentrating. End of section 263. This recording is in the public domain. Section 264 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. That's what's the matter. In a spiritualist performance at the White House, which seemed to have been edited by the president himself, as often royalty revises plays for his special entertainment. A cabinet being invited after a rigmarole of stilted phrases purporting to be by Washington, Franklin, Napoleon and other past celebrities. Mr Wells, secretary of the navy remarked, I will think this matter over and see what conclusion to arrive at. This was his set phrase. There was a smile at this as the age minister's prolonged meditations were the laughing stock of the country. He being the clog on the wheels of the car of state. Instantly raps were heard in the spirit cabinet and the alphabet being consulted. The result was spelled out as that's what's the matter. This hit at Mr Wells' stereotyped fault around the fact that he was the one who was Mr Wells' stereotyped fault aroused more mirth and the crowd at the back of the room domestics, petty officials and sub officers laughed prodigiously, while the secretary stroked his long white beard musingly. To this can't term hangs a tale propus of the president. Its origin was low but humorous. A benevolent gentleman pierced a crowd to its centre to see there. On the pavement under a lam post a poor woman curled in a heap and flushed face, breathing brokenly. What's the matter? Eagly inquired the compassionate man. A bystander removed his pipe from his mouth and with it pointed to a flattened pocket flas sticking out of her smashed reticule half under her and centenuously explained. That's what's the matter with Hannah. The sentence took growth and spread all over the union. It has settled down as we know to a fixed form at political meetings where the audience beguiled the waiting time with demanding what is the matter with this or that favourite demagogue. In the 60s it patley answered any problem. At the presidential election time of Lincoln's success, a negro minstrel, unsworth, was a star at 444 Broadway, dressing up the daily news trolley under his title, that is ending each paragraph with that line. On the 22nd of February 1861 Abraham Lincoln scheduled to pass on from Harrisburg where he had made a speech as arranged instead of waiting to depart by the morning train. Sped to Philadelphia and then by a special train detained for a military messenger with a parcel to Washington by the regular midnight train. The news of his arrival at the capital by this unexpected and clandestine route and in disguise this was denied. Off a Scotch cap and played shawl. Rumors often attempt to make mischief as he called it were rife. But the public still took things as quake proof and Mr Lincoln assured his audiences as he spoke at every city on his way that the crisis was artificial. On the evening of the 23rd the writer dropped into the Broadway negro minstrel hall. Newspaper men knew that unsworth introduced the later skimming off the press into his burlesque lecture on Harris' funny versions and perversions. The comic sheet of the metropolis Vanity Fair enframing the witty scintillations of Artemis Ward, George Arnold and a brilliant band complained that this nigger comedian used or anticipated their best effusions. On the whole the public saw in the surreptuous flight of the ruler into his juce seat only a farce in keeping with his jesting humour. He was regarded as Don Quixote in figure but a sancho pancer for his philosophical proverbs widely retailed and considered opportun. So the indignation proper toward the forced escapade was absent. Everybody still mocked at the terrible plots as so much stale quail and when the blackened face orator coming to a pause after enunciation of his that's what's the matter looked around wistfully the audience were agog. Suddenly out of the wing an attendant darted with an alarm manner in face he carried on his arm a shawl grey and travel stained and in one shaking hand a scotch bonnet. Unsworth snatched him in hot haste and fright clapped on the cap and draping himself in the plate rushed off at the side forgetting his own high silk hat. This was the black suit. The orthodox lecturers now gave him a resemblance to Mr Lincoln not previously perceived for they were men of opposite shapes. The eclipse brought home to the spectators ludicrousness of the precedent entering his capital in secret but I repeat no one felt any shame and the audience went forth to relate the excellent finish to the parrot at home or in the saloons to hearers obtuse as themselves to the seriousness of the episode. Somehow so far the elect from Illinois was ever the western buffoon but when in his inaugural address Lincoln thundered the new keynote the veil fell. In your hands my dissatisfied fellow countryman is the momentous issue of the civil war. War? The crisis was no longer artificial. He admitted that. What impended? What had fallen? Justin Ernest was still coupled but Ernest took the lead from that hour. So the chief magistrate in his first official speech physically speaking we cannot separate that's what's the matter. End of section 264 this recording is in the public domain. Section 265 of the Lincoln story book by Henry L Williams The Ship of State Simile On the morning of Lincoln's arrival in Washington General Logan and Mr Lovejoy called on him at Willard's Hotel to urge a firm and vigorous policy he replied, as the country has placed me at the helm of the ship I'll try to steer her through the Sagaman River pilot spoke there. I understand the ship to be made for the carrying and preservation of the cargo and so long as the ship can be saved with the cargo it should never be abandoned unless it fails in the probability of its preservation and shall cease to exist except at the risk of throwing overboard both freight and passengers. Speech New York reception 1861 I trust that I may have the assistance of the members of this legislature in piloting the Ship of State through this voyage surrounded by perils as it is for if it should suffer shipwreck now there will be no pilot ever needed for another voyage. Speech Trenton, New Jersey 1861 End of section 265 this recording is in the public domain. Lincoln's first message to Congress special session, July 4, 1861 is seen this passage with rebellion thus sugar coated they have been drugging the public mind etc. Mr De Fries, public printer with the proofreader's sublime spurning of plain speech, objected to this sweet word and said, Mr President you are using an undignified expression I would alter the construction if I were you. De Fries was the crushing reply that word expresses precisely my idea and I am not going to change it. The time will never come in this country when the people won't know exactly what sugar coated means. I jinx, I can beat you both. One day the public printer wanted to correct a Lincolnism in one of the presidential documents go home to Fries and see if you can better it. The next day De Fries took him his amendment it happened that secretary Seward had spied the same fault as the printer and Lincoln confronted the two improvements. I jinx by Jingo Seward has been rewiting the same paragraph I believe that you have beat Seward but I think I can beat you both and he wrote with his firm hand stett so let it stand on the proof sheet. End of section 266 this recording is in the public domain Up to the dread day when the news of the flag of our union being fired upon in Charleston Harbour the country resembled the sea in one of those calms preceding a storm. When the placidity betrays hidden in mighty currents and overhead in the clear sky one divides the coarsers of the tempest gathering to race and strife like that beneath. Up to Lincoln's arrival in Washington the nest of sedition the pro-slavery piece at any price party slackened in no efforts to retain the status quo or worse a new state of the southern states branching off as suckers strike from the main stem. William E. Dodge had the courage to face the wrought up chief magistrate chafed with his narrow escape from the assassins of the railroad journey from Baltimore said Mr Dodge It is for you Mr President to say whether the whole nation shall be plunged into bankruptcy the slaves were rallied as property at two thousand million dollars whether the grass shall grow in the streets of our commercial cities the balance of trade against the south to the manufacturing and supplying north was stupendous then I say it shall not replied Lincoln if it depends on me the grass will not grow anywhere save in the fields and meadows Mr Dodge persisted in his sordid and business like Aaron will not go to war on account of slavery I do not know what my axe may be in the future beyond this the constitution will not be preserved and defended until it is enforced and obeyed in every part of every one of the United States it must be so respected, obeyed enforced and defended let the grass grow where it will end of section 267 this recording is in the public domain section 268 of the Lincoln Story Book by Henry L. Williams The Peace at Any Price Party readfullibrevox.org by Magdalena Cook The Peace at Any Price Party if there were a class of men who having no choice of sides in the contest were anxious to have only quiet and comfort for themselves while it rages and to fall in with the victorious side at the end of it without loss to themselves their advice as to the mode of conducting the contest would be precisely such as his his being Mr Thomas Geraint who in 1862 wrote a letter on behalf of the conservatives asking to be let alone he speaks of no duty, apparently thinks of none resting upon union men he even thinks that injurious to the union cause that they should be restrained in trade and passage without taking sides they are to touch neither a sail nor a pump live merely as passengers dead heads at that to be carried snug and dry through the storm and safely landed right side up nay, more even a mutineer is to go untouched lest these sacred passengers receive an accidental wound the letter was to see bullet July 28, 1862 end of section 268 this recording is in the public domain section 269 this is a Lincoln storybook by Henry L. Williams things were topsy-turvy aloft too readforlibravox.org one evening when Mr. Hall, astronomer was working in the naval observatory Washington on the great equatorial telescope he was startled to have his sanctum invaded by the gaunt extenuated figure of the president he was made welcome of course and the varied mechanism explained to him as the crowning treat he was given a pier through the celebrated instrument it was leveled at the moon or rather arranged to have that orb in its focus at the time the visitor was appalled as well as wondering at the view and slowly withdrew by the trap door but when the astronomer resumed his observations and calculations he was interrupted by the same sedate and absorbed collar he returned perplexed as on glancing up at the moon with the unhindered vision he saw it in another position to that presented in the spyglass Mr. Hall made it clear to him as the telescope was pointed not at the satellite but at its image in a mirror he saw its reflection and consequently the reverse of the face we observed the president went away with the satisfaction of a man wanting every novelty demonstrated end of section 269 this recording is in the public domain section 270 of the Lincoln story book by Henry L. Williams hitching to the moon Lincoln came to Washington to view the situation and found the world all upside down a rumpus in the nation topical song 1860 end of section 270 this recording is in the public domain section 271 of the Lincoln story book by Henry L. Williams a red flag to him a most remarkable prelude to the war was the performance through the northern states of the Chicago Suaves the name came from the irregular regiment in the French Algerian service composed of men worthy of being drummed out of the regular corps they dressed like the Arabs in the small bolero jacket and baggy red trousers familiar since they drilled gymnastically not to say theatrically but it was the most remarkable prelude they drilled gymnastically not to say theatrically else worth a clerk in the Lincoln and Herndon law office had a marshal turn and hearing daily in that quasi-political vortex of the impending crisis determined to be forearmed in case of the differences coming to blows he raised, uniformed, a la zu zu a score a young man like himself and proceeded to give exhibitions at home and then in the east the writer retains a vivid memory of the odd and fantastic show which however was regarded as not war though magnificent but Captain Ellsworth was in earnest musted in with his company he started the zuaf movement which led to two or more regiments being formed he's being the first volunteers at the fore he claimed the right of the reconnoitering force sent out in May against Alexandria to break up railroads held by the rebels seeing a rebel flag on a hotel top he entered the building and was shot by the landlord in coming down from cutting it away he was slain instantly and the like fate befell the murderer the host from Ellsworth's guard apart from four men killed at Sumter and two in Baltimore riots the Chicago zuaf was the first victim of the rebellion but the position was regained by the secessionist and the rebel flag replaced the removed one to the grief of President Lincoln he could see it from his resident and Murat Holstead without knowing the melancholy association of the young officer being a familiar in his office report seeing him dwell with spyglass bent on the flag for hours Elmer Ellsworth in his last speech made to the men he was leading out to the front proves that he imbibed Lincoln's humanity with legal precepts in the office show the enemy that I want to kill them with kindness end of section 271 this recording is in the public domain section 272 of the Lincoln story book by Henry L. Williams Fly Away Jack read for LibriVox.org by Tricia G Fly Away Jack at the end of 1860 South Carolina took the lead in seceding and in the opening of the next year six other southern states allied themselves with her the timid feared hasty acting would precipitate the marshalling of the waiverers under the same flag to a committee urging a pause to see how the cats would jump the president observed if there be three pigeons on the fence and you fire and kill one how many will there be left the voices said two oh no he corrected there would be none left for the other two frightened by the shot would have flown away the firing on Fort Sumter welded the seceders into their union at the same time as it likewise fused the northerners into consistency the president said to General Veal we want to keep all that we have of the border states those that have not seceded and the portions we have occupied end of section 272 this recording is in the public domain section 273 of the Lincoln story book by Henry L. Williams his pen wanted to keep their hogs safe read for LibriVox.org just after the call for 75,000 90-day men to subdue the outbreak after Sumter was canonated a deputation of loyal Virginians waited upon the president they expounded on this levy that the fair fields of the south would be overrun by the ragamuffins of the northern cities and the Henry's and pig houses ravished but what would you have me do asked Lincoln then foresee his having to conduct the military movements Mr President if you would only lend us your pen a moment meaning of course that he should write a line to calm the rising storm but the other pretended to misunderstand him saying lend my pen my pen what would you do with that keep your hogs safe with that end of section 273 this recording is in the public domain section 274 of the Lincoln story book by Henry L. Williams Hurrah for you read for LibriVox.org by Andrew Hoots at the Chicago reception a little boy came into the room with his father no doubt he had been instructed to behave with decorum in the August presence but he no sooner saw the tall prominent figure than he shouted Hurrah for Mr Lincoln the crowd laughed and still be more as the object of the ovation caught up the little fellow gave him a toss to the ceiling and while he was in the air shouted out lustily Hurrah for Mr Yu and catching him lowered him red in panting to the floor end of section 274 this recording is in the public domain section 275 of the Lincoln story book by Henry L. Williams put your feet right and stand firm giving a lift in his carriage to two ladies to the soldiers home the horses were splashing and sliding after a shower in the mire when Mr Lincoln assisted the frightened women to a light he set three stones for stepping stones in the mud and assisted them to firm ground he had cautioned them in making the passage all through life be sure to put your feet in the right place and then stand firm looking down on his muddy boots Lincoln as a Westerner always stuck to leg boots and was never seen in the effeminate Congress Gators by the by he added I have always heard of Washington mud and now I shall take some home as a sample end of section 275 this recording is in the public domain in April 1861 a deputation of sympathizers with secession had the boldness to call on President Lincoln and demand a cessation of hostilities until convening of Congress threatening that 75,000 Marylanders would contest the passage of troops over their soil I presume quietly replied Mr Lincoln that there is room enough in her soil for 75,000 graves Peterson's life of Lincoln end of section 276 this recording is in the public domain every one of his colleagues who ought to have been his loyal supporters until some firm stand was attained under the batteries of Richmond civil and military warred against him underhandedly and happily openly all aimed in cabinet and on the staff to be ruler the understrapers of aged general Scott upheld all that concurred with warfare set an obsolete of the European strategists overthrown by the great Napoleon the principal practiser of these tactics the sumum bonum or good thing of the West pointers was General McClellan the little Mac of his worshippers and the little Napoleon of the dazzled crowd he was like Cassio a great arithmetician who had never set a squadron in the field or the division of a battle new et cetera seeming utterly to ignore that the enemy was composed of men trained by their life in genteel occupations to shoot true to ride like Comanches or revolutionary Harry Lee's light horse used to lying outdoors under skies genial to them and subsisting on game and corn cake as Marion on sweet potatoes he expected to foil such gorillas as Jeb Stewart Mosby and Quantrell by Earthworks which they probably would have leaped their horse over if they wanted to reach their spoil in that way it was in allusion to this adherence to Bobon that the president who eyed the aspiring Hotspur as Henry V his heir the sixth Henry trying on his crown observed shrewdly when the general kept silence he is entrenching end of section 277 this recording is in the public domain a stationary engine Lincoln said off the much promising general McClellan he is an admirable engineer but he seems to have a special talent for a stationary engine he also cited him as a scholar and a gentleman nevertheless as the education lavished on the army of the Potomac to make it earn foreign military critics praise at reviews was not thrown away but made sound soldiers which in time were invaluable general Grant Lincoln did him justice by quaintly but earnestly saying I would like to borrow his arm if he has no further use for it general Franklin heard this but little Mac had no design on the dictatorship being surely a lover of the union too end of section 278 this recording is in the public domain on account of the looseness and corruption attending the raising of soldiers at the first the president noting the difference between the number of men forwarded to general McClellan for the army of the Potomac and the number reported arrived said sending men to that army is like shoveling fleas across a barnyard half of them never get there end of section 279 this recording is in the public domain the Georgia colonels costume on account of this sectional warfare senator Mason of Virginia announced his resolve to wear homespun and dispense with Yankee manufacturers altogether that made Lincoln laugh and say to carry out his idea he ought to go barefoot if that's the plan they should begin at the foundation and adopt the well-known Georgian colonels uniform a shirt collar and a pair of spurs in speech New England tour 1860 end of section 280 this recording is in the public domain section 281 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L Williams course feed first read for LibriVox.org by Andrew Hoots Secretary Whitney wrote in July 1861 I was in Washington where I merely said to President Lincoln everything is drifting into the war and I guess you will have to put me in the army he was in the Indian service at the time the president looked up from his work and said good humoredly I'm making generals now in a few days I will be making quartermasters and then I'll fix you end of section 281 this recording is in the public domain section 282 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L Williams ain't I glad to get out of the wilderness read for LibriVox.org by Magdalena Cook ain't I glad to get out of the wilderness in the summer of 1862 just when the north was lulled who reposed by the note from General McClellan's newsmongers that the people would have a great surprise on the 4th of July Colonel J.E.R. Stuart Confederate Cavalrys took about 2,000 picked riders and performed a dash within the hostile lines which achieved a worldwide admiration it is necessary to premise that the country was inimical to the defenders of Washington and the farmers kept secession as clearly informed on the federal movements besides the first duty of keeping Washington engrossed all the union commanders if by any unexpected movement the rebels occupied the capital long enough to set up their government Europe would have recognised the stars and bars and raised the blockade on the cotton ports Washington was stupefied and terror-stricken when the news came in from the north that the rebel Cavalry were cavorting within McClellan's lines communication was cut off with him and the president was heard to say in the general dumbness of consternation there is no news from the army of the Potomac I do not even know that we have an army he was himself filled with a universal alarm his hope was that a bright morning would follow the dark hour but his faith and belief that God would safely lead them out of the wilderness was not widely shared the illusion was to the popular army song taken from the Negro camp meeting repertoire ain't I glad to get out of the wilderness which a clergyman had encouragingly chanted a while before this wilderness was metaphorically spiritual but all applied the figure to the wilderness of Virginia where the battles were fought end of section 282 this recording is in the public domain section 284 of the Lincoln Story Book by Henry L. Williams breaking up with the president he said he would like to know what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing what he was doing broken up broken up broken up broken up breaking up broken up breaking up the little game ond o ran rhoi a ble accommodation ydy? The president heard that some of the latter voiced the petulent complaint of those weary of the stainless military movements, that the intention was to shift the two armies about till both were exhausted, and, like the peace at any price men and the still sympathy- racing pro-slavery tale, a compromise could be affected and slavery saved. Mae'n ddifrwng i gyd yn gwyllu unrhyw ar hyn. Mae'n ddifwng i'r ddeithasol yma, ond mae'n mwyaf i'r ddweud o'r gwaith yma, a dddeithasol yma ym Mhwg Rwyf wedi'i ddweud hynny'n cyffredig y cyffredigiaeth a'r ddweud yn cyfrifiad. On i ddweud, ond rwy'n cyfrifiad. Mae ydych chi'n ddweud. Mae'n ddweud, ond mae'n ddweud. Mae'n ddweud, ond mae'n ddweud, ond mae'n ddweud i'r ddweud. gyda'r rhaglen iawn i'r llyfr i ailad. Mae'r drwyddoeth yn iadwch i'r pwysig, ond ymweld, gyda'r llyfr i'r llwyddoedd. Gall Ysbyt Ysbyt Ysbyt Maclellan, bydd ym mhaith o'r llyfr yn y llyfr ymlaen, nid o bwysigol, ac nid o ymgynghwyl. Ysbyt Maclellan yn ymdweud, gan y cysylltu o'r conserfotifau, o'r gweithio yn ysbyt ymddug. Ond y prydyn ysbyt yn ymdweud hynny wedi'r llyfr ysbyt yn ymdweud hynny. mae'n cael ei wneud o'r ffordd o'r angen. Mae'n cael ei wneud o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd. E'r endyn nhw o sechshwn 284. Yn ymgyrch yn y ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud. Ysbryd 285 o'r hwnnw Llyfrgell Llyfrgell, bydd Henry L. Williams. Yn hynny'n ddweud o'r ddweud. Genryl McClellan yn y dweud yn 1862, a ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud. If something is not soon done in this dry rot, the bottom will fall out of the whole affair. This was his very saying. The Confederates evacuated Yorktown, but a series of actions ensued, culminating in the massacre at Fair Oaks, where both sides claimed the victory. Soon after, Lincoln took matters in hand, relegating McClellan to one army, and, as Commander-in-Chief, ordering a general advance. The bottom had fallen out with a vengeance. End of Section 285. This recording is in the public domain. Section 286 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Master of them both. Readforlibrevox.org. Genryl McClellan's attitude is such that, in the very selfishness of his nature, he cannot but wish to be successful, and I hope he will. And the Secretary of War, Stanton, is in precisely the same situation. If the military commanders in the field cannot be successful, not only the Secretary of War, but myself, for the time being master of both, cannot but be failures. Speech, August 6, 1862 at Washington. End of Section 286. This recording is in the public domain. Section 287 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. The Skeered Virginian. Readforlibrevox.org by Andrew Hoots. A reviewing party, of which the President was the center, was stopped at a railroad by Harper's Ferry to let a locomotive pass and look at the old engine house where John Brown, the raider, was pinned in and captured. The little-switching engine ran past with much noise and bustle, the engineer blowing the ludicrous whistle and salute to the distinguished visitors. Lincoln referred to the recollections of the scene where old Potawatomi thrilled the natives with panic lest he raised the Negroes to revolt and remarked as the engine flew away. You called that the flying Dutchman, do you? They ought to call that thing the Skeered Virginian by General O. O. Howard, a hearer. End of Section 287. This recording is in the public domain. Section 288 of The Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. He Who Fights and Runs Away. Readforlibrevox.org by Magdalena Cook. He Who Fights and Runs Away. Shortly after the scandalous rout of Bull Run, the participants in the panic began to try to palliate their disgrace. The President, listening with revived sarcasm to the new perversion remarked, so it is your notion now that we lick the rebels and then ran away. End of Section 288. This recording is in the public domain. Section 289 of The Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. No Sunday Fighting. Readforlibrevox.org. As the first battle of Bull Run, a sanguinary defeat to the Unionists was fought on the Sabbath day, the President forbad in the future important movements on the day desecrated. But with singular inconsistency in a sage so clear-headed, he did not see that the Southerners chuckled the better the day, the better the deed in their victory. End of Section 289. This recording is in the public domain. Section 290 of The Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Let a Good Man Alone. General Howard, in taking command before Washington, incurred the hostility of certain officers of the convivial, plundering, squash-buckling order who objected to his piety and orderliness. They tramped off to badger the President with their censure. But he who had appreciated the new leader in a glance reproofed them saying, Howard is a Good Man. Let him alone in time he will bring things straight. That was what caused the general to reverence him and love him. End of Section 290. This recording is in the public domain. Section 291 of The Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. The Blondyn Simile. Read for LibriVox.org by Harold Stewart. One of the universal topics of the early 60s was the feats of the Acrobat Blondyn. This daring rope walker crossed the waters by Niagara Falls on a slack wire. On one occasion he carried a man on his back to whom he imparted the caution, grappling as with hooks of steel. If you upset me with trembling, I shall drop you. I shall catch the rope and be safe. As for you inexperienced one, foot! The chain of defeats and flashes in the pan, attending the opening of the campaign beginning as a march upon Richmond, foot! Some northern newspapers kept a standing head on to Richmond, but eventually in a defense of Washington, humiliating as was this reverse, promoted all sorts and conditions of men, moneyed, well-grounded, and investing in the new government securities, fluctuating like wildcat stock, to pester the president with Jeremiah's and counsel, on deputation from his home parts, he administered this caustic rebuke in such illustration as was habitual to him. Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth was in gold and you had put it in the hands of Blondyn to carry across the Niagara River on a rope. Would you shake the cable or keep shouting out to him? Blondyn, stand up straighter. Stoop a little more. Go a little faster. Lean a little more to the north. To the south? No. You would hold your breath as well as your tongue and keep your hands off all until he was safe over. The government, footnote, Lincoln always used government and US as nouns carrying a plural verb, are carrying an immense weight. Untold treasures are in their hands. They are doing the very best they can. Don't pester them. Keep silence and we will get you safe across. End of section 291. This recording is in the public domain. The Pioneer's Land title. Judge Weldon was appointed United States Attorney acting in Illinois. Being at Washington, some speculators, knowing he was an old friend of the President, engaged him for their side. They wanted to get cotton permits from the Treasury, which was feasible, but made sure that the military would recognise these passes. No doubt, if the President would counter-sign them. Otherwise the Army officers acted often without regard to trade desires. Ombroaching the subject of the Pontentate, on whose lips so much hung at the epoch. The latter brightened up and in his branching-off manner said, By the way, what has become of your friend Robert Lewis? Lewis was the clerk of court in Illinois and at home, well and thrifty. Do you remember, continued the President, his story about his going to Missouri to look up some Mormon lands belonging to his father? Whereupon, as Weldon said that he had forgot some details, the story teller related with Unction. This Robert Lewis, on coming of age, found papers in his father's muniments, entitling him as Air to Lands in Northeastern Missouri, where the Mormons had attempted settling before their enforced exodus. There was no railroads, so Lewis rode out to that part and thought he had located the land. For the night, he stopped at a solitary log house, a gruff voice bade him come in, not very hospitably. The owner was a long lanky man about eleven feet high, Bob thought. He had a rifle hanging on its hooks over the fireplace, also about eleven feet long, Bob also reckoned. He was interrupted in necking bullets, for they were cast in a mould and left the little proturbans where the run left off. The first comer had been there some time and seemed to know the section, but was rather indifferent to the stranger's inquiries about this sight of his lands. Teased at this unconcern, so opposite to the usual feeling of settlers who like a neighbour in the lonesomeness, Lewis hastened to lay down the law. He was looking up the paternal purchase. Here were the titles spreading out the papers. That is my title to this section. You are on it. What is yours? The other had shown some slight interest in the topic by this time. He paused in his occupation and pointed with his long arm to the long rifle saying, Young man, do you see that gun? That is my title. If you do not get out of here pretty quick, you will feel the force of it. Lewis crammed his papers into his saddlebags and rushed out to stride his pony, but said that the man snapped his gun at him twice before he was out of range. Now, resumed Mr Lincoln. The military authorities have the same title against the civil ones, the guns. The gentlemen themselves may judge what the result is likely to be. Mr Weldon reported to his employers at Willards Hotel and they laughed heartily at the illustration, but they did not proceed with the cotton spec. Understanding that would be the administration's policy as well as if a proclamation were issued. By Judge Weldon, end of section 292, this recording is in the public domain. Section 293 of the Lincoln Story Book by Henry L. Williams. Read for LibriVox.org by Andrew Hoots. Cheers, not military, but I like them. After the disarray of the first bull-run battle, the president drove out to the camps to rally the boys in the blues. General Sherman was only a colonel and he had the rudeness of a military man to the visitor that he hoped the orator would not speak so as to encourage cheering and confusion. The president stood up in his carriage and prefaced his speech with this exordium. Don't cheer, boys. I confess that I rather like it myself, but Colonel Sherman here says it isn't military and I guess we had better defer to his opinion with his inimitable wink, which would have been an independent fortune to a stage comedian. End of Section 293. This recording is in the public domain. Section 294 of the Lincoln Story Book by Henry L. Williams. Numbering the hairs of his tail. Read for LibriVox.org. A congressional committee selected to examine and report upon a new canon produced so voluminous atome that Lincoln, reviewing it, dropped it in disgust and commented, I should want a new lease of life to read this through. Why can't a committee of this kind occasionally exhibit a grain of common sense? If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points, not how many hairs there are in his tail. Authenticated by Mr Hubbard, Member of Congress of Connecticut, to whom this remark was addressed. End of Section 294. This recording is in the public domain. Section 295 of the Lincoln Story Book by Henry L. Williams. An unconventional order. On going over the minor orders, riders, and corrections of the President, it will be seen that he never succumbed to conforming with the stale and set phrases of the Civil Service documents. For an instance of his unquenchable humour, read the following discharge. Two brothers, Smiths of Boston, had been arrested, held, and persecuted for a long period by a military tribunal. The charge was defrauding the government. The hue and cry about the cheating contractors called for a victim, but the chief executive on perusing the testimony concluded that the defendants were guiltless. He wrote the subsequent release. Whereas Franklin W. and JC Smith had transactions with the Navy Department to the amount of one and a quarter millions of dollars, and whereas they had the chance to steal a million and were charged with stealing $2,200, and the question now is stealing $100, I don't believe they stole anything at all. Therefore the record and findings are disapproved, declared null and void, and the defendants are fully discharged. End of Section 295. This recording is in the public domain. Section 296 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. It occurs to me that I am Commander. To the prairie man, the climate of Washington would be almost tropical. Nevertheless, it participates of American meteorological variability, as old probability would admit. One night, Lincoln, coming out of his rooms at the executive mansion to make his nocturnal round, finishing with the call of the lattice dispatches at Garrison headquarters, noticed as a fierce gale shook and scourged him with sleet that a soldier was contending with the storybook that he had heard of. Young man, said he, turning sharply to him, you have got a cold job tonight. Step inside and guard there. The soldier stoutly contended. For the colloquy, we became an argument by Lincoln's delight in debate. He persisted that he was posted there by order and must not bulge saved by superior counterman. Hold on there, cried Lincoln, pleased at the arguer supplying him with a decisive weapon. It occurs to me that a soldier was contending with the storm just outside the outer door. It occurs to me that I am commander in chief, and so I order you to go inside. End of Section 296. This recording is in the public domain. Section 297 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Compliments is all they do pay. Read for Librevox.org by Rebecca Case. A paymaster introduced to the president by the United States District Marshal, remarked with independence noticeable in the sect. I have no official business with you, sir. I only call to pay my compliments. I understand, was the retort, and from the soldier's complaints, I think that is all you gentlemen do pay. End of Section 297. This recording is in the public domain. Section 298 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Bail the Potomac with a spoon. Read for Librevox.org. There is as pathetic a picture as the old sated Marquis of Queensbury, Thackerys, Staines, and Histories old Q, murmuring as he gazed from his window on the unsurpassed view of the Thames Valley, o this cursed river running on all the day, in President Lincoln watching the broad Potomac, where all was so quiet, and yet the hidden and watchful enemy lined to the other bank. A petitioner hemmed him in a corner of the room with the sight, and poured on him the bucket of his woes. The at last irritated worm turned on him and cried, My poor man, go away, do go away. I cannot meddle in your case. I could as easily bail the Potomac with a teaspoon as attend to all the details of the army. End of Section 298. This recording is in the public domain. Section 299 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. We shall beat them, my son. Read for Librevox.org by Bill Elliott. Find me at www.vocability.com that's v-o-c-a-l-b-i-l-l-i-t-y.com We shall beat them, my son. George W. Curtis, New York editor, called on the president in the first winter of the war with the Illinoisians friend Judge Arnold. He said that the official wore a sad, weary and anxious look and spoke with a softened, touching voice. But he added to his good-bye at the door in shaking hands with paternal kindness and profound conviction. We shall beat them, my son. We shall beat them. End of Section 299. This recording is in the public domain. Section 300 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Little for so big a business. Before the war, the museums of the eastern states were regaled by an infant drummer. This lad, Henry W. Stoman, at the age of seven or eight, was a proficient on the drum. He was seen by this editor executing solos of great difficulty and accompanying the orchestra with variations on his unpromising instrument, which musicians praised and in which he avoided monotony with precocious talent. Grown up, still a rare drummer, he was attached to the Germantown Hospital as a post-drummer. At the first inauguration, he was with the band and noticed by the President. With his habit of applauding the young, the latter spoke to him, commended his playing and remarked, You are a very little man to be in this big business. He took him up, kissed him and paternally set him down drum and all. Mr. Stoman lived to the age of 40 with this pretty memory. End of Section 300. This recording is in the public domain. Section 301 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L. Williams. Not shoulder straps, but hard tack. Read for LibriVox.org. At a military function when Lincoln presented a new commander to a legion, one of the soldiers burst out with that irreverence distinguishing the American volunteer. It is not shoulder straps, the officer's insignia, but hard tack that we want. Hard tack was the nickname for the disused shipbread turned over to the army by remorseless contractors. End of Section 301. This recording is in the public domain. Section 302 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L. Williams. Maryland, a good state to move from. Read for LibriVox.org by Captain Allegra. Thurlow Weed, prominent wire-puller, presented as a preferable puppet to Montgomery Blair his choice, in winter Davis, upon which the president said, Davis, Judge David Davis put you up to this, he has Davis on the brain, a Maryland man who wants to get out. Maryland must be a good state to move from. Weed, did you ever hear in this connection of the witness in court asked to state his age? He said 60, as he was on the face of it much older, but persisted, the court admonished him saying, the court knows you to be older than 60. Oh, I understand now. Owned up the old fellow. You're thinking of the 10 years I spent in Maryland. That was so much time lost and did not kept. End of Section 302. This recording is in the public domain. Section 303 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L. Williams. Don't Swap Horses Crossing a Stream. Read for LibriVox.org by Ernst Schnell. Don't Swap Horses Crossing a Stream. The setting up and the bowling over of the generals commanding the army defending Washington from McDowell at Bull Run to Meade at Gettysburg resembles a grim game at 10 pins. The president who tried to find a professional captain to relieve him of his responsibility as nominally world chief of the National Forces therefore smiled sarcastically when the 99th deputation came to suggest still another aspirant to be the new Napoleon and set to it. Gentlemen, your request and proposition remind me of two gentlemen in Kentucky. The flatlands there bordering on the rivers are subject to inundations so the affordable creek becomes in an instant a broad lake deep and rapidly running. These two riders were talking the common topic in that famous bluegrass region where fillies and fee as the voyager from Canada said in his broken English are unsurpassable for grace and beauty. Each fell to expatiating upon the good qualities of his steed and this dialogue was so animated and engrossing they approached a fort without being conscious of outer matters. There was heavy rain in the highlands and an ominous sound in the dampening air. They entered the water still arguing. Then at Midway where they came to the agreement to exchange horses with no boot since each conceded the value of the animals the river rose. In a twinkling the two horses were floundering and the riders taken for once off their balance lost their up and seat and the four creatures separated were struggling for a footing in the boiling stream. Away streaked the horses buried in foam three or four miles down while the man scrambled out upon the new edge. Gentlemen concluded the president drawing his morale was provoking imperturbability. Those men looked at each other as they dripped and said with one voice, Ain't this a lesson? Don't swap horses crossing a stream. Heard by Superintendent Tinker who are a telegrapher. End of Section 303. This recording is in the public domain. Section 304 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L Williams. No placing thorns in the side of my worst enemy. Read for LibriVox.org. The free constitution of Maryland was the work of Lincoln. His and its supporters made a party to go to Washington and congratulate the president on the victory. They had a band and serinated him in the White House until he came forth. But he said to the dampening of their ardour when the cheering had subsided, My friends, I appreciate this honor very highly, but I am very sorry to see you rejoice over the defeat of those opposed to us. It is furthest from my desire to place a thorn in anyone's side, though he be my worst enemy. Recited by Mr. High G. Willis, Baltimore, in the sun of that city. End of Section 304. This recording is in the public domain. Section 305 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L Williams. The Lincoln Plan of Campaign. This historical document promised at one time to be a problem like the Sibylene Leaves or Peter's Will. But Secretary H.C. Whitney declares that it existed as he had it laid before him by the strategist. Running his long finger down the map of Virginia, he said, we must drive them away from here, Manassas Gap, where indeed were fights over the Keystone, and clear them out of this part of the state so that they cannot threaten them here, Washington, and get to Maryland. Unfortunately, the rebels did threaten Washington right on and entered Maryland and Pennsylvania as late as July 1863 and by a cavalry raid a year later. We must keep up a good and thorough blockade of their ports. We must march an army into East Tennessee and liberate the Union sentiment there. This was not finally done till the end of 1864. Finally, we must rely on the southern people growing tired and saying to their leaders, we had enough of this thing and will bear it no longer. In 1862, a year after, Lincoln says to McClellan, we have distinct and different plans for a movement of the Army of the Potomac, yours to be down the Chesapeake, et cetera, mine to move directly to the point on the railroad southwest of Manassas. He hugs his original idea. In case of disaster, would not a retreat be more difficult by your plan than mine? I see the prudence in him esteemed ignorant and consequently blindly rash. All this amounted to nothing when the President trusted fully to grant as his lieutenant. End of Section 305. This recording is in the public domain. Section 306 of the Lincoln Story Book by Henry L. Williams. The Commander should obey orders. Read for LibriVox.org. The President at Fort Stevens was the mark for a rebel battery. Colonel in command was diffident about ordering the superior about, but he was averse to letting the dare bring on a fatality as the sharpshooters had an easy butt in the Lincoln exceptional figure. So he took the advice of Mr. Registrar Chittenden on the staff and bade the President retire, or he would move him by a file of men. And you would do quite right, my boy, acquiesce the chief. I should be the last man to set an example of disobedience. End of Section 306. This recording is in the public domain. Section 307 of the Lincoln Story Book by Henry L. Williams. The Idlass Equalled the Effectives. Read for LibriVox.org by Magdalena Cook. The Idlass Equalled the Effectives. During a review of General Howard's corpse on the Rappahannock in April 1863, President Lincoln noticed whether his eyes were un-military or not, that a very numerous massamen were spectators. Though wearing semi-soldry look and clothes, they were, in fact, the inevitable hangars-on of an army. The more in number, as the escaped slaves were welcomed by the soldiers, as they made them do their dirty work. The commanding general explained that they were the cooks, the bottle washers and the nigger-waiters. They had come out to see the President. That review Yonda, returned Lincoln gently as he smiled, is about as big as ours by General O. O. Howard. End of Section 307. This recording is in the public domain. Section 308 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Rest. Read for LibriVox.org. Sitting before his desk in his office at the White House, Lincoln quaintly uttered, I wish George Washington or some of these old patriots were here in my place so I could have a little rest. Heard by General Beale. End of Section 308. This recording is in the public domain. Chapter 309 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. I can bear censure, but not insult. I can bear censure, but not insult. An army officer appeared before the President with a statement of his defence against a sentence of casheering. He was told that his own paper did not warrant the superior interference, but he showed up twice more, repeating the plea and the version of his own preparation. At the continued repulse, he blurted out, I see, Mr President, that you're not disposed to do me justice. If Lincoln was the embodiment of any one virtue, it was justice to all. At this slur he sprang up and put the fellow out of the door by a lift of his collar saying, Never show yourself in this room again. I can bear censure, but not insult. End of Chapter 309. This recording is in the public domain. Section 310 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. A Battle of Roses. At every reverse to the Unionists, the more or less secret sympathisers with the seceders reiterated the cry that gentler measures should be used against our airing brothers. To one such pleader, the President severely but humorously responded in writing, Would you have me drop the war where it is, or would you prosecute it in future with elder stock squirts charged with rosewater? Mr Lincoln may or may not have said this and thus, but he certainly wrote it for which we see his letter to C. Bullitt, July 28, 1862. Guns of elder squirts are mentioned by his dear Shakespeare. End of Section 310. This recording is in the public domain. Section 311 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams. Help me let go. Readfullibrevox.org by Magdalena Cook. Help me let go. The year 1862 had its gold in the victories of Mifreysborough and Perryville in the west, in the neighbourhood of the capital General Burnside's defeat at Fredericksburg while his supporters counted on his justifying his superseding McClellan, clouded all Washington. The staff officer, footnote, an account says it was Governor Curtin in person who brought the painful news, saw that the President was so saddened that he faulted an apology for the nature of his mission. I wish Mr President that I might be the bearer of good instead of bad news. I wish I had the intelligence by which you could conquer or get rid of these rebellious states. His hearer smiled at the essay to cheer him, who believed he would never sleep again and related with a view to enliven him also, the story of help me let go. The version circulating beaver votes ran as follows. That reminds me of the camp where a bear suddenly made his appearance and scattered the party. He saw trees or got behind rocks and that one meeting the animal head on before he could turn, see-spooned by the ears and held on like grim death to a dead nigger. Recovering from their fright, the hunters came out of ambush and were unable to do anything but laugh at the fix their friend was in. He went, Master, are you? Asked they. Not lit, but I want you to help me let go. Mr Lincoln expressed himself when he said he was so slow to learn and slow to forget. The two qualities are redeemed by his wonderful ease and quickness in remembering. To quote well is good, but to quote fitly is better. His intimates noticed that he would re-echo a story, a smile or a tag, and so neatly apply it that it seemed fresh on the second use. He was an admirable actor, though not appreciated in that light, for he could reappear in the same part without pauling. Hence one often meets his stories as for instance this one. His life law partner Herndon tells it as used toward a petty judge in Illinois of inferior ability to Lincoln's. It was a murder case and this bully on the bench kept ruling against Herndon and Lincoln. A material point was ruled adversely just at the refreshment recess. Lincoln withdrew sore as he believed that the judge was personally controverting his positions. He avowed his own feelings and announced, I have determined to crowd the court to the wall and regain my position before night. As Judge Herndon was a bystander, his account of the further proceedings must be as faithful as voracious. At the resembling of court, Mr Lincoln rose to read a few authorities in support of his position, keeping within the bounds of propriety just far enough to avoid reprimand. He characterized the continuous rulings against him as not only unjust but foolish and figuratively speaking, peeled the court from head to foot. Lincoln was alternately furious and eloquent and after pursuing the court with broad facts and pointed inquiries in rapid succession, he made use of this homely incident to clinch his argument. The tale is given as about a wild boar. In either phrase, the point is that the judge was attached to his tata and wanted to be let go. The prosecution tried in vain to break Lincoln down, concludes Mr Herndon. And the judge, badgered effectually by Lincoln's masterly arraignment of law and fact, pretended to see the error of his former position and finally reversed his decision in his tormentous favour. Lincoln saw his triumph and surveyed a situation of which he was master. End of section 311, this recording is in the public domain. Section 312 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L. Williams. Splitting the Difference. Read for Libravox.org. Upon the western Virginia stateship bill passing in Congress, an opponent, Mr Carlisle, ran to the president. He urged him to veto the bill. Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll split the difference and say nothing about it. Frank Moore. End of section 312. This recording is in the public domain. Section 313 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L. Williams. In the Incas position. Read for Libravox.org by Magdalena Cook. In the Incas position. Long after the president reconsidered his hasty surmise that the impending war was artificial crisis, Congress continued to waver and no one put forward a definite or working policy for the head who avowed that he never had one. In his despondency and lonesomeness, he welcomed an old friend from his state who, however, like the rest, had his threats and rubs to seek solace for. You know better than any man living that from boyhood up my ambition was to be president. I am at least president of one part of the divided country, but look at me with a fire in my front and one in my rear to contend with and not receiving that cordial co-operative support from Congress reasonably expected with an active and formidable enemy in the field threatening the very lifeblood of the government. My position is anything but on a better roses. End of section 313. This recording is in the public domain. Section 314 of the Lincoln storybook by Henry L. Williams. A soldier shot in the head so as to be deprived of sight in both eyes left the Carver Hospital, Washington, and blundered in crossing the avenue. At that very moment, the president's carriage was coming along to the soldier's home from the mansion. The coach alone would probably have not brought any casualty upon the unfortunate young invalid, and the coach would probably have not brought any casualty upon the unfortunate young invalid, but it was again surrounded by one of the cavalry detachments which Lincoln insisted on being withdrawn, but it was replaced for the time. The soldier, hearing this double clatter of hooves, became bewildered and stood still in the mid-road, or, if anything, inclined toward the thundering danger. The cavalry chargers trained to avoid hurting men for a rider might be thrown, eluded contact, and the coachman neatly pulled aside. In the next moment, in a cloud of dust, the president, leaning out of the window to ascertain the cause of the abrupt stop, saw the poor young soldier by his side. Lincoln threw out a hand to seize him by the arm and reassure him of safety by the vibrating clutch. Then, perceiving the nature of the affair, he asked in a voice trembling with emotion about the man's regiment and disablement. The man was from the northwest, Michigan, lumbermen, and they are of the woods woody out there, and Lincoln believed in the acts as the enlarger of our borders, our brotherly. The next day the soldier was commissioned lieutenant with perpetual leave but full pay by the veteran reservist H.W. Knight of the Escort. End of Section 314 This recording is in the public domain. Section 315 of the Lincoln Storybook by Henry L. Williams, Little David and the Stone for Goliath. In the spring 1862, spies and foreign officers who had seen the rebel ram Merrimack being built at Norfolk reported her as formidable. The United States Galena, our first ironclad, was a failure. There was no vessel of the kind to deal with the monster, save Erickson's floating battery, ready for sea in March called the Monitor, as a warning to Great Britain expected to interfere on behalf of the south and raise the blockade over the cotton ports. This craft with a revolving turret was just as much of a new idea as its prototype. On March 8, the Merrimack came out of Norfolk and ran down the Cumberland's Loop of War, blew the Congress to splinters and compelled her being blown up to save her from the enemy, the Minnesota was run aground to prevent being rammed. The victor returned to her dock to make ready for a fresh onslaught. The effect was profound. It seemed no exaggeration to suppose that the irresistible conqueror would pass through the United States fleet at Hampton Roads and, speeding along the coast, reduce New York to the most onerous terms or to ashes. On Sunday the 9th, the Monitor arrived after a sea passage showing she rode too low for ocean navigation. Though in no fit state for battle, no time was allowed her as the Merrimack ran out to exalt over the ruins of the encounter. The Monitor threw herself in her way, bore her broadside without injury, and her shock with impunity. But on the other hand hurled her extremely heavy ball in under her waterline. The ram backed out and, wheeling and putting on full steam, returned to her haven. She was, it appears, too low to cross the bar to go up to Richmond and was not ocean going. She was blown up when Yorktown was evacuated by the Confederates in May 1862. The President had said of her defeater to some naval officers, I think she will be the veritable sling with the stone to smite the Philistine Merrimack. End of section 315. This recording is in the public domain. Lincoln's Cheese Box on a Raft. There is a chapter yet to be published upon ironclad warships, as introduced practically in the Civil War. To the Southerners is due the innovation on a fair scale, though the experiments were not at all profitably demonstrated. Upon rumours that the enemy were building the novelties of iron case vessels, the federal government responded by voting money and throwing it away upon a fiasco. While the others had raised the frigate, the Merrimack, and upon an angular roof laid railroad iron to make her shot proof. Stories of her likelihood to be a terror, especially as she was stated by spies to be seaworthy, inspired the Americanized Swedish naval engineer Ericsson to build a turret ship. The Naval Construction Board unanimously rebuffed the innovator. Luckily President Lincoln became interested as a flat boat builder in his youth. To help the inventor and the design, he scoffed at the idea that the man had not planned thoroughly, saying as to weight of the armour sinking the hull, out west in boat building, we figured out the carrying power to a nicety. His championship earned the monitor, the name of Lincoln's Cheese Box on a Raft. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy knowing all the facts observes. I withhold no credit from Captain John Ericsson, as I know the country is principally indebted to President Lincoln for the construction of this vessel, and for the success of the trial to Captain Worden. Captain Fox, Ericsson's advisor, confirms this credit. End of section 316. This recording is in the public domain.