ied in 1888.]

"Congressman Lincoln was always neatly but very plainly dressed, very
simple and approachable in manner, and unpretentious. He attended to his
business, going promptly to the House and remaining till the session
adjourned, and appeared to be familiar with the progress of
legislation."

The town offered then little in the way of amusement. The Adelphi
Theatre was opened that winter for the first time, and presented a
variety of mediocre plays. At the Olympia were "lively and beautiful
exhibitions of model artists." Herz and Sivori, the pianists, then
touring in the United States, played several times in the season; and
there was a Chinese Museum. Add the exhibitions of Brown's paintings of
the heroes of Palo Alto, Resaca, Monterey, and Buena Vista, and of
Powers's "Greek Slave," the performances of Dr. Valentine, "Delineator
of Eccentricities," a few lectures, and numerous church socials, and you
have about all there was in the way of public entertainment in
Washington in 1848. But of dinners, receptions, and official gala
affairs there were many. Lincoln's name appears frequently in the
"National Intelligencer" on committees to offer dinners to this or that
great man. He was, in the spring of 1849, one of the managers of the
inaugural ball given to Taylor. His simple, sincere friendliness and his
quaint humor won him soon a sure, if quiet, social position. He was
frequently invited to Mr. Webster's Saturday breakfasts, where his
stories were highly relished for their originality and drollery.

[Illustration: STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, COLLEAGUE OF LINCOLN'S IN CONGRESS.

Member of the United States House of Representatives during the
twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth Congresses. In 1846 Douglas was chosen
Senator by the Democrats.]

[Illustration: WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON, COLLEAGUE OF LINCOLN'S IN
CONGRESS.

Richardson removed to Illinois from Kentucky about 1831. He was a
prominent Democratic politician, serving in the state legislature and in
Congress. He was a captain in the Mexican War, Governor of the territory
of Nebraska in 1858, and in 1863 the successor of Douglas in the United
States Senate. He died in 1875.]

[Illustration: SIDNEY BREESE, COLLEAGUE OF LINCOLN'S IN CONGRESS.

Sidney Breese was born at Whitesboro, New York, July 15, 1800; graduated
from Union College, New York, in 1818; and at once removed to Illinois,
where he was admitted to the bar. He became active in the Democratic
party, and