I don't know.'"

READY FOR "BUTCHER-DAY."

Leonard Swett told this eminently characteristic story:

"I remember one day being in his room when Lincoln was sitting at his
table with a large pile of papers before him, and after a pleasant talk
he turned quite abruptly and said: 'Get out of the way, Swett; to-morrow
is butcher-day, and I must go through these papers and see if I cannot
find some excuse to let these poor fellows off.'

"The pile of papers he had were the records of courts-martial of men who
on the following day were to be shot."

"THE BAD BIRD AND THE MUDSILL."

It took quite a long time, as well as the lives of thousands of men, to
say nothing of the cost in money, to take Richmond, the Capital City of
the Confederacy. In this cartoon, taken from "Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Newspaper," of February 21, 1863, Jeff Davis is sitting upon the
Secession eggs in the "Richmond" nest, smiling down upon President
Lincoln, who is up to his waist in the Mud of Difficulties.

The President finally waded through the morass, in which he had become
immersed, got to the tree, climbed its trunk, reached the limb, upon
which the "bad bird" had built its nest, threw the mother out, destroyed
the eggs of Secession and then took the nest away with him, leaving the
"bad bird" without any home at all.

The "bad bird" had its laugh first, but the last laugh belonged to the
"mudsill," as the cartoonist was pleased to call the President of the
United States. It is true that the President got his clothes and hat all
covered with mud, but as the job was a dirty one, as well as one that
had to be done, the President didn't care. He was able to get another
suit of clothes, as well as another hat, but the "bad bird" couldn't,
and didn't, get another nest.

The laugh was on the "bad bird" after all.

GAVE THE SOLDIER HIS FISH.

Once, when asked what he remembered about the war with Great Britain,
Lincoln replied: "Nothing but this: I had been fishing one day and
caught a little fish, which I was taking home. I met a soldier in the
road, and, having been always told at home that we must be good to the
soldiers, I gave him my fish."

This must have been about 1814, when "Abe" was five years of age.

A PECULIAR LAWYER.

Lincoln was once associate counsel for a defendant in a murder case.
He listened to the testimony given by witness after witness against his
client, until his honest heart could stand