"Then," said Secretary Stanton, "came the demonstration. The President,
half wheeling in his seat, threw one leg over the chair-arm, and,
holding the letter in his hand, said, 'Seward, do you suppose Palmerston
will understand our position from that letter, just as it is?'

"'Certainly, Mr. President.'

"'Do you suppose the London Times will?'

"'Certainly.'

"'Do you suppose the average Englishman of affairs will?'

"'Certainly; it cannot be mistaken in England.'

"'Do you suppose that a hackman out on his box (pointing to the street)
will understand it?'

"'Very readily, Mr. President.'

"'Very well, Seward, I guess we'll let her slide just as she is.'

"And the letter did 'slide,' and settled the whole business in a manner
that was effective."

BROUGHT THE HUSBAND UP.

One morning President Lincoln asked Major Eckert, on duty at the White
House, "Who is that woman crying out in the hall? What is the matter
with her?"

Eckert said it was a woman who had come a long distance expecting to go
down to the army to see her husband. An order had gone out a short time
before to allow no women in the army, except in special cases.

Mr. Lincoln sat moodily for a moment after hearing this story, and
suddenly looking up, said, "Let's send her down. You write the order,
Major."

Major Eckert hesitated a moment, and replied, "Would it not be better
for Colonel Hardie to write the order?"

"Yes," said Mr. Lincoln, "that is better; let Hardie write it."

The major went out, and soon returned, saying, "Mr. President, would
it not be better in this case to let the woman's husband come to
Washington?"

Mr. Lincoln's face lighted up with pleasure. "Yes, yes," was the
President's answer in a relieved tone; "that's the best way; bring him
up."

The order was written, and the man was sent to Washington.

NO WAR WITHOUT BLOOD-LETTING.

"You can't carry on war without blood-letting," said Lincoln one day.

The President, although almost feminine in his kind-heartedness, knew
not only this, but also that large bodies of soldiers in camp were at
the mercy of diseases of every sort, the result being a heavy casualty
list.

Of the (estimated) half-million men of the Union armies who gave up
their lives in the War of the Rebellion--1861-65--fully seventy-five
per cent died of disease. The soldiers killed upon the field of battle
constituted a comparatively small proportion of the casualties.

LI