"Punch's" cartoons were decidedly unfriendly in tone toward President
Lincoln, some of them being not only objectionable in the display of bad
taste, but offensive and vulgar. It is true that after the assassination
of the President, "Punch," in illustrations, paid marked and deserved
tribute to the memory of the Great Emancipator, but it had little that
was good to say of him while he was among the living and engaged in
carrying out the great work for which he was destined to win eternal
fame.

HOW STANTON GOT INTO THE CABINET.

President Lincoln, well aware of Stanton's unfriendliness, was surprised
when Secretary of the Treasury Chase told him that Stanton had expressed
the opinion that the arrest of the Confederate Commissioners, Mason and
Slidell, was legal and justified by international law. The President
asked Secretary Chase to invite Stanton to the White House, and Stanton
came. Mr. Lincoln thanked him for the opinion he had expressed, and
asked him to put it in writing.

Stanton complied, the President read it carefully, and, after putting
it away, astounded Stanton by offering him the portfolio of War.
Stanton was a Democrat, had been one of the President's most persistent
vilifiers, and could not realize, at first, that Lincoln meant what he
said. He managed, however to say:

"I am both surprised and embarrassed, Mr. President, and would ask a
couple of days to consider this most important matter."

Lincoln fully understood what was going on in Stanton's mind, and then
said:

"This is a very critical period in the life of the nation, Mr. Stanton,
as you are well aware, and I well know you are as much interested in
sustaining the government as myself or any other man. This is no time to
consider mere party issues. The life of the nation is in danger. I
need the best counsellors around me. I have every confidence in your
judgment, and have concluded to ask you to become one of my counsellors.
The office of the Secretary of War will soon be vacant, and I am anxious
to have you take Mr. Cameron's place."

Stanton decided to accept.

"ABE" LIKE HIS FATHER.

"Abe" Lincoln's father was never at loss for an answer. An old neighbor
of Thomas Lincoln--"Abe's" father--was passing the Lincoln farm one day,
when he saw "Abe's" father grubbing up some hazelnut bushes, and said to
him: "Why, Grandpap, I thought you wanted to sell your farm?"

"And so I do," he replied, "but I ain't goin' to let my farm