incoln by victims of
Secretary of War Stanton's harshness, rudeness, and refusal to be
obliging--particularly in cases where Secretary Stanton had refused
to honor Lincoln's passes through the lines--the President would often
remark to this effect "I cannot always be sure that permits given by
me ought to be granted. There is an understanding between myself and
Stanton that when I send a request to him which cannot consistently be
granted, he is to refuse to honor it. This he sometimes does."

FEW FENCE RAILS LEFT.

"There won't be a tar barrel left in Illinois to-night," said Senator
Stephen A. Douglas, in Washington, to his Senatorial friends, who asked
him, when the news of the nomination of Lincoln reached them, "Who is
this man Lincoln, anyhow?"

Douglas was right. Not only the tar barrels, but half the fences of the
State of Illinois went up in the fire of rejoicing.

THE "GREAT SNOW" OF 1830-31.

In explanation of Lincoln's great popularity, D. W. Bartlett, in his
"Life and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln," published in 1860 makes this
statement of "Abe's" efficient service to his neighbors in the "Great
Snow" of 1830-31:

"The deep snow which occurred in 1830-31 was one of the chief troubles
endured by the early settlers of central and southern Illinois. Its
consequences lasted through several years. The people were ill-prepared
to meet it, as the weather had been mild and pleasant--unprecedentedly
so up to Christmas--when a snow-storm set in which lasted two days,
something never before known even among the traditions of the Indians,
and never approached in the weather of any winter since.

"The pioneers who came into the State (then a territory) in 1800 say the
average depth of snow was never, previous to 1830, more than knee-deep
to an ordinary man, while it was breast-high all that winter.
It became crusted over, so as, in some cases, to bear teams. Cattle
and horses perished, the winter wheat was killed, the meager stock of
provisions ran out, and during the three months' continuance of the
snow, ice and continuous cold weather the most wealthy settlers came
near starving, while some of the poor ones actually did. It was in the
midst of such scenes that Abraham Lincoln attained his majority, and
commenced his career of bold and manly independence.....

"Communication between house and house was often entirely obstructed for
teams, so that the young and strong men had to do all the traveling