s telling. I
inquired of Browning, the landlord, who he was. "Abraham Lincoln, of
Illinois, a member of Congress," was his response.

I was thunderstruck at the announcement. I hastened upstairs and told
Hammond the startling news, and together we emerged from the hotel by
a back door, and went down an alley to another house, thus avoiding
further contact with our distinguished fellow traveler.

Years afterward, when the President-elect was on his way to Washington,
I was in the same hotel looking over the distinguished party, when a
long arm reached to my shoulder, and a shrill voice exclaimed, "Hello,
Nelson! do you think, after all, the whole world is going to follow the
darned thing off?" The words were my own in answer to his question in
the stage-coach. The speaker was Abraham Lincoln.

THE "400" GATHERED THERE.

Lincoln had periods while "clerking" in the New Salem grocery store
during which there was nothing for him to do, and was therefore in
circumstances that made laziness almost inevitable. Had people come to
him for goods, they would have found him willing to sell them. He sold
all that he could, doubtless.

The store soon became the social center of the village. If the people
did not care (or were unable) to buy goods, they liked to go where they
could talk with their neighbors and listen to stories. These Lincoln
gave them in abundance, and of a rare sort.

It was in these gatherings of the "Four Hundred" at the village store
that Lincoln got his training as a debater. Public questions were
discussed there daily and nightly, and Lincoln always took a prominent
part in the discussions. Many of the debaters came to consider "Abe
Linkin" as about the smartest man in the village.

ONLY LEVEL-HEADED MEN WANTED.

Lincoln wanted men of level heads for important commands. Not
infrequently he gave his generals advice.

He appreciated Hooker's bravery, dash and activity, but was fearful of
the results of what he denominated "swashing around."

This was one of his telegrams to Hooker:

"And now, beware of rashness; beware of rashness, but, with energy and
sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victories."

HIS FAITH IN THE MONITOR.

When the Confederate iron-clad Merrimac was sent against the Union
vessels in Hampton Roads President Lincoln expressed his belief in the
Monitor to Captain Fox, the adviser of Captain Ericsson, who constructed
the Monitor. "We have three of the mos