erwards expressed it. He didn't want to argue the points raised,
preferring to settle the matter in a hurry, and an apt story was his
only salvation.

Suddenly the President's fact brightened. "Gentlemen," said he,
addressing those seated at the Cabinet table, "the situation just now
reminds me of a fix I got into some thirty years or so ago when I was
peddling 'notions' on the way from Indiana to Illinois. I didn't have a
large stock, but I charged large prices, and I made money. Perhaps you
don't see what I am driving at?"

Secretary of State Seward was wearing a most gloomy expression of
countenance; Secretary of War Stanton was savage and inclined to be
morose; Secretary of the Treasury Chase was indifferent and cynical,
while the others of the Presidential advisers resigned themselves to the
hearing of the inevitable "story."

"I don't propose to argue this matter," the President went on to say,
"because arguments have no effect upon men whose opinions are fixed and
whose minds are made up. But this little story of mine will make some
things which now are in the dark show up more clearly."

There was another pause, and the Cabinet officers, maintaining their
previous silence, began wondering if the President himself really knew
what he was "driving at."

"Just before we left Indiana and crossed into Illinois," continued Mr.
Lincoln solemnly, speaking in a grave tone of voice, "we came across a
small farmhouse full of nothing but children. These ranged in years from
seventeen years to seventeen months, and all were in tears. The mother
of the family was red-headed and red-faced, and the whip she held in her
right hand led to the inference that she had been chastising her brood.
The father of the family, a meek-looking, mild-mannered, tow-headed
chap, was standing in the front door-way, awaiting--to all
appearances--his turn to feel the thong.

"I thought there wasn't much use in asking the head of that house if she
wanted any 'notions.' She was too busy. It was evident an insurrection
had been in progress, but it was pretty well quelled when I got there.
The mother had about suppressed it with an iron hand, but she was not
running any risks. She kept a keen and wary eye upon all the children,
not forgetting an occasional glance at the 'old man' in the doorway.

"She saw me as I came up, and from her look I thought she was of the
opinion that I intended to interfere. Advancing to the doorway, and
roughly push