er."

"Well," exclaimed President Lincoln, "that is very much like the
happening on the occasion of a certain horse sale I remember that took
place at the cross-roads down in Kentucky, when I was a boy.

"A particularly fine horse was to be sold, and the people in large
numbers had gathered together. They had a small boy to ride the horse up
and down while the spectators examined the horse's points.

"At last one man whispered to the boy as he went by: 'Look here, boy,
hain't that horse got the splints?'

"The boy replied: 'Mister, I don't know what the splints is, but if it's
good for him, he has got it; if it ain't good for him, he ain't got it.'

"Now," said President Lincoln, "if this was good for Mitchell, it was
all right; but if it was not, I have got to countermand it."

TOO SWIFT TO STAY IN THE ARMY.

There were strange, queer, odd things and happenings in the Army at
times, but, as a rule, the President did not allow them to worry him. He
had enough to bother about.

A quartermaster having neglected to present his accounts in proper
shape, and the matter being deemed of sufficient importance to bring it
to the attention of the President, the latter remarked:

"Now this instance reminds me of a little story I heard only a short
time ago. A certain general's purse was getting low, and he said it was
probable he might be obliged to draw on his banker for some money.

"'How much do you want, father?' asked his son, who had been with him a
few days.

"'I think I shall send for a couple of hundred,' replied the general.

"Why, father,' said his son, very quietly, 'I can let you have it.'

"'You can let me have it! Where did you get so much money?

"'I won it playing draw-poker with your staff, sir!' replied the youth.

"The earliest morning train bore the young man toward his home, and I've
been wondering if that boy and that quartermaster had happened to meet
at the same table."

ADMIRED THE STRONG MAN.

Governor Hoyt of Wisconsin tells a story of Mr. Lincoln's great
admiration for physical strength. Mr. Lincoln, in 1859, made a speech at
the Wisconsin State Agricultural Fair. After the speech, in company with
the Governor, he strolled about the grounds, looking at the exhibits.
They came to a place where a professional "strong man" was tossing
cannon balls in the air and catching them on his arms and juggling
with them as though they were light as baseballs. Mr. Lincoln had
never be