to meet a savage?' said he.
'Certainly I did, or even something worse,' replied she. 'I am glad I
have met you,' she continued, 'and now the best way to preserve peace is
for you to go to Charleston and show the people what you are, and tell
them you have no intention of injuring them.' Returning home, she found
a party of Secessionists, and on entering the room she exclaimed, 'I
have seen him! I have seen him!' 'Who?' they inquired. 'That terrible
monster, Lincoln, and I found him a gentleman, and I am going to his
first levee after his inauguration.' At his first reception, this tall
daughter of South Carolina, dressing herself in black velvet, with two
long white plumes in her hair, repaired to the White House. She was
nearly six feet high, with black eyes and black hair, and in her velvet
and white feathers she was a striking and majestic figure. As she
approached the President he recognized her immediately. 'Here I am
again,' said she, 'that South Carolinian.' 'I am glad to see you,'
replied he, 'and to assure you that the first object of my heart is to
preserve peace, and I wish that not only you but every son and daughter
of South Carolina were here, that I might tell them so.' Mr. Cameron,
Secretary of War, came up, and after some remarks he said, 'South
Carolina [which had already seceded] is the prodigal son.' 'Ah, Mr.
Secretary,' said she, 'if South Carolina is the prodigal son, Uncle Sam,
our father, ought to divide the inheritance, and let her go; but they
say you are going to make war upon us; is it so?' 'Oh, come back,' said
Lincoln, 'tell South Carolina to come back now, and we will kill the
fatted calf.'"

The impression which Lincoln made on those who met him at the outset of
his career as President, and their varied comments and descriptions, are
matters of peculiar interest. At first, many people did not understand
him--hardly knew what to make of a personality so unlike any they had
ever seen in high places before. But he soon began to show those
qualities of calm self-reliance, quickness to grasp the essential
factors of a situation and readiness to meet it, courage, patience,
firmness, breadth of view and kindliness, practical tact and wisdom,
which were a surprise to all who knew him, and are now seen to be but a
rapid and logical unfolding, under the stimulus of his enormous
responsibilities, of his great natural powers. The test had come, the
crisis was upon him; and he met them marvelously we