en. Perley Poore states that "the White House, while Mr. Lincoln
occupied it, was a fertile field for news, which he was always ready to
give those correspondents in whom he had confidence; but the
surveillance of the press--first by Secretary Seward, and then by
Secretary Stanton--was as annoying as it was inefficient.... Often when
Mr. Lincoln was engaged, correspondents would send in their cards,
bearing requests for some desired item of news or for the verification
of some rumor. He would either come out and give the coveted
information, or he would write it on the back of the card and send it to
the owner. He wrote a legible hand, slowly and laboriously perfecting
his sentences before he placed them on paper. The long epistles that he
wrote to his generals he copied himself, not wishing anyone else to see
them, and these copies were kept in pigeon-holes for reference.... Mr.
Lincoln used to wear at the White House in the morning, and after
dinner, a long-skirted faded dressing-gown, belted around his waist, and
slippers. His favorite attitude when listening--and he was a good
listener--was to lean forward, and clasp his left knee with both hands,
as if fondling it, and his face would then wear a sad and wearied look.
But when the time came for him to give an opinion on what he had heard,
or to tell a story which something 'reminded him of,' his face would
lighten up with its homely, rugged smile, and he would run his fingers
through his bristly black hair, which would stand out in every direction
like that of an electric experiment doll."

John G. Nicolay, afterward Lincoln's private secretary, says: "The
people beheld in the new President a man six feet four inches in height,
a stature which of itself would be hailed in any assemblage as one of
the outward signs of leadership; joined to this was a spare but muscular
frame, and large strongly-marked features corresponding to his unusual
stature. Quiet in demeanor but erect in bearing, his face even in repose
was not unattractive; and when lit up by his open, genial smile, or
illuminated in the utterance of a strong or stirring thought, his
countenance was positively handsome. His voice, pitched in rather a high
key, but of great clearness and penetration, made his public remarks
audible to a wide circle of listeners."

Henry Champion Deming says of Lincoln's appearance at this time:
"Conceive a tall and giant figure, more than six feet in height, not
only unencumb