'but why don't you make a minister?

"'Laws,' answered Dick, with a grin, 'I hain't got mud enough.'"

How Lincoln Stood Up for the Word "Sugar-Coated."

Mr. Defrees, the Government printer, states, that, when one of the
President's message was being printed, he was a good deal disturbed by
the use of the term "sugar-coated," and finally went to Mr. Lincoln
about it. Their relations to each other being of the most intimate
character, he told the President frankly, that he ought to remember
that a message to Congress was a different affair from a speech at a
mass meeting in Illinois; that the messages became a part of history,
and should be written accordingly.

"What is the matter now?" inquired the President.

"Why," said Mr. Defrees, "you have used an undignified expression in
the message;" and then, reading the paragraph aloud, he added, I would
alter the structure of that if I were you."

"Defrees," replied Mr. Lincoln, "that word expresses exactly my idea,
and I am not going to change it. The time will never come in this
country when the people won't know exactly what 'sugar-coated' means."

On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Defrees states that a certain sentence
of another message was very awkwardly constructed. Calling the
President's attention to it in the proof-copy, the latter acknowledged
the force of the objection raised, and said, "Go home, Defrees, and
see if you can better it."

The next day Mr. Defrees took into him his amendment. Mr. Lincoln met
him by saying:

"Seward found the same fault that you did, and he has been rewriting
the paragraph, also." Then, reading Mr. Defrees' version, he said, "I
believe you have beaten Seward; but, 'I jings,' I think I can beat you
both." Then, taking up his pen, he wrote the sentence as it was
finally printed.

Lincoln's Advice to a Prominent Bachelor.

Upon the betrothal of the Prince of Wales to the Princess Alexandra,
Queen Victoria sent a letter to each of the European sovereigns, and
also to President Lincoln, announcing the fact. Lord Lyons, her
ambassador at Washington,--a "bachelor," by the way,--requested an
audience of Mr. Lincoln, that he might present this important document
in person. At the time appointed he was received at the White House,
in company with Mr. Seward.

"May it please your Excellency," said Lord Lyons, "I hold in my hand
an autograph letter from my royal mistress, Queen Victoria, which I
have been commanded to present