acted with them, and the two parties tied if Davis acted with the
Democrats. Under these circumstances, General Logan, who after
being out for two years had been re-elected to the Senate, moved
in the caucus that David Davis be the Republican candidate for
president _pro tempore_. Later he made the nomination in the Senate
itself, and Senator Davis was elected, Senator Bayard descending,
amid general laughter, from the chair which he had occupied for
but a short time.

Senator Davis was very proud of the position of president _pro
tempore_, which he retained to the end of his Senate term. He had
been acting quite independently, but seemed to incline a little
toward the Democrats. After he became president _pro tempore_,
while he never announced himself a Republican, he generally acted
with the Republicans.

I was in the Senate the day before Senator Davis's term expired.
He was soliloquizing to himself in the intervals of putting motions
and attending to the routine of his office. He was very fond of
Senator Isham G. Harris of Tennessee, and when he had occasion to
call a senator to the chair, generally it would be Harris. He
called Harris to him while I was there, and I heard him say as his
friend came up: "Harris, Harris! When I get out of here I won't
have to listen to old Bayard any more!"

He was a very remarkable man and a friend of Lincoln, and Lincoln
was a friend of his. I suppose that Davis did as much to secure
Lincoln's nomination over Seward as any one man, although Judge
Logan worked with equal zeal. But Davis knew more people than did
Judge Logan, although the latter was, in my opinion, the better
lawyer.

In the days of Davis's judicial life on the State bench, the judge
and the lawyer had a pretty large circuit. Davis's circuit was
composed of several large counties. It was the custom to travel
the circuit, judge, lawyers, and all, together. At that period
there were no railway facilities worth mentioning, and they had to
go by private conveyance--wagon or carriage or on horseback as the
case might be. Probably a dozen lawyers might go together, all
putting up at the same hotel, and generally having a good time at
night, spinning yarns. Lincoln was a good story-teller, and so
was Davis; and the evenings were made exceedingly agreeable to all
concerned.

In no small measure as a result of the influences thus put into
operation, the lawyers of the period were better qualified to ge