At another time a gentleman addressed him, saying, “I presume, Mr. President, that you have forgotten me?"

66

'No," was the prompt reply; "your name is Flood. I saw you last, twelve years ago, at," naming the place and the occasion. "I am glad to see," he continued, "that the Flood flows on."

Subsequent to his re-election a deputation of bankers from various sections were introduced one day by the Secretary of the Treasury. After a few moments of general conversation, Mr. Lincoln turned to one of them, and said: "Your district did not give me so strong a vote at the last election as it did in 1860."

“I think, sir, that you must be mistaken," replied the banker. "I have the impression that your majority was considerably increased at the last election."

"No," rejoined the President, "you fell off about six hundred votes." Then taking down from the book-case the official canvass of 1860 and 1864, he referred to the vote of the district named, and proved to be quite right in his assertion.

Common Sense.

The Hon. Mr. Hubbard, of Connecticut, once called upon the President in reference to a newly invented gun, concerning which a committee had been appointed to make a report.

The "report" was sent for, and when it came in was found to be of the most voluminous description. Mr. Lincoln glanced at it, and said: "I should want a new lease of life to read this through!" Throwing it down upon the table, he added: 66 Why can't a committee of this kind occasionally exhibit a grain of common sense? If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points—not how many hairs there are in his tail.

Lincoln's Confab with a Committee on "6 Grant's Whisky."

Just previous to the fall of Vicksburg, a self-constituted committee, solicitous for the morale of our armies, took it upon themselves to visit the President and urge the removal of General Grant.

In some surprise Mr. Lincoln inquired, "For what reason?"

"Why," replied the spokesman, "he drinks too much whisky."

"Ah!" rejoined Mr. Lincoln, dropping his lower lip.. "By the way, gentlemen, can either of you tell me where General Grant procures his whisky? because, if I can find out, I will send every general in the field a barrel of it!"

A "Pretty Tolerable Respectable Sort of a Clergyman." Some one was discussing, in the presence of Mr. Lincoln, the character of a time-serving Washington clergyman. Said Mr. Lincoln to his visitor:

"I think you are rather hard upon Mr.

He reminds

me of a man in Illinois, who was tried for passing a counterfeit bill. It was in evidence that before passing it he had taken it to the cashier of a bank and asked his opinion of the bill, and he received a very prompt reply that it was a counterfeit. His lawyer, who had heard the evidence to be brought against his client, asked him, just before going into court, Did you take the bill to the cashier of the bank and ask him if it was good?

"I did,' was the reply.

"Well, what was the reply of the cashier?'

6

"The rascal was in a corner, but he got out of it in this fashion: He said it was a pretty tolerable, respectable sort of a bill." Mr. Lincoln thought the clergyman was "a pretty tolerable, respectable sort of a clergyman."

How Lincoln Opened the Eyes of an Inquisitive Visitor. Mr. Lincoln sometimes had a very effective way of dealing with men who troubled him with questions. A visitor cnce asked him how many men the Rebels had in the field.

The President replied, very seriously, "Twelve hundred thousand, according to the best authority.”

The interrogator blanched in the face, and ejaculated, "Good Heavens!"

"Yes, sir, twelve hundred thousand-no doubt of it. You see, all of our generals, when they get whipped, say the enemy outnumbers them from three or five to one, and I must believe them. We have four hundred thousand men in the field, and three times four make twelve. Don't you see it?"

Minnehaha and Minneboohoo!

Some gentlemen fresh from a Western tour, during a call at the White House, referred in the course of conversation to a body of water in Nebraska, which bore an Indian name signifying "weeping water." Mr. Lincoln instantly responded: "As 'laughing water,' according to Longfellow, is Minnehaha,' this evidently should be 'Minneboohoo.""

Meeting of President Lincoln and the Artist, Carpenter.

F. B. Carpenter, the celebrated artist and author of the well-known painting of Lincoln and his Cabinet issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, describes his first meeting with the President, as follows:

"Two o'clock found me one of the throng pressing toward the center of attraction, the blue' room. From the threshold of the 'crimson' parlor as I passed, I had a glimpse