Abe, who is very fond of theatricals, went, upon a recent occasion, to the theatre to see a new play. The friend, who was with him, remarked upon the thinness of the house, and said he supposed it was owing to the war. “No,” replied the jester; “it is not owing to the war, it is owing to the piece.”
Abe and the Officer.
A craven-hearted officer was boasting the other day to Lincoln of the wounds he had received in his face. The President, however, knowing him to be a coward, told him he had better take care the next time he ran away how he looked back.
Anecdote.
At a dinner the President recently gave at the White House, he was much amused by the following anecdote, related by one of the officers who had just returned from a northern victory. During the battle the rain came pouring down to such an extent that he remarked to a companion, who stood by, (an Irishman) that it reminded him of the general deluge. “And faith,” says Pat, “who’s that? I never heard of that general before.”
The Scotch Editor.
At this same dinner party there was a Scotchman, an editor of one of the northern newspapers. Opposite to him, at the table, sat a gentleman who had indulged pretty freely in his cups. In the course of conversation he asked the Scotchman “What was the difference between a Scott and a Lot?” To this the Scotchman replied, that “the difference lay in the breadth of the table.”
The Senator.
A certain senator, not the highest ornament to the White House, had a custom of shaking his head when another member spoke. The speaker complained of this as an affront. The President, however, took it good humouredly, and assured his friend that although the gentleman often shook his head, there was nothing in it.