“‘Well, I declare, Lincoln,’ said he, ‘I should not much wonder if you were right, for he has nearly upset me half a dozen times since starting.’
“So, putting his head out of the window, he shouted, ‘Why, you infernal scoundrel, you are drunk!’
“Upon which, pulling up his horses, and turning round with great gravity, the coachman said:
“‘Begorra! that’s the first rightful decision that you have given for the last twelvemonth.’”
While the company were laughing, the President beat a quiet retreat from the neighborhood.
“PITY THE POOR ORPHAN.”
After the War was well on, and several battles had been fought, a lady from Alexandria asked the President for an order to release a certain church which had been taken for a Federal hospital. The President said he could do nothing, as the post surgeon at Alexandria was immovable, and then asked the lady why she did not donate money to build a hospital.
“We have been very much embarrassed by the war,” she replied, “and our estates are much hampered.”
“You are not ruined?” asked the President.