"There's an odor of nationality about those bills, said Secretary Chase, showing a lot of the firstlings of his greenbacks to Uncle Abe.
"A very good figure of speech," replied Uncle Abe, "but you must not get too many under the public nostril, or your figure of speech will be an odor of fact."
April 1, 1862, greenbacks, 100. April 1, 1864, greenbacks, 55.
Uncle Abe as a Pilot.
The captain of one of the Mississippi river steamers one morning, while his boat was lying at her moorings at New Orleans, waiting for the tardy pilot, who, it appears, was a rather uncertain sort of fellow, saw a tall, gaunt Sucker make his appearance before the captain's office, and sing out—
"Hello, cap'n! you don't want a pilot nor nothin' about this 'ere craft, do ye?"
"How do you know I don't?" responded the captain.
"Oh, you don't understand; I axed you s'posin' you did?"