Saturday morning the whole party decided to visit Petersburg, and I was only too eager to accompany them.
When we arrived at the city, numbers crowded around the train, and a little ragged negro boy ventured timidly into the car occupied by Mr. Lincoln and immediate friends, and in replying to numerous questions, used the word "tote."
"Tote," remarked Mr. Lincoln; "what do you mean by tote?"
"Why, massa, to tote um on your back."
"Very definite, my son; I presume when you tote a thing, you carry it. By the way, Sumner," turning to the Senator, "what is the origin of tote?"
"Its origin is said to be African. The Latin word totum, from totus, means all—an entire body—the whole."
"But my young friend here did not mean an entire body, or anything of the kind, when he said he would tote my things for me," interrupted the President.
"Very true," continued the Senator. "He used the word tote in the African sense, to carry, to bear. Tote in this sense is defined in our standard dictionaries as a colloquial word of the Southern States, used especially by the negroes."
"Then you regard the word as a good one?"