The screaming, struggling pig, had spattered Lincoln’s clean clothes with mud. His hands were covered with filth; so he went to the nearest brook, washed them, and wiped them on the grass.
Later, when telling a friend about his adventure, Lincoln said that he had rescued the pig for purely selfish reasons, “to take a pain out of his own mind.”
Opening Their Eyes
It was toward the close of the Civil War, the crisis had come, and the end of the long struggle was in sight. The Union troops were hemming in Richmond. President Lincoln went himself to City Point, and there he remained, anxiously waiting.
In his tent lived a pet cat. It had a family of new-born kittens. Sometimes, the President relieved his mind by playing with them.
Finally Richmond was taken, and Lincoln prepared to visit the city. Before he left his tent, he picked up one of the kittens, saying:—
“Little kitten, I must perform a last act of kindness for you before I go. I must open your eyes.”
He passed his hand gently over its closed lids, until the eyes opened; then he set the kitten on the floor, and said:—
“Oh! that I could open the eyes of my blinded fellow-countrymen as easily as I have those of that little creature!”