“Mr. President, what do you think of the war and its end?”
To which Mr. Lincoln politely and laughingly replied:
“That question of yours puts me in mind of a story about something which happened down in Egypt, in the southern part of Illinois.”
The point of it was that a man burned his fingers by being in too much haste. Mr. Lincoln told the story admirably well, walking up and down the room, and heartily laughing all the while. The interviewer was quick to see the point. As a matter of course he was cut to the quick, and quickly down-stairs he rushed, saying to himself:
“I’ll never interview that man again.”
How Mr. Lincoln secured a Ride.
When Abraham Lincoln was a poor lawyer, he found himself one cold day at a village some distance from Springfield, and with no means of conveyance.
Seeing a gentleman driving along the Springfield road in a carriage, he ran up to him and politely said:
“Sir, will you have the goodness to take my overcoat to town for me?”
“With pleasure,” answered the gentleman. “But how will you get it again?”