The general, dressing for dinner that night, said again:
“I suppose, James, that you did as I told you about those boots?”
James laid thirty-five cents on the bureau.
“Yes, sir,” said he, “and this is all I could get for them, though the corporal who bought ’em said he’d have given half a dollar if pay day hadn’t been so far off.”
President Lincoln once wrote to General McClellan, when the latter was in command of the army. General McClellan, as is well known, conducted a waiting campaign, being so careful not to make any mistakes that he made very little headway. President Lincoln sent this brief but exceedingly pertinent letter:
“My dear McClellan: If you don’t want to use the army I should like to borrow it for a while.
“Yours respectfully,
“A. Lincoln.”
It was at a children’s party in West Kensington. The youngsters had just done more than justice to the luxurious spread provided by their hostess, and games were now the order of the evening.