"I trust that I may have the assistance of the members of this legislature in piloting the ship of state through this voyage, surrounded by perils as it is; for, if it should suffer shipwreck now, there will be no pilot ever needed for another voyage."--(Speech, Trenton, New Jersey, 1861.)
A PILL FOR THE PUBLIC PRINTER.
In Lincoln's first message to Congress, special session, July 4, 1861, is seen this passage:
"With rebellion thus sugar-coated, they have been drugging the public mind," etc.
Mr. Defrees, public printer, with the proofreader's sublime spurning of plain speech, objected to this sweet word, and said: "Mr. President, you are using an undignified expression! I would alter the construction if I were you!"
"Defrees," was the crushing reply, "that word expresses precisely my idea, and I am not going to change it. The time will never come in this country when the people won't know exactly what 'sugar-coated' means!"
"'I JINKS! I CAN BEAT YOU BOTH!"
One day the public printer wanted to correct a Lincolnism in one of the presidential documents.
"Go home, Defrees, and see if you can better it." The next day, Defrees took him his amendment. It happened that Secretary Seward had spied the same fault as the printer, and Lincoln confronted the two improvements.
"'I jinks! (by Jingo!) Seward has been rewriting the same paragraph. I believe you have beat Seward, but I think I can beat you both!"