But the other pretended to misunderstand him, saying: "Lend my pen! my pen? What would you do with that?--keep your hogs safe with that?"
"HURRAH FOR YOU!"
At the Chicago reception, a little boy came into the room, with his father. No doubt he had been instructed to behave with decorum in the august presence; but he no sooner saw the tall, prominent figure than he shouted: "Hurrah for Mist' Lincoln!"
The crowd laughed, and still the more as the object of the ovation caught up the little fellow, gave him a toss to the ceiling, and, while he was in the air, shouted out lustily:
"Hurrah for Mister You!" and, catching him, lowered him, red and panting, to the floor.
"PUT YOUR FEET RIGHT AND STAND FIRM!"
Giving a lift in his carriage to two ladies, to the Soldiers' Home, the horses were splashing and sliding after a shower in the mire, when Mr. Lincoln assisted the frightened women to alight. He set three stones for stepping-stones in the mud, and assisted them to firm ground. He had cautioned them in making the passage:
"All through life be sure you put your feet in the right place, and then stand firm!"
Looking down on his muddy boots (Lincoln as a Westerner always stuck to leg-boots, and was never seen in the effeminate "Congress gaiters," by the bye), he added: "I have always heard of 'Washington mud,' and now I shall take home some as a sample!"