The late Governor Rice, of Massachusetts, says, "It happened at one time that Senator Henry Wilson and myself called to see President Lincoln on a joint errand. As the door to Mr. Lincoln's room opened, a small boy, perhaps twelve years old, slipped in between the Senator and myself. The President appeared to be attracted to the lad, and asked, 'And who is the little boy?' an inquiry which neither the Senator nor myself could answer. The lad, however, immediately replied that he had come to Washington in the hope of obtaining a situation as page in the House of Representatives. The President began to say that he must go to Captain Goodnow, the head door-keeper of the House, as he had nothing to do with such an appointment; upon which the lad pulled from his pockets a recommendation from the supervisors of the town, the minister of the parish, and others, stating also that his mother was a widow, and pleading the necessities of the family. The President called the boy nearer to him, took his recommendation, and wrote upon the back as follows:
"'If Captain Goodnow can give this good little boy a place he will oblige
A. Lincoln.'"
Mr. Titian J. Coffey, who was Assistant Attorney-General, relates that "in the spring of 1863 a very handsome and attractive young lady from Philadelphia came to my office with a note from a friend, asking me to assist her in obtaining an interview with the President. Some time before she had been married to a young man who was a lieutenant in a Pennsylvania regiment. He had been compelled to leave her the day after the wedding to rejoin his command in the Army of the Potomac. After some time he obtained leave of absence, returned to Philadelphia, and started on a brief honeymoon journey with his bride. A movement of the army being imminent, the War Department issued a peremptory order requiring all absent officers to rejoin their regiments by a certain day, on penalty of dismissal in case of disobedience. The bride and groom, away on their hurried wedding-tour, failed to see the order, and on their return he was met by a notice of his dismissal from the service. The young fellow was completely prostrated by the disgrace, and his wife hurried to Washington to get him restored. I obtained for her an interview with the President. She told her story with simple and pathetic eloquence, and wound up by saying,—
"'Mr. Lincoln, won't you help us? I promise you, if you will restore him, he will be faithful to his duty.'
"The President had listened to her with evident sympathy and a half-amused smile at her earnestness, and as she closed her appeal he said, with parental kindness,—
"'And you say, my child, that Fred was compelled to leave you the day after the wedding? Poor fellow, I don't wonder at his anxiety to get back, and if he stayed a little longer than he ought to have done we'll have to overlook his fault this time. Take this card to the Secretary of War and he will restore your husband.'
"She went to the War Department, saw the Secretary, who rebuked her for troubling the President and dismissed her somewhat curtly. As it happened, on her way down the War Department stairs, her hopes chilled by the Secretary's abrupt manner, she met the President ascending. He recognized her, and, with a pleasant smile, said,—
"'Well, my dear, have you seen the Secretary?'
"'Yes, Mr. Lincoln,' she replied, 'and he seemed very angry with me for going to you. Won't you speak to him for me?'
"'Give yourself no trouble,' said he. 'I will see that the order is issued.'