The life and public services of Abraham Lincoln ... together with his state papers, including his speeches, addresses, messages, letters, and proclamations, and the closing scenes connected with his life and death. By Henry J. Raymond. To which are added anecdotes and personal reminiscences of President Lincoln, by Frank B. Carpenter.

746

THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

undertook, a few years ago, to raise a very large herd of hogs. It
was a great trouble to feed them, and how to get around this was a
puzzle to him. At length he hit on the plan of planting an immense
field of potatoes, and, when they were sufficiently grown, he turned
the whole herd into the field, and let them have full swing, thus saving
not only the labor of feeding the hogs, but also that of digging the
potatoes! ('harmed with his sagacity, he stood one day leaning
against the fence, counting his hogs, when a neighbor came along.
'Well, well,' said lie, ' Mr. Case, this is all very fine. Your hogs are
doing very well just now, but you know out here in Illinois the frost
co)mes early, and the ground freezes for a foot deep. Then what are
they goincr to do ' This was a view of the matter Mr. Case had not
taken into account. Butchering-time for hogs was 'way on in December or January! He scratched his head, and at length stammered,
'Well, it II:,y come pretty hard on their snouts, but 1 don't see but
that it will be ' root, hog, or die!' "
The silmplicity and absence of all ostentation on the part of Mr.
Lincoln, is well illustrated by an incident which occurred on the occasion of a visit he made to Commodore Porter, at Fortress Monroe.
Noticing that the banks of the river were dotted with flowers, he said:
t"rCommodore, Tad" (the pet name for his youngest son, who had
aecomlnpanied him on the excursion) " is very fond of flowers; won't you
let a couple of men take a boat and go with him for an hour or two,
along the banks of the river, and gather the flowers?" Look at
this picture, and then endeavor to imagine the head of a European
nation making a similar request, in this humble way, of one of his
subordinates!
One day I took a couple of friends from New York up-stairs, who
wished to be introduced to the President. It was after the hour for
business calls, and we found him alone, and, for once, at leisure. Soon
after the introduction, one of my friends took occasion to indorse,
very decidedly, the President's Amnesty Proclamation, which had
been severely censured by many friends of the Administration. Mr.
S --- 's approval touched Mr. Lincoln. Ie said, with a great deal of
emphasis, and with an expression of countenance I shall never forget
" 'When a man is sincerely penitent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the same, he can safely be pardoned, and there
is no exception to the rule!"
Shortly afterwards, he told us this story of " Andy Johnson," as he
was familiarly in the habit of calling him. It wns a few weeks prior