ntion or the (National
Union) League have concluded to decide that I am the greatest or best
man in America, but rather they have concluded that it is best not to
swap horses while crossing the river, and have further concluded that I
am not so poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it trying to
swap."(16)

Carpenter records another sort of congratulation a few days later
that brought out the graceful side of this man whom most people still
supposed to be hopelessly awkward. It happened on a Saturday. Carpenter
had invited friends to sit in his painting room and oversee the crowd
while listening to the music. "Towards the close of the concert, the
door suddenly opened, and the President came in, as he was in the habit
of doing, alone. Mr. and Mrs. Cropsey had been presented to him in the
course of the morning; and as he came forward, half hesitatingly, Mrs.
C., who held a bunch of beautiful flowers in her hand, tripped forward
playfully, and said: 'Allow me, Mr. President, to present you with a
bouquet!' The situation was momentarily embarrassing; and I was puzzled
to know how 'His Excellency' would get out of it. With no appearance of
discomposure, he stooped down, took the flowers, and, looking from
them into the sparkling eyes and radiant face of the lady, said, with a
gallantry I was unprepared for 'Really, madam, if you give them to me,
and they are mine, I think I can not possibly make so good use of them
as to present them to you, in return!'"(17)

In gaining the nomination, Lincoln had not, as yet, attained security
for his plans. Grant was still to be reckoned with. By a curious irony,
the significance of his struggle with Lee during May, his steady advance
by the left flank, had been misapprehended in the North. Looking at the
map, the country saw that he was pushing southward, and again southward,
on Virginia soil. McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, with them it had
been:

"He who fights and runs away
May live to fight another day."

But Grant kept on. He struck Lee in the furious battle of the
Wilderness, and moved to the left, farther south. "Victory!" cried the
Northern newspapers, "Lee isn't able to stop him." The same delusion
was repeated after Spottsylvania where the soldiers, knowing more of war
than did the newspapers, pinned to their coats slips of paper bearing
their names; identification of the bodies might be difficult. The
popular mistake continued throughout that dreadf