ee him today."

"Seward! I wish you had nothing to do with that man. He cannot be
trusted."

"You say the same of Chase. If I listened to you, I should soon be
without a Cabinet."

"Better be without it than to confide in some of the men that you do.
Seward is worse than Chase. He has no principle."

"Mother, you are mistaken; your prejudices are so violent that you do
not stop to reason. Seward is an able man, and the country as well as
myself can trust him."

"Father, you are too honest for this world! You should have been born a
saint. You will generally find it a safe rule to distrust a
disappointed, ambitious politician. It makes me mad to see you sit still
and let that hypocrite, Seward, twine you around his finger as if you
were a skein of thread."

"It is useless to argue the question, mother. You cannot change my
opinion."

Mrs. Lincoln prided herself upon her ability to read character. She was
shrewd and far-seeing, and had no patience with the frank, confiding
nature of the President.

When Andrew Johnson was urged for military Governor of Tennessee, Mrs.
Lincoln bitterly opposed the appointment.

"He is a demagogue," she said, almost fiercely, "and if you place him in
power, Mr. Lincoln, mark my words, you will rue it some day."

General McClellan, when made Commander-in-Chief, was the idol of the
soldiers, and never was a general more universally popular. "He is a
humbug," remarked Mrs. Lincoln one day in my presence.

"What makes you think so, mother?" good-naturedly inquired the
President.

"Because he talks so much and does so little. If I had the power I would
very soon take off his head, and put some energetic man in his place."

"But I regard McClellan as a patriot and an able soldier. He has been
much embarrassed. The troops are raw, and the subordinate officers
inclined to be rebellious. There are too many politicians in the army
with shoulder-straps. McClellan is young and popular, and they are
jealous of him. They will kill him off if they can."

"McClellan can make plenty of excuse for himself, therefore he needs no
advocate in you. If he would only do something, and not promise so much,
I might learn to have a little faith in him. I tell you he is a humbug,
and you will have to find some man to take his place, that is, if you
wish to conquer the South."

Mrs. Lincoln could not tolerate General Grant. "He is a butcher," she
would often say, "and is not fit to be at the head of