panions for his skill in writing
humorous verses, but these later specimens of his muse are serious,
even melancholy in their tone.

We next come to the congressional period, from 1847 to 1849. The
best-known speech from this period, Lincoln's introduction to a
national public, is that of July 27, 1848, on General Taylor and the
veto, Taylor being then the Whig candidate for the presidency. This
speech, which was received with immense applause, owes its special
prominence to the fact that it is the only purely humorous speech by
Lincoln that has been preserved. The subject of the attack is General
Cass, Taylor's Democratic opponent, whom Lincoln treats in a manner
that somewhat suggests Douglas' later treatment of Lincoln on the
stump. Its peroration is of peculiar interest, since it consists of a
funny story.

To anyone familiar with Lincoln's habit of story-telling the
introduction of a story at the end of a speech may not seem strange.
But, as a matter of fact, this is the only case of the kind that has
been noted, and a careful reading of the speeches shows either that
they were not fully reported or that as a rule he confined his
story-telling to conversation. Even in the debates with Douglas, when
he was addressing Illinois crowds from the stump at a time when stories
were even more popular than they are now, Lincoln seldom used this
device to rouse interest or to strengthen his argument. A partial
explanation of this curious contrast between his conversation and his
writing, so far as the debates are concerned, may be found in a remark
made by Lincoln to a friend who had urged him to treat the subject more
popularly. Lincoln said; "The occasion is too serious, the issues are
too grave. I do not seek applause, or to amuse the people, but to
convince them." With Lincoln the desire to prove his proposition,
whatever it might be, was always uppermost. In the earliest speeches
were noted the severe logic and the strict adherence to the subject in
hand. To the end Lincoln never changed this principle of his public
speaking.

Although the stories, then, have but little direct bearing upon
Lincoln's writings, they are so characteristic a feature of the man
that they cannot be wholly disregarded. In the two cases already noted
the stories were illustrative, and this appears to be true of all of
Lincoln's anecdotes, whether they occur in his conversation or in his
writings. He apparently never dragged in s