on day, and perhaps
was as eager as your Excellency to vote, and to vote early, and late and
often.

"So, upon landing at Castle Garden, he hastened to the nearest voting
place, and as he approached, the judge who received the ballots
inquired, 'Who do you want to vote for? On which side are you?' Poor Pat
was embarrassed; he did not know who were the candidates. He stopped,
scratched his head, then, with the readiness of his countrymen, he said:

"'I am forninst the Government, anyhow. Tell me, if your Honor plase:
which is the rebellion side, and I'll tell you haw I want to vote. In
ould Ireland, I was always on the rebellion side, and, by Saint Patrick,
I'll do that same in America.' Your Excellency," said Mr. Lincoln,
"would, I should think, not be at all at a loss on which side to vote!"

"CAN'T SPARE THIS MAN."

One night, about eleven o'clock, Colonel A. K. McClure, whose intimacy
with President Lincoln was so great that he could obtain admittance to
the Executive Mansion at any and all hours, called at the White House to
urge Mr. Lincoln to remove General Grant from command.

After listening patiently for a long time, the President, gathering
himself up in his chair, said, with the utmost earnestness:

"I can't spare this man; he fights!"

In relating the particulars of this interview, Colonel McClure said:

"That was all he said, but I knew that it was enough, and that Grant was
safe in Lincoln's hands against his countless hosts of enemies. The only
man in all the nation who had the power to save Grant was Lincoln,
and he had decided to do it. He was not influenced by any personal
partiality for Grant, for they had never met.

"It was not until after the battle of Shiloh, fought on the 6th and
7th of April, 1862, that Lincoln was placed in a position to exercise a
controlling influence in shaping the destiny of Grant. The first reports
from the Shiloh battle-field created profound alarm throughout the
entire country, and the wildest exaggerations were spread in a floodtide
of vituperation against Grant.

"The few of to-day who can recall the inflamed condition of public
sentiment against Grant caused by the disastrous first day's battle
at Shiloh will remember that he was denounced as incompetent for his
command by the public journals of all parties in the North, and with
almost entire unanimity by Senators and Congressmen, regardless of
political affinities.

"I appealed to Lincoln for his