sts, and wastes his
wreath trying to scare somebody. You see the other fellow, he says not
a word,'--here Mr. Lincoln's voice and manner changed to great
earnestness, and repeating--'you see the other man says not a word. His
arms are at his sides, his fists are closely doubled up, his head is
drawn to the shoulder, and his teeth are set firm together. He is saving
his wind for the fight, and as sure as it comes off he will win it, or
die a-trying.'"

RIGHT FOR, ONCE, ANYHOW.

Where men bred in courts, accustomed to the world, or versed in
diplomacy, would use some subterfuge, or would make a polite speech,
or give a shrug of the shoulders, as the means of getting out of an
embarrassing position, Lincoln raised a laugh by some bold west-country
anecdote, and moved off in the cloud of merriment produced by the joke.
When Attorney-General Bates was remonstrating apparently against
the appointment of some indifferent lawyer to a place of judicial
importance, the President interposed with: "Come now, Bates, he's not
half as bad as you think. Besides that, I must tell you, he did me a
good turn long ago. When I took to the law, I was going to court one
morning, with some ten or twelve miles of bad road before me, and I had
no horse.

"The judge overtook me in his carriage.

"'Hallo, Lincoln! are you not going to the court-house? Come in and I
will give you a seat!'

"Well, I got in, and the Judge went on reading his papers. Presently the
carriage struck a stump on one side of the road, then it hopped off to
the other. I looked out, and I saw the driver was jerking from side to
side in his seat, so I says:

"'Judge, I think your coachman has been taking a little too much this
morning.'

"'Well, I declare, Lincoln,' said he, 'I should not much wonder if
you were right, for he has nearly upset me half a dozen times since
starting.'

"So, putting his head out of the window, he shouted, 'Why, you infernal
scoundrel, you are drunk!'

"Upon which, pulling up his horses, and turning round with great
gravity, the coachman said:

"'Begorra! that's the first rightful decision that you have given for
the last twelvemonth.'"

While the company were laughing, the President beat a quiet retreat from
the neighborhood.

"PITY THE POOR ORPHAN."

After the War was well on, and several battles had been fought, a lady
from Alexandria asked the President for an order to release a certain
church which had been taken