his old Clary's Grove friend, Jack
Armstrong, who was on trial for murder. Lincoln, learning of it, went
to the old mother who had been kind to him in the days of his boyhood
poverty, and promised her that he would get her boy free.

The witnesses were sure that Armstrong was guilty, and one of them
declared that he had seen the fatal blow struck. It was late at night,
he said, and the light of the full moon had made it possible for him to
see the crime committed. Lincoln, on cross-examination, asked him only
questions enough to make the jury see that it was the full moon that
made it possible for the witness to see what occurred; got him to say
two or three times that he was sure of it, and seemed to give up any
further effort to save the boy.

But when the evidence was finished, and Lincoln's time came to make his
argument, he called for an almanac, which the clerk of the court had
ready for him, and handed it to the jury. They saw at once that on the
night of the murder there was no moon at all. They were satisfied that
the witness had told what was not true. Lincoln's case was won.

GEORGE PICKETT'S FRIEND

BY CHARLES W. MOORES

George Pickett, who had known Lincoln in Illinois, years before, joined
the Southern army, and by his conspicuous bravery and ability had become
one of the great generals of the Confederacy. Toward the close of the
war, when a large part of Virginia had fallen into the possession of the
Union army, the President called at General Pickett's Virginia home.

The general's wife, with her baby on her arm, met him at the door. She
herself has told the story for us.

"'Is this George Pickett's home?' he asked.

"With all the courage and dignity I could muster, I replied: 'Yes, and I
am his wife, and this is his baby.'

"'I am Abraham Lincoln.'

"'The President!' I gasped. I had never seen him, but I knew the intense
love and reverence with which my soldier always spoke of him.

"The stranger shook his head and replied: 'No; Abraham Lincoln, George's
old friend.'

"The baby pushed away from me and reached out his hands to Mr. Lincoln,
who took him in his arms. As he did so an expression of rapt, almost
divine tenderness and love lighted up the sad face. It was a look that
I have never seen on any other face. The baby opened his mouth wide and
insisted upon giving his father's friend a dewy kiss.

"As Mr. Lincoln gave the little one back to me he said: 'Tell your
father, the ra