e gad is still and the
voice soothingly says, 'So! Stand still at that!'"

Again, after extended comment on the extra charges of General Cass upon
the Treasury for military services, he continued in a still more
sarcastic vein: "But I have introduced General Cass's accounts here
chiefly to show the wonderful physical capacities of the man. They show
that he not only did the labor of several men _at the same time_, but
that he often did it _at several places_ many hundred miles apart _at
the same time_. And at eating, too, his capacities are shown to be quite
as wonderful. From October, 1821, to May, 1822, he ate ten rations a day
in Michigan, ten rations a day here in Washington, and near five
dollars' worth a day besides, partly on the road between the two places.
And then there is an important discovery in his example--the art of
being paid for what one eats, instead of having to pay for it.
Hereafter if any nice young man shall owe a bill which he cannot pay in
any other way he can just board it out. Mr. Speaker, we have all heard
of the animal standing in doubt between two stacks of hay and starving
to death. The like of that would never happen to General Cass. Place the
stacks a thousand miles apart, he would stand stock-still midway between
them and eat them _both at once;_ and the green grass along the line
would be apt to suffer some, too, at the same time. By all means make
him President, gentlemen. He will feed you bounteously--if--if--there is
any left after he shall have helped himself."

Lincoln's most important act in the Congress of 1848-9 was the
introduction of a bill for the gradual abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia. But the state of feeling on the subject of
emancipation was so feverish at the time that the bill could not even be
got before the House.

The Whig National Convention met at Philadelphia the first of June, to
nominate a candidate for the Presidency. Lincoln attended the Convention
as a delegate from Illinois. During the campaign of 1848 he labored
earnestly for the election of General Taylor. This campaign made him
known more generally throughout the country, as he spoke in New York and
New England as well as in Illinois and the West.

While in Washington, Lincoln kept up a free correspondence with his
friend and law-partner Herndon, which affords many interesting glimpses
of his thoughts and views. In one of these letters, endeavoring to
incite Herndon to political amb