having higher claims than his own for the place which he was to occupy.
On naming Hon. Gideon Welles as the man he thought of as the
representative of New England in the Cabinet, I remarked that I thought
he could find several New England gentlemen whose selection for a place
in his Cabinet would be more acceptable to the people of New England.
'But,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'we must remember that the Republican party is
constituted of two elements, and that we must have men of Democratic as
well as of Whig antecedents in the Cabinet.' ... In the course of our
conversations Mr. Lincoln remarked that it was particularly pleasant to
him to reflect that he was coming into office unembarrassed by promises.
He owed, he supposed, his exemption from importunities to the
circumstance that his name as a candidate was but a short time before
the people, and that only a few sanguine friends anticipated the
possibility of his nomination. 'I have not,' said he, 'promised an
office to any man, nor have I, but in a single instance, mentally
committed myself to an appointment.'"

"In this way two days passed very pleasantly," says Mr. Weed, "the
conversation being alternately earnest and playful. I wish it were
possible to give, in Mr. Lincoln's amusing but quaint manner, the many
stories, anecdotes, and witticisms with which he interlarded and
enlivened what with almost any of his predecessors in the high office of
President would have been a grave, dry consultation. The great merit of
Mr. Lincoln's stories, like Captain Bunsby's opinion, 'lays in the
application on it.' They always and exactly suited the occasion and the
object, and none to which I ever listened seemed far-fetched or
pointless. I will attempt to repeat one of them. If I have an especial
fondness for any particular luxury, it manifests itself in a remarkable
way when properly made December sausages are placed before me. While at
breakfast, Judge Davis, noticing that, after having been bountifully
served with sausage, like Oliver Twist I wanted some more, said, 'You
seem fond of our Illinois sausages.' To which I responded affirmatively,
adding that I thought the article might be relied on where pork was
cheaper than dogs. 'That,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'reminds me of what
occurred down at Joliet, where a popular grocer supplied all the
villagers with sausages. One Saturday evening, when his grocery was
filled with customers for whom he and his boys were busily engaged in
weighi