ow better than any man living that
from my boyhood up my ambition was to be President. I am President of
one part of this divided country at least; but look at me! I wish I had
never been born! I've a white elephant on my hands, one hard to manage.
With a fire in my front and rear, having to contend with the jealousies
of the military commanders, and not receiving that cordial co-operation
and support from Congress that could reasonably be expected, with an
active and formidable enemy in the field threatening the very life-blood
of the Government, my position is anything but a bed of roses."

But in the darkest hours of the nation's peril, Lincoln never wavered in
his purpose. Anxious and careworn, his heart bleeding with grief for the
losses of our brave soldiers, and harassed by the grave duties
constantly demanding his attention, he had but one purpose,--to go on
unfalteringly and unhesitatingly in his course until the supremacy of
the Government was restored in every portion of its territory. He wrote
in a private letter: "I expect to maintain this contest until
successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or
Congress or the country forsake me."

Besides his invincible will and courage, Lincoln had one important
resource in his dark hours, an ever-ready relief for his overcharged
emotions. Byron said that he sometimes laughed in order that he might
not weep. Lincoln's life-long solace was his love of story-telling. Hon.
Hugh McCulloch, afterward Secretary of the Treasury, relates that about
a week after the battle of Bull Run he called at the White House, in
company with a few friends, and was amazed when, referring to something
which had been said by one of the company about the battle that was so
disastrous to the Union forces, the President remarked, in his usual
quiet manner, "That reminds me of a story," which he told in a manner so
humorous as almost to lead his listeners to believe that he was free
from care and apprehension. Mr. McCulloch could not then understand how
the President could feel like telling a story, when Washington was in
danger of being captured and the whole North was dismayed. He learned
his mistake afterwards, however, and perceived that his estimate of
Lincoln before his election was well grounded, and that he possessed
even higher qualities than he had been given credit for; that he was "a
man of sound judgment, great singleness and tenacity of purpose, and
extraordin