ionary War taken
in battle. Such things, however, were not prized in those
days as they are now. One of my uncles lent the musket to
one of his neighbors for the celebration of the taking of
Cornwallis, and it never was brought back. We would give
its weight in gold to get it back.

I will put on record two stories about Colonel Peirce, which
have something of a superstitious quality in them. I have
no doubt of their truth, as they come from persons absolutely
truthful and not superstitious or credulous themselves.

When Colonel Peirce was seventy years old, he told his wife
and my aunt, her granddaughter, from whom I heard the story,
who was then a grown-up young woman, that he was going out
to the barn and going up to the high beams. In those days
the farmers' barns had the hay in bays on each side, and over
the floor in the middle rails were laid across from one side
to the other, on which corn-stalks, for bedding the cattle,
and other light things were put. They urged him not to go,
and said an old man like him should not take such risks; to
which he replied by dancing a hornpipe in the room in their
presence, showing something of that exhilaration of spirit
which the Scotch called being "fey" and which they regard
as a presage of approaching misfortune. He went out, and
within a few minutes fell from the high beams down to the
floor and was instantly killed.

The other story is that a little while before this happened
he said that he thought he saw the dim and misty figure of
a ship pass slowly from one side of the barn to the other,
under the roof.

A like story is told of Abraham Lincoln; that he used to
see a vision of a ship before any great event, and that it
came to him the night before he died.

I asked Mr. Secretary Hay about the Lincoln anecdote and give
his reply.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, April 18, 1903.

_Dear Senator Hoar:_

You will find on page 281 of Volume 10 of "The Life of Lincoln,"
by Nicolay and Hay, all I know about the story.

General Grant, in an interview with the President, on the
14th of April--the day he was shot--expressed some anxiety
as to the news from Sherman. "The President answered him
in that singular vein of poetic mysticism, which, though constantly
held in check by his strong common sense, formed a remarkable
element in his character. He assured Grant that the news
would come soon and come favorable, for he had last night
had his usual dream w