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spent the nights of midsummer.
More at leisure there than at the “shop,” as he was in the habit of calling his official chamber at the
White House,
Mr. Lincoln sat down with the party for a leisurely conversation.
“I know,” he said to
Mr. Bowen, “that you are a great admirer of
Mr. Chase and
Mr. Seward.
Now, I will tell you a circumstance that may please you. Before sunset of election-day, in 1860, I was pretty sure, from the despatches I received, that I was elected.
The very first thing that I settled in my mind, after reaching this conclusion, was that these two great leaders of the party should occupy the two first places in my cabinet.”
Lxiv.
“The soldier's home,” writes a California lady,
1 who visited
Mr. Lincoln there,
is a few miles out of Washington on the Maryland side.
It is situated on a beautifully wooded hill, which you ascend by a winding path, shaded on both sides by wide-spread branches, forming a green arcade above you. When you reach the top you stand between two mansions, large, handsome, and substantial, but with nothing about them indicative of the character of either.
That on your left is the Presidential country-house; that directly before you, the “Rest” for soldiers who are too old for further service .... The “Home” only admitted soldiers of the regular army; but in the graveyard near at hand there are numberless
