[254] his “points”--not how many hairs there are in his tail.Late one evening, the President brought in to see my picture his friend and biographer, the Hon. J. H. Barrett, and a Mr. M-, of Cincinnati. An allusion to a question of law in the course of conversation suggesting the subject, Mr. Lincoln said: “The strongest example of ‘rigid government’ and ‘close construction’ I ever knew, was that of Judge --. It was once said of him that he would hang a man for blowing his nose in the street, but that he would quash the indictment if it failed to specify which hand he blew it with!” A new levy of troops required, on a certain occasion, the appointment of a large additional number of brigadier and major-generals. Among the immense number of applications, Mr. Lincoln came upon one wherein the claims of a certain worthy (not in the service at all) for a generalship were glowingly set forth. But the applicant didn't specify whether he wanted to be brigadier or majorgeneral. The President observed this difficulty, and solved it by a lucid indorsement. The clerk, on receiving the paper again, found written across its back: “Major-General, I reckon. A. Lincoln.” A juvenile “Brigadier” from New York, with a small detachment of cavalry, having imprudently gone within the Rebel lines near Fairfax Court House, was captured by “guerillas.” Upon the fact being reported to Mr. Lincoln, he said that he was very sorry to lose the horses!
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