[279] men and women, representing all ranks and classes, who were gathered in the large waiting-room outside the Presidential suite of offices. Being ushered into the President's chamber by Major Hay, the first thing he saw was Mr. Lincoln bowing an elderly lady out of the door,--the President's remarks to her being, as she still lingered and appeared reluctant to go: “I am really very sorry, madam; very sorry. But your own good sense must tell you that I am not here to collect small debts. You must appeal to the courts in regular order.” When she was gone, Mr. Lincoln sat down, crossed his legs, locked his hands over his knees, and commenced to laugh,--this being his favorite attitude when much amused. “What odd kinds of people come to see me,” he said; “and what odd ideas they must have about my office! Would you believe it, Major, that old lady who has just left, came in here to get from me an order for stopping the pay of a treasury clerk, who owes her a board-bill of about seventy dollars?” And the President rocked himself backward and forward, and appeared intensely amused. “She may have come in here a loyal woman,” continued Mr. Lincoln; “but I'll be bound she has gone away believing that the worst pictures of me in the Richmond press only lack truth in not being half black and bad enough.”
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