He’s Just Beautiful.
Lincoln’s great love for children easily won their confidence. A little girl, who had been told that the President was very homely, was taken by her father to see the President at the White House. Lincoln took her upon his knee and chatted with her for a moment in his merry way, when she turned to her father and exclaimed: “Oh, Pa! he isn’t ugly at all; he’s just beautiful!”
Lincoln’s Yarns and Stories by Colonel Alexander K. McClure , From Wit & Humor Of Abraham Lincoln, Gathered from Authentic Sources by Carleton B., Case, Chicago: Shrewesbury Publishing Co., 1916; pp. 50-99.
A little incident, showing how truly his noble nature was interpreted by the intuitions of children, may here be mentioned: A little girl who had heard Mr. Lincoln spoken of as “ugly” was taken by her father to see him. Whereupon she exclaimed, “Why, Pa, he’s not ugly at all, he’s beautiful.”
Abraham Lincoln： An Address By Newton Bateman
Sandburg-397, 267