“He had an Illustration for Everything”
I had often heard of the wonderful power of the President in telling anecdotes, but no one could form an adequate idea of his ability in this line unless he had been alone with him for ten days as I was. He had an illustration for everything, and if anything particular attracted his attention, he would say, “That reminds me of something that occurred when I was a lawyer in Illinois,” or, “when I was a boatman on the Mississippi.” He was not at all ashamed of any business he had ever been engaged in, because it was honest business, and he made an honest living by it ; and he told me many stories of his earlier life, which were as creditable to him as anything he was engaged in while occupying a higher sphere.
Quoted in David D. Porter, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1886), p. 282.
June 15, 2016 at 09:02
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