At a time when the war crisis was at its height one of those persons who
were ever ready to give the President free advice on how to conduct the
war, had just finished explaining an elaborate idea, when Mr. Lincoln
remarked:
“That reminds me of a man in Illinois, who, in driving the hoops of a
hogshead to ‘head it up,’ was much annoyed by the constant falling in
of the top. At length a bright idea struck him of putting his little boy
inside to hold it up. This he did. But when the job was completed there
arose the more serious question, how to get the boy out of the hogshead.
Your plan sounds feasible, but how are you to get the boy out?”