The President had decided to select a new War Minister, and the Leading
Republican Senators thought the occasion was opportune to change the
whole seven Cabinet ministers. They, therefore, earnestly advised him to
make a clean sweep, and select seven new men, and so restore the waning
confidence of the country.
The President listened with patient courtesy, and when the Senators had
concluded, he said, with a characteristic gleam of humor in his eye:
“Gentlemen, your request for a change of the whole Cabinet because I
have made one change reminds me of a story I once heard in Illinois,
of a farmer who was much troubled by skunks. His wife insisted on his
trying to get rid of them.
“He loaded his shotgun one moonlight night and awaited developments.
After some time the wife heard the shotgun go off, and in a few minutes
the farmer entered the house.
“‘What luck have you?’ asked she.
“‘I hid myself behind the wood-pile,’ said the old man, ‘with the
shotgun pointed towards the hen roost, and before long there appeared
not one skunk, but seven. I took aim, blazed away, killed one, and he
raised such a fearful smell that I concluded it was best to let the
other six go.”’
The Senators laughed and retired.