At a Saturday afternoon reception at the White House, many persons
noticed three little girls, poorly dressed, the children of some
mechanic or laboring man, who had followed the visitors into the White
House to gratify their curiosity. They passed around from room to room,
and were hastening through the reception-room, with some trepidation,
when the President called to them:
“Little girls, are you going to pass me without shaking hands?”
Then he bent his tall, awkward form down, and shook each little girl
warmly by the hand. Everybody in the apartment was spellbound by the
incident, so simple in itself.
“DON’T SWAP HORSES”
Uncle Sam was pretty well satisfied with his horse, “Old Abe,” and, as
shown at the Presidential election of 1864, made up his mind to keep
him, and not “swap” the tried and true animal for a strange one.
“Harper’s Weekly” of November 12th, 1864, had a cartoon which
illustrated how the people of the United States felt about the matter
better than anything published at the time. We reproduce it on this
page. Beneath the picture was this text:
JOHN BULL: “Why don’t you ride the other horse a bit? He’s the best
animal.” (Pointing to McClellan in the bushes at the rear.)
BROTHER JONATHAN: “Well, that may be; but the fact is, OLD ABE is just
where I can put my finger on him; and as for the other--though they say
he’s some when out in the scrub yonder--I never know where to find him.”