An old and intimate friend from Springfield called on President Lincoln
and found him much depressed.
The President was reclining on a sofa, but rising suddenly he said to
his friend:
“You know better than any man living that from my boyhood up my ambition
was to be President. I am President of one part of this divided country
at least; but look at me! Oh, I wish I had never been born!
“I’ve a white elephant on my hands--one hard to manage. With a fire
in my front and rear to contend with, the jealousies of the military
commanders, and not receiving that cordial co-operative support from
Congress that could reasonably be expected with an active and formidable
enemy in the field threatening the very life-blood of the Government, my
position is anything but a bed of roses.”