President Lincoln and some members of his Cabinet were with a part of
the Army some distance south of the National Capital at one time, when
Secretary of War Stanton remarked that just before he left Washington
he had received a telegram from General Mitchell, in Alabama. General
Mitchell asked instructions in regard to a certain emergency that had
arisen.
The Secretary said he did not precisely understand the emergency as
explained by General Mitchell, but had answered back, “All right; go
ahead.”
“Now,” he said, as he turned to Mr. Lincoln, “Mr. President, if I have
made an error in not understanding him correctly, I will have to get you
to countermand the order.”
“Well,” exclaimed President Lincoln, “that is very much like the
happening on the occasion of a certain horse sale I remember that took
place at the cross-roads down in Kentucky, when I was a boy.
“A particularly fine horse was to be sold, and the people in large
numbers had gathered together. They had a small boy to ride the horse up
and down while the spectators examined the horse’s points.
“At last one man whispered to the boy as he went by: ‘Look here, boy,
hain’t that horse got the splints?’
“The boy replied: ‘Mister, I don’t know what the splints is, but if it’s
good for him, he has got it; if it ain’t good for him, he ain’t got it.’
“Now,” said President Lincoln, “if this was good for Mitchell, it was
all right; but if it was not, I have got to countermand it.”