Two men walking across a little park in Washington (says Ida
N. Tarbell) saw Mr. Lincoln just ahead of them meet a crippled
soldier who was in a towering rage, cursing the Government from
the President down. Mr. Lincoln asked what was the matter.
“Matter,” snapt the soldier; “I’m just out of a rebel prison.
I’ve been discharged and I can’t get my money.” Mr. Lincoln
asked for the soldier’s papers, saying that he had been a lawyer
and perhaps could help him. The two gentlemen stept behind some
shrubbery and waited. The President took the papers from the
soldier, examined them, wrote a line on the back, and told him
to carry them to the chief clerk at the War Department. After
Mr. Lincoln had passed on, the gentlemen asked the soldier if
he knew who had been talking to him. “Some ugly old fellow who
pretends to be a lawyer,” was the answer. On looking at the
note written on the back of the papers, the soldier discovered
that he had been cursing “Abe” Lincoln to his face. He found
a request to the chief clerk to examine the papers and, if
correct, to see that the soldier was given his pay, signed A.
Lincoln.
(1387)