William Lloyd Garrison, the premier Abolitionist, was imprisoned in
Baltimore for his extreme utterances when a stronghold of the
pro-slavery party. After the war, he visited the regenerated city, and,
for curiosity, sought unavailingly the jail where he had been confined.
On hearing the fruitlessness of his quest, the President said:
"Well, Mr. Garrison, when you first went to Baltimore, you could not
get out of prison--but this second time you could not get in!"
* * * * *
"THEM THREE FELLERS AGIN!"
The gamut of possible atrocities in connection with fulfilment of the
threats of secession being run through the rumors became stale and
flat. Lincoln, receiving one deputation of alarmists with considerable
calm, no doubt thought to excuse it by saying:
"That reminds me of the story of the schoolboy. He found great
difficulty in pronouncing the names of the three children in the fiery
furnace. Yet his teacher had drilled him thoroughly in 'Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego,' so that, one day, he purposely took the same
lesson in Bible reading, and managed to have the boy read the passages
containing these names again. As the dull pupil came to them he
stopped, looked up, and said:
"'Teacher, there's them three fellers ag'in!'"
* * * * *