Congressman W. D. Kelley wished to procure the admittance of a youth
into the Naval School. Though a lad he had "shown the mettle of a man"
on two serious occasions, while belonging to the gunboat _Ottawa_. The
President has the right to send three candidates to the school yearly,
who have served a year in the naval service. Thrilled by the recital of
the youth's heroic conduct, the President wrote to the secretary of the
navy to have the boy put on the list of his appointees. But the subject
was found short of the age required. He would not be fourteen until
September of that year, and it was but July.
Lincoln had the hero appear before him. He admired him frankly and
altered the order so as to suit the later date. He bade the boy go home
and have "a good time" during the two months, as about the last holiday
he would get. The President had reconsidered his first impression that
the "disturbance" was but "an artificial excitement."
"And that's the boy who did so gallantly in those two great battles!"
he mused; "why, I feel that I should bow to him, and not he to
me."--(Authority: Congressman W. D. Kelley; the person was Willie
Bladen, U. S. N.)
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