Lincoln's Yarns and Stories [110]
Lincoln looking on. Scott then went out, and Lincoln asked, 'What did you charge that man?'
"I told him $250. Said he: 'Lamon, that is all wrong. The service was not worth that sum. Give him back at least half of it.'
"I protested that the fee was fixed in advance; that Scott was perfectly satisfied, and had so expressed himself. 'That may be,' retorted Lincoln, with a look of distress and of undisguised displeasure, 'but I am not satisfied. This is positively wrong. Go, call him back and return half the money at least, or I will not receive one cent of it for my share.'
"I did go, and Scott was astonished when I handed back half the fee.
"This conversation had attracted the attention of the lawyers and the court. Judge David Davis, then on our circuit bench (afterwards Associate Justice on the United States Supreme bench), called Lincoln to him. The Judge never could whisper, but in this instance he probably did his best. At all events, in attempting to whisper to Lincoln he trumpeted his rebuke in about these words, and in rasping tones that could be heard all over the court-room: 'Lincoln, I have been watching you and Lamon. You are impoverishing this bar by your picayune charges of fees, and the lawyers have reason to complain of you. You are now almost as poor as Lazarus, and if you don't make people pay you more for your services you will die as poor as Job's turkey!'
"Judge O. L. Davis, the leading lawyer in that part of the State, promptly applauded this malediction from the bench; but Lincoln was immovable.
"'That money,' said he, 'comes out of the pocket of a poor, demented girl, and I would rather starve than swindle her in this manner.'"
DON'T AIM TOO HIGH.
"Billy, don't shoot too high--aim lower, and the common people will understand you," Lincoln once said to a brother lawyer.
"They are the ones you want to reach--at least, they are the ones you ought to reach.
"The educated and refined people will understand you, anyway. If you aim too high, your idea will go over the heads of the masses, and only hit those who need no hitting."
NOT MUCH AT RAIL-SPLITTING.
One who afterward became one of Lincoln's most devoted friends and adherents tells this story regarding the manner in which Lincoln received him when they met for the first time:
"After a comical survey of my fashionable toggery,--my swallow-tail coat, white neck-cloth, and ruffled shirt (an astonishing outfit for a young limb of the law in that settlement), Lincoln said:
"'Going to try your hand at the law, are you? I should know at a glance that you were a Virginian; but I don't think you would succeed at splitting rails. That was my occupation at your age, and I don't think I have taken as much pleasure in anything else from that day to this.'"
GAVE THE SOLDIER THE PREFERENCE.
July 27th, 1863, Lincoln wrote the Postmaster-General:
"Yesterday little indorsements of mine went to you in two cases of postmasterships, sought for widows whose husbands have fallen in the battles of this war.
"These cases, occurring on the same day, brought me to reflect more attentively than what I had before done as to what is fairly due from us here in dispensing of patronage toward the men who, by fighting our battles, bear the chief burden of saving our country.
"My conclusion is that, other claims and qualifications being equal, they have the right, and this is especially applicable to the disabled soldier and the deceased soldier's family."
THE PRESIDENT WAS NOT SCARED.
When told how uneasy all had been at his going to Richmond, Lincoln replied:
"Why, if any one else had been President and had gone to Richmond, I would have been alarmed; but I was not scared about myself a bit."
JEFF. DAVIS' REPLY TO LINCOLN.
On the 20th of July, 1864, Horace Greeley crossed into Canada to confer with refugee rebels at Niagara. He bore with him this paper from the President:
"To Whom It May Concern: Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment
"I told him $250. Said he: 'Lamon, that is all wrong. The service was not worth that sum. Give him back at least half of it.'
"I protested that the fee was fixed in advance; that Scott was perfectly satisfied, and had so expressed himself. 'That may be,' retorted Lincoln, with a look of distress and of undisguised displeasure, 'but I am not satisfied. This is positively wrong. Go, call him back and return half the money at least, or I will not receive one cent of it for my share.'
"I did go, and Scott was astonished when I handed back half the fee.
"This conversation had attracted the attention of the lawyers and the court. Judge David Davis, then on our circuit bench (afterwards Associate Justice on the United States Supreme bench), called Lincoln to him. The Judge never could whisper, but in this instance he probably did his best. At all events, in attempting to whisper to Lincoln he trumpeted his rebuke in about these words, and in rasping tones that could be heard all over the court-room: 'Lincoln, I have been watching you and Lamon. You are impoverishing this bar by your picayune charges of fees, and the lawyers have reason to complain of you. You are now almost as poor as Lazarus, and if you don't make people pay you more for your services you will die as poor as Job's turkey!'
"Judge O. L. Davis, the leading lawyer in that part of the State, promptly applauded this malediction from the bench; but Lincoln was immovable.
"'That money,' said he, 'comes out of the pocket of a poor, demented girl, and I would rather starve than swindle her in this manner.'"
DON'T AIM TOO HIGH.
"Billy, don't shoot too high--aim lower, and the common people will understand you," Lincoln once said to a brother lawyer.
"They are the ones you want to reach--at least, they are the ones you ought to reach.
"The educated and refined people will understand you, anyway. If you aim too high, your idea will go over the heads of the masses, and only hit those who need no hitting."
NOT MUCH AT RAIL-SPLITTING.
One who afterward became one of Lincoln's most devoted friends and adherents tells this story regarding the manner in which Lincoln received him when they met for the first time:
"After a comical survey of my fashionable toggery,--my swallow-tail coat, white neck-cloth, and ruffled shirt (an astonishing outfit for a young limb of the law in that settlement), Lincoln said:
"'Going to try your hand at the law, are you? I should know at a glance that you were a Virginian; but I don't think you would succeed at splitting rails. That was my occupation at your age, and I don't think I have taken as much pleasure in anything else from that day to this.'"
GAVE THE SOLDIER THE PREFERENCE.
July 27th, 1863, Lincoln wrote the Postmaster-General:
"Yesterday little indorsements of mine went to you in two cases of postmasterships, sought for widows whose husbands have fallen in the battles of this war.
"These cases, occurring on the same day, brought me to reflect more attentively than what I had before done as to what is fairly due from us here in dispensing of patronage toward the men who, by fighting our battles, bear the chief burden of saving our country.
"My conclusion is that, other claims and qualifications being equal, they have the right, and this is especially applicable to the disabled soldier and the deceased soldier's family."
THE PRESIDENT WAS NOT SCARED.
When told how uneasy all had been at his going to Richmond, Lincoln replied:
"Why, if any one else had been President and had gone to Richmond, I would have been alarmed; but I was not scared about myself a bit."
JEFF. DAVIS' REPLY TO LINCOLN.
On the 20th of July, 1864, Horace Greeley crossed into Canada to confer with refugee rebels at Niagara. He bore with him this paper from the President:
"To Whom It May Concern: Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment