LINCOLN AND THE LITTLE GIRL.
WILL the world ever know what depth of tenderness there was in the heart of Abraham Lincoln? An anecdote, which has never been published, brings out one more instance in which his sympathies, awakened by a little child, nobly controlled his action. In one of the first skirmishes of the civil war, a young Union soldier was so severely wounded in the leg that the limb had to be amputated. On leaving the hospital the young soldier, by the aid of influential gentlemen, obtained a position as government weigher of hay and grain. Not long after he had entered upon his duties his superior officer said to him:— "See here, Mr. M., this hay weighs so much on these scales; but to the Government it weighs so much more." "I do not understand, sir, that way of doing business. I can enter but one weight, and that is the correct one," answered the young weigher. His superior walked away uttering threats. The young man from that day suffered from many petty persecutions for his honesty, and it was not long before he received notice that the Government had no further need for his service. The summary dismissal made him so downhearted that when he told the story to his family he seemed a man without hope. "Father," replied the eldest daughter, a girl of thirteen, "cheer up! I am going to see President Lincoln. I know he will be all right." Her father and mother tried to turn her purpose, saying it would be useless to see the President, as he would not attend to such a petty matter as the dismissal of a weigher of grain. But her faith in the President's sense of justice was so strong that she went to the White House, and, after three days of patient waiting in the anteroom, was admitted to Mr. Lincoln's presence. The hour for receiving visitors had nearly expired, and as she entered the room the President, throwing himself on a lounge, said, wearily, "Well, my little girl, what can I do for you?" She told her artless story. Mr. Lincoln listened attentively, and with a smile asked, "But how, my dear, do I know that your statement is true?" "Mr. President," answered the girl, with energy, "you must take my word for it." "I do," replied the President, rising and taking her hand. "Come with me to Mr. Stanton." "Stanton," said Mr. Lincoln, as they entered the office of the great War Secretary, "I wish you would hear this child's story." "I have no time," answered the overworked man. "But you must," replied Mr. Lincoln. "I have not a moment to spare to-day, Mr. President." "Come again, my dear, to-morrow, and Mr. Stanton will hear you then," said the President, leading her away. The next day she was admitted at once to the President, who took her over to Mr. Stanton's office. The Secretary listened to the child's simple story, and was so moved by it that he indignantly exclaimed, before she had finished: "The infernal rascal!" He went to his desk and wrote an immediate dismissal of the dishonest official and appointed the little girl's father to the vacant place. Mr. Lincoln never forgot the child. He told her story to several Congressmen, and through her influence her two brothers were enrolled among the pages of the House of Representatives.—Youth's Companion.