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Show Tale of Lincoln and Stanton it Secretary of War Couldn't Understand Great Emancipator's Enjoyment of P. V. Nasby While Waiting for Election Returns. Charles A. Dana, who himself had the keenest appreciation of humor, was one of the very few men associated asso-ciated with President Lincoln in his administration who understood perfectly per-fectly why LincolD frequently turned to the peculiar humor of Petroleum V. Nasby, or rejoiced in the witticisms of Artemus Wird humor that many persons reg&.'ded as beneath the dignity dig-nity of a president of the United States to recognize. Mr. Dana was assistani secretary of war In 1863-4. Mr. Iana used to say that for a man who had such an exquisite appreciation apprecia-tion of humor, Lincoln gathered around him about as grim and solemn sol-emn a cabinet as any president ever had. Secretary of State William H. Seward possessed a certain kind of humor and always viewed things In a sunny light. But Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Gideon Welles, secretary of the navy, and par ticularly Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, had no more sense or appreciation appre-ciation of humor, Mr. Dana used to say, than a graven image. And Mr. Dana once told me of a most interesting, interest-ing, and from one point of view, humorous, hu-morous, Incident Illustrating both Stanton's lack of sense of humor and appreciation of the true character of Lincoln. Whether or not Mr. Dana himself ever printed the story I am unable to say. "It was on the evening of presidential presiden-tial election day, 1864," said Mr. Dana. "The telegraph office in the war department de-partment had arranged to receive returns re-turns from all parts of the country that could be reached by telegraph. At that time the war department was in the old building some little distance from the White House. "I should fay that about 10 o'clock rerhapu a little later Mr. Lincoln came over from the White House to get such election returns as had been received by the war department. The returns were not coming in very fast, and Mr. Lincoln, deciding to remain awhile, sat down on the old sofa which stood at the rear end of Secretary Sec-retary Stanton's office. With him was Whltelaw Reid, who, at that time, was the Washington correspondent of one of the Cincinnati newspapers. "Pretty soon Mr. Lincoln pulled a pamphlet from his pocket and began to read from it to Mr. Reid. Occasionally, Occa-sionally, he gave way to laughter and displayed other genuine evidences of being intensely amused by the humor of the article he was reading. It was as I remember one of a collection of some of the humorous papers of Petroleum Pe-troleum V. Nasby, the nom de plume of the editor of the Toledo Blade humorous sarcasm that had great vogue at that time. "I saw that Stanton was getting annoyed, an-noyed, and at last he took me to one side. 'Can you understand that?' he asked, Indignantly, nodding in the direction di-rection of the president. 'The destiny of this nation is dependent upon this election. We shall know before morning morn-ing whether the cause of the Union has been triumphant at the polls or not. And there sits the man, around whom this election centers, on that sofa reading that miserable trash, and laughing at It as though he were the most unconcerned man in the United States over the results of the election I can't stand It!' "And I said to Stanton: Tl tell you why he's reading Nasby. It Is simply to relieve the terrific strain mental and temperamental that Is upon him. If he did not get relief in that way, he would die or go crazy.' And I do believe that until that moment Secretary Secre-tary Stanton had no appreciation whatever of the real reason why Lincoln Lin-coln sought refuge and consolation In humor In what were critical or dark-moments dark-moments of the war and the nation." (Copyright, 1910. by E. J. Edwards. All Rights Reserved.) |