''Abe'' Lincoln's Yarns and Stories - University of Macau Library

Yarns and Stories, by Alexander K. McClure 206he said to me at the Chain Bridge; that I have tried to be a good soldier andtrue to the flag; that I should have paid my whole debt to him if I had lived;and that now, when I know that I am dying, I think of his kind face, andthank him again, because he gave me the chance to fall like a soldier inbattle, and not like a coward, by the hands of my comrades."What wonder that Secretary Stanton said, as he gazed upon the tall formand kindly face as he lay there, smitten down by the assassin's bullet,"There lies the most perfect ruler of men who ever lived."SAVED A LIFE.One day during the Black Hawk War a poor old Indian came into the campwith a paper of safe conduct from General Lewis Cass in his possession.The members of Lincoln's company were greatly exasperated by late Indianbarbarities, among them the horrible murder of a number of women andchildren, and were about to kill him; they said the safe-conduct paper was aforgery, and approached the old savage with muskets cocked to shoot him.Lincoln rushed forward, struck up the weapons with his hands, andstanding in front of the victim, declared to the Indian that he should not bekilled. It was with great difficulty that the men could be kept from theirpurpose, but the courage and firmness of Lincoln thwarted them.Lincoln was physically one of the bravest of men, as his companydiscovered.LINCOLN PLAYED BALL.Frank P. Blair, of Chicago, tells an incident, showing Mr. Lincoln's love forchildren and how thoroughly he entered into all of their sports:"During the war my grandfather, Francis P. Blair, Sr., lived at SilverSprings, north of Washington, seven miles from the White House. It was amagnificent place of four or five hundred acres, with an extensive lawn inthe rear of the house. The grandchildren gathered there frequently.