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

Yarns and Stories, by Alexander K. McClure 326how he had dismissed his unwelcome visitors.LINCOLN'S MEN WERE "HUSTLERS."In the Chicago Convention of 1860 the fight for Seward was maintainedwith desperate resolve until the final ballot was taken. Thurlow Weed wasthe Seward leader, and he was simply incomparable as a master in handlinga convention. With him were Governor Morgan, Henry J. Raymond, of theNew York Times, with William M. Evarts as chairman of the New Yorkdelegation, whose speech nominating Seward was the most impressiveutterance of his life. The Bates men (Bates was afterwards Lincoln'sAttorney-General) were led by Frank Blair, the only RepublicanCongressman from a slave State, who was nothing if not heroic, aided byhis brother Montgomery (afterwards Lincoln's Postmaster General), whowas a politician of uncommon cunning. With them was Horace Greeley,who was chairman of the delegation from the then almost inaccessible Stateof Oregon.It was Lincoln's friends, however, who were the "hustlers" of that battle.They had men for sober counsel like David Davis; men of supreme sagacitylike Leonard Swett; men of tireless effort like Norman B. Judd; and theyhad what was more important than all--a seething multitude wild withenthusiasm for "Old Abe."A SLOW HORSE.On one occasion when Mr. Lincoln was going to attend a politicalconvention one of his rivals, a liveryman, provided him with a slow horse,hoping that he would not reach his destination in time. Mr. Lincoln gotthere, however, and when he returned with the horse he said: "You keepthis horse for funerals, don't you?" "Oh, no," replied the liveryman. "Well,I'm glad of that, for if you did you'd never get a corpse to the grave in timefor the resurrection."DODGING "BROWSING PRESIDENTS."