Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1881 — An Unpublished Story of Lincoln. [ARTICLE]

An Unpublished Story of Lincoln.

It was during the fiercest stages of the great war of the Rebellion that several of our ministers called on President Lincoln on an important errand, Mr. Lincoln received them with great courtesy, and gave them a good audience. When the brethren arose to leave tbe room, one of them, probably Dr. L. Davis, said, “ Mr. Lincoln, you have been very kind and painstaking, to answer our questions. We have yet one which our people are deeply interested in and which we with to put before you for an answer. What do you here at Washington intend to do with slavery?” That interrogation opened a momentous question. Mr. Lincoln was ready for the emergency. Rising to his feet and straightening up his bony form, he said, “Gentlemen, I will tell you how it is. The treatment proposed by the officials here for the slavery question is about like what would be proposed by a set of doctors for a wen on a person. There is a man with a large, ugly wen on his person. He consults a number of physicians about it. They all agree as to two things. They all agree that it is a wen; tltat is the first thing. They all agree that it must come off. About the method of removing it they do not agree. One says the best way is to put the knife into it and with the knife remove it. One advises powerful external applications with a view to its removal. Another thinks the better way is to put a cord tightly around it and every day draw it tighter, until at last a severance will of itself occur. That, gentlemen, is just the way it is here with us. We are all agreed that slavery is a wen on the Government. We are all agreed that it must come off. We are not yet agreed about how to do it.” With this the clergymen shook heartily the hand of the good President and went away.— Religious Telescope,