Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1884 — Lincoln at an Informal Reception. [ARTICLE]

Lincoln at an Informal Reception.

When this visitor bad withdrawn, an immense specimen of a man presented Himself. Broad-shouldered, robust, with thews and sinews to match his great height, and withal an honest, good-natured countenance —all seemed to mark him as belonging to the hardy yeomanry of the West. He sidled np awkardly to the President, seeming almost afraid to accost him, but after some hesitation contrived to say, that being on a visit to Washington, he simply wanted before leaving to see the President, and have the honor of shaking hands with him. He found a kindly reception, and after some introductory civilities, Mr. Lincoln ran his eye curiously over his huge caller, surveying him from head to foot, and then saying with a humorous look and accent it would be hard to describe, “I rather think you have a little the advantage of me in height; you are a taller man than I am.”

“I guess not, Mr. President;” replied the visitor, with the self-abnegat-ing air of one who seemed to regard any claim on his part, of possessing an advantage over the Chief Magistrate, as an offense little short of treason — “the advantage cannot be on my side.” “Yes, it is,” was the rejoinder. “1 have a pretty good eye for distances, and I think I can’t be mistaken in the fact of the advantage being slightly with you. I measure six feet three and a half inches in my* stockings, and you go a little beyond that.” The man still demurred, insisting very respectfully that the precedence in the nmtter lay on the President’s side.

“It is very easily tested,” said the President, and, rising briskly from his chair and taking a book from the table, he placed it edgewise against the wall, just higher than his head. Then, turning to his doubting competitor for the nonce, be bade him “come under.” This the man did not do at once, pausing, with flushed face and irresolute look, as if not certain how far he might venture to trust the lion in his play-* ful mood—his countenance the while wearing a bewildered, half-frightened, and yet half-smiling expression that was really comical to see. “Come under, I say,” repeated the President, in a more peremptory tone, and then the visitor slowly complied. “Now straighten yourself up and move your head in this way,” suiting the action to the word. This being done, Mr. Lincoln added, “Now you hold the book, and be sure not to let it slip down a hair-breadth, and I will try.” Planting himself accordingly underneath the book, and moving his head from right to left, it was found that he fell a trifle short of the other’s measurement “There,* said he, “it is as I told you. I knew 1 couldn’t be mistaken. I rarely fail in taking a man’s true altitude by the eye. ” “Yes, but Mr. President,” said the man, his courage, amid the merriment of the company, beginning to return, “von have slippers on and I boots, and that makes a difference.” “Not enough to amount to anything in this reckoning,” was the reply. “You ought at least to be satisfied, my honest friend, with the proof given that you actually stand higher to-day than your President” —Century Magazine.