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HIS WAY TO A CHILD'S HEART.
Charles E. Anthony's one meeting with Mr. Lincoln presents an
interesting contrast to those of the men who shared the emancipator's
interest in public affairs. It was in the latter part of the winter
of 1861, a short time before Mr. Lincoln left for his inauguration
at Washington. Judge Anthony went to the Sherman House, where the
President-elect was stopping, and took with him his son, Charles, then
but a little boy. Charles played about the room as a child will, looking
at whatever interested him for the time, and when the interview with his
father was over he was ready to go.
But Mr. Lincoln, ever interested in little children, called the lad to
him and took him upon his great knee.
"My impression of him all the time I had been playing about the room,"
said Mr. Anthony, "was that he was a terribly homely man. I was rather
repelled. But no sooner did he speak to me than the expression of his
face changed completely, or, rather, my view of it changed. It at
once became kindly and attractive. He asked me some questions, seeming
instantly to find in the turmoil of all the great questions that must
have been heavy upon him, the very ones that would go to the thought of
a child. I answered him without hesitation, and after a moment he patted
my shoulder and said:
"'Well, you'll be a man before your mother yet,' and put me down.
"I had never before heard the homely old expression, and it puzzled me
for a time. After a moment I understood it, but he looked at me while I
was puzzling over it, and seemed to be amused, as no doubt he was."
The incident simply illustrates the ease and readiness with which
Lincoln could turn from the mighty questions before the nation, give a
moment's interested attention to a child, and return at once to matters
of state.
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Stories and Anecdotes About the Life of Abraham Lincoln
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