An old friend from Springfield . . .

. . . lately called to see the President.  After the usual greetings, etc., ‘Lincoln,’ said he, ‘when you turned out Cameron why didn’t you turn out all the rest of your Cabinet?’  ‘That,’ said the President, ‘makes me think of something that took place near home in Illinois.  An old man had been pestered with a colony of skunks, that depredated nightly upon his poultry.  He determined to be rid of them, and finally succeeded in getting them into one hole, where he could kill them at his pleasure.  He drew one forth by the tail and executed him, but, said he, in telling the story, this caused such an infernal stench that he was glad to let the rest run.’

– Published in The Cedar Valley Times, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Thursday, April 17, 1862, p. 1