Two Instances Where The President Was Not reminded Of A Story.

The President is naturally enough a good deal bantered about his habit of story-telling.

Dr. Hovey, of Dansville, N. Y., called at the White House, and found the occupant on horseback, ready for a ride.  He approached and said:—“President Lincoln, I thought I would call and see you before leaving the city, and here you tell a story.” The president greeted him pleasantly, and asked where he was from.  The reply was, “From Western New York.  “Well that’s a good enough country without stories, replied the president, and on he rode.

Some moral Philosopher was telling the President one day about the undercurrent of public opinion.  He went on to explain it at length and drew an illustration from the Mediterranean Sea.  The current seemed very curiously to flow in both from the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean: but a shrewd Yankee, by means of a contrivance of floats, had discovered that at the outlet into the Atlantic only about thirty feet of the surface water flowed inward, while there was a tremendous current under that flowing out.  “Well,” said Mr. Lincoln, much bored, “that doesn’t remind me of any story I ever heard of.”  The philosopher despaired of making a serious impression by his argument and left.

SOURCE: New York Daily Herald, New York, New York, Friday, February 19, 1864, p. 5, and copied from the New York Evening Post, New York, New York, Wednesday, February 17, 1864.