Page:Abraham Lincoln, A Story and a Play.djvu/86

 ,—How did you bring it about?

(with a drawl in his voice and a twinkle in his eye),—Perhaps you never heard of the farmer who was troubled by a big log in the middle of his field?

(The officers shake their heads.)

,—Well, one day the old fellow told his neighbor that he had got rid of it. "But how did you do it?" asked the man. "It was too knotty to split, too wet and soggy to burn." "Now, I'll tell ye," said the farmer, "if you will promise to keep it a secret." (The man promised.) Then the farmer said very solemnly, "I ploughed around it."

Now that is just what I did, gentlemen. I ploughed around my good friend, but it took me two hours of good hard work.

Officers laugh, and Lincoln goes on reading the telegrams. Suddenly he looks up and begins to speak again.—Gentlemen, it has been looking pretty black lately, hasn't it?

(Officers bow.)

But I have a great hope. We shall hear good news shortly. I am sure of it. I had the same dream last night that has come to me before when great things were to happen. It was this