Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/154

120 resting, when he came, and he insisted on my remaining so. He talked of the Presidential election with as much placid, cheerful frankness as if he were discussing the potato crop. He told me of all the letters and visits with which he was flooded, and said that he was not answering those asking for office and the like. “Men like you,” he added, “who have real merit and do the work, are always too proud to ask for anything; those who do nothing are always the most clamorous for office, and very often get it, because it is the only way to get rid of them. But if I am elected, they will find a tough customer to deal with, and you may depend upon it that I shall know how to distinguish deserving men from the drones.” “All right, old Abe!” thought I.

In the evening I took supper with Lincoln. The Madam was very nicely dressed up and is already quite skillful in handling her fan. She chats fairly well and will adapt herself to the White House cleverly enough. Lincoln's boys are typical Western youngsters. One of them insisted on going about barefooted. After supper, to which a number of “leading men” had been invited, we lit our cigars and chatted. At eight o'clock the Wideawakes came to escort me to my mass-meeting in the capitol. I have never seen so large a torch-light procession. Lincoln insisted on accompanying us, although he had not appeared in public since his nomination. He declared that he must once hear “that tremendous speaker.” And so the Wideawakes surrounded “Old Abe” and me; thus arm in arm we marched to the capitol. The cheering was tremendous. My German speech was about the best I ever made. Then I spoke in English, and tried to do specially well. Lincoln sat directly in front of me all evening, watched every movement and applauded with tremendous enthusiasm. When I had finished, he came to me and shook hands and said: “You