Lincoln was constantly bothered by members of delegations of "goody-goodies," who knew all about running the War, but had no inside information as to what was going on. Yet they poured out their advice in streams, until the President was heartily sick of the whole business, and wished the War would find some way to kill off these nuisances. "How many men have the Confederates now in the field?" asked one of these bores one day. "About one million two hundred thousand," replied the President. "Oh, my! Not so many as that, surely, Mr. Lincoln." "They have fully twelve hundred thousand, no doubt of it. You see, all of our generals when they get whipped say the enemy outnumbers them from three or five to one, and I must believe them. We have four hundred thousand men in the field, and three times four make twelve,--don't you see it? It is as plain to be seen as the nose on a man's face; and at the rate things are now going, with the great amount of speculation and the small crop of fighting, it will take a long time to overcome twelve hundred thousand rebels in arms. "If they can get subsistence they have everything else, except a just cause. Yet it is said that 'thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.' I am willing, however, to risk our advantage of thrice in justice against their thrice in numbers." =LINCOLN SAW STANTON ABOUT IT= Mr. Lovejoy, heading a committee of Western men, discussed an important scheme with the President, and the gentlemen were then directed to explain it to Secretary of War Stanton. Upon presenting themselves to the Secretary, and showing the President's order, the Secretary said: "Did Lincoln give you an order of that kind?" "He did, sir." "Then he is a d--d fool," said the angry Secretary. "Do you mean to say that the President is a d--d fool?" asked Lovejoy in amazement. "Yes, sir, if he gave you such an order as that." The bewildered Illinoisan betook himself at once to the President and related the result of the conference. "Did Stanton say I was a d--d fool?" asked Lincoln at the close of the recital. "He did, sir, and repeated it." After a moment's pause, and looking up, the President said: "If Stanton said I was a d--d fool, then I must be one, for he is nearly always right, and generally says what he means. I will slip over and see him." =SLEEP STANDING UP= McClellan was a thorn in Lincoln's side--"always up in the air," as the President put it--and yet he hesitated to remove him. "The Young Napoleon" was a good organizer, but no fighter. Lincoln sent him everything necessary in the way of men, ammunition, artillery and equipments, but he was forever unready. Instead of making a forward movement at the time expected, he would notify the President that he must have more men. These were given him as rapidly as possible, and then would come a demand for more horses, more this and that, usually winding up with a demand for still "more men."