"'Then he is a d--d fool,' said the irate Secretary. "'Do you mean to say the President is a d--d fool?' asked Lovejoy in amazement. "'Yes, sir, if he gave you such an order as that.' "The bewildered Congressman from Illinois betook himself at once to the President and related the result of his 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 step over and see him.'" Mr. Stanton was entirely without a sense of humor, and was the only member of the Cabinet who could not tolerate and could never understand Lincoln's stories and the reasons for his frequent resort to comic anecdotes and books of humor to relieve his mind from anxiety and the terrible strain that was always upon him. He never told a story himself, and would not waste his time listening to stories from others. With his unsympathetic disposition and nerveless constitution he could not understand the need of relaxation, and his serious mind regarded with disapproval and even contempt the simple remedies which the President applied as relief to his anxieties and care. Charles A. Dana, who was Mr. Stanton's assistant in the War Department, referring to this fact in his reminiscences, says,-- "The political struggle (November, 1864) had been most intense, and the interest taken in it, both in the White House and in the War Department, had been almost painful. I went over to the War Department about half-past eight in the evening and found the President and Mr. Stanton together in the Secretary's office. General Eckert, who then had charge of the telegraph department of the War Office, was coming in continually with telegrams containing election returns. Mr. Stanton would read them and the President would look at them and comment upon them. Presently there came a lull in the returns, and Mr. Lincoln called me up to a place by his side. "'Dana,' said he, 'have you ever read any of the writings of Petroleum V. Nasby?' "'No, sir,' I said. 'I have only looked at some of them, and they seemed to me quite funny.'