"The last time I saw Mr. Lincoln to speak with him," continued Mr. Dana, "was in the afternoon of the day of his murder. The same Jacob Thompson was the subject of our conversation. I had received a report from the Provost-Marshal of Portland, Maine, saying that Jacob Thompson was to be in that town that night for the purpose of taking the steamer for Liverpool, and what orders had the Department to give? I carried the telegram to Mr. Stanton. He said promptly, 'Arrest him;' but as I was leaving his room he called me back, adding, 'You had better take it over to the President.' It was now between four and five o'clock in the afternoon and business at the White House was completed for the day. I found Mr. Lincoln with his coat off, in a closet attached to his office, washing his hands. 'Halloo, Dana,' said he, as I opened the door, 'what is it now?' 'Well, sir,' I said, 'here is the Provost-Marshal of Portland, who reports that Jacob Thompson is to be in that town to-night, and inquires what orders we have to give.' 'What does Stanton say?' he asked. 'Arrest him,' I replied. 'Well,' he continued, drawling his words, 'I rather guess not. When you have an elephant on hand, and he wants to run away, better let him run.'" When a friend brought to his attention the fact that Secretary Chase was seeking the nomination for President, the President accepted the announcement with the utmost good-humor, and said,-- "My half-brother was once ploughing corn on a Kentucky farm. I was driving the horse and he holding the plough. The horse was lazy, but on one occasion rushed across the field so fast that I, even with my long legs, could hardly keep pace with him. On reaching the end of the furrow, I found an enormous chin-fly fastened upon him, and knocked him off. My brother asked me what I did that for. I told him I didn't want the old horse bitten in that way. 'Why,' said he, 'that's what makes him go.' If Mr. Chase has a Presidential chin-fly biting him, I'm not going to knock him off, if it will only make his department go." Coming into the President's room one day, Mr. Stanton said that he had received a telegram from General Mitchell, in Alabama, asking instructions. He did not quite understand the situation down there, but, having full confidence in Mitchell's judgment, had answered, "All right; go ahead." "Now, Mr. President," he added, "if I have made an error, I shall have to get you to countermand the order." "Once at the cross-roads down in Kentucky, when I was a boy, a particularly fine horse was to be sold," replied Lincoln. "They had a small boy to ride him up and down. One man whispered to the boy as he went by, 'Look here, boy, hain't that horse got splints?' The boy replied, 'Mister, I don't know what splints is; but if it's good for him he's got it, and if it ain't good for him he ain't got it.' Now," added Lincoln, "I understand that if this is good for Mitchell it's all right, but if it's not I have got to countermand it."