Did Lincoln ever use profane language? If he did, this fact will afford no evidence to Freethinkers that he was a disbeliever in Christianity. Freethinkers are as free from this vice, if vice it be, as Christians. Very pious persons, however, such as Lincoln is represented to have been by his Christian biographers, are very careful about their use of profane words. Christ commanded his followers to pray in private, and bade them swear not at all. Devout Christians usually pray in public and swear in private. Lincoln was but little addicted to profanity, but if he had occasion to use a word of this character he did not go to his closet to use it. In a business letter to a friend, he said: "A d------d hawk-billed Yankee is here besetting me at every turn" (Lamon's Life of Lincoln, p. 316). In a letter to Speed, concerning an alleged murder case, he wrote: "Hart, the little drayman that hauled Molly home once, said it was too _damned_ bad to have so much trouble and no hanging" (Ibid, p. 321). For the sake of pleasing the "fools," he attached his signature to "the pious nonsense of Seward," With equal readiness he indorsed the profane nonsense (?) of Stanton. During the war the patriotic Lovejoy had devised a military scheme which he believed would prove beneficial to the Union cause, and obtained an order from the President for its execution. He took the order to Stanton, but all that ever resulted from it was the following spirited colloquy: "'Did Lincoln give you an order of that kind?' said Stanton. 'He did, sir.' '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 Illinoisan 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'" (Every-Day Life of Lincoln, pp. 483, 484). At a Cabinet meeting, in 1863, when a conflict between the President and Congress regarding the admission of certain representatives from loyal districts of the South, which he favored, was threatened, he turned to Secretary Chase, and exclaimed: "There it is, sir. I am to be bullied by Congress, am I? If I do I'll be d------d!" When Lincoln visited New Orleans he attended a slave sale. A beautiful girl, almost white, was placed upon the auction block and exposed to the grossest indignities. As he turned to leave, boiling with indignation, he exclaimed: "By God, if I ever get a chance to hit that institution, I will hit it hard" (Arnold's Life of Lincoln, Note). Thirty years later the chance came. He struck the blow--a mortal one.