In his youth, Mr. Lincoln once got an idea for a thrilling, romantic story. One day, in Springfield, he was sitting with his feet on the window sill, chatting with an acquaintance, when he suddenly changed the drift of the conversation by saying: “Did you ever write out a story in your mind? I did when I was a little codger. One day a wagon with a lady and two girls and a man broke down near us, and while they were fixing up, they cooked in our kitchen. The woman had books and read us stories, and they were the first I had ever heard. I took a great fancy to one of the girls; and when they were gone I thought of her a great deal, and one day when I was sitting out in the sun by the house I wrote out a story in my mind. I thought I took my father’s horse and followed the wagon, and finally I found it, and they were surprised to see me. I talked with the girl, and persuaded her to elope with me; and that night I put her on my horse, and we started off across the prairie. After several hours we came to a camp; and when we rode up we found it was the one we had left a few hours before, and went in. The next night we tried again, and the same thing happened--the horse came back to the same place; and then we concluded that we ought not to elope. I stayed until I had persuaded her father to give her to me. I always meant to write that story out and publish it, and I began once; but I concluded that it was not much of a story. But I think that was the beginning of love with me.” LINCOLN’S IDEAS ON CROSSING A RIVER WHEN HE GOT TO IT. Lincoln’s reply to a Springfield (Illinois) clergyman, who asked him what was to be his policy on the slavery question was most apt: “Well, your question is rather a cool one, but I will answer it by telling you a story: “You know Father B., the old Methodist preacher? and you know Fox River and its freshets? “Well, once in the presence of Father B., a young Methodist was worrying about Fox River, and expressing fears that he should be prevented from fulfilling some of his appointments by a freshet in the river. “Father B. checked him in his gravest manner. Said he: “‘Young man, I have always made it a rule in my life not to cross Fox River till I get to it.’ “And,” said the President, “I am not going to worry myself over the slavery question till I get to it.” A few days afterward a Methodist minister called on the President, and on being presented to him, said, simply: “Mr. President, I have come to tell you that I think we have got to Fox River!” Lincoln thanked the clergyman, and laughed heartily. PRESIDENT NOMINATED FIRST. The day of Lincoln’s second nomination for the Presidency he forgot all about the Republican National Convention, sitting at Baltimore, and wandered over to the War Department. While there, a telegram came announcing the nomination of Johnson as Vice-President. “What,” said Lincoln to the operator, “do they nominate a Vice-President before they do a President?”