One of the last stories I heard from Mr. Lincoln was concerning John Tyler, for whom it was to be expected, as an old Henry Clay Whig, he would entertain no great respect. “A year or two after Tyler’s accession to the Presidency,” said he, “contemplating an excursion in some direction, his son went to order a special train of cars. It so happened that the railroad superintendent was a very strong Whig. On ‘Bob’s’ making known his errand, that official bluntly informed him that his road did not run any special trains for the President. ‘What!’ said ‘Bob,’ ‘did you not furnish a special train for the funeral of General Harrison?’ ‘Yes,’ said the superintendent, stroking his whiskers; ‘and if you will only bring your father here in _that_ shape, you shall have the best train on the road.’” “Once--on what was called a ‘public day,’ when Mr. Lincoln received all applicants in their turn--the writer[18] was struck by observing, as he passed through the corridor, the heterogeneous crowd of men and women, representing all ranks and classes, who were gathered in the large waiting-room outside the Presidential suite of offices. “Being ushered into the President’s chamber by Major Hay, the first thing he saw was Mr. Lincoln bowing an elderly lady out of the door,--the President’s remarks to her being, as she still lingered and appeared reluctant to go: ‘I am really very sorry, madam; very sorry. But your own good sense must tell you that I am not here to collect small debts. You must appeal to the courts in regular order.’ “When she was gone, Mr. Lincoln sat down, crossed his legs, locked his hands over his knees, and commenced to laugh,--this being his favorite attitude when much amused. “‘What odd kinds of people come to see me,’ he said; ‘and what odd ideas they must have about my office! Would you believe it, Major, that old lady who has just left, came in here to get from me an order for stopping the pay of a treasury clerk, who owes her a board-bill of about seventy dollars?’ And the President rocked himself backward and forward, and appeared intensely amused. “‘She may have come in here a loyal woman,’ continued Mr. Lincoln; ‘but I’ll be bound she has gone away believing that the worst pictures of me in the Richmond press only lack truth in not being half black and bad enough.’ “This led to a somewhat general conversation, in which I expressed surprise that he did not adopt the plan in force at all military head-quarters, under which every applicant to see the general commanding had to be filtered through a sieve of officers,--assistant adjutant-generals, and so forth,--who allowed none in to take up the general’s time save such as they were satisfied had business of sufficient importance, and which could be transacted in no other manner than by a personal interview.