there _could_ be any breach of etiquette or dignity in the manner of an honest attempt to serve or secure justice to a citizen of the Republic, however humble he might be. Rising to his feet he handed the man the card, with a word of direction, and then turning to me said: “Well C----, I must go in and take one more look at the picture before you leave us.” So saying, he accompanied me to the East Room, and sitting down in front of it, remained for some time in silence. I said that I had at length worked out my idea, as he expressed it at our first interview, and would now be glad to hear his final suggestions and criticism. “There is little to find fault with,” he replied; “the portraiture is the main thing, and that seems to me absolutely perfect.” I then called his attention afresh to the accessories of the picture, stating that these had been selected from the objects in the Cabinet chamber with reference solely to their bearing upon the subject. “Yes,” said he, “there are the war-maps, the portfolios, the _slave_-map, and all; but the book in the corner, leaning against the chair-leg,--you have changed the title of that, I see.” “Yes,” I replied; “at the last moment I learned that you frequently consulted, during the period you were preparing the Proclamation, Solicitor Whiting’s work on the ‘War Powers of the President,’ and as Emancipation was the result in fact of a military necessity, the book seemed to me just the thing to go in there; so I simply changed the title, leaving the old sheepskin cover as it was.” “Now,” said he, “Whiting’s book is not a regular law-book. It is all very well that it should be there; but I would suggest that as you have changed the title, you change also the character of the binding. It now looks like an old volume of United States Statutes.” I thanked him for this criticism, and then said: “Is there anything else that you would like changed or added?” “No,” he replied, and then repeated very emphatically the expression he used when the design was first sketched upon the canvas: “It is as good as it can be made.” I then referred at some length, to the enthusiasm in which the picture was conceived and had been executed, concluding with an expression of my profound appreciation of the very unusual opportunities afforded me in the prosecution of the work, and his unvarying kindness and consideration through the many weeks of our intercourse.