Childhood's impressions are ineffaceable, though they may be for a
time set aside. Abraham Lincoln with all his lofty mind, acquiesced in
the vulgar belief when he took his son Robert to have the benefit of a
"madstone," at a distance from where the boy was dog-bitten. He made
the pact with the Divine Power as to the Emancipation Act, with a
sincerity which robbed worldly wisdom of its sting, and he had dreams
and visions like a seer.


* * * * *


LINCOLN'S DREAM.

"Before any great national event I have always had the same dream. I
had it the other night. It is a ship sailing rapidly."--(To a friend,
in April, 1865. See "Ship of State," a pet simile.)


* * * * *


LINCOLN'S VISION.

Abraham Lincoln had been nominated for the Presidency. The
consummation of his ambition had naturally a deep impression upon him.
He came home and threw himself on the lounge, expressly made to let
him recline at full-length. It was opposite a bureau on which was a
pivoted mirror happening to be so tilted that it reflected him as he