Lincoln’s "Enlightened Self-Interest"

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2074, 3 February 1898, Page 2

Lincoln’s " Enlightened Self-Interest"

Mr Lincoln once remarked to a fellow passenger on the old-time mud-wagon coach, on the corduroy road which antedated railroads, that all men were prompted by selfishness in doing good or evil. His fellow passenger was antagonizing his\ position, when they were passing over a corduroy bridge, that spanned a slough As they crossed this bridge and the mud-wagon was shaking like a Sucker with chills they espied an old razor-backed sow on the bank of the slough, making a terrible noise because her pigs had got into the slough and were unable to get out, “Driver, cau’fc you stop just, a moment i” The driver replied, “If the other feller don’t object.’* The “ other feller "--who was no less a personage than at that time “ Colonel” E. D. Baker, the gallant general who gave his life in defense of Old Glory at Ball’s Bluff—-did not “object ” when Mr Lincoln jumped out, ran back to the slough and began to lift the little pigs out of the mud and water, and place them on the bank. When he returned, Colonel Baker remarked: “Now, Abe, where does selfishness come in on this little episode ?” “Why, bless your soul, Ed, that was the very essence of selfishness. I would have no peace of mind all day had I gone on and left that suffering old sow worrying over these pigs. I did it to get peace of mind, don’t you seer— Springfield (Id.) Monitor.