"The single best joke told by every president, from Obama to Washington"

[David Lockmiller]

A young lady, who had known Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln for years, visited Washington. She was an exceptionally sensible, warm-hearted, refined woman, gifted with a marvelous voice and a graceful figure, but she was very homely. She called at the White House, and when she had gone with his wife into a private room, Mr. Lincoln expressed his surprise to a friend that “some good man had not been lucky enough to marry her,” adding: “L---- herself would be much happier if she were a wife and mother.”

A few moments later Major C----, a volunteer officer, thoroughly respected by the President, and a bachelor, came into the study. Mr. Lincoln looked at him thoughtfully.

“What are you going to do when the war is over, C----?” he asked suddenly.

“Seek my fortune, I suppose,” was the startled reply.

“There it is in that room.” A frank, girlish laugh was heard at the moment. “No, you can’t go to seek it now; business first. But there it is.”

That evening there was a reception at the White House. The President beckoned to Major C----.

“Listen!” he said.

A lady, whom they could not see because of the crowd, was singing, in a voice of great beauty and sweetness, some gay song. The major would have moved forward but Mr. Lincoln detained him, his eyes twinkling with shrewd fun.

“Wait a bit,” he said. “Don’t look at her face yet.”

Presently she sang a ballad with such pathos that the major’s eyes grew dim.
“Now go. She’s as good and true as her song.”

The good word of Mr. Lincoln probably influenced both parties. In a few months they were married.

“I did one wise thing in 1864,” Mr. Lincoln said, rubbing his chin, as was his wont when pleased; “I made that match.”

-- New York Times, Friday, November 29, 1878

How can this story be true? "I did one wise thing in 1864," Mr. Lincoln said.