Lincoln was regarded with violent animosity by all who were in sympathy with the peculiar prejudices of the slave States.  The inhabitants of the District of Columbia looked upon him with especial dislike.  He was to them an odious embodiment of the abhorred principles of Abolitionism.  As an illustration of this bitter feeling, Mr. Arnold narrates the following anecdote:  “A distinguished South Carolina lady—­one of the Howards—­the widow of a Northern scholar, called upon him out of curiosity.  She was very proud and aristocratic, and was curious to see a man who had been represented to her as a monster, a mixture of the ape and the tiger.  She was shown into the room where were Mr. Lincoln and Senators Seward, Hale, Chase, and other prominent members of Congress.  As Mr. Seward, whom she knew, presented her to the President, she hissed in his ear:  ‘I am a South Carolinian.’  Instantly reading her character, he turned and addressed her with the greatest courtesy, and dignified and gentlemanly politeness.  After listening a few moments, astonished to find him so different from what he had been described to her, she said:  ’Why, Mr. Lincoln, you look, act, and speak like a kind, good-hearted, generous man.’  ‘And did you expect to meet a savage?’ said he.  ‘Certainly I did, or even something worse,’ replied she.  ’I am glad I have met you,’ she continued, ’and now the best way to preserve peace is for you to go to Charleston and show the people what you are, and tell them you have no intention of injuring them.’  Returning home, she found a party of Secessionists, and on entering the room she exclaimed, ’I have seen him!  I have seen him!’ ‘Who?’ they inquired.  ’That terrible monster, Lincoln, and I found him a gentleman, and I am going to his first levee after his inauguration.’  At his first reception, this tall daughter of South Carolina, dressing herself in black velvet, with two long white plumes in her hair, repaired to the White House.  She was nearly six feet high, with black eyes and black hair, and in her velvet and white feathers she was a striking and majestic figure.  As she approached the President he recognized her immediately.  ’Here I am again,’ said she, ‘that South Carolinian.’  ‘I am glad to see you,’ replied he, ’and to assure you that the first object of my heart is to preserve peace, and I wish that not only you but every son and daughter of South Carolina were here, that I might tell them so.’  Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War, came up, and after some remarks he said, ’South Carolina [which had already seceded] is the prodigal son.’  ’Ah, Mr. Secretary,’ said she, ’if South Carolina is the prodigal son, Uncle Sam, our father, ought to divide the inheritance, and let her go; but they say you are going to make war upon us; is it so?’ ‘Oh, come back,’ said Lincoln, ’tell South Carolina to come back now, and we will kill the fatted calf.’”