During the progress of a Cabinet meeting the subject of food for the men in the Army happened to come up. From that the conversation changed to the study of the Latin language.
"I studied Latin once," said Mr. Lincoln, in a casual way.
"Were you interested in it?" asked Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State.
"Well, yes. I saw some very curious things," was the President's rejoinder.
"What?" asked Secretary Seward.
"Well, there's the word hominy, for instance. We have just ordered a lot of that stuff for the troops. I see how the word originated. I notice it came from the Latin word homo--a man.
"When we decline homo, it is:
"'Homo--a man.
"'Hominis--of man.
"'Homini--for man.'
"So you see, hominy, being 'for man,' comes from the Latin. I guess those soldiers who don't know Latin will get along with it all right--though I won't rest real easy until I hear from the Commissary Department on it."
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