Numbering the Hairs of His — Tail!
A Congressional committee selected to examine and report upon a new cannon, produced so voluminous a tome that Lincoln, reviewing it, dropped it in disgust and commented:
“I should want a new lease of life to read this through! Why can’t a committee of this kind occasionally exhibit a grain of common sense? If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points, not how many hairs there are in his tail!”—(Authenticated by Mr. Hubbard, member of Congress of Connecticut, to whom the remark was addressed.)