LINCOLN LETTERS
By Abraham Lincoln
Published by The Bibilophile Society
List of Illustrations
NOTE
The letters herein by Lincoln are so thoroughly characteristic ofthe man, and are in themselves so completely self-explanatory, thatit requires no comment to enable the reader fully to understand andappreciate them. It will be observed that the philosophicaladmonitions in the letter to his brother, Johnston, were written onthe same sheet with the letter to his father.
The promptness and decision with which Lincoln despatched themultitudinous affairs of his office during the most turbulentscenes of the Civil War are exemplified in his unequivocal order tothe Attorney-General, indorsed on the back of the letter of Hon.Austin A. King, requesting a pardon for John B. Corner. Theindorsement bears even date with the letter itself, and Corner waspardoned on the following day.
THE ORIGINALS FROM WHICH THE WITHIN FACSIMILES WERE MADE ARE IN THECOLLECTION OF MR. WILLIAM K. BIXBY, AND THROUGH HIS COURTESY THEYARE REPRODUCED FOR MEMBERS OF THE BIBLIOPHILE SOCIETY
Washington, Dec. 24th, 1848.
My dear father:—
Your letter of the 7th was received night before last. I verycheerfully send you the twenty dollars, which sum you say isnecessary to save your land from sale. It is singular that youshould have forgotten a judgment against you; and it is moresingular that the plaintiff should have let you forget it so long,particularly as I suppose you have always had property enough tosatisfy a judgment of that amount. Before you pay it, it would bewell to be sure you have not paid it; or, at least,