Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-03-27
Two Interesting Letters Written by
Lincoln.

]
Lincoln.
The ST. Louis Eceninq ChronicI,
prints the following letters. the oriei-
mails Of which are held bv Mr.. b. l.
Worth, No GIL South Broadway. ST
Louis. They came into possession OF
their present owner through the pur-
chase of the office fixtures Of ex-Mayor
John How:
TO HIS FATHER.
WASHINGTON. Dec. "a, lS4S-MY
DEAR FATHER: Your letter of the 7th
was received night before last. very
cheerfully send you $50. which sum
you say is necessary 10 save your land
from sale. 1t is singular that YOU
should have forgotten Judgment
against you, and it is more singular
that the plaintiff should have let YOU
forget it so long, particularly. as
suppose, you have always had property
enough to satisfy judgment of that
amount Before YOU pay it. it would
be well to be sure yol have not pail it,
or at least that you can not prove that
YOU have paid ii. Give nv love 10
mother and all the connections. Affec-
tionately your son. A. LINCOLN.
TO HIS BROTHER.
DEAR JOHNSTON: Your request for
$50 do not lnInK it best to comply
with now. At the various times when
L have helped you little you have said
to me: 1--WE can get along very wei,
now," but in a short time find YOU in
the same d fiji ulty again. Now this
can onl y happen by some defect in
your conduct. What the defect is l
think / know. You are not law, and
still you are an idler. l doubt whether
since | saw you you have done good
whole days work in any one day. You
do not very much dislike to work, and
still you do not work much, merely be-
cause it does not seem to you that you
get much for it. This habit of useless
ly wasting time is the whole difficulty,
and it is vastly important to you, and
still more to your children, that YOU
should break this habit. 1t is more
important TO them because they have
longer to live, and can keep out of IN
idle habit before they are in it easier
than they can get out after they are in.
You are now in need of some ready
money, and what l propose is that you
shall 60 10 work "tooth and nail" for
somebody who will give you money for
it Let father and your boys have
charge of things at home-prepare for
a crop and make the crop-and YOU 90
to work for the best money wages, or
in discharge of any debt you owe, that
you can get And to secure YOU fair
reward for your labor l now promise
you that for every dollar you will, be-
tween now and the first of next Nav,
get for your labor, either in money or
on your own indebtedness, l will give
you one other dollar. BY this, if YOU
hire yourself at $40 month, from me
you will get $40 more, making $40
month from your labor. In this | do
not mean you shall go off to St. Louis,
or the lead mines, or the gold mines in
California, but mean for you to 90 at
it for the best wages you can get close
to home-in Coles county. Now if YOU
do this you will soon be out of debt,
.sAN', "i''o 40 oSeeSAs Nou WILL udNc u
habit that will keep you from getting
in debtjagain. But if l should now
clear you out, next year YOU will be
just as deep in as ever. You say YOU
would almost give your place in heaven
for $40 or $780, Then you va ue your
place in heaven very cheap, for 1 am
sure you can. with the offer I make
you, get the $40 or $50 with four or
five months work. You say if l fur
nish you the money you will deed me
the land, and if you don't pay the
money back you will deliver possession.
Nonsense! If you can not now live with
the land, how will you then live With
out it? You have always been kind to
me, and | do not now mean to be un-
kind to you. On The contrary, if you
will but follow my advice, you will
find it worth eighty times eighty dol
lars to you. Atfectionately your BROTH
er. A. LINCOLN.