Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-07-03
A Letter of Lincoln.

Inc followlng Is contributed by Dr.
w. c. Wilkinson to the Century: 1.-The
remarkable popular interest in every
thing that throws light upon the char
acter of Abraham Lincol, which the
serial publication of his life in the
Century Magazine in part finds and in
part creates, emholdens me to believe
that recent discovery of my own
bearing on the matter may be accepted
by many readers as a contribution not
without its value to the growing pub
lie fund of Lincoln memorabilia. use
the word discovery although that
word may not seem fit, when | say, as
| must, that what l discovered was al
ready public enough to be seen framed
and hanging on one of the interior
walls of the fine State Capitol in Nash
vile, Tennessee. The documents to
which / refer are now no longer to be
seen where | saw them, they having,
since my visit to Nashville few years
ago, been removed to a much less
frequented place of custody in the
same city. Through the intervention
of friend lately found them again,
though not without trouble. and here
show them for examination of the
curious.
"They consist of two letters, one
written to, and the other written by,
Abraham Lincoln. How they came
into public keeping, and with what
history, in the case of the illustrious
writer of one of the letters, they may
be associated, have sought in vain to
learn. But the letters happily explain
themselves. Perhaps the enterprising
authors of the biography now being
published in the magazine may be able
to bring these letters into their proper
setting in the circumstances of Lin
coins life.
"One thing was very noteworthy in
the autograph letter of Lincoln, and
that was its Immediately neat and
correct mechanical execution. The
manuscript had the physiognomy and
air of one produced by habtually
fastidious literary man. The hand
writing was finished enough to be call
ed elegant; the punctuation, the SPELL
ing, the eapitalizing, were as conscien-
tious as the turn OF the phrase may be
seen to be.
''It is Mr.. w. G. Anderson who
writes covertly threatening letter to
Lincoln-little dreaming at that mo-
ment that it was an historic document
that he was so seriously inditing. The
date is Lawrenceville, October 80, 1910.
The address is stiffly, meant perhaps to
be even more formidably, formal. 1t
is "A. Lincoln, Esqr.; Dear Sir Mr..
Anderson straitly says:
"'On our first meeting on Wednesday last a
difficulty in words ensued between us, which
| IN IN fnrt thnt. 4 biply
you were the aggressor. Your words import
ed insult; and whether you meant them as
such is for you to say. You will therefore
please inform me on this point. And if you
design to offend me, please communicate to
me your present feelings on the subject, and
whether you persist in the stand you took.
"And Mr.. Anderson sternly signs
himself, 'Your obedient Servant"
"There now was chance for Mr..
Abraham Lincoln. How will he meet
itP Will he chatf Mr.. AndersonP Will
he give him stiffness for stiffnessP
There will surely be an interesting
revelation of character, The actual
fact is, if Abraham Lincoln had known,
in writing his reply, that he was writ
ing it much more for the whole world
and for all future generations, than
simply for his personal friend Mr.. An
derson, to read, do not see how he
could have written it better for the
advantage of his own good fame. Here
is his reply:
LAwRENCEvILLE OCT. 31st, 1S40.
"'W. G. ANDERSON.
"DEAR SIR: Your note of yesterday is re-
ceived. In the difficulty between us of which
you speak, you say you think l was the ag-
gressor. l do not think l was. You say my
words imported insult mean them as
fair set off to your own statements, and not
otherwise and in that light alone now wish
you to understand them. You ask for my
present feelings on the subject j entertain
no unkind feeling to you, and none of any
sort upon the subject, except a sincere regret
that permitted myself to get into any such
alteration. Yours ETC.,