The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-02-15
To be continued.
A letter OF lincoln.

The following is contributed by DIR.
w. c. Wilkinson IN the CcHfurp: .'Ihe
remarkable popular interest in every
thing TINT throws light Upon the char
acter Of Abraham Lincol. which tie
serial publication of his life in the
Century Maga:iae in part finds and in
part creates, embeldcus me 10 believe
that 4 recent discovery of my own
bearing on the matter may he accepted
by many readers as Il contribution not
without its value TO the growing pub
lie fund OF LincoIn iaeEa0yWbiia. | use
the word discovery although that
word may not seem iii, when | say, rs
must, that what | discovered was al
ready public enough to he seen framed
and hanging on one of the interior
walls Of the tiuc State Capitol in Nash
vile, Tennessee. The documents to
which refer are now no longer to he
seen whore | saw them, they having.
since my visit 10 Nashville a few years
ago, been removed TO ii much less
f%requentcd place of custody i'll the
SAINT city. Through the intervention
of u friend TlateIy found them again.
though not without trouble. and hero
ctbh AlNiI itl tAtiI!tli.llou -tl me
curious.
They consist of two letters, one
written to, and the other written by,
Abraham Lincoln. How they came
into public keeping, aud with what
history, in the case OF the iilustrious
writer of II of the letters, they may
be associated, have sought in vain to
learn. But the letters happily explain
themselves. Perhaps the cntcrprising
authors OF the biography now being
published in the magazine may be able
to bring these letters into their proper
setting i'll the circumstances Of Lin
coins life.
Zone thing vas very noteworthy in
the autograph letter Of Lincoln, aud
that was its immediately neat atd
correct mechanical execution. The
manuscript lad the phy5iognomy aud
air OF one produced by a habiluaIly
tastidioas Literary man. The hand
writing WAS finished enough to be call
ed elegant: the punctuation, the spell
inc, the capitalizing. were rs conscien-
tlous as the turn of the phrase may be
seen TO be.
at is u Mr.. w. G. Anderson who
writes Il covertly threatening letter to
Lincolu-little dreaming ut that mo-
ment that it WAS an historic document
that he was so seriously inditing. The
date is Lawrcnctyiiic. Oetobcr30. 1910.
The address is stitliy, meant perhaps to
be even more ~formidably. formal. 1t
IS a. Lincoln, Esqr.; Dear Sir MIR.
Anderson straitly says:
'.On cur first meeting on Wednesday last. a
difficulty in words cnsIcI between us, which
i deem 1t ny dnt! 70 notice further. think
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
me your present feelings on the subject, and
whether you persist in the stand you took
'And Mr.. Anderson %sternly signs
himself, "Iour obedient Servant
''Ihere now was 4 chance for Mr..
Abraham Lincoln. How will he meet
it? Will he clalf MIR. Anderson? Will
he give him stiffness for sLilfness2
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 Ill future generations, than
simply for his personal friend Mf. An
dcrsun, to read. do not see how he
could have written il better for the
advantage of his own good fame. Here
is his reply:
"'w. C. AYDEnso%.
"'DI-AR SIR: Your noie Of yesterday is &c.
ceiv,d. In the difficulty between Ia Of which
YOU speak; yen say you think l gas the az
elcssot: tdo not think wts. You say my