The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-23

know, yet reached the point OF stalking
any money on my chances Of success.
To another friend he wrote in regard
to offers of assistance if q proper sum
was put up. ALLOW me to say l cannot
enter the ring ON the money basis
first, because in the main, it is wrong;
and secondly, 1 have not and cannot get
the money. l say in the main the use
of money is wrong: but for certain OBJ
jects in d political contest the use OF
some is both right and indispensable.
With me, as with yourself, this long
has been one Of pecuniary loss.
now distinctly say this. If you shall
be appointed a delegate to Chicago
viii furnish 500 to bear the expenses OF
the trip
No man was more generous with
money when he had it than Lincoln. 1t
meant nothing 10 him save as means
with which to give pleasure and to ac-
compiish ends and it flowed from his
pocket as freely as goodwill did from
his kindly heart. His fathers family
was one of the first to profit all their
lives by his generosity. In fact it was
due to him that Thomas Lincoln kept
his little home in Cole county, Illinois,
until his death, and that his step
mother never knew want. He could.
however, be very stern with those OF
his relatives whom he felt were shift
less and Sinking. No more sensible
and disconnected man than those Lin
coin wrote to his step-brother, John
Johnston, a er-do-Well whom he had
often assisted.
your request for $50" he wrote
Johnston, who as usual was broke and
wanting help, Il do not think it best
to comply with now. At the various
times when 1 have helped you little
you have said &c me, We can get along
very well now; but in a very short
time l find you in the same difficulty
again. Now, this can only happen by
some defect in your conduct. What that
defect is, l think l know. You are not
lazy, and still you are an idler. doubt
whether, since l saw you, you have
done a good whole days work in any
one day. You do not very much dis
like to work. and still you do not wo-k
much, merely because it does not seem
to you that you could get much of it.
This habit of uselessly wasting time
is the whole difficulty; it is vastly i'm
portant to you, and still more so to
your children, that you should break
the habit. 1t is more important to
them, because they have longer 10 live
and can keep OUT of an idle habit, be-
fore they are in it, easier than they
can get out after they are in.
You are in need Of some money;
and what I propose is that you shall
go to work, tooth and nail for some
body who will give you money for it.
Let father and your boys take charge
of your things at home, prepare for a
crop and make the crop, and you go
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, [ now promise
that for every dollar you will, between
this and the first of May, get for your
own labor, either in money or as your
own Indebtedness, 1 will then give you
one other dollar. By this, if you hire
at $10 month from me you
will get ten more. making $40 month
for your work. In this 1 do not mean
you shall go off TO st. Louis, or the
lead mines, or the gold mines in Cali
fornia, but l mean for you to go at it
for the best wages you can get close
to home in Coles county. Now, if you
will do this, you will soon be out of
debt, and, what is better, you will have
a habit that will keep you from getting
in debt again. But, if 1 should now
clear you out of debt, next year you
would be just as deep in as ever. You
say you would almost give your place
IN heaven for $40 or $50. Then you
value your place in heaven very CHEAP. {
for [ am sure you can, with the offer
make, get the $40 or $50 for four or
five months work. You say if 1 will /
furnish you the money you will deed
me the land, and, if you don't pay the
money back you will deliver possess (
sion. Nonsensei If you can't now live
with the land, how will you then live
without it? You have always been
kind to me, and 1 do not mean to be
unkind to you. On the contrary. if
you Will but follow my advice, you will |
find il worth more than $40 or $50 to
you
Again he wrote Johnston: 81 learned
that you are anxious to sell the land
where you live and move to Missouri. I (
have been thinking of this ever since
and cannot but think such a notion is
utterly foolish What. can YOU do in
Missouri better than here, Is the land
any richer? Can you there any more
than here, raise corn and wheat and
pats without work? Will anybody there. /
any more than here do your work for
you? If you intend to go to work
there is no better place than right
where you are; if you do not intend to
go 10 work, you cannot get along any
where.
'Squirming and crawling about from
place TO place can do no good. You
awe raised no crop this year; and what
you really want is to sell the land. get
he money, and spend it. Part with
me land you have, and, my life upon it.
you Will never after own a spot big
enough to bury you in. Half you will
get Tor the land you will spend in mtov-
ng TO Missouri, and the other half Won
villa eat, drink, and wear out, and no
loot of land Will be bought Now, l
feel 1t my duty TO have no hand in such
piece of foolery. l feel that it is SO
even on your own account, and partic-
llarly on mothers account The east
7rn Iorty acres l intend to keep for
mother while she lives; if you will NOT
1t, it will rent for enough to
support her-at least, it will rent for
Her dover in the other
two forties she can let you have. and
40 thanks to me. Now, do not misun-
1erStand this letter; 1 do not write ii
N any unklndneSS. l write it in order.
Il possible, TO get you to face the truth.
which truth is, you are destitute be-
cause you have idled away all your
time. Your thousand pretences for not
getting along better are all nonsense:
hey deceive nobody but yourself Go
to work is the only cure for your case
While Lincoln provided on his small
income for his family and helped a
soedly number Of his relatives he never
himself because of these duties
rom aiding any friend poorer than him.
sell nor did he refuse to respond to the
calls of the sick and unfortunate which
particularly after his election to the
presidency were incessant Among his
papers are many evidences of his prac-
tcal sympathy for those who had an
pealed to him. Many of his RESPONSES
were as quaint as they were kindly, for
instance, the following lift" given in