Anon the Republican comes again.  “We invite the attention of the public to General Adams’s communication,” &c.  “The victory is a great one, the triumph is overwhelming.”  I really believe the editor of the Illinois Republican is fool enough to think General Adams leads off—­“Authors most egregiously mistaken &c.  Most woefully shall their presumption be punished,” &c. (Lord have mercy on us.) “The hour is yet to come, yea, nigh at hand—­(how long first do you reckon?)—­when the Journal and its junto shall say, I have appeared too early.”  “Their infamy shall be laid bare to the public gaze.”  Suddenly the General appears to relent at the severity with which he is treating us and he exclaims:  “The condemnation of my enemies is the inevitable result of my own defense.”  For your health’s sake, dear Gen., do not permit your tenderness of heart to afflict you so much on our account.  For some reason (perhaps because we are killed so quickly) we shall never be sensible of our suffering.

Farewell, General.  I will see you again at court if not before—­when and where we will settle the question whether you or the widow shall have the land.

A. Lincoln.  October 18, 1837.

1838

To Mrs. O. H. Browning—­A farce

Springfield, April 1, 1838.

Dear madam:—­Without apologizing for being egotistical, I shall make the history of so much of my life as has elapsed since I saw you the subject of this letter.  And, by the way, I now discover that, in order to give a full and intelligible account of the things I have done and suffered since I saw you, I shall necessarily have to relate some that happened before.

It was, then, in the autumn of 1836 that a married lady of my acquaintance, and who was a great friend of mine, being about to pay a visit to her father and other relatives residing in Kentucky, proposed to me that on her return she would bring a sister of hers with her on condition that I would engage to become her brother-in-law with all convenient despatch.  I, of course, accepted the proposal, for you know I could not have done otherwise had I really been averse to it; but privately, between you and me, I was most confoundedly well pleased with the project.  I had seen the said sister some three years before, thought her intelligent and agreeable, and saw no good objection to plodding life through hand in hand with her.  Time passed on; the lady took her journey and in due time returned, sister in company, sure enough.  This astonished me a little, for it appeared to me that her coming so readily showed that she was a trifle too willing, but on reflection it occurred to me that she might have been prevailed on by her married sister to come without anything concerning me ever having been mentioned to her, and so I concluded that if no other objection presented itself, I would consent to waive this.  All this occurred to me on hearing