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Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

"The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume 1: 1832-1843"

You see I should like to have a perfect soldier credited to
dear old Illinois--no broken bones, scalp wounds, etc. So I think it
might be wise to hand this letter from me in to your good uncle through
his room-window after he has had a comfortable dinner, and watch its
effect from the top of the pigeon-house.
I have just told the folks here in Springfield on this 111th anniversary
of the birth of him whose name, mightiest in the cause of civil liberty,
still mightiest in the cause of moral reformation, we mention in solemn
awe, in naked, deathless splendor, that the one victory we can ever call
complete will be that one which proclaims that there is not one slave or
one drunkard on the face of God's green earth. Recruit for this victory.
Now, boy, on your march, don't you go and forget the old maxim that "one
drop of honey catches more flies than a half-gallon of gall." Load your
musket with this maxim, and smoke it in your pipe.


ADDRESS BEFORE THE SPRINGFIELD WASHINGTONIAN
TEMPERANCE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 22, 1842.
Although the temperance cause has been in progress for near twenty years,
it is apparent to all that it is just now being crowned with a degree of
success hitherto unparalleled.


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