My renewed good wishes to her in particular, and generally to all
such of your relations who know me.
As ever,
LINCOLN.
TO JOSHUA F. SPEED.
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, July 4, 1842.
DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 16th June was received only a day or two since.
It was not mailed at Louisville till the 25th. You speak of the great
time that has elapsed since I wrote you. Let me explain that. Your
letter reached here a day or two after I started on the circuit. I was
gone five or six weeks, so that I got the letters only a few weeks before
Butler started to your country. I thought it scarcely worth while to
write you the news which he could and would tell you more in detail. On
his return he told me you would write me soon, and so I waited for your
letter. As to my having been displeased with your advice, surely you
know better than that. I know you do, and therefore will not labor to
convince you. True, that subject is painful to me; but it is not your
silence, or the silence of all the world, that can make me forget it. I
acknowledge the correctness of your advice too; but before I resolve to
do the one thing or the other, I must gain my confidence in my own
ability to keep my resolves when they are made.
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