Selected Correspondance of Abraham Lincoln 1851 Letter To John D. Johnston
by Abraham Lincoln
SPRINGFIELD, January 12, 1851
DEAR BROTHER:--On the day before yesterday I received a letter from
Harriet, written at Greenup. She says she has just returned from your
house, and that father is very low and will hardly recover. She also says
you have written me two letters, and that, although you do not expect me
to come now, you wonder that I do not write.
I received both your letters, and although I have not answered them it is
not because I have forgotten them, or been uninterested about them, but
because it appeared to me that I could write nothing which would do any
good. You already know I desire that neither father nor mother shall be
in want of any comfort, either in health or sickness, while they live;
and I feel sure you have not failed to use my name, if necessary, to
procure a doctor, or anything else for father in his present sickness. My
business is such that I could hardly leave home now, if it was not as it
is, that my own wife is sick abed. (It is a case of baby-sickness, and I
suppose is not dangerous.) I sincerely hope father may recover his
health, but at all events, tell him to remember to call upon and confide
in our great and good and merciful Maker, who will not turn away from him
in any extremity. He notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs
of our heads, and He will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in
Him. Say to him that if we could meet now it is doubtful whether it would
not be more painful than pleasant, but that if it be his lot to go now,
he will soon have a joyous meeting with many loved ones gone before, and
where the rest of us, through the help of God, hope ere long to join
them.
