26 called milk sickness: Milton H. Shutes, Lincoln and the Doctors (New York: Pioneer Press, 1933), pp. 45; Philip D. Jordan, "The Death of Nancy Hanks Lincoln," Indiana Magazine of History 40 (June 1944): 103110; Warren, Lincoln's Youth, pp. 5153, 228229.

26 "to the world": Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, HWC.

26 "nay for life": Ibid.

26 "couldn't ketch any": Warren, Lincoln's Youth, p. 58.

27 "what I say": CW, 6:1617. For this quotation, and for a thoughtful discussion of Lincoln's att.i.tude toward death, I am indebted to Robert V. Bruce, Lincoln and the Riddle of Death (Fort Wayne, Ind.: Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, 1981).

27 matter of speculation: See the discussion of this issue in Charles B. Strozier, Lincoln's Quest for Union, pp. 2430, with a masterful summary of the psychoa.n.a.lytical literature on p. 239. Howard I. Kushner's a.n.a.lysis in Self-Destruction in the Promised Land: A Psychocultural Biology of American Suicide (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1989), chap. 5, is suggestive. John Bowlby's three vols, ent.i.tled Attachment and Loss are very important, esp. vol. 3, Loss: Sadness and Depression (New York: Basic Books, 1980).

27 "ours to us": Matilda Johnston Moore, statement to WHH, Sept. 8, 1865, HWC.

27 "in the tombs": CW, 1:378379.

28 look "more human": Mrs. Thomas Lincoln, statement to WHH, Sept. 8, 1865, HWC.

28 "well and clean": Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, HWC.

28 "expect to see": Mrs. Thomas Lincoln, statement to WHH, Sept. 8, 1865, HWC.

28 "he loved her": Charles H. Coleman, Abraham Lincoln and Coles County, Illinois (New Brunswick, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1955), p. 199.

28 "nothing of want": Allen Thorndike Rice, ed., Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time (New York: North American Review, 1888), p. 468.

29 "how to write": Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, HWC.

29 "slowly, but surely": John Hanks, statement to WHH, undated, HWC.

29 "understanding of it": Mrs. Thomas Lincoln, statement to WHH, Sept. 8, 1865, HWC.

29 they were strangers: Nathaniel Grigsby, statement to WHH, Sept. 12, 1865, HWC.

29 "to one year": CW, 4:62.

29 "as a wizzard": CW, 3:511.

29 grammar and spelling: On the books Lincoln studied and read I have closely followed the excellent accounts in Beveridge, 1:70, 7377, and in Warren, Lincoln's Youth, pp. 2830, 8795, and 103111. Douglas L. Wilson, "What Jefferson and Lincoln Read," Atlantic Monthly 267 (Jan. 1991): 5162, is a thoughtful essay. There is much useful information in M. L. Houser, Lincoln's Education and Other Essays (New York: Bookman a.s.sociates, 1957).

30 the word correctly: Herndon's Lincoln, 1:35.

30 "fools to read": Facsimile of page from Lincoln's Sum Book, at the beginning of vol. 1 of The Collected Works.

30 "his hands on": Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, HWC.

30 "head, and read": John Hanks, undated statement to WHH, HWC.

30 "[and] repeat it": Mrs. Thomas Lincoln, statement to WHH, Sept. 8, 1865, HWC.