I would save you from a fatal error.

You have been a laborious, studious young man.

You are far better informed on almost all subjects than I have ever been.

You cannot fail in any laudable object unless you allow your mind to be improperly directed.

I have some the advantage of you in the world's experience, merely by being older; and it is this that induces me to offer you this advice." It will be observed that, in this letter Lincoln speaks of himself as an "old man." This had been a habit with him for years; and yet at this date he was under thirty-nine.