Lincoln writes to eleven-year-old Grace Bedell, of Westfield, New York. Bedell wrote to ask Lincoln about his children and she suggested, "[L]et your whiskers grow . . . [Y]ou would look a great deal better for your face is so thin." Lincoln writes, "My dear little Miss. I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters. I have three sons—one seventeen, one nine, and one seven . . . As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?" Grace Bedell to Abraham Lincoln, 15 October 1860, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library, Detroit, MI; Abraham Lincoln to Grace Bedell, 19 October 1860, CW, 4:129-30.

Mrs. Lincoln buys and charges $5.50 worth of linen. Pratt, Personal Finances, 150.