Your request for eighty dollars， I do not think it best to comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little， you have said to me， "We can get along very well now，" but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is， I think I know. You are not lazy， and still you are an idler. I doubt whether since I saw you， you have done a good whole day's work， in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work， and still you do not work much， merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it.
This habit of uselessly wasting time， is the whole difficulty； it is vastly important to you， and still more so to your children， that you should break this habit. It is more important to them， because they have longer to live， and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it， easier than they can get out after they are in.
You are now in need of some ready money； and what I propose is， that you shall go to work， "tooth and nail，" for somebody who will give you money for it.
Let father and your boys take charge of your things at home—prepare for a crop， and make the crop， and you go to work for the best money wages， or in discharge of any debt you owe， that you can get. And to secure you a fair reward for your labor， I now promise you that for every dollar you will， between this and the first of May， get for your own labor either in money or in your own indebtedness， I will then give you one other dollar.
By this， if you hire yourself at ten dollars a month， from me you will get ten more， making twenty dollars a month for your work. In this， I do not mean you shall go off to St. Louis， or the lead mines， or the gold mines， in California， but I mean for you to go at it for the best wages you can get close to home—in Coles County.