Lincoln receives letter from Herndon informing him of receipt of fee. "I . . . wish you to buy Bank certificates and pay my debt there," he replies, ". . . pay Lavely and Stout $20—and Priest & somebody (oil makers) $10—for materials got for house-painting. . . . As you are all so anxious for me to distinguish myself, I have concluded to do so, before long."Abraham Lincoln to William H. Herndon, 13 December 1847, CW, 1:420.