North Shore, Richmond Co., N. Y.,
July 9, '61.
My Dear Pinkerton, — I
have been long meaning to say how d’ ye do, and now your note is most welcome.
No, I stayed at home, resisting several very tempting calls, nor shall I be
lured to any college halls this year.
I have two brothers
at the war, and my wife has one. My neighbor and friend, Theodore Winthrop,
died, at Great Bethel, as he had lived. Many other warm friends are in arms,
and I hold myself ready when the call comes. I envy no other age. I believe
with all my heart in the cause, and in Abe Lincoln. His message is the most
truly American message ever delivered. Think upon what a millennial year we
have fallen when the President of the United States declares officially that
this government is founded upon the rights of man! Wonderfully acute, simple,
sagacious, and of antique honesty! I can forgive the jokes and the big hands,
and the inability to make bows. Some of us who doubted were wrong. This people
is not rotten. What the young men dream, the old men shall see. Well, I will
not discuss Seward just now. I do not believe him to be a coward or traitor.
Chase said to a friend's friend of mine last week, “Mr. Seward stands by my
strongest measures.”
I should like
greatly to sit with you and the P. M. and the D. A., and talk the night away,
even if the newspaper did find us out and tattle! But I can only shake your
hand and theirs, which I do with all my heart.
My wife sends her
kind remembrance. We have a little girl, born on the day of the Proclamation.
Yours always,
George William Curtis.
SOURCE: Edward Cary, George William Curtis, p.
147-8
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