Sumner brought a
pocket-full of letters of congratulation and good advice which he has received
since his election.1
1 The writer may be permitted to state how he
received the news. He was one of the half-dozen Free Soil students of the Law
School out of one hundred or more attending it, and the rest of the one hundred
were nearly all bitter against the Free Soil party. On the 23d of April he had
heard that Sumner was elected, and was greatly disappointed an hour later to
learn that the report was untrue. When hearing the second report of his
election the next day, he distrusted it, and hastened to Boston. He was
rejoiced to find this one true, and then sought Sumner in vain. On the evening
of the day but one after, he found a scrap of paper in the keyhole of his room,
No. 1 Divinity Hall, which proved to be from Sumner, with "Sorry not to
see my valued friend" written on it. He sought Sumner at Palfrey's, near
by, and found him there. The two walked, after leaving Palfrey's, along the
railway track then existing, across the Common, to Longfellow's. The writer
said to Sumner on the way, "This is too good; I fear you will die before
taking your seat." He replied, "Perhaps that will be the best thing
for me." The writer expressed the hope that his first speech in the Senate
would be on foreign affairs. The two entered Craigie House,—the writer's first
meeting with the poet and his wife; and leaving shortly, he walked, thoughtful,
and never so happy before, to his lodgings. With much joy and hope the youth of
Massachusetts greeted the election of the new senator.
SOURCE: Edward L.
Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 246
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