Sunday, March 22, 2015

Charles Eliot Norton to George William Curtis, September 30, 1862

Shady Hill, 30 September, 1862.

Your note was most welcome. It was delightful to exchange congratulations on the Declaration, not of Independence, but of Liberty. The 22d September will be one of our memorable days forever. As you say nothing could be better than the answer made by the New York Convention to the Proclamation. Wadsworth's speech was excellent; it had the true tone, and was not only earnest but effective. The field is well laid out, — and there can be no doubt as to who will win.
Now when does your Congressional Nominating Convention meet? And what are your prospects? I will "stump" for you, or write for you, or do anything to promote your success which you want done. It will be service for the nation, not for you.1

I did not thank you in my last note for the delightful notice of Clough and his poems in the last Harper. It said everything I could have wished, and will give real pleasure, I am sure, to Mrs. Clough, to whom I have sent it. There has been no notice so appreciative, so tender or so just. . . .
_______________

1 Curtis did not receive the nomination.

SOURCE: Sara Norton and  M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 257-8

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