The newspapers advertise Mr. Sumner's reception to take
place to-day: that he will be received by a committee at my house, thence taken
to Boston, where he will be received at the Roxbury line by the Mayor and city
authorities and a cavalcade of citizens, and an address to be made to him by
Josiah Quincy, Sen. (eighty-six years old), thence to the state house, where he
will be welcomed by the Governor.
I went to Boston as usual. Came out at one. Found Mr. Sumner
here, with Mr. Longfellow, Rev. Dr. Huntington, Dr. Perry, his physician, and
his brother George.
He lunched, conversed with a reporter for the press, and
gave him his speech in manuscript, after which I sent the reporter to town. He
appears well when sitting, but is feeble when standing. I gave him a parlor to
himself, and shut him up to avoid fatigue and enable him to prepare his
speeches. He was here an hour and a half. I gave him some wine before starting,
then delivered him over to the committee, who were in barouches. They had
reserved a seat for me by the side of Mr. Sumner, but I declined to go. I
thought the committee were disappointed, and also at seeing a Fillmore flag
flying at the side of my house. But they had told me the reception was to be
without distinction of party, and I took them on their own ground. After dinner
I drove to town with Sarah and the children. Saw the procession from Mr.
Appleton's. A long cavalcade, music, then carriages with Mr. Sumner and his
friends.
SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence:
With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 142-3
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