Sunday, May 5, 2024

Diary of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, April 27, 1851

Sumner brought a pocket-full of letters of congratulation and good advice which he has received since his election.1

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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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