Congressman Horace Mann, July 15, 1852

WASHINGTON, July 15, 1852.

I walked an hour yesterday, including sunset-time, on the southeast terrace; and a greater variety and variegation of the "fields of air" I never saw. There was no wind; so that the changes were merely atmospheric and chemical. But such rapidity of scene-shifting I never before saw. At every turn I took, a new celestial tapestry was displayed. There was no noise of ropes and pulleys; but the change was complete. The Gobelins could make nothing finer; but oh! for extent and rapidity of production, what are the Gobelins to the great Manufacturer? How I longed for you and the children! own personal pleasures or sufferings. But this summer there is nothing to engross me, and my thoughts fly home, morning, noon, and night. I see nobody, and live a lonely life, and, I fear, an unprofitable one. I am thinking all the time that it is the last summer I shall ever spend in Washington.

I see that Mr. Tallmadge of New York comes into direct collision with Mr. Webster's "retainers" in Boston. He made a public speech in New-York City the evening of the day that Mr. Webster passed through there. In that speech, he said he had seen Mr. Webster that day, who told him there was nothing to be done but to support the regular nominations. This statement the "Boston Journal" says it is "authorized directly and authoritatively to deny." This brings out Mr. Tallmadge, who re-affirms his statement. The truth is, Webster is so deeply wounded he cannot get cured. He would rather defeat everybody than be thus set aside himself.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, pp. 374-5