[Washington—Saturday, 22 March 1873]
Saturday morning I went in early with “J” and passed the entire morning with the Senator. Several colored persons came in as we sat there and those who were people of eminence were introduced. He talked of literature and showed us his own curiosities which appear to be numberless. Jamie was called away but he urged me to stay. He said he had sent a message to the Senate which required a reply and he expected every moment to hear the sound of hoofs on the pavement as he had requested an especial messenger to be sent on horseback. The messenger did not arrive but I stayed on all the same until his carriage came to take him to the Capitol when he insisted that I should accompany him. He showed me all the wonders of the place not forgetting the doors which Crawford never lived even to design in clay altogether but wh. his wife desiring to have the money caused to be finished by her husband’s workmen and foisted upon our government. They are poor enough. Sumner opposed her in what he considered a dishonest attempt to get money but of course he could not make an open opposition of this nature against a lady, the widow of his friend.
Sumner’s character is one of the most extraordinary pictures of opposing elements ever combined in one person. He is so possessed by Sumner that there is really no room for the fair existence of another in his world. Position, popularity, domestic happiness, health, have one by one been cut away from him, but he still stands erect with as large a faith in Sumner & with as determined a look toward the future as if it beckoned him on to glory & happiness. I suppose he must believe that the next turn of Fortune which must give him the favor he has now lost, but were he another man, all the honors of the state could hardly recompense him in the least for what he has lost. He has a firm proud spirit which his terrible bodily suffering does not appear to make falter. His health is so precarious that doubtless a few more adverse strokes would finish him, but he has had all there are to have one would say. His friends however uphold him most tenderly; letters from dear Mrs Child and others lay upon his table urging him to put away all excitement and try to live for the service of the state. Public honor, probity, the high service of his country seem to be the passions which animate him and by which he endures. His [sic] has a mania for collecting rare books & pictures nowadays and it is almost pitiful to see how this fancy runs away with him and how he must frequently be deceived. The tragedy of his marriage would be far more tragic if he had left any scar (as far as mortal can discover) save upon his pride. I would not do a man whom I hold in such honor any injustice but he never seemed in love.
