C. Edwards Lester, Life and public services of Charles Sumner: Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March 11, 1874.

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Xi.

The managers of the Young Men's Association of Albany, after excluding from their lecture-room all [470] Colored persons, had invited Senator Sumner to address them, on the character and history of Lafayette. Their heroic achievement seems to have been fully appreciated, and they received the following well-merited reply:— ‘I am astonished at the request. I cannot consent to speak of Lafayette, who was not ashamed to fight beside a black soldier, to an audience too delicate to sit beside a black citizen. I cannot speak of Lafayette, who was a friend of universal liberty, under the auspices of a society which makes itself the champion of caste and vulgar prejudice.’ This can hardly be called a Sumner milestone, but it is one of those little shining pebbles that the feet of the traveler may turn up, on the sands of time —like some ancient intaglio—with the two charmed names: Lafayette—Sumner.