Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 1

This year at home, intervening between College and Law School, Sumner himself did not, at its close, regard as profitably spent. It began with the study of mathematics, which does not seem to have been kept up more than five months. He read much, but in a desultory way. What he wrote was wanting in careful reflection and finish of style. His mind, as he saw the year in retrospect, had been prematurely agitated with political strifes which were not likely to be of permanent interest. Manhood had now come with its work and duties, and he entered upon it in a serious and resolute spirit.

Letters to classmates.

To Charlemagne Tower, Waterville, N. Y.

Boston, Sept. 27, 1830.

Scene.—Fourth-story, House 53 Hancock Street, half-past 10 in the evening.

my friend,—

Truditur dies die,
Novaeque pergunt interire Lunae.

Horace, Ode II. XVIII. 15, 16.

Yes, a month has now passed since we bade adieu to college pleasures and labors; and, if I mistake not, just a month since I last saw you in Holworthy, 4. You and I, I believe, had some sympathies with one another on departure; we both of us looked upon Cambridge with rather warmer feelings than most, and dreaded to sunder ourselves from so many kindly associations. One month ‘hath not a whit altered me;’ my mind is still full of those feelings of affection which bound me to the place and the friends I there enjoyed. I find it hard to untie the spell that knits me so strongly to college life. I never had a more melancholy time in my life than for the four hours after I last saw you. I went to my room, and found it usurped by a ‘new race,’ and my furniture on the road to Boston. Like Noah's dove, then, with nowhere to rest the sole of my foot, I went from room to room, and saw