[284]
less perhaps by my own sorrow than by occupation with all the arrangements, and constant excitement from the sorrows of others.
In my time, Boston has never been so saddened before; and, if I am not mistaken, the same number of people were never so saddened before in this country.
Such a meeting as was held [here] last Wednesday, of three thousand persons, is, I am fully persuaded, unlike any other that was ever held of so many persons, anywhere; not a sound being heard except the voices of the speakers, and the sobs of the audience of grown men, and the response of Aye to the resolutions coming up, at last, like a moan.
But we will talk of it all; I cannot write.
Yours always,
To Hon. Edward Everett, Washington.
Boston, November 20, 1852.
My dear Everett,—I have received two notes from you, and sundry packets of letters, etc., relating to Mr. Webster; but I have thought it better not to trouble you with answers.
Everything, however, has no doubt come safely that you have sent.1 . . . .
I am surprised anew every day at the sincerity and extent of the sorrow for Mr. Webster's death.
There is a touch of repentance in it for the injustice that has been done him, and a feeling of anxiety about the future in our political position, which tend to deepen its channel, as it flows on in a stream that constantly grows broader.
The number of sermons that have been published about it in New England is getting to be very great, and the number of those delivered is quite enormous. . . . .
The Library is getting on, but will hardly be opened till after your return.2 I wrote a strong letter to Mr. T. W. Ward—in New York a fortnight or more ago, about funding Mr. Bates's donation, and reserving the income to purchase books of permanent value; which he sent to Mr. Bates, ‘confirming it strongly.’
I added that your 