Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 2

[335] opinion about the two? What is the opinion in Europe? Write me every thing you know on the subject.

Mrs. Lieber, with her three boys, has arrived from Hamburg; and all are nestled under Howe's roof. The Crawfords and A——are there also. Crawford is making a bust of President Quincy, at the request of the students of Harvard College. We hope to give him an order for a full-length statue of the President, to be placed in the College Library.

I have given Dr. Ray a letter to you. He is the author of a work on ‘The Law of Insanity,’ which has done more for a correct understanding of this subject than all other works. He has revolutionized the law on the subject. His work was cited in the trial of McNaughten in England. He goes abroad, like Dr. Bell, to observe the Lunatic Asylums, previous to taking charge of that which is to be built in Rhode Island.

Felton has lost his wife,—a woman of rare self-forgetfulness and simplicity of character.

All well but Hillard, whose exquisite soul frets its feeble body.

Ever thine,

Chas.

To Dr. Francis Lieber.

Boston, June 3, 1845.

dear Lieber,—We have your dear wife and the three boys among us. I am glad to see them, and have already enjoyed two pleasant drives with her,—one in order to find a pleasant home for the summer. We looked through Brookline, but that is the retreat of fashion; and a patch of earth there should be covered with gold, in order to pay its rent. . . .

Oscar is a man, almost. What shall he be? I hope he will come and see me, that I may talk with him. He has a German look; but Hamilton particularly is one of Tacitus's Germans. The youngest has no nationality. I can now enter into your feelings as a father. I know how anxious you must be for their education and happiness, and how their future must fill your soul. They are continuations of yourself. Believe, my dear Lieber, that I take a true interest in their welfare, and long to be of service to them. But what can I do for any body? I have finished my labors on ‘Vesey.’ The edition (in twenty volumes) is all printed; and that millstone has fallen from my neck.

Howe has written you of the bombshell we threw into Dwight's camp. We came forward at the meeting of the Prison Discipline Society and opposed his report,—vindicating the Philadelphia prison. A committee has been appointed, to whom his report has been referred, with authority to visit the prison at Philadelphia. Dwight has been to see me repeatedly, and seems very anxious. It is the first interference with his absolute sway that has occurred in the history of the Society.

Adien I We shall see much of you this summer.

Ever yours,

Charles Sumner