Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 4

I shall be sorry not to see you before you go to outre-men.¹ I envy you the going with health and strength. I improve slowly, walking a little daily, and then taking to my bed. Galvanism is now the order. I am glad to have seen Chase just before he passed away. Our interview was intimate and affectionate. Nothing but my bodily condition—making the journey to New York impossible without stopping, and making walking difficult-would keep me from his funeral. Remember me kindly to Mrs. Claflin, whose visit here was very pleasant to me.

The improvement which was apparent in the latter part of April continued through May, with, however, occasional reminders of weakness at the end of his walks. His daily drives in Washington, never so lovely as in May, were a stimulant to health. Mr. Hooper's horses were at his service. Sometimes he drove to General Cushing's suburban residence, six miles from town. In his drives he was glad to have a sympathetic friend with him. On some of them he invited Mrs. Claflin, wife of Governor Claflin, both always loyal to him. On another he had for his companion on a drive to Arlington the English philanthropist, Miss Mary Carpenter.

Later in May, for the first time since he absented himself from the Senate, more than five months before, he resumed the annotation and revision of his Works; and on that errand began to make visits to the Congressional Library. He wrote, June 2:‘I have gained in strength daily for the last month, and begin to have a sense of health, so that for ten days I have done a little work.’ Two days later he found himself weak again; but this weakness shortly gave way to ‘an increasing sense of health.’ The potions of strychnine ended July 11. At the close of the month, Dr. Brown-Sequard returned to Europe, and medical treatment for the present ended.²

During his illness he was constantly receiving letters expressing sympathy, and imploring him to rest. They came from friends far and near,—many, indeed most, of whom had not acted with him in the late election. Among the writers were Longfellow, Whittier, O. W. Holmes, Wendell Phillips, Gerrit Smith, Henry Ward Beecher, Lydia Maria Child, Amos A. Lawrence, Sidney Bartlett, Dr. T. W. Parsons, R. H. Dana,