Letter from James M. W. Yerrinton to Samuel Downer thanking him for the invitation to the reunion, with reminiscences
Title
Description
Subject
Creator
Publisher
Date Created
Rights
Access Rights
Format
Extent
Language
Type
Identifier
Spatial Coverage
Temporal Coverage
Rights Holder
Text
Boston, Aug. 6/77
Saml Downer Esq
Dear Sir:
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation to attend a “Reunion of the Free Soilers of 1848” on the 9th inst [sic], and thank you cordially for the opportunity thus afforded me of meeting the men with whose laws and vices I was familiar five[?] and twenty years ago, - men who so early espoused the cause of freedom, laying their best gifts on her shrine, -
"Ere her cause brought fame and profit, and 'twas prosperous to be just."
I anticipated great pleas-ure in meeting old friends, and recalling the memories of that “day of small things,” when we heard much of principle in politics, and very little of policy. Alas! And so many of the honored and trusted leaders of those years will be missed. Sumner, Wilson, Allen, Bur-lingame, Keyes, Gilpin, Webb, and many more, who did noble and valiant service, have passed on, “Where, beyond these vices, there is peace.” Some did not live to see the fruition of their toils; but they, too, had their re-ward:
“Tis not the grapes of bacaan that repay, But the high hope, that paints not by the way.”
Again thanking you for your kind remembrances
I am,
Faithfullly yours,
J. M. W. Yerrinton