Mrs. Dickinson writes with me in sympathy for yourself and Mr. Mather. Sincerely your friend, D. S. DICKINSON. MRS. MORRIS TO MR. DICKINSON. DERRY, February 27, 1862. MR. DICKINSON-My dear Sir-I was very much gratified at receiving a pamphlet from you some days ago. It assured me that the episode of our casual meeting in the railroad car was not forgotten by you. It has been a very pleasant reminiscence to me, and I am much pleased that it has not passed from your recollection. What an agonizing suspense we were in, during those December days that followed the insulting demand of England! I could hardly endure the policy of Mr. Seward in giving up those rebels, but now that the European powers whom we respect applaud the course, I am convinced that it was the right thing to do. At the same time we will reserve for ourselves the earnest hope that we shall one day demand satisfaction from England for her insulting words and action. As soon as the affair was over, I wished very much to know what your opinion was of the settlement of the case. The attitude that the Canadians assumed in the trouble amused me extremely. They were highly melodramatic in their indignation at the supposed insult to their flag. It reminded me of the people of Ephesus shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians; and Mr. Seward's calm despatch was not unlike in purport to the quieting words of the Town Clock on a memorable occasion. The Canadians out-snob their parent snob-land whenever they have a chance of showing themselves off. How grand our victories have been lately! I trust in mercy they may settle the question of foreign intervention at least. With a fever of anxiety and zeal for the great Union cause burning in my veins, I stay quietly in my country home, looking after my household, and working night and day for the soldiers' hospitals. "Telle est la vie" of woman-this active inactivity. It is a monotonous life in times like these, and I, for one, crave action with stirring men and minds. I am always attracted by an article in the papers that has your name attached to it in any way; and I read with interest your letter to the Union committee in New York. Your Hartford speech must have been most brilliant and effective in delivery; it is so stirring to read. I wish I could hear you speak. It would please me ever so much (and Mr. Morris for me), to hear from you sometimes in any shape or form that suggests itself to your mind. When you come to New England again, I shall hope to see you, so you must bear in remembrance, Your newly acquired friend, LUCY T. MORRIS. MR. DICKINSON TO DANIEL S. DICKINSON, JR. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, MY DEAR STEVIE-We were very much pleased with your nice good letters. In a little while you will be so good a clerk that I shall be independent, and want none but my own boys. Be careful of your health, dear Stevie, and do not hurt your eyes by study or exposure, and you will soon be well and strong. The snow-balling on the 22d must have been good fun. I used to like it once, but my snow-balling days were over some time since. The snow cannot last much longer, and I think a thaw is already commencing. I care not how soon it is out of the way, for when it is gone, and the ground is settled, and the birds and flowers come, it will give me new life. Your mother joins me in love to you and all the family. Your affectionate father, D. S. DICKINSON. MR. DICKINSON TO MRS. MORRIS. ALBANY, March 10, 1862. MY DEAR MRS. MORRIS-You can never know how pleased I was with your most excellent letter of the 27th inst., and I thank you from the best impulses of my heart for thus extend ing to me your generous confidence. I have read it to my wife and a numerous circle of intelligent ladies at our hotel, and I have taken the liberty of showing it to my associates in the government, as a sunbeam which fell upon my path in travel, and as the off-hand sketch of a true-hearted woman. In a life of vicissitude-full of lights which shed genial warmth, and of clouds so dark that they might be felt, the most pleasant acquaintances I have ever had I just met casually, as I did you, in journeying. They have some of them cheered me along the entire pathway of a perturbed existence--have been the companions of maturer years, and gladdened many solitary hours. I feel I have added one more friend to those who feel an interest in me, and will cheer me onward "till life's poor transient night is spent." My guardian genius is kind to me, and means to strew my pathway with flowers, if she cannot avert the inevitable ills of life. I admire especially what you say of Great Britain. As a nation I regard her as a lawless bully, robbing and plundering the weak, menacing those involved in embarrassment, and falling back upon her piety when brought to face the strong. The bulwark of a world's religion-she prays for those she fears, and preys upon those who cannot defend themselves. I do not believe we were under any obligation to surrender Mason and Slidell, and yet I approved of the letter of Secretary Seward, for I was in Washington when it was issued. Mason and Slidell can only serve as illustrations of the last lines of the "Beggar's Petition," and we can afford to wait. We are pledged to the destruction of this rebellion, and will follow that out with singleness of purpose, and finish it. Great Britain wanted an apology to raise the blockade, and then to take sides with rebellion, and force us to acknowledge its independence. She has been defeated in that infamous scheme, and will not probably interfere with us hereafter. But she will have to pay for her insolence with interest compounded. She has touched a chord in the American heart which will vibrate for ten gener ations. She has lighted up a flame whose pure and constant glow will guide us to honor and glory, and bear her, with all her pride and insolence, to her national burial-field. I hope I may live to see the day when this rebellion shall be put where it belongs. Our general news is flattering in the extreme. We have just had some unwelcome naval intelligence, but I do not regard it as very serious. Will you remember that I am a man of business, always hurried, always pressed, and writing as it were upon the run— and in so remembering, pardon this long, rambling, and, perhaps, too familiar letter. Be kind enough to present my regards to your husband, with the suggestion, that while there is a stern and salutary command against coveting the wife, there seems to be none against envying the husband. Sincerely yours, D. S. DICKINSON. BISHOP WHIPPLE TO MR. DICKINSON. FAIR VAULT, RICE Co., MINN., April 10, 1862. HONORABLE AND DEAR SIR-You remember you gave me a warm-hearted letter to President Buchanan at the time I made an appeal on behalf of my poor Indian wards. It miserably failed. Secretary Thompson had too much treason in his heart for justice. I have now appealed to President Lincoln; he has kindly sent me a response. I am a stranger to him. Will you do me the favor to address him a letter direct, stating your opinion of my efforts for these red men, and your confidence in myself? Inclosed I send you photographs of four of my Indian boys, who have been with me a year and a half. Yours faithfully, H. B. WHIPPLE, Bishop of Minnesota. MR. DICKINSON TO MRS. MORRIS. THE ORCHARD, May 31, 1862. MY DEAR MRS. MORRIS-Since receiving yours of the 13th, events have crowded each other on and off the stage, but the impending blows at Richmond and Corinth remain suspended. I would not care if some of the rebellious leaders were served in the same way; though I agree with you, that it would be as well for them to escape to some foreign land, to wander after the manner of their illustrious predecessors, "fugitives and vagabonds in the earth." The retreat from Corinth indicates that they are in search of the "last ditch," and I hope they will entrust the digging of it to Pillow, that he may get it on the wrong side. You expressed a desire in your last to know something of my domestic relations; and as that is always a fruitful theme of interest with me, I will sketch some of the outlines. I adopted one of the maxims of Nathaniel Macon, and "married my neighbor's daughter." Four lovely children were born to us. The oldest was Virginia, of whose too early death you learned in the beautiful poem of Mrs. Stephens; the second, our only son, bearing the romantic and historic, not to say fabulous. name of Manco Capac, a fine, manly boy, in the naval service of the U. S., was stricken down with the malignant fevers of Panama, and reached home to die in his 23d year, in 1850. He had early married, and left a young widow and two infant sons. They all remain with us, and we rear the children as our own, and thus live over again, in solicitude, anxiety, and affection, a life from which Providence seems to have ordinarily exempted our later years; but we regard this as a signal blessing, and a renewed lease of life. Dear Louise, our daughter by adoption, after years of suffering, was called home at midday. We have two daughters left to us, both married. Our parents, on both sides, have slept from their early toils for many years, but their memories are cherished with a fondness of affection which death alone can quench or silence. We have a numerous circle of relatives and connections, but too widespread and diversified to introduce on paper. We all hope the time may come when we may have the pleasure of doing it personally. I am glad of an introduction to your little son, and should be happy to have our little grandsons take him in charge awhile, to show him their curiosities, and inspire him with that profound awe with which a boy of six reverences those of about twice that age. Although our domestic life has been disturbed for thirty years by public relations, induced much more by circumstances |