And as Dorothy had enjoyed
herself so much during the winter that we had spent there, she was
urging me to return. I had my affairs now under better management, and
communication with Chicago was rather convenient; besides Dorothy was
not well. The loss of Jenny and the death of her mother had visibly
affected her health. I decided at last to spend the winter in
Washington.
The trip from Chicago to New York by boat and by train was as wearisome
as before. When we arrived in New York, Dorothy had to take to her bed
and rest for two days before proceeding to Washington.
We took a house again, keeping Mammy for intimate service and
supplementing her with two colored women who fitted in fairly well. Our
boy Reverdy was put in school.
I began to attend the sessions of the Senate, taking Dorothy when she
wished to go. Clay of Kentucky, after an absence of eight years, was
back; here were also Webster and Calhoun, the lions of an earlier day.
They were enacting their last parts, trying to re-imprison the winds of
destiny, which the events of the Mexican War had set to roaring over the
land. Young America, in the person of Douglas, faced the hierarchy of
the earlier republic; and Seward of New York, older than Douglas by some
twelve years, but less versatile and attractive, stood now as a
spokesman for a new party.
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