for which if we expressed our thanks, he would say " Oh it is nothing to
bring people together, it is whether they are capable of sticking or not,
that counts"! Cousin Maria Whitney, ^{sister of Prof.s Whitney of Yale and Harvard} was brought to us by him, Mrs. Henry
M. Field of N.Y., the Frenchiest of French women, Mrs. Ames, the long time popular
correspondent of the "Independent". Miss Anna Brackett, the most solid
minded teacher in the country - ^{and to many others of whom you
have often heard us speak.}

Mrs. Rankle?

He was much in Washington, and often the guest of Sumner, ^of the Presi-
dent, ^and Heads of Cabinets, the confidante of many state secrets, the recip-
ient of ⁽streams of fascinating on'dits,^{) and was informed[?] of} currents of events, half hidden ^{from the public}
but full of pertinence in the political world. The long earnest discussions
with such men as he met in that political centre, with his radical, because
progressive tendency, stirred his nature deeply, so that in his first visit to
us afterward, he poured out for us his rich experience which seemed to put us
quite en rapport with that stirring ^national life ^{as seen by him}.

Invariably he would draw from his pockets letters from Smalley, of the
"London Times", from Sumner, Presidents of Colleges, editors of leading pa-
pers and magazines, letters from women of power, and high literary repute,