Washington Monday 29^th Dec —
My dear Sister,
I have your second letter.
How much I wish you were here— Kossuth
is to come tomorrow — Nothing had been
done about his reception until late Saturday
evening & he was then expected to day —
About 8 oclock the Marshall came
round and said the Secretary of State
desired Henry & Mr Shields to take rooms
for Kossuth & his suite at the hotel —
Henry went to Browns and engaged the
rooms — Sunday morning he went over
to Baltimore to see Kossuth himself — taking
Green with him — He came back delighted
with his interview — he says Kossuth
is the embodiment of truth and earnestness
I asked if he had prepared him for a cold
reception here — he said Kossuth had
prepared himself, that he was entirely
equal to any emergency & that it

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Lazette Worden

Birth: 1803-11-01 Death: 1875-10-03

Sister

was impossible to anticipate him — He says
Kossuth is the handsomest man he has
ever seen — dignified and refined in his
manner — Henry was introduced to Madam
Kossuth Mr Pulsky & madam and others
of the suite — they all seemed perfectly
acquainted with him — If they remain
here long enough they are to dine with us
after the official dinners have passed —
The President and Mr Webster give dinners —
Mr Webster is to call on Kossuth at the
Hotel — this he volunteered to do —
The weather has been much colder than any
I have ever seen in Washington — the Thermometer
was at zero last week — What an
immense loss the burning of the Library
is to the nation — The fire was supposed
to be communicated from the end of a
joist entering one of the furnace fleus —
I am so much afraid of fire that I
hesitate about having our house at home
opened for that purpose — If you think you
will go out in January I will leave it
until then — I cannot make up my

mind to send Willie to the lake until
you have seen those walls — I have written to
him in the mean time to go to Mr Hager —
Willie writes that Bob is sick — how sit
sick is he & what can we do with him?
Unless he is very sick I suppose he
ought to be taken out of the stable
occasionally and led about if not
driven — I have seen two or three of
my neighbours but have not been out —
This is the first day I have felt
tolerably well — I suffer constantly
with neuralgia day and night — All
the rooms are put in order but two — this
house required whitewashing but the weather
is too cold — so I let it go for the present
I do not hear from Fred since he left
us — Mr Coxe who has a nephew in
the Coast Survey says Augustus will
be here until Spring as their employment
is now in the offices — I shall not
look for him earlier than February —
Charles Sumner came and dined with
us Friday without any especial invitation

he interests me very much — I am reading
a volume of his speeches on various
occasions chiefly in regard to slavery
he is evidently a disciple of Dr Channing
for whom he had great veneration —
A natural truthfulness of character with
a quick perception of right & wrong which I
think he possesses in an eminent degree have
peculiarly fitted him for the reception
of such teachings as Dr Channings— I doubt
whether he ever becomes a polotician – his
taste is evidently for a literary life
and he is homesick enough here —
Green is all the secretary Henry has
at present — he takes his meals
here — Mr Schoolcraft does not
come back until after the 1^st of Jan —
Mary feels very unhappy about little Nat’s
going to Marie’s she says the children will
maul her so that she will become thin —
I promised to ask you to change her home if
you discovered that she was losing flesh —
when you went home — Love to Frances
your own Sister —