"God! if I were only young!" "I am young, Mr.Calhoun," said I."Send _me!_" "Would you go ?" he asked suddenly.
"I was going in any case." "Why, how do you mean ?" he demanded.
I felt the blood come to my face.

"'Tis all over between Miss Elisabeth Churchill and myself," said I, as calmly as I might.
"Tut! tut! a child's quarrel," he went on, "a child's quarrel! `Twill all mend in time." "Not by act of mine, then," said I hotly.
Again abstracted, he seemed not wholly to hear me.
"First," he mused, "the more important things"-- riding over my personal affairs as of little consequence.
"I will tell you, Nicholas," said he at last, wheeling swiftly upon me.
"Start next week! An army of settlers waits now for a leader along the Missouri.

Organize them; lead them out! Give them enthusiasm! Tell them what Oregon is! You may serve alike our party and our nation.

You can not measure the consequences of prompt action sometimes, done by a man who is resolved upon the right.

A thousand things may hinge on this.