Erastus Hopkins occasionally spent a Sunday with me at my boarding house.

When I went to Boston I often spent an hour in Richard Dana's office, and was sure of a kindly greeting if I chanced to encounter Sumner.

The restless and ubiquitous Henry Wilson, who, as he gathered and inspired the sentiment of the people, seemed often to be in ten places at once, used to think it worth his while to visit me to find out what the boys were thinking of.

In 1851 I was made Chairman of the Free Soil County Committee of Worcester County.

I do not think there was ever so good a political organization in the country before, or that there ever has been a better one since.