登陆注册
5197100000013

第13章

He had a great tenderness for the broken and ruined South, whose sins he felt that he had had his share in visiting upon her, and he was willing to do what he could to ease her sorrows in the case of any particular Southerner.He could not help looking askance upon the dramatic shows of retribution which some of the Northern politicians were working, but with all his misgivings he continued to act with the Republican party until after the election of Hayes; he was away from the country during the Garfield campaign.He was in fact one of the Massachusetts electors chosen by the Republican majority in 1816, and in that most painful hour when there was question of the policy and justice of counting Hayes in for the presidency, it was suggested by some of Lowell's friends that he should use the original right of the electors under the constitution, and vote for Tilden, whom one vote would have chosen president over Hayes.After he had cast his vote for Hayes, he quietly referred to the matter one day, in the moment of lighting his pipe, with perhaps the faintest trace of indignation in his tone.He said that whatever the first intent of the constitution was, usage had made the presidential electors strictly the instruments of the party which chose them, and that for him to have voted for Tilden when he had been chosen to vote for Hayes would have-been an act of bad faith.

He would have resumed for me all the old kindness of our relations before the recent year of his absence, but this had inevitably worked a little estrangement.He had at least lost the habit of me, and that says much in such matters.He was not so perfectly at rest in the Cambridge environment; in certain indefinable ways it did not so entirely suffice him, though he would have been then and always the last to allow this.

I imagine his friends realized more than he, that certain delicate but vital filaments of attachment had frayed and parted in alien air, and left him heart-loose as he had not been before.

I do not know whether it crossed his mind after the election of Hayes that he might be offered some place abroad, but it certainly crossed the minds of some of his friends, and I could not feel that I was acting for myself alone when I used a family connection with the President, very early in his term, to let him know that I believed Lowell would accept a diplomatic mission.I could assure him that I was writing wholly without Lowell's privity or authority, and I got back such a letter as I could wish in its delicate sense of the situation.The President said that he had already thought of offering Lowell something, and he gave me the pleasure, a pleasure beyond any other I could imagine, of asking Lowell whether he would accept the mission to Austria.I lost no time carrying his letter to Elmwood, where I found Lowell over his coffee at dinner.

He saw me at the threshold, and called to me through the open door to come in, and I handed him the letter, and sat down at table while he ran it through.When he had read it, he gave a quick " Ah!" and threw it over the length of the table to Mrs.Lowell.She read it in a smiling and loyal reticence, as if she would not say one word of all she might wish to say in urging his acceptance, though I could see that she was intensely eager for it.The whole situation was of a perfect New England character in its tacit significance; after Lowell had taken his coffee we turned into his study without further allusion to the matter.

A day or two later he came to my house to say that he could not accept the Austrian mission, and to ask me to tell the President so for him, and make his acknowledgments, which he would also write himself.He remained talking a little while of other things, and when he rose to go, he said with a sigh of vague reluctance, "I should like to see a play of Calderon," as if it had nothing to do with any wish of his that could still be fulfilled."Upon this hint I acted," and in due time it was found in Washington, that the gentleman who had been offered the Spanish mission would as lief go to Austria, and Lowell was sent to Madrid.

同类推荐
  • 论势

    论势

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 八十八祖道影传赞

    八十八祖道影传赞

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 存雅堂遗稿

    存雅堂遗稿

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 妙吉祥平等瑜伽秘密观身成佛仪轨

    妙吉祥平等瑜伽秘密观身成佛仪轨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 皇朝经世文编

    皇朝经世文编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 新传奇品

    新传奇品

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 凤在苍穹

    凤在苍穹

    她,医科大学高才生,杨氏太极第二十八代掌门人,全国武术冠军,才貌双全,绝世无双;她,知府千金,聪明伶俐,五岁吟诗,六岁作画,才艺超群,名冠扬州。一张传说中的藏宝图,一本子虚乌有的武功秘笈,一宗灭门惨案;一场冠今中外的武林盛会,一场权势的争夺。她魂附她,宝藏之迷,秘笈传说,灭门真相,江湖的血雨腥风,朝堂的风动暗涌,一路披荆斩棘,武林称雄,朝堂争锋。铅华散尽,落魄太子,少年将军,妖魅盟主,谁才是与她比翼双飞的良人?
  • 重生后换个身份再恋爱

    重生后换个身份再恋爱

    女主对男主说:“上辈子我爱你,这辈子我只爱钱。”男主对女主说:“亲爱的,我有钱,很多钱的那种有钱。"女二对男二说:”我喜欢杀人,所以没事滚远点,小心血溅你一身。“男二对女二说:”没事,我衣服多。“比女人还妖艳的男三:”明明五个人的电影,我却不能拥有姓名。呜呜呜~~罢了,我自己爱自己。”
  • The Heritage of Dedlow Marsh

    The Heritage of Dedlow Marsh

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 灵案录

    灵案录

    本是毫无关系的六人,却在一次次破案中相识,身份各有千秋,两个杀手,两个朝廷官员,两个前朝皇子,斗智斗勇,生死一线,相知相守······
  • 水石缘

    水石缘

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 空亡屋

    空亡屋

    世上有一种屋子,屋门永远开一半,关一半。开着的一半,代表活人进来。关着的一半,代表死人进来。这种屋子,叫做空亡屋。而我,正好是其中一间空亡屋的屋主。三年的时间,见识了缠人的恶鬼,也见识了缠鬼的恶人。
  • 那些年的那些花

    那些年的那些花

    那片笑声让我想起我的那些花儿,在我生命每个角落静静为我开着。我曾以为我会永远守在她身旁,今天我们已经离去在人海茫茫。有些故事还没讲完,那就算了吧。有些心情在岁月中已经难辨真假。如今这里荒草丛生,没有了鲜花,好在曾经拥有你们的春秋和冬夏。这是根据我17岁以前的经历改编的故事,从童年到青春。
  • 意能战士

    意能战士

    2120年,地球迎来新时代~意能时代!一个崭新而无比神秘的文明世界在此诞生!实现了真正意义上的一切皆有可能!意能战士、意能战车,意能食物、意能武器…人们终于可以驾驶飞船,轻易到达任何无比遥远的星系!各种生命星系的文明世界,映入人类的眼帘!五行文明、光之文明、暗之文明、风之文明、雷之文明、时之文明、空之文明…
  • 风月连城

    风月连城

    为与卓王孙“天下”一诺,风流骏赏的武林盟主杨逸之来到漠上,用一袭白衣,万朵桃花,弹奏出一曲千古风流的《郁轮袍》。可惜世事变幻,天涯隔知音。为救他生命中的公主,杨逸之于千军万马中浴血杀进杀出,更身陷地底之城,被作为非天向梵天所供奉的祭品。谶语迭出,江湖风波恶,漠上风尘,万里独人归。而当尘埃化成的一切蓦然在历史中沉碎时,那白色的妖魔发出了凄楚的怒啸。那是流传千年万年的悲哀,更如一件件隐秘出现的天人五衰一般,降临在杨逸之和相思身上。天人将命尽,重入六道轮回。谁是这个谶语的起咒人?谁又是谶语的应验者?谁是宿命的操盘手?谁又是宿命的演绎道具?