Statesmen . d his long residence abroad (some two yearsand three or four months) gave him a certainair of foreign distinction which to sensitivecritics was exceedingly offensive. While abroadhe met many desirable acquaintances, and hesaid in a letter to a friend at home: I nowhardly call to mind a person in England thatI cared to see whom I have not met undercircumstances the most agreeable and flatter-ing to myself. His rare intelligence on topicsinteresting to Englishmen, their politics, his-tory, law, literature, authorship, and publicmen commended him to the best people inEngland. It is po
Statesmen . d his long residence abroad (some two yearsand three or four months) gave him a certainair of foreign distinction which to sensitivecritics was exceedingly offensive. While abroadhe met many desirable acquaintances, and hesaid in a letter to a friend at home: I nowhardly call to mind a person in England thatI cared to see whom I have not met undercircumstances the most agreeable and flatter-ing to myself. His rare intelligence on topicsinteresting to Englishmen, their politics, his-tory, law, literature, authorship, and publicmen commended him to the best people inEngland. It is possible that his brilliant socialsuccesses abroad and his thoroughly enjoy-able residence there made him somewhat disaf-fected toward the comparatively raw culture of 228 STATESMEN _iis own land. On his return from abroad hewent into the practice of law, the details ofwhich were to him exceedingly irksome, and hecould not refrain from confessing to his intimatefriends that he had little heart for the drudgery. The Bust of Sumner in the Museum of Art, Boston, by his friend, Thomas Crawford. of a law office. Sometimes, says Mr. Pierce, atthis period he recurred unwisely to his foreignlife or letters in conversation with clients orlawyers who knew or cared little about suchthings, a habit likely to repel those who wereintent only on the business in hand, and to makethem feel that his mind was not enough on what CHARLES SUMNER 229 most concerned them. Indeed, prudence dic-tated a greater reserve in this regard with allexcept intimate friends than he maintained. Story, then a student in the office of GeorgeS. Hillard and Charles Sumner, says: After theflush of those exciting days abroad, his officeand daily occupation seemed dull and gray, andI cannot but think that that changed the wholeafter course of his life and thought. He did in-deed set himself with determination to his work,but it had lost the charm it formerly had and thedreams of those delightful days, and the echoesof
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