Page:Visit of the Hon. Carl Schurz to Boston, March 1881.pdf/73

60 the name of the writer, then unknown to me, and I wrote it as he spelled it. It was the name of our guest. The same day I posted a letter to Mr. Schurz, asking him for some expression of opinion on the question which might be publicly used, and adding incidentally that I wished he could be present at a dinner soon to be given in this city commemorative of the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, where it was proposed to emphasize that statesman's well-known sympathies with all who sought among us an asylum from foreign oppression. It happened to be convenient for Mr. Schurz to make the journey hither; and, accepting the invitation, he arrived just as the guests were about to enter the dining hall at Parker's. It was a notable occasion. Ex-Governor Boutwell, as chairman, spoke with deliberation on the place of Jefferson in our history. Other speakers were Henry Wilson, John P. Hale, Erastus Hopkins, and John A. Andrew, the last being one of the active managers of the festivity. Letters of sympathy were read from William C. Bryant, William H. Seward, and Abraham Lincoln,—Mr. Lincoln's being remarkable for its sententious statement of the issues of that period. But among the incidents of the day Mr. Schurz' speech was the most noted. He was then thirty years of age. Of those present few had ever heard of him, and probably only Senator Wilson had ever met him before. His brief remarks interested and charmed all, and, though the season was late, there was a general demand that he should