whole audience rose; and it
was spontaneous, hearty, and affecting.

I was very much surprised by the President's face and manner. It is,
in its way, one of the most remarkable faces I have ever seen. Not
imaginative, but very powerful in its firmness (or perhaps
obstinacy), strength of will, and steadiness of purpose. There is a
reticence in it too, curiously at variance with that first
unfortunate speech of his. A man not to be turned or trifled with. A
man (I should say) who must be killed to be got out of the way. His
manners, perfectly composed. We looked at one another pretty hard.
There was an air of chronic anxiety upon him. But not a crease or a
ruffle in his dress, and his papers were as composed as himself.
(Mr. Thornton was going in to deliver his credentials, immediately
afterwards.)

This day fortnight will find me, please God, in my "native Boston."
I wish I were there to-day.

Ever, my dear Fields, your affectionate friend,

CHARLES DICKENS, _Chairman Missionary Society._

When he returned to Boston in the latter part of the month, after his
fatiguing campaign in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington,
he seemed far from well, and one afternoon sent round from the Parker
House to me this little note, explaining why he could not go out on our
accustomed walk.

I have been terrifying Dolby out of his wits, by setting in for a
paroxysm of sneezing, and it would be madness in me, with such a
cold, and on such a night, and with to-morrow's reading before me,
to go out. I need not add that I shall be heartily glad to see you
if you have time. Many thanks for the Life and Letters of Wilder
Dwight. I shall "save up" that book, to read on the passage home.
After turning over the leaves, I have shut it up and put it away;
for I am a great reader at sea, and wish to reserve the interest
that I find awaiting me in the personal following of the sad war.
Good God, when one stands among the hearths that war has broken,
what an awful consideration it is that such a tremendous evil _must_
be sometimes!

Ever affectionately yours,

CHARLES DICKENS.

* * * * *

I will dispose here of the question often asked me by correspondents,
and lately renewed in many epistles, _"Was Charles Dickens a believer in
our Saviour's life and teachings?"_ Persons a