ble with Douglas is that he does not see that
idealism is as real as realism. Douglas is something of a sophist. I do
not mean to disparage his value to the country. But he is a genius in
making the course of Jackson consistent. He has applied the same art to
justify his own conduct. He will always prove an elusive debater; and
you see, after all, this makes against his candor. This is not the sort
of stuff of which a thinker is made. There are men who will not trifle
with facts. They are your Shelleys, your Emersons. These men make the
brain of a nation. Douglas may make its body, if you can make a body
without making a brain."

"That's exactly it," said Abigail. "But it is not possible to have a
statesman as clear in his logic as Emerson, though dealing with coarser
material than philosophy's. Surely there is a chance now for some mind
of deep integrity, of real spirituality, to do something for this
chaotic, vulgar mass of humanity that is grabbing, feeding, trying to
foment war with Mexico. I am sure of it. Why this contempt of his for
the idealist, the reformer? He classes all sorts of grotesque,
half-insane people with the high-minded thinkers of the East. And now
that he is in Congress, and will have to face some of them, Adams for
example, I expect him to find a match."

I tried to have my friends understand Douglas, as I understood him. What
was he doing in Congress now? Trying to get appropriations for the
rivers and harbors of Illinois. "Won't that ensure his reelection?"
asked Abigail. "Yes, but do we not need the harbors?" I replied. "Why
pursue Douglas with arguments like these?"

Abigail's argumentativeness made me turn to Dorothy. Did I want a wife
who had such definite opinions about masculine questions such as these?
But now how to find Dorothy again? She had been back and forth between
Nashville and Reverdy's. We had exchanged only a few letters, with long
silences between. I began to depreciate myself for allowing Zoe or
anything connected with her to thwart my will with reference to Dorothy.
These meetings with Abigail and these conversations and arguments had
clarified my mind both as to Dorothy and as to Abigail. I wanted Dorothy
and I did not want Abigail. This being the case why should I not go to
Dorothy and tell her so? If I went to her with the same will that I took
up the matter of the farm, could I not win her?

It was not many days before I had the rarest opportunity in the world to
go