Washington City Feb 10. 1845Mary,

Page 1

I have recd. no papers or letters the week past from Vermont. The mails were delayed three days by the snow this side of New York and we have frightful accounts of the snow and wind along the sea coast as far north as Salem. We have not yet heard anything from the interior of New England & New York, but presume you have had a heavy storm. It was for several days extremely cold here & then we had snow & rain and all the time high wind & extremely disagreeable weather; much worse than the winter cold in Vermont.

All well. I think the whigs are gradually outgrowing the first depression of defeat and are beginning to assume a little more spirit and cheerfulness and to put as good a face on their condition as they are able, but it is a sore defeat.

You shall hear & read of controversies, personalities, quarrels, fights & duels among the members & there are some, but they appear much greater in the papers than they

are in fact. They disturb but for short time the ordinary tenor of affairs & then pass off and are forgotten, or afterward, alluded to only as matter of ridicule. Indeed I think this session of congress has been much more peaceable & the general treatment of the members of the two parties by each other has been much more courteous than the last session. Then the controversy for election of presidency was warm & violent, but now that has passed by.

In about ten days the new President, Col. Polk, will be in this city & immediately there will be a crowd here soliciting appointments. Yes no doubt there will be many thousands & it will be a motley of amusement to witness the strife, especially amusement to whigs who have no part or lot in the matter.

Since writing the above, I have recd. your mothers letter of the 1st and you may well conceive the impression it made when I consider her long nights of distress. Mary, she must keep still & some mode must be taken to have the work done without her. The information that a girl is to there before now was some relief to me. She says she has abandoned her proposed journey and I should think her health would not enable her to proceed.

I know not what to say but let all be done for the best. I am glad my time for return draws near, it is three weeks however & that is a long time to the sick. I must dismiss this subject.

Texas, Texas, Texas. I am sick of that too and shall say no more of it than I can help.

Your mothers letter speaks of Col. Coolidge & the marriage of his daughter. I had seen that marriage in the paper. It was unexpected to me but, from what I have heard Col. C say of Mr. Butler I presume it was to him satisfactory. You know my respect to Col. C. He was here this winter several days & was indeed very decisive in his disapprobation of our house, but your mother is very correct in presuming it does not appear to lead to those who become accustomed to it.

I have nothing new to write. I have been very busy in relation to my speech. There is much hard work in preparing the materials for a speech in , then after its delivery, in writing it out for the press, in correcting the proof sheets & then in , directing & sending off fifteen hundred copies by mail. But it is done & my friends must not expect I shall do this more than once in a session.

My Love to my wife & children Affectionately your fatherJ. Collamer