Trainer of Arabian horses, owner of Arabian horses, breeder of Arabians, Seward is many things. He is sixty, has white hair, slouches, swears, smokes cigars. When asked by an hysterical officer, when Washington was threatened with invasion at the time I took office, “What shall I fire at?,” Seward responded coolly: “Fire at the crisis!”
One winter’s afternoon, Louis Agassiz drove up to the White House, with his brilliant wife, Elizabeth. A Swiss-American, he speaks English with a marked but distinguished accent. We three had a long walk through the December garden and our conservatory, and he emphasized the value of studying from nature. Bustling to his carriage, parked on the driveway, he returned with his four-volume study, Natural History of the United States. He was pleased to present it to me—and inscribed the first volume. Elizabeth did her best to enlighten me on scientific points since I have never studied the sciences, a brief elementary course, I might call it. I found the two remarkable. When I can, I dip into his History.
Later, he sent his Recherches sur les poissons fossiles, this study in French. I have bequeathed it to the Library.
The visit of this pair has shown me depths that lie in Europe—depths I must explore.
Executive Mansion
1/14/64
I reviewed my Emancipation Proclamation to the best of my ability. Lights were on, the house quiet. Rain streaked the windows. I wanted to re-test each word, wholly for myself. In these troubled times I must rescue something for myself.
Thus: