- M
rsMary N. Morris - Miss Anna Paine
Mrs.
Morris is the daughter of Mr John C. Spencer whose
relations with the vicarious administration of John Tyler as President of the United States have been
very remarkable— When in the summer of 1841. the rupture occurred
between Mr Tyler and the whig cabinet of
President Harrison— John
C. Spencer, was President or Chairman of a whig association in the State
of New-York and called an indignation meeting of whigs against Tyler at
Syracuse— Before that meeting was held on the 12th. of October 1841. Mr Spencer
was appointed by Mr Tyler Secretary of War,
which Office he accepted and held, till March 7. 1843 when he was
appointed Secretary of the Treasury— During the recent Session of
Congress he was nominated a judge of the Supreme Court and on the 31st. of January last was rejected by the
Senate. Since then, he resigned his office as Secretary of the Treasury,
for which no reason has been made public; and on the last day of the
Session of the Senate, was again nominated as judge of the Supreme
Court, and again rejected— Mrs Morris’s husband was a
clerk in the Treasury department while her father was the Secretary, and
retires with him— I have little acquaintance with this Lady, but she has
been very courteous to my
wife and family, and earnestly solicitous that I would
write some verses addressed to her— I did write a couple of Stanzas
which puzzled me in the composition not a little— For I began with a
line of seven syllables and in following out the verse fell
unconsciously into the blunder of mingling 7 and 8 syllable lines
together— I discovered it only by the want of harmony in the lines upon
reading them over— I never before the peculiar property of the seven
syllable line, which consists in the uniform location of the accent and
emphasis on the first syllable of each line— The inadvertent admission
of a word accented on the second syllable, changes the measure to the
eight syllable verse, and the mixture of the two measures produces
dissonance— It took me hours to Procrustesize my lines to Mrs Morris— She was here this day with
Miss Paine, when I was out.—
Miss Paine left word that I must not write any more verses for ladies— I
proceeded in the assortment of my documents for the second and third
Sessions of the 27th. Congress, visiting for
that purpose, the Globe and Intelligencer Offices and the Clerk’s Office of the house. The
bookbinder of the Globe had bound the five volumes of my Reports of
Committees 27 Congress 2. Session in 6. whereby the contents of each
volume did not correspond with the index.— French gave me in Exchange for the
set, one duly bound.— He gave me also a set of the Senate Documents of
the same Session which had not been delivered to me— Much of the day was
consumed in settling accounts and paying off bills— Towards evening I
rode with my wife daughter and
granddaughter to the Eastern
front yard of the Capitol, and heard the music of the marine band— Met
there W. S. Archer, Senator from
Virginia. Also William and
John Cranch— The heat of the
weather breeds idleness.