in Metropolitan Hall, where at least four thousand persons were packed like sardines, while fully two thousand more filled the streets and listened to several speakers. My reception at the American meeting was tremendously—indescribably enthusiastic. The audience fairly trembled with excitement.
The Republican headquarters is crowded from early morning until late at night and is a continuous mass-meeting. “Long John” [Wentworth] commands like a field-marshal and everything seems to proceed in military fashion. It is really ludicrous to see how even the most quiet persons have lost their senses. The Democrats are also making the most strenuous efforts, but it is generally believed that the Republicans will carry Chicago by their old majority.
South Bend, Indiana, March 9, 1860.
Since I wrote you from Jacksonville, I have had hardly a moment's rest. I was actually unable to find a half-hour's leisure. Our German brothers in Terre Haute and Evansville thought so much of me that they would scarcely allow me to go to bed; and before I was sound asleep, I was wakened by their serenade. This week has really been a hard one and I have been compelled to make great efforts. I have passed three nights on the train, and only one of these in a sleeper. I arrived here a half hour ago (it's now 10 A.M.), and now, at last, I am to have a day to myself. This life on the train is abominable; for breakfast indescribable beefsteak, tough as tanned leather, warmed-up potatoes and saleratus “biscuits” that smell like green soap. Ditto at noon, ditto at night; then the lecture and the same answers to the same compliments, and finally to bed, quite worn out; and the next morning I am on the train again. I am heartily tired of this now and am delighted at the prospect of soon being at home.
