Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/213

MILLARD FILLMORE 167 of confidential correspondence written by President Fillmore during a score of years while in public life; and, . fter a most careful examination, failed to rind a single passage that would not stand the light of day, not a word of ignoble office-seeking, no paltry tricks to gain notoriety, no base designs of fattening upon public plunder. Having thus glanced at the professional and political career of Mr. Fillmore, it now only re mains to allude very briefly to his private life from 1853 onward. "The circles of our felicities make short arches." Who shall question the wise axiom of Sir Thomas Browne, the brave old knight of Norwich, a favorite author with the president? Three weeks after the close of his administration he sustained a severe affliction in the loss of his wife, Abigail Powers, the daughter of a clergy man, whom he married February 5, 1826, and who was emphatically her husband s "right-hand." She had long been a sufferer from ill health and was looking forward most eagerly to a return to her old home, when she was taken away to those temples not made with hands. Irving says that she re ceived her death-warrant while standing by his side on the cold marble terrace of the capitol, listening to the inaugural address of Mr. Fillmore s suc cessor. To this Christian lady the White House is indebted for the books which to-day make the library one of the most attractive rooms in the