The Writings of Carl Schurz/To Allen G. Thurman, November 8th, 1890
TO ALLEN G. THURMAN
My dear Mr. Thurman: I have just written a letter to the committee of invitation, who had done me the honor of inviting me to the banquet to be given to celebrate your 77th birthday, expressing to them my regret at being prevented from joining them by my engagements here. But I wish to say to you personally how glad I should have been to take you by the hand once more, especially on such an occasion, and how sorry I am to find it impossible. The memory of the old days when we sat together in the Senate Chamber, and of the struggles in many of which we stood side by side, and of the cordial feelings we always entertained toward one another, is still very vivid in my mind, and I trust you have not forgotten them. You may well believe me when I assure you that every word I wrote to the Invitation Committee came straight from my heart.
I congratulate you most sincerely upon the appreciation of your merits which now comes to you so abundantly, although you are out of public life—which, by the way, you ought not to have been as long as your strength held out—and wish you many, many more happy days. Let me call you my old friend, as you may be sure I am