I grew up on Sumner Street, so when I ran across a copy of David Donald's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Charles Sumner and the Coming Civil War, I decided I should read it and find out more about the person in whose honor my street was named. So what have I learned? That you should never, ever, take Charles Sumner on your honeymoon:
The Longfellows, who had no intention of giving up their friends just because they were married, took pity on Sumner and invited him to accompany them on their wedding trip to the Catskills. He accepted, and, on the train, read to the newlyweds Bossuet's funeral orations. (Pg. 95)
In his defense, Sumner was suffering from depression and ill health at the time, but still.
