Still, the prime interests of this hardy son of the West were political.  How could they have been otherwise in his environment?  There is no evidence of literary refinement in his public utterances; no trace of the culture which comes from intimate association with the classics; no suggestion of inspiration quaffed in communion with imaginative and poetic souls.  An amusing recognition of these limitations is vouched for by a friend, who erased a line of poetry from a manuscript copy of a public address by Douglas.  Taken to task for his presumption, he defended himself by the indisputable assertion, that Douglas was never known to have quoted a line of poetry in his life.[607] Yet the unimaginative Douglas anticipated the era of aerial navigation now just dawning.  On one occasion, he urged upon the Senate a memorial from an aeronaut, who desired the aid of the government in experiments which he was conducting with dirigible balloons.  When the Senate, in a mirthful mood, proposed to refer the petition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Douglas protested that the subject should be treated seriously.[608]

While Douglas was thus steadily growing into complete accord with the New England elements in his section—­save on one vital point,—­he fell captive to the beauty and grace of one whose associations were with men and women south of Mason and Dixon’s line.  Adele Cutts was the daughter of Mr. J. Madison Cutts of Washington, who belonged to an old Maryland family.  She was the great-niece of Dolly Madison, whom she much resembled in charm of manner.  When Douglas first made her acquaintance, she was the belle of Washington society,—­in the days when the capital still boasted of a genuine aristocracy of gentleness, grace, and talent.  There are no conflicting testimonies as to her beauty.  Women spoke of her as “beautiful as a pearl;” to men she seemed “a most lovely and queenly apparition."[609] Both men and women found her sunny-tempered, generous, warm-hearted, and sincere.  What could there have been in the serious-minded, dark-visaged “Little Giant” to win the hand of this mistress of many hearts?  Perhaps she saw “Othello’s visage in his mind”; perhaps she yielded to the imperious will which would accept no refusal; at all events, Adele Cutts chose this plain little man of middle-age in preference to men of wealth and title.[610] It proved to be in every respect a happy marriage.[611] He cherished her with all the warmth of his manly affection; she became the devoted partner of all his toils.  His two boys found in her a true mother; and there was not a household in Washington where home-life was graced with tenderer mutual affection.[612]

Across this picture of domestic felicity, there fell but a single, fugitive shadow.  Adele Cutts was an adherent of the Roman Church; and at a time when Native Americanism was running riot with the sense of even intelligent men, such ecclesiastical connections were made the subject of some odious comment.  Although Douglas permitted his boys to be educated in the Catholic faith, and profoundly respected the religious instincts of his tender-hearted wife, he never entered into the Roman communion, nor in fact identified himself with any church.[613] Much of his relentless criticism of Native Americanism can be traced to his abhorrence of religious intolerance in any form.