Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-10-25


is my seat,-I cannot face the light,
my eyes have been couched for catar
act" Then said l, IF l sit this side of
the fire place my old eyes cannot see
you, for the light all strikes you from
behind" SO with his consent walked
round the study-table and took such
a chair that our sides were toward the
broad window opening on Back Bay
with Cambridge on the northwest.
Thus he remained snug in his chimney
corner while | saw him half in profile,
and close at hand lest deafness should
hinder hearing His utterance was,
however, as plain to my ear as his
handwriting to my eyes. Now, sir"
said l, Il can really see you in the
flesh and in plenty of it, though neither
of us has outgrown his girdle." His
answer was, laughing, "There is very
little of me to be seen" l replied,
"AH jewels, as the German proverb
has it, are small"
His physique indicated no senility.
He stopped a good deal more than l
think | do, his flesh was more tiabby
and his complexion too pale for health.
Otherwise, though more than five
years my senior, he might pass for "a
younger man. His hazel eyes had not
waxed old and were not obscured by
glasses. His hearing was much better
than mine, he had much more hair,
and that rather hOary than white. He
wore no study-gown but a frock coat
Of tWilled cashmere. His beard was
close shayen,-no Whiskers,-nO NOUS
tache. His teeth | cannot recall.
Crows feet and wrinkles few and far
between.
Our first talk was about Hugenots.
One of his remarks was: Il remember
my fathers journey to Oxford. My
sister went with him but l did not
When | had given a lecture there,
however, l was carried out east by a
Mr.. Hodges for viewing the site of
the French fort and tracing its ruins
But that was at least thirty-tive years
ago"
When told that l had been there i'll
recent years he learned in answer tC
of the Fort, which was partly stone
restored on ancient lines, and owned
by a Hugenor society that has erected
granite monument beside its walls
Two open dictionaries balanced each
other on the SlOping sides Of book
stand. Books filled the shelves which
lined both sides of the room, but | re
member none at either end of it, anC
am quite sure there was not one vol
ume on the study table, though plenty
Of pens and paper. 1t was a day OF
driZZling rain, and l judged the genius
had chosen to hug the smOulderinG
CRATE and Groom his own fancieS.
/ AS l had spoken of my fathers re
moval a century ago from the Hugeno
cradle to Rutland he inquired if
knew Mrs Dorr,-our best known Yer
i mont pOeteSS,-and hearing that [ haC
! for a generation, he went on asking
about her history, husband, family an(
SO forth. sometimes" he added, ''sht
does me the honor of a call wheI
/ down here and 1 never see her withou
pleasure"
! Had my interview been a few week:
later he must have been a still NOR,
curious inquirer concerning Mrs
Adams of Wisconsin university for ht
had then read her commencement ode
of last June, and had written her il
! praise of its dignity of thought, force
! of expression and finish of style.''
The poet had never seen Rutland
and said that, while lecturing for years
at Dartmouth, he had never but once
crossed the Connecticut, half a mile
distant, for feasting on the scener!
of Norwich so superior in my eyes tC
all that met his gaze the other side
of the river. 1t was at this point,
believe, when l told him he had liveC
too long in vain.
The truth is that nothing in the
as that he had travelled so little. AS tC
our own country he said he had never
ventured west of Cleveland. and sc
down to Louisville via Cincinnati
Abroad he was at Paris and other
schools as a medic, but he journeyeG
nowhere else, nor did he see much
of the British isles till his hundred
! days there in 80. Regarding Oxford
where he was decorated his most vivid
memories were of a night in which be
/ nearly died of asthma
When l spoke of my first passage tC
Hamburg as consuming forty-seven
days, he said, Il was not much behind
you. My voyage out was forty-two
days and the return twenty-four, and
that with little sea Sickness
! The head of Alexander's half-brothe1
on the tetradachm which l wear as a
charm, catching his eye led him to
scrutinize it, not without questions
about its historic associations, and how
| got it. At first he blamed me that |
carried it on my watch, declaring
that l ought to be as shy of using it
as Hudibras was of his wit who bore
! it not about, unless on holidays or so,
as if afraid tc wear it out. He pointed
out how illegible certain letters of the
legend had grown. But when I said
word of the entertainment and in
struction as we'll, that sacred silver
had afforded to numbers without num-
/ Der for six and twenty years, and at
last even to him, he cried out, you
have done we'll, yes,-better than nu-
miSmatiSts who hide such talents in a
napkin
He then opened his table-drawer
h,