It is like so much water added to the Spirit of Poetry."
And again he writes:--
"I received this morning a poem with the usual request to give 'my
real opinion' of it. I give you one stanza."
After quoting the verse and giving the subject of the poem, he
continues:--
"In his letter the author says, 'I did so much better on poetry than I
thought I could as a beginner, that I really have felt a little proud
of my poems.' He also sends me his photograph 'at sixty-five years of
age,' and asks for mine 'and a poem' in return. I had much rather send
him these than my 'real opinion,' which I shall never make known to
any man, except on compulsion and under the seal of secrecy."
His kindness and love of humor carried him through many a tedious
interruption. He generously overlooked the fact of the subterfuges to
which men and women resorted in order to get an interview, and to help
them out made as much of their excuses as possible. Speaking one day
of the persons who came to see him at Nahant, he said: "One man, a
perfect stranger, came with an omnibus full of ladies. He descended,
introduced himself, then returning to the omnibus took out all the
ladies, one, two, three, four, and five, with a little girl, and
brought them in. I entertained them to the best of my ability, and
they stayed an hour. They had scarcely gone when a forlorn woman in
black came up to me on the piazza, and asked for a dipper of water.
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