'Certainly,' I replied, and went to fetch her a glass. When I brought
it she said, 'There is another woman just by the fence who is tired
and thirsty; I will carry this to her.' But she struck her head as she
passed through the window and spilled the water on the piazza. 'Oh,
what have I done!' she said. 'If I had a floor-cloth, I would wipe it
up.' 'Oh, no matter about the water,' I said, 'if you have not hurt
yourself.' Then I went and brought more water for them both, and sent
them on their way, at last, refreshed and rejoicing." Once Longfellow
drew out of his pocket a queer request for an autograph, saying "that
the writer loved poetry in most any style, and would he please copy
his 'Break, break, break' for the writer?" He also described in a note
a little encounter in the street, on a windy day, with an elderly
French gentleman in company with a young lady, who introduced them to
each other. The Frenchman said:--
"'Monsieur, vous avez un fils qui fait de la peinture.'
"'Oui, monsieur.'
"'Il a du merite. Il a beaucoup d'avenir.'
"'Ah,' said I, 'c'est une belle chose que l'avenir.'
"The elderly French gentleman rolled up the whites of his eyes and
answered:--
"'Oui, c'est une belle chose; mais vous et moi, nous n'en avons pas
beaucoup!'
"Superfluous information!--H. W. L."
It would be both an endless and unprofitable task to recall more of
the curious experiences which popularity brought down upon him.
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