n. It will interest, and we
are hoping that it will please, you to know that we shall dedicate
this volume to you as a slight, though none the less sincere, token
of our regard and affection to you as the friend of our father and
as a friend to us. Were our father living, it would please him, we
think, to see his sons collaborating as versifiers of the Pagan
lyrist whose songs he admired; it would please him, too, we are
equally certain, to see us dedicating the result of our enthusiastic
toil to so good a man and to so good a friend as you. The lyrics
which we have treated are in the majority of cases of a sportive
character, those appealing most directly to us and, we think, to the
hearts of people of these times. Yet the more serious songs are
those which please me best, for in them I find a certain touch which
softens my feelings, giving me gentler thoughts and a broader
charity. It is my intention to pursue the versification of Horace
still further, but whether my plan shall be fulfilled is so very
dubious that I set no store by it. I am wanting to print a volume of
my miscellaneous poems next fall, dedicating them to Julia, but I
have not yet begun to collect the material.

On Thursday, the 28th ultimo, we laid Melvin's remains to rest
finally in Graceland Cemetery. The lot I selected and bought is in a
pretty, accessible spot, sheltered by two oak trees, just such spot
as the boy himself, with his love for nature, would have chosen. The
interment was very private, none being present but the family.
Others were in the cemetery making preparations for the observance
of Decoration Day. Of this number were many Germans, and these,
attracted by the appearance of the pretentious German casket in
which our boy's body lay, gathered around wonderingly. They were
curious to know the story of that casket, for they had not seen one
like it for many years. But the ceremony, however painful, was
beautiful--beautiful in the caressing glory of the sunlight that was
all around, in the fragrant, velvety verdure that composed the bed
to which we consigned the ashes of the beloved one, in the gentle
music of the birds that nested hard by and knew no fear, and in the
love which we bore him and always shall.

You must tell Mrs. Gray that we shall not abandon our purpose to
induce her to visit us. We have every facility for keeping warm,
although if this atroci