af and two interesting houses.

Mrs. Gilbert Grosvenor, the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell, has very
kindly given me this wonderful letter about them:

My grandfather, Alexander Melville Bell, lived on the corner of 35th
Street and Volta Place in the house since occupied by Mr. Walter
Lippman, (but not at present).

Following my father's removal to Washington in about 1879, his
father and mother changed their residence from Brantford, Ontario,
to Georgetown. With them were their three nieces, the Misses
Symonds, who were my father's double cousins. At the back of the
35th Street property was an old stable which my father converted
into a laboratory, and he carried on experiments there almost until
the time of his death. He would come out nearly every afternoon to
his laboratory and visit with his parents before returning home in
the evening.

It was also our custom to have dinner with my grandfather and
grandmother on Sundays. They were very jolly times and my
grandfather always had a jar of candy for the grandchildren and
games which we could all play. He was very popular with all the
young people, being jolly, and looked a little like the usual idea
of Santa Claus, with his gray beard and hair.

Shortly after my grandfather came to live in Georgetown, his
brother, Mr. David Charles Bell and Mrs. Bell, followed him from
Brantford to Washington and bought the house next door. With them at
that time, keeping house for them, was Miss Aileen Bell. She was
noted in the family as having turned down Bernard Shaw's offer of
marriage in her young days, Bernard Shaw having been a great friend
of her brother, Mr. Chichester Bell, and having visited with the
family when they lived in Dublin, Ireland. Mr. David Bell had in his
young days moved to Dublin to carry on the career of his father,
Alexander Bell, as a teacher of elocution. His wife had a school for
young ladies. Another son of the family was Mr. Charles J. Bell,
later president of the American Security and Trust Company, who
later married my mother's sister, Roberta Hubbard, and came to
reside in Washington.

Mr. David Charles Bell was a very handsome man, but very irascible,
and the young people were quite afraid of him. He and his brother
had numerous vehement arguments as to whether Shakespeare or Bacon
wrote Shakespe