beaten
twice at 'High Low Jack' by Ben the learned pig. I always wondered why
two pipes in liquid measure were called a hogshead; now I know; it was
on account of their great capacity." He also told of the donkey's
loneliness in his absence, as reported by his little daughter.

I gave my first series of talks at Tilden Seminary at West Lebanon,
New Hampshire, only a few miles from Hanover. President Asa D. Smith
of Dartmouth came to hear two of them, and after I had given the whole
series from Chaucer to Burns, he took them to Appleton & Company, the
New York publishers, who were relatives of his, and surprised me by
having them printed.

I give an unasked-for opinion by John G. Whittier:

I spent a pleasant hour last evening over the charming little
volume, _Home Pictures of English Poets_, which thou wast kind
enough to send me, and which I hope is having a wide
circulation as it deserves. Its analysis of character and
estimate of literary merit strike me as in the main correct.
Its racy, colloquial style, enlivened by anecdote and citation,
makes it anything but a dull book. It seems to me admirably
adapted to supply a want in hearth and home.

I lectured next in various towns in New Hampshire and Vermont; as St.
Johnsbury, where I was invited by Governor Fairbanks; Bath, New
Hampshire, asked by Mrs. Johnson, a well-known writer on flowers and
horticulture, a very entertaining woman. At one town in Vermont I
lectured at the large academy there--not much opportunity for rest in
such a building. My room was just off the music room where duets were
being executed, and a little further on girls were taking singing
lessons, while a noisy little clock-ette on my bureau zigzagged out
the rapid ticks. At the evening meal I was expected to be agreeable,
also after the lecture to meet and entertain a few friends. When I at
last retired that blatant clock made me so nervous that I placed it at
first in the bureau drawer, where it sounded if possible louder than
ever. Then I rose and put it way back in a closet; no hope; at last I
partially dressed and carried it the full length of the long hall, and
laid it down to sleep on its side. And I think that depressed it. In
the morning, a hasty breakfast, because a dozen or more girls were
waiting at the door to ask me to write a "tasty sentiment" before I
left, in their autograph albums, with my autograph of course, and
"something of your