would have been delighted to sit for you, but, unfortunately, I am
leaving for the country to-morrow." How clever people are!

Mr. Longfellow speaks French like a native. He said: "I saw you the
other evening in 'Phedre.' I saw Rachel in it fifty years ago, but you
surpass her. You are magnificent, for you are _plus vivante_. I wish I
could make my praises vocal--_chanter vos louanges_."

"I wish that you could make _me_ vocal," she said. "How much finer my
Phedre would be if I could sing, and not be obliged to depend upon some
horrible soprano behind the scenes!"

"You don't need any extra attraction," Mr. Longfellow said. "I wish I
could make you feel what I felt."

"You can," she said, "and you do--by your poetry."

"Can you read my poetry?"

"Yes. I read your 'He-a-vatere.'"

"My--Oh yes--'Hiawatha.' But you surely do not understand that?"

"Yes, yes, indeed I do," she said. "_Chaque mot_."

[Illustration:
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW]

[Illustration:
JAMES G. BLAINE
When Speaker of the House of Representatives.]

"You are wonderful," he said, and fearing that she might be tempted to
recite "_chaque mot_" of his "Hiawatha," hastened to present Mr.
Holmes, who was all attention.

At last the tea-party came to an end. We all accompanied her to her
carriage, and as she was about to get in she turned with a sudden
impulse, threw her arms round Mr. Longfellow's neck, and said, "_Vous
etes adorable_," and kissed him on his cheek. He did not, seem
displeased, but as she drove away he turned to me and said, "You see I
did need a chaperon."

Johan has just come home from Boston, bringing incredible stories
about having talked in a machine called telephone. It was nothing but a
wire, one end in Boston and the other end in Cambridge. He said he
could hear quite plainly what the person in Cambridge said. Mr. Graham
Bell, our neighbor, has invented this. How wonderful it must be! He has
put up wires about Boston, but not farther than Cambridge--yet. He was
ambitious enough to suggest Providence. "What!" cried the members of
the committee. "You think you can talk along a wire in the air over
that distance?" "Let me just try it," said Bell. "I will bear half the
expense of putting up the wire if you will bear the other half."

He was ultra-convinced of his success when, on talking to his brother
in Cambridge from Boston in order to invite him to dinner, adding,
"Bring your mother-in-law," he heard, distinctly but feebly