Memories and Anecdotes by Kate Sanborn
page 44 of 188 (23%)
page 44 of 188 (23%)
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inspector reported to him that he was obliged to break into a room at
college where a riot was progressing and described a negro's efforts to hide himself by scurrying under the bed. "But how unnecessary; all he had to do was to keep dark." Once he was found waiting a long time at the counter of a grocery store. A friend passing said, "You've been there quite a while, Putnam." "Yes, I'm waiting all my appointed time until my change doth come." Expecting "Help" from Norwich, he was gazing in that direction and explained, "I'm looking unto the hills whence cometh our help." We often diverted ourselves at his home with "Rounce," the duplicate of euchre in dominoes. And we were startled by a Madonna dropping to the floor, leaving its frame on the wall. Instantly Professor Putnam remarked: "Her willing soul would not stay 'in such a frame as this.'" And when called to preside at the organ when the college choir was away, he whispered to me, "Listen to my interludicrous performance." How sad the end! A delicate constitution conquered by tuberculosis. With his wife he sought a milder climate abroad and died there. But no one can compute the good accomplished even by his unconscious influence, for everything was of the purest, highest, best. Soon after my return from St. Louis, I received a call from Packer Institute in Brooklyn, to teach English Literature, which was most agreeable. But when I arrived, the principal, Mr. Crittenden, told me |
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