with me on the stage through the four acts with a fortitude which I still
wonder at, and with the keenest zest for all the details of the
performance. No finer testimony to the love and honor which all kinds of
people had for him could have been given than that shown by the actors
and employees of the theatre, high and low. They thronged the scenery,
those who were not upon the stage, and at the edge of every wing were
faces peering round at the poet, who sat unconscious of their adoration,
intent upon the play. He was intercepted at every step in going out, and
made to put his name to the photographs of himself which his worshippers
produced from their persons.

He came to the first night of the piece, and when it seemed to be finding
favor with the public, he leaned forward out of his line to nod and smile
at the author; when they, had the author up, it was the sweetest flattery
of the applause which abused his fondness that Longfellow clapped first
and loudest.

Where once he had given his kindness he could not again withhold it, and
he was anxious no fact should be interpreted as withdrawal. When the
Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil, who was so great a lover of Longfellow, came
to Boston, he asked himself out to dine with the poet, who had expected
to offer him some such hospitality. Soon after, Longfellow met me, and
as if eager to forestall a possible feeling in me, said, "I wanted to ask
you to dinner with the Emperor, but he not only sent word he was coming,
he named his fellow-guests!" I answered that though I should probably
never come so near dining with an emperor again, I prized his wish to ask
me much more than the chance I had missed; and with this my great and
good friend seemed a little consoled. I believe that I do not speak too
confidently of our relation. He was truly the friend of all men, but I
had certainly the advantage of my propinquity. We were near neighbors, as