some important event in another's, not given in the Encyclopedia; or he
asked one man why he did this or why some other man did that.

Most interesting were, of course, the replies. Thus General Grant
sketched on an improvised map the exact spot where General Lee
surrendered to him; Longfellow told him how he came to write
"Excelsior"; Whittier told the story of "The Barefoot Boy"; Tennyson
wrote out a stanza or two of "The Brook," upon condition that Edward
would not again use the word "awful," which the poet said "is slang for
'very,'" and "I hate slang."

One day the boy received a letter from the Confederate general Jubal A.
Early, giving the real reason why he burned Chambersburg. A friend
visiting Edward's father, happening to see the letter, recognized in it
a hitherto-missing bit of history, and suggested that it be published in
the New York Tribune. The letter attracted wide attention and provoked
national discussion.

This suggested to the editor of The Tribune that Edward might have other
equally interesting letters; so he despatched a reporter to the boy's
home. This reporter was Ripley Hitchcock, who afterward became literary
adviser for the Appletons and Harpers. Of course Hitchcock at once saw a
"story" in the boy's letters, and within a few days The Tribune appeared
with a long article on its principal news page giving an account of the
Brooklyn boy's remarkable letters and how he had secured them. The
Brooklyn Eagle quickly followed with a request for an interview; the
Boston Globe followed suit; the Philadelphia Public Ledger sent its New
York correspondent; and before Edward was aware of it, newspapers in
different parts of the country were writing about "the well-known
Brooklyn autograph collector."