Somewhere in the cross streets he became acquainted with two children,
the son and daughter of a small shop-keeper. They, of course, told their
mother about their white-haired acquaintance, and with the fate of
Charlie Ross before her eyes, their mother warned them to keep out of his
way. He might be a tramp, and tramps were dangerous!

However, it was not long before the children met their white-haired
friend again, and the boy asked him: "Are you a tramp? Mother thinks
you're a tramp, and she wants to know what your name is." It may be
presumed that Mr. Longfellow laughed heartily at this misconception, but
he said: "I think I may call myself a tramp. I tramp a good deal; but you
may tell your mother that my name is Henry W. Longfellow." He afterwards
called on the mother in order to explain himself, and to congratulate her
on having such fine children.

When the Saturday Club, popularly known as the Atlantic Club, was
organized, one of the first subjects of discussion that came up was the
question of autographs. Emerson said that was the way in which he
obtained his postage stamps; but Longfellow confessed that he had given
away a large number of them. And so it continued to the end. "Why should
I not do it," he would say, "if it gives them pleasure?" Emerson looked
on such matters from the stoical point of view as an encouragement to
vanity; but he would have been more politic to have gratified his
curious, or sentimental admirers; for every autograph he gave would have
made a purchaser for his publishers.

Harmony did not always prevail in the Saturday Club, for politics was the
all-embracing subject in those days and its members represented every
shade of political opinion. Emerson, Longfellow, and Lowell were strongly
anti-slavery, but they differed in regard to methods. Lowell was what was