was to buy a "Jack the Giant-Killer" to be his own.

He did not escape the sad experiences of the war. His eldest son was
severely wounded, and he also went, as did Dr. Holmes and other less
famous but equally anxious parents, in search of his boy.

The diary continues:--

"_December_ 14th.--Went to pass the afternoon with Longfellow,
and found his son able to walk about a little. He described his own
arrival at a railway station south of Washington. He found no one
there but a rough-looking officer, who was walking up and down the
platform. At each turn he regarded Longfellow, and at length came up,
and taking his hand said:

"'Is this Professor Longfellow? It was I who translated "Hiawatha"
into Russian. I have come to this country to fight for the Union.'"

In the year 1865 began those Wednesday evenings devoted to reading the
new translation of Dante. They were delightful occasions. Lowell,
Norton, Greene, Howells, and such other Dante scholars or intimate
friends as were accessible, made up the circle of kindly critics.
Those evenings increased in interest as the work progressed, and when
it was ended and the notes written and read, it was proposed to
re-read the whole rather than to give up the weekly visit to Longfellow's
house. In 1866 he wrote to Mr. Fields:--

"Greene is coming expressly to hear the last canto of 'Paradiso' to-
morrow night, and will stay the rest of the week. I really hoped you
would be here, but as you say nothing about it I begin to tremble.