fellow, Mr. Tom Appleton, Mr, Story, Mr. William Amory, senior, and the late artist Hamilton Wilde.
Mr. Longfellow, already old, and always silent, was beautiful that day, and as charming as his gentle nature prompted him to be. Mr. William Amory told us the long, romantic story of the famous law trial on which he was associated with Webster. It concerned the murder of an old Mr. White by two nephews, one of whom killed himself in prison, and it was upon this occasion that Mr. Webster uttered the famous dictum, "Suicide is confession." I am ashamed to say that the rest of us did all the talking, while the venerable poet sat and mused. He was engaged on the great poem which appeared in Harper's soon after, in which he describes the process of making pottery. But what he did say was so much to the point that it seemed like nuggets of gold.
A part of Mr. Longfellow's charm was his way of listening; another charm was his beauty, which was remarkable. His kindness to young authors has passed into a proverb, and he was a natural-born gentleman. Another beautiful old man was Mr. William Amory.
While Mr. Amory talked, which he did wonderfully, Mr. Longfellow listened as if to music. When he had finished his reminiscences of Webster, Mr. Longfellow whispered behind his hand, "It is like hearing Atticus praise Cicero; he is the best talker in Boston." Mr. Tom Appleton was wildly funny, and kept us all laughing, including Mr. Longfellow, who greatly admired his brother-in-law. Mr. Appleton was amusing us by a witty account of how Mr, Longfellow had been bored and swindled by an adventurer and adventuress. To all of which Mr, Longfellow only said, smiling, "Tom is a poet, you know; also an artist and a romancer."
