202 INTRODUCTION
Others than partial friends. In a letter from Fort Indepen- dence, Boston Harbor, April 24, 1856, Mrs. Thesta Dana, wife of Lieutenant (afterwards General) James J. Dana, U.S.A., wrote to him: "Dr. Dana, of Lowell, my hus- band's father, who as a chemist may not be unknown to you, has also a good taste in literature. Once, when I was at his house, I was trying to render in my poor way the beautiful music you made to Scott's ' Coranach.' He stopped me and said, ' Who made that music } ' I told him, and he said, * I should like to know the man who could do that ! ' " A copy of this little composition, at my request, Miss Randall wrote out from memory for me after her brother's death, and, if it were known to musicians, could hardly fail to charm many by its pathos and perfect adaptation to Scott's perfect words.
One of Miss Randall's lifelong friends, whose devoted ministrations to the very last did all that human love could do to comfort and cheer the sadness inseparable from the lot of one who had lived to be "the last of her name," — the venerated Mrs. Robert B. Storer, 7iec Sarah Sherman Hoar, sister of United States Senator George Frisbie Hoar and the late Judge Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, — contrib- uted to the Boston "Transcript" a short memorial of her friend which I cannot persuade myself not to preserve in full, in her own words, in these pages. It was as follows : —
" The present generation of young people will probably never see a lady of the rare sweetness, delicate refinement and humility which characterized the old-fashioned gentle- woman, Miss Belinda Lull Randall, who died last Sunday. But the young generation, even with its advantages of the 'higher education,' must have respected the thoroughness of her knowledge and accomplishments. She was the daughter of Dr. John Randall, whom a few people still
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