poet Chaucer had a sister,
he, the wondrous melodister.
she did n't write no poems, oh, no!
brother Geoffrey trained her so. ;
honored by the poet's crown,
her posterity came down. ...
ages of ancestral birth
went for all that they were worth.
Hence derives the Wentworth name
which heraldic ranks May claim.
that same herald has contrived
how the Higginson arrived.
he was gran-ther to the knight
in whose honor I indite
burning strophes of the soul
'propriate to the flowing bowl.
oft the worth I have defended
of the Laureate-descended,
but while here he sits and winks
I can tell you what he thinks.
“Never, whether old or young,
will that woman hold her tongue!
fifty years in Boston schooled,
still I find her rhyme-befooled.
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[271]
Mrs. Howe presiding, Colonel Higginson (whom she described as her “chief vice” ) beside her.
the brilliant and successful course of the Authors' Club need not be dwelt on here.
Her connection with it was to continue through life, and its monthly meetings and annual dinners were among her pet pleasures.
She was always ready to “drop into rhyme” in its service, the Muse in cap and bells being oftenest invoked: e.g., the verses written for the five hundredth anniversary of Chaucer's death:--
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York. 1916.
Tufts University provided support for entering this text.
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