[272]
oft in earnest, oft in jest,
we have met and tried our best.
Nought I dread an open field,
I can conquer, I can yield,
self from foes I can defend,
but Heav'n preserve us from our friend! “
she and her “chief vice” were always making merry together; when their flint and steel struck, the flash was laughter.
It May have been at the Authors' Club that the two, with
Edward Everett Hale and
Dr. Holmes, were receiving compliments and tributes one afternoon.
“at least,” she cried, “no one can say that
Boston drops its
H's”
this was in the winter of 1900.
it was the time of the
Boer War, and all Christendom was sorrowing over the conflict.
On January 3 the Journal says:
this morning before rising, I had a sudden thought of the Christ-babe standing between the two armies, Boers and Britons, on Christmas day.
I have devoted the morning to an effort to overtake the heavenly vision with but a mediocre result.
these lines are published in “at Sunset.”
on the 11th the cap and bells are assumed once more.
“ ... to reception of the
College Club, where I was to preside over the literary exercises and to introduce the readers.
I was rather at a loss how to do this, but suddenly I thought of mother Goose's ‘when the pie was opened, the birds began to sing.’
so when
Edward Everett Hale came forward with me and introduced me ”
