If you wish to taste the real bouquet of life, I advise you to procure yourself a grandson,
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have noticed that the first of them is addressed to the “Edelmann Story” in Rome.
The true translation of this expression is “Nobleman Story;” that is, William W. Story, the sculptor, who modelled the statue of Edward Everett in the Boston public garden.
Lowell's biographer, however, does not appear to have been aware of the full significance of this paraphrase of Story's name.
When King Bomba II.
was expelled from Naples by Garibaldi he retired to Rome with his private possessions, including a large number of oil paintings.
Wishing to dispose of some of these, and being aware that Americans paid good prices, he applied to William Story to transact the business for him. This the sculptor did in a satisfactory manner; whereupon King Bomba, instead of rewarding Story with a cheque, conferred on him a patent of nobility.
It seems equally strange that Story should have accepted such a dubious honor, and that Lowell should recognize it.
On his return to Cambridge the following year, Lowell found himself a grandfather, his daughter having married a gentleman farmer in Worcester county.
He was greatly delighted, and wrote to E. L. Godkin, editor of The Nation:
1905. E. P. DUtton and Co. Boston,.
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