Frank Preston Stearns, Cambridge Sketches

[125] their approval of his present. He then referred to the danger which arises from a multiplicity of talents, and said: “I well recollect how you made the frogs vocal in the ponds back of Sleepy Hollow.”

Cranch did not feel that this was very complimentary, but a few days later there came an invitation for Mr.Cranch and Mrs. Cranch to spend the day at Concord. Emerson met them at the railway station with his carryall. He had on an old cylinder hat which had evidently seen good service, and yet became him remarkably. He was interested to hear what George William Curtis thought about politics, and to find that it agreed closely with the opinion of his friend, Judge Hoar. The Cranchs had a delightful visit.

Cranch's baritone voice was like his poem, the “Riddle,” deep, rich and sonorous. He might have earned a larger income with it, perhaps, than he did by writing and painting. He sang comic songs in a manner peculiarly his own,--as if the words were enclosed in a parenthesis,--as much as to say, “I do not approve of this, but I sing it just the same,” and this made the performance all the more amusing. He sang Bret Harte's “Jim” in a very effective manner, and he often sang the epitaph on Shakespeare's tomb,

Good friend, for Jesus sake forbeare,