President Asa D.Smith of Dartmouth came to hear two of them, and after I had given the whole series from Chaucer to Burns, he took them to Appleton & Company, the New York publishers, who were relatives of his, and surprised me by having them printed.
I give an unasked-for opinion by John G.Whittier: I spent a pleasant hour last evening over the charming little volume, _Home Pictures of English Poets_, which thou wast kind enough to send me, and which I hope is having a wide circulation as it deserves.

Its analysis of character and estimate of literary merit strike me as in the main correct.
Its racy, colloquial style, enlivened by anecdote and citation, makes it anything but a dull book.

It seems to me admirably adapted to supply a want in hearth and home.
I lectured next in various towns in New Hampshire and Vermont; as St.
Johnsbury, where I was invited by Governor Fairbanks; Bath, New Hampshire, asked by Mrs.Johnson, a well-known writer on flowers and horticulture, a very entertaining woman.

At one town in Vermont I lectured at the large academy there--not much opportunity for rest in such a building.

My room was just off the music room where duets were being executed, and a little further on girls were taking singing lessons, while a noisy little clock-ette on my bureau zigzagged out the rapid ticks.