H ere, on this joyous day of days, O deign to list my skill-less praise. W hate’er be said with tongue or pen E xtolling thee, I cry “Amen.” BEULAH MARIE DIX. Mrs. Howe was not apprised of the project in advance, and certainly had not seen the verses; but was, at any rate, ready as usual, and this sketch may well close with her cheery answer:— MRS. HOWE’S REPLY Why, bless you, I ain’t nothing, nor nobody, nor much, If you look in your Directory you’ll find a thousand such. I walk upon the level ground, I breathe upon the air, I study at a table and reflect upon a chair. I know a casual mixture of the Latin and the Greek, I know the Frenchman’s _parlez-vous_, and how the Germans speak; Well can I add, and well subtract, and say twice two is four, But of those direful sums and proofs remember nothing more. I wrote a poetry book one time, and then I wrote a play, And a friend who went to see it said she fainted right away. Then I got up high to speculate upon the Universe, And folks who heard me found themselves no better and no worse. Yes, I’ve had a lot of birthdays and I’m growing very old, That’s why they make so much of me, if once the truth were told. And I love the shade in summer, and in winter love the sun, And I’m just learning how to live, my wisdom’s just begun. Don’t trouble more to celebrate this natal day of mine, But keep the grasp of fellowship which warms us more than wine. Let us thank the lavish hand that gives world beauty to our eyes, And bless the days that saw us young, and years that make us wise. XXI WILLIAM JAMES ROLFE WILLIAM JAMES ROLFE The “man of one book” (_homo unius libri_) whom St. Thomas Aquinas praised has now pretty nearly vanished from the world; and those men are rare, especially in our versatile America, who have deliberately chosen one department of literary work and pursued it without essential variation up to old age. Of these, Francis Parkman was the most conspicuous representative, and William James Rolfe is perhaps the most noticeable successor,—a man who, upon a somewhat lower plane than Parkman, has made for himself a permanent mark in a high region of editorship, akin to that of Furnivall and a few compeers in England. A teacher by profession all his life, his especial sphere has been the English department, a department which he may indeed be said to have created in our public schools, and thus indirectly in our colleges.