This which you now receive has at least the value of rarity. It is one of twelve copies printed in this form. Think of me after I am gone on (for in the nature of things you will survive me) as one who had a really friendly feeling for everything human. It is better to be a good fellow than a good poet, and perhaps (I am not sure) I might have shown a pretty fair talent that way, with proper encouragement. Any how, I wish you and Mrs. Aldrich, and _the_ Twins a Merry Christmas, and am Cordially yours, J. R. LOWELL. That Lowell himself knew how to give pleasure with praise is evident enough from the several letters which Mr. Norton has printed, to Mr. Aldrich, to Mr. Howells, to Mr. Gilder, and to other younger writers. He was constantly sending pleasant messages and writing notes with unaffected expressions of enjoyment, and his friendly feeling made it easy for the editor of the _Atlantic_ to consult him with reference to contributions even from strangers. Thus he wrote to Mr. Howells: “I would be burned at the stake--nay, I would agree to be shut up alone for an hour with ---- before I would acknowledge (I spelt it without a d!) a poem to be good unless it was so. I would be burned at two stakes, and be shut up with ---- and ---- ere I would say a good word for the verses of a _rising_ young author. But I expect to see and like your poem in the next _Atlantic_. It _is_ good, despite Mrs. Howells and the anapests,--or whatever other kind of pests they were. “Go by your ear, my dear boy, or by Madam’s and leave Latin prosodies to ---- and the other profound scholars who understand ’em, but be sure that the plot of your little poem is so charming that it will take all the lovers and loved, and who else is worth caring for? “I tried it on Mrs. Lowell (you know we have a bit of Darby and Joan left in us still) and she purred at once. No: it is good and subtle (or subtile, I don’t know which, thanks to Mr. Nichols), but it is either you like. “P.S. You have a real vein, so don’t be bothered, but make it as good as you can and thank the gods.” And again, in answer to some questions Mr. Howells had asked him respecting the Isles of Shoals, apropos of the articles by Mrs. Thaxter then to appear in the _Atlantic_: “‘Londoner’s’ is right. The names of the islands are ‘Haley’s,’ otherwise (and better) ‘Smutty-nose,’ ‘Star,’ always called ‘Star-island,’ ‘Hog,’ which Mrs. T. no doubt calls ‘Appledore,’--the name of a village that once stood on it,--‘Cedar,’ ‘White,’ ‘Malaga,’ and ‘Duck.’ There you have ’em all.