November 9, 1899. Mother! The first cream of this day I skim for you as it is my birthday, and but for your kind assistance, I should never have been born at all, so in some measure you have your rights in my natal day. I don’t like to be quite so elderly (I heard you say to J. that you hated to see your daughters grow old) but I don’t mean to be so melancholy about it as your poems seem to imply you were,--“The shell of objects inwardly consumed, etc.” Last night John Loudon dined with us for the last time. He leaves to-morrow for the Hague where he has a fine appointment in the foreign office. He is in despair at going. Rome has gripped him hard and tight. His going leaves, as you will know, a great blank for us. He improves always, and the wrench I had at parting with him is the most severe since I put you on the steamer at Naples. My best news is that I am having an Emerson spree, having “shook with ol’ Shakespere” all summer. Read again the essays on Compensations and Self-Reliance. The warm weather hangs on; last night at dinner my table was covered with roses from the terrace. Heard the “Barber of Seville” this week splendidly given. How I thought of your singing “Guarda Don Bartolo” and “Pace gioja sia con voi.” I like your singing better than the new soprano Tetrazzini, who has a flute-like exquisite voice. * * * * * December 4, 1899. To-day I begin my Christmas letter. May it find you as it leaves me, hopeful and in good spirits. The magnum opus (J.’s Public Library ceiling) is getting finished. Paul Sabatier saw it the other day and wants photographs to illustrate an article he will write about it. If you should be in New York be sure and see Marion Crawford. His address is always the Macmillans. I wish you could write him and ask him to spend Christmas with you. He is very near to you and is better worth while than the silly intrusive strangers who gobble up so much of your time and strength. Do you remember the man who wrote you asking you to send him your “thoughts on the personality of God, by return mail?” Make good resolutions this new year to keep yourself aloof from mere curiosity seekers and lion hunters! A lecture, my little dear, from your wise old grandmother in Rome!